Shireland Collegiate Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Respectful, caring and supportive relationships are at the heart of this school. An overwhelming sense of community and mutual respect greets you as you arrive. Pupils say that they are happy in school and value the opportunities to support each other.

Pupils understand and follow the school's mission to 'aim higher, see further, be concerned'. Pupils are safe and say that poor behaviour is rare.

The school sets very high expectations for pupils' academic achievements and their wider development.

Staff focus well on helping pupils to meet these high standards. Pupils appreciate their teachers and know that they want them to be successful in their learning. As... a result, in most subjects, pupils achieve well, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school works exceptionally hard to give all pupils an extensive range of employment, cultural and leadership experiences. This includes sixth-form work experience in Dubai. As a 'school of sanctuary', it has opened its doors to young people who arrive new to the area.

The support from all pupils and staff towards these new arrivals is exceptional. Pupils extend their talents through a range of clubs and activities, such as sports and the performing arts as well as debating and coding clubs.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has undergone a significant period of change and development since the last inspection.

This includes a new principal and changes to staff in senior, subject and pastoral leadership roles. The school has taken effective actions to review how pupils learn and achieve their potential. These actions have developed a highly ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum.

While most pupils achieve well in many subjects, there are a small number of subjects where recent developments are still to show improvements in outcomes by the end of key stage 4.

Pupils appreciate the broad range of subjects they can choose from. For example, pupils say they welcome the introduction of a third modern foreign language.

Students in the sixth form are positive about their exceptional learning and enrichment opportunities. Sixth-form teachers engage students in highly ambitious, challenging and independent learning. This enables students to achieve well and reflects the wide range of high-quality destinations students move on to.

Students make an exceptional contribution to supporting younger pupils, for example by joining classes in Years 7 to 9 to assist pupils' learning.

The school identifies the important things that pupils need to know to succeed. Teachers generally present new subject matter clearly and consistently.

Teachers use activities at the start of lessons to help pupils recall and build on their learning. Pupils welcome this and say it helps them to remember the most important information. However, sometimes teachers do not routinely check pupils' understanding carefully enough.

They do not have a sufficiently detailed understanding of whether pupils remember what they have learned before. This means they do not consistently address any wrong ideas or missing knowledge and may miss opportunities to address pupils' gaps or misconceptions.

The school quickly identifies pupils with SEND.

Pupil passports outline their needs and teachers use these effectively to support pupils and to adapt the learning. The school identifies pupils who are not confident readers. Specialist teachers support these pupils to address weaknesses in phonics, grammar and comprehension.

However, the school has not yet fully implemented an extensive range of strategies to support these pupils. It is taking effective action to address this. The school also continues to develop pupils' wider reading in and outside school.

Pupils' behaviour is exemplary. Pupils show high levels of focus and engagement in their learning and respect for each other during breaktime and lunchtime. The school offers many opportunities for pupils to talk with older students, such as when students support them in lessons.

Pupils welcome the opportunity to talk about their future ambitions with older students. Overall, school attendance is exceptionally high. The school takes effective and robust action to support the small number of pupils who are absent and need to catch up on their work quickly.

Personal development is a strength of this school. All pupils are exceptionally well prepared for life beyond school. They receive appropriate, comprehensive and timely advice about the next stages of their education and career opportunities.

The extensive personal, social, health and economic education programme allows pupils to learn about personal safety, healthy relationships and independence. Pupils meet many external speakers. These speakers talk about local and national concerns that can affect the pupils in school.

Pupils value these opportunities to talk about how the local area impacts on themselves and their families.

All leaders, including those responsible for governance, understand deeply how the school's local context impacts pupils' learning and attendance. The trust holds the school to account well for all aspects of provision, including exceptional safeguarding and the quality of personal development.

The school has implemented a comprehensive and well-thought-out professional development programme for staff, which staff welcome. Recent changes to school policies and expectations have supported the commitment to staff's workload and well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers do not consistently check that all pupils understand and remember what they have learned in some subjects. As a result, they do not always address misconceptions, so some pupils have gaps in their learning in those subjects. The school should ensure that teachers' checks on pupils' understanding are effective across all subjects, so that they can support pupils to learn as well as the school intends them to.

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