St George’s Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at St George's Academy are polite and respectful. They enjoy positive relationships with the staff and value the sense of community that they feel in the school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe and that they trust staff to keep them safe.

The school is aspirational for all. Staff encourage pupils to 'aim high'. However, in recent years, pupils in key stage 4 have not achieved as well as they should.

The school has taken effective action to address this. The curriculum has been improved. The school has implemented strategies to address barriers to learning, such as poor attendance and weaker literacy.

Sixth-form students achieve well in acade...mic and vocational courses. Many leave the school to ambitious destinations.

Expectations for pupils' behaviour are high.

When pupils do not behave well, or when bullying happens, the school takes robust action to deal with incidents quickly and effectively.

The school provides a range of extra-curricular opportunities to support pupils' wider development. These include community and charity projects.

There are opportunities for pupils to pursue their talents in sport and the arts. Many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), benefit from these opportunities.

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

The curriculum is broad and ambitious.

At key stage 4, the majority of pupils take the full range of subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate. At key stages 4 and 5, the school offers a very broad range of vocational courses alongside more traditional academic options. These courses are very well chosen to match pupils' interests and ambitions.

In all subjects, the curriculum identifies the important knowledge that pupils will learn. This curriculum is sequenced well so that pupils are exposed to increasingly complex knowledge as they progress. In the sixth form, the curriculum is challenging.

It supports students well to gain the knowledge they need to be prepared for their next steps in education or employment.

In most lessons, the curriculum is delivered well. Staff present new knowledge clearly and help pupils make connections to what they have learned before.

Staff check pupils' learning carefully and address misconceptions quickly. However, this is not the case in all lessons. Sometimes lessons do not focus precisely enough on the knowledge that pupils need to learn and remember.

Sometimes gaps in pupils' knowledge and misconceptions are not addressed.

Most pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers. For others, the curriculum is adapted to meet their needs.

However, despite recent improvements, the systems in place for identifying pupils' needs and supporting teachers to adapt the curriculum are not consistent. Staff do not always have the precise information they need about pupils' particular needs and targets. The school has made sure that staff have received training in strategies to support pupils with SEND.

However, these are not applied consistently across the school. As a result, some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should.

The school has prioritised reading.

Staff quickly identify pupils who have gaps in their reading knowledge. They provide personalised support for these pupils. Across the curriculum, there are opportunities for all pupils to develop fluency and comprehension skills, and to build their vocabulary.

In 'life skills' lessons, pupils and sixth-form students benefit from a well-considered curriculum for personal, social, and health education (PSHE). Pupils learn how to stay safe and keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. They learn about healthy relationships, British values, and equality.

Pupils across the school receive a wealth of information about future opportunities in education and careers. There are opportunities to meet with employers and apprenticeship providers. In the sixth form, most students take part in work experience.

They are well supported with personalised advice about future options.

Most pupils attend school well. They behave well and have positive attitudes to learning.

The school has recently increased its capacity to help pupils who need extra support to attend school regularly or meet the school's high behaviour expectations. Caring pastoral staff provide well-considered, effective support.

Staff are proud to work at the school.

They support the school's aspiration for all pupils. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the school has experienced an increase in the number of disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND, and pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. Leaders have thoughtfully identified strategies to support these pupils and provide a high-quality education for all.

However, they have not yet established robust systems to check the effectiveness of all of these strategies. This means that they cannot be sure that all of their work is having the desired impact.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Currently, staff do not always receive the precise information they need to support all pupils with SEND effectively. The systems in place for identifying pupils' needs, and for sharing information with staff about pupils with SEND, are not as rigorous as they need to be. As a result, some pupils do not always get the support they need to achieve as well as they could.

The school needs to ensure that the needs of pupils with SEND are identified precisely and that all staff meet the needs of these pupils effectively. ? The delivery of the planned curriculum is not consistent across the school. Some lessons do not focus sharply enough on the knowledge that pupils need to learn.

On occasions, pupils' misconceptions are not addressed quickly and effectively. As a result, some learning is insecure, and some pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school needs to make sure that the curriculum is delivered consistently well by all staff so that all pupils achieve well across the curriculum.

• The school does not have robust systems in place to monitor the impact of all of the strategies it has employed to support its vision to provide a high-quality education for all. As a result, it is not always clear that these strategies are implemented as effectively or as efficiently as they might be. The school needs to ensure that it employs robust routines for monitoring the effectiveness of its work.