Stanchester Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school day is well organised and purposeful. Most pupils focus on their learning and behave well. Typically, lessons proceed without disruption.

Pupils enjoy supportive relationships with staff. They are rewarded for reflecting the school's values of ambition, respect and community.

Year 7 pupils relish the new challenges of the secondary school curriculum.

Over time, however, pupils do not learn some aspects of the curriculum in enough depth. In recent years, they have not achieved well in their GCSE examinations, although there are signs that standards are improving in English and mathematics.

Increasingly, pupils take confidence from the effec...tive way that the school addresses poor behaviour, including bullying.

Nonetheless, there are places around the school site where lapses in pupils' conduct are more frequent. Some pupils do not show respect for the school's high expectations of behaviour and receive repeated sanctions.

Pupils read a wide range of interesting literature that helps them to understand the world and the experiences of others.

Pupils find common ground by joining in with clubs, such as 'games with brains', and sports activities, such as netball. There are opportunities to travel abroad. For example, pupils studying history are looking forward to an upcoming trip to Berlin.

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

Reading is at the centre of school life. Pupils follow a rich curriculum in English that develops their knowledge and vocabulary. They routinely share books with staff and classmates.

There is effective support for those who need to work on weaker aspects of their reading. These developments need more time to embed before the impact is fully reflected in examination results.

Pupils follow an increasingly ambitious curriculum.

They study a wider range of subjects in key stage 4 than they have in the past. However, in some subjects, the curriculum content is too simple. The work given to pupils does not provide enough opportunity for them to deepen their knowledge.

Consequently, pupils struggle to learn more complex ideas.

The school has recently improved the approach to checking that pupils understand and remember what they have learned. In some subjects, checks focus on the most important curriculum content, or the knowledge that pupils have found tricky before.

However, this is not consistent. Sometimes teaching does not identify and respond to the gaps in pupils' knowledge successfully.

Teaching is often adapted in the light of pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school provides training to help staff to do this. Nevertheless, there are still occasions when pupils' needs are not understood or addressed effectively.

The school experienced a period of unsettled leadership after the COVID-19 pandemic.

There was a decline in the standard of pupils' behaviour and their academic outcomes. The trust took appropriate action to provide stable leadership. The school is now an orderly place where most pupils focus well on their studies.

However, there remain groups of pupils who do not yet reflect the school's high expectations.

The school provides support off site for some pupils who struggle to manage their behaviour or learn successfully alongside their peers. These pupils follow a broad curriculum and access support such as counselling.

There is a lack of clarity between trust and school leaders as to how well pupils in different circumstances access the provision. This makes it difficult for leaders to check that their approach is helping each pupil to fulfil their potential.

Attendance is improving thanks to the school's work to strengthen the way it communicates with parents.

Nevertheless, a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are often absent. The support provided by the school does not reliably lead to sustained improvements in the attendance of individual pupils.

Pupils receive valuable guidance from staff and external speakers.

This helps them to keep safe and well. The school carefully considers how best to prepare pupils for their experiences of adulthood, including personal relationships and the world of work. The provision for careers education is strong.

Pupils receive useful and wide-ranging careers advice, as well as support with their next steps.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The work given to pupils does not help to ensure that they learn the subject curriculums in enough depth.

This makes it difficult for pupils to achieve the ambitious aims of each subject over time and limits their success in examinations. The trust should ensure that pupils build up detailed knowledge in each subject so that they can fulfil their potential at the end of key stage 4. ? Recent improvements to assessment across the school have not been implemented consistently well.

In some subjects, misconceptions are not addressed effectively. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge which persist. The trust should ensure that teaching is responsive to any insecure knowledge identified through checks on learning.

• The school's high expectations are not yet reflected in pupils' consistently positive attitudes towards their education. Despite improvements for many, there remain groups of pupils whose behaviour and attendance require significant support. The trust should ensure that the school helps pupils to build on and sustain any improvements to their behaviour and attendance over time.

• The intended support for pupils with additional needs, including SEND, is sometimes unclear. Consequently, staff do not know the most effective ways to support some pupils, and the school struggles to identify what is working well. The trust should ensure that the purpose of any additional support is clear and check that this is having the intended impact.