Tabor Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Tabor Academy is a warm and welcoming school that pupils are happy to attend. There is a calm and orderly atmosphere throughout. Pupils know that they are expected to 'be at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing'.

They strive to meet these expectations. This is evident in the way that pupils behave, the smartness of their uniforms and how they speak to visitors and staff.

Pupils have a good understanding of individual differences and are respectful of each other.

They are confident that they have someone to talk to if they need support. Anti-bullying ambassadors, easy to spot with their red ties, play a valuable part in making sure that pu...pils feel safe. If bullying happens, leaders deal with it well and promptly.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are included in all aspects of school life.

In lessons, pupils work hard and want to succeed. The school is making some changes to ensure that all pupils, including those with SEND, can achieve well in all their subjects.

The new headteachers have already made their mark on the school. Many parents think communication with them has improved. Staff feel well supported to do a good job.

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

The new headteachers' ambition and drive to make the school the best it can be shines through. Staff are energised by their enthusiasm and vision.

The school is ambitious for all its pupils.

Leaders want pupils to succeed academically alongside gaining the skills they need for life. In some subjects, this vision is translated well into practice and pupils develop knowledge securely over time. However, in others, there are weaknesses in the extent to which knowledge is clearly and logically sequenced and in the delivery of the curriculum through lessons.

Sometimes, what pupils are expected to achieve is limited by the tasks they are given to do. Moreover, there are some factors that limit the impact of the curriculum for pupils with SEND. Pupils' needs are identified.

However, work with teachers to help them to understand the most effective strategies to use to support pupils with SEND is in the early stages and is not yet well understood. The school's ambition is not, therefore, realised consistently across the curriculum.

The delivery of the sixth-form curriculum is more consistent.

Staff use their expertise well to enable students to succeed. The majority of students go to university and others take up suitable apprenticeships. Sixth-form students make a positive contri-bution to the life of the school.

They are advocates for Tabor and are keen to help ensure that others, including parents and the community, share their views.

Reading is given a high profile. The school assesses pupils' reading knowledge with precision.

There is an effective programme of support that helps pupils who need it to catch up quickly with their peers. This includes a phonics programme. Staff lead by example.

For instance, they display the books they are reading on classroom doors and create engaging competitions and events. All pupils join the 'Tabor Express' which develops their knowledge and their understanding of different genres and authors. Pupils are also taught how to use a public library and are enrolled into local libraries.

Class readers and a very engaging library also successfully foster pupils' wider reading knowledge.

Pupils learn about a series of important topics related to their personal development. These topics are revisited as pupils get older.

The Tabor 'pledges' set out a range of opportunities for pupils, such as seeing live performances, supporting charities and meeting different professionals. Pupils' participation in these opportunities is carefully logged to ensure that most pupils take part. The school gives pupils appropriate careers advice, including through a 'career of the week', which is highlighted and discussed.

The school is working hard to establish good relationships with all parents. Newsletters, coffee mornings and increased opportunities to speak directly to leaders are all having an impact. Some parents remain unhappy with aspects of the school and express concerns about communication and provision for pupils with SEND.

Others, however, are very content with how the school provides for their children.

Many staff and leaders are new in post. The two new headteachers are working hard to support all of these colleagues as well as carrying out the new aspects of their roles.

Trust leaders are very aware of the need to ensure that the headteachers' roles and responsibilities are clear. Trust leaders also understand that the headteachers need time and support to enable them to be strategic, in order to improve the school further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the knowledge that pupils need to gain and the order that they should learn it in have not been clearly defined. Where this is the case, pupils are not enabled to build their learning in a logical order over time, so do not make the connections they need between and across topics and from one year group to the next. Leaders should evaluate the curriculum sequencing across all subjects, then build on the best practice that exists in the school and beyond, to ensure that in each subject the curriculum is designed to build pupils' knowledge sequentially and effectively over time.

• On some occasions, pupils, including those with SEND, are given work that does not enable them to learn the most important knowledge in that subject. This makes it harder for them to achieve consistently well. The school should ensure that all staff in all subjects understand and implement adaptive teaching strategies effectively, in order to ensure that all pupils, including those with SEND, learn the most important knowledge in each subject in order to make strong progress across the curriculum over time.