The Kairos Academy (KS4)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils attending the Midpoint Centre receive an unacceptably poor standard of education. Low expectations, a lack of respect and disregard for others typify school life.

The curriculum fails to provide pupils with the knowledge and skills they urgently need. Pupils' social, emotional and learning needs are not consistently identified, planned for or met. Consequently, pupils become further disengaged with education and see little value in learning.

It is pupils, not leaders and staff, who have set the culture in school. Pupils often choose to arrive late to lessons and do little or no work. Staff struggle to keep pupils in class to stop them roaming the school.
...r/>This is not safe. Pupils' poor language and poor behaviour are deeply ingrained. Leaders' actions are failing to stop this happening.

Most pupils simply cycle through any sanctions. There is little demonstrable improvement in any disruptive, aggressive or bullying behaviours. The values of 'support, trust, achieve and respect' are not evident in everyday school life.

Low staffing levels and high staff absence have taken their toll on leaders and staff. The school is not a happy place for pupils or staff to be. Leaders' time is taken up constantly by managing behaviour and other issues.

This has hindered leaders' capacity to lead improvements. This is the fundamental root cause of the issues in the school.

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

Leaders act with honesty and integrity.

Staff genuinely care about pupils. Their dedication to the pupils is without question. Leaders are mindful of the pressures on staff.

They try to reduce staff's workload, wherever possible, and are mindful of staff's well-being. Leaders and members of the management committee know that they are failing pupils, and are doing their utmost to act. However, measures currently in place are failing to remedy the situation, and the school is at a very low ebb.

Leaders' strategies to help pupils to improve their behaviour are not working. This is because they are not addressing the broken culture in the school. Pupils do not buy into leaders' view that the school can provide them with a fresh start.

Pupils' poor behaviour, and a lack of respect for the school environment and the staff, has become an accepted norm. Leaders do monitor behaviour incidents. Pupils who need support spend time in 'The Hub' to reflect and reset.

However, this does not bring about sufficient demonstrable change in pupils' behaviour.

Leaders have considered the structure of the academic curriculum. It offers pupils a suitable range of courses and qualifications.

However, it does not meet pupils' needs, because of its weak purpose and inconsistent implementation. Pupils' starting points are not systematically or accurately identified. Leaders have not considered the key knowledge that each pupil needs for future success.

Learning in lessons is therefore largely 'gap filling' and has little structure or cohesion. Teachers do not build pupils' learning cumulatively. Instead, they deliver learning around disconnected topics.

As a result, lessons fail to excite, engage or motivate pupils to want to learn more. Often, they become a battle, as staff try to cajole reluctant pupils to produce random pieces of work.

Pupils see little point or purpose in reading.

Staff avoid giving pupils books for fear of pupils destroying them. Pupils who need help to improve their reading are not given the support they need. This hampers pupils' learning across the curriculum.

Leaders know this, and are beginning to act, but work is barely underway.

All pupils at the school have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) associated with their social, emotional and mental health. Leaders review this and any other learning needs as part of each pupil's induction to the school.

However, systems to help staff plan, deliver and review the support for each pupil are not in place. As a result, staff do not know the right strategies to use for individual pupils to meet their needs.

Leaders use off-site learning at alternative providers appropriately.

They make all relevant checks, including ensuring that the placement is suitable for pupils. Leaders share the information that alternative providers need about each pupil. Leaders have also developed a 'complementary curriculum' for some pupils that includes a range of activities, such as sailing.

For many pupils, this provides a meaningful experience that contributes to their personal development. However, some pupils see this as a reward for poor behaviour and a means to avoid the academic curriculum they need.

Leaders know that pupils do not attend well enough.

They are working tirelessly to improve pupils' attendance. Some of this work is proving effective. However, pupils' attendance and punctuality remain stubbornly low, and too few are improving.

The personal development curriculum is a ray of light in the school. Leaders have planned this in detail. Pupils learn and revisit important topics.

These include the dangers of knife crime, consent and healthy relationships. Leaders invite visitors in to reinforce the important key messages to pupils to help prepare them for life outside school. This includes a robust careers education.

Centre staff support pupils to make decisions about their next steps. They help pupils make the transition to further education, training or employment successfully. However, pupils' poor behaviour and low attendance mean that too few pupils engage or benefit from this provision.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

Although staff have received training in de-escalation techniques, pupils' behaviour can compromise the safety of themselves and others. For instance, there have been cases where pupils have climbed onto the roof of the building, or where pupils have physically threatened staff.

Some staff raised concerns about their own, and pupils', safety on site.Staff do not have a common and shared understanding of when to record a concern about a pupil. Some staff see reporting systems as for significant concerns only.

They do not reflect the need to record every concern, no matter how small, in a timely way.

Systems for checking on vulnerable pupils are not sufficiently robust and are reliant on individuals. For instance, there is no clear system for ensuring that checks on pupils who are absent happen if key staff are not in school.

This places vulnerable pupils at risk.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders are overstretched and lack the capacity to lead and manage the improvements needed. This means the fundamental changes needed to improve the culture, ethos and education at the school are not happening.

This is compounded by insufficient staffing overall. This is taking its toll on existing staff, and resulting in high levels of staff absence. Those responsible for governance should ensure that leaders have the support, capacity, skills and knowledge to lead improvements effectively.

• Leaders have not taken effective steps so that staff can provide consistent support to pupils that will secure improvements in their behaviour. As a result, pupils show a lack of respect and self-discipline and are not making sufficient demonstrable improvements in their behaviour. Leaders should create a culture of high expectations for pupils' behaviour and conduct.

These expectations should be clearly understood by all and reinforced to help more pupils improve their behaviour and learn well. ? Leaders have not robustly identified, assessed and planned for pupils' SEND needs. This means that staff do not know how to best meet pupils' social, emotional and learning needs.

Consequently, pupils' needs are not being consistently met. Leaders should ensure that pupils' SEND needs are accurately identified, and that this information and associated strategies are shared with staff and routinely implemented to meet pupils' needs. ? Leaders have not ensured that the curriculum is effectively designed to support pupils to learn the knowledge and skills they need for success in future life.

In some subjects, pupils' learning is disjointed and does not build cumulatively. Leaders should ensure that they accurately identify pupils' starting points and sequence the key building blocks of knowledge so that pupils learn well. ? Leaders have not ensured that systems for checking the welfare of pupils are sufficiently robust, that pupils are always safe in school and that all staff understand the systems for raising concerns.

This means that pupils are potentially at risk of harm. Leaders should ensure that a coherent and cohesive approach to safeguarding permeates through every aspect of school life. ? Leaders have not ensured that pupils attend school well.

This means that pupils are missing too much of their academic learning and personal development programme. Leaders should continue to work to improve pupils' attendance, focusing on the strategies and approaches that are having the greatest impact. ? Leaders have not put reading at the heart of their work to prepare pupils for life beyond school.

As a result, pupils who need help to improve their reading are not getting the support they need. Leaders should ensure that they develop a culture of reading and that they support pupils who need additional support so they can access the curriculum. ? Leaders and those responsible for governance may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection.