Walton Hall Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders and governors, supported by skilled trust members, have worked with pace and determination to improve all aspects of the school since it became an academy.

Their desire to make sure pupils achieve the best outcomes is at the heart of their practice. Most pupils are making good progress in all areas of their learning and personal development. By the time they leave the academy, they are well prepared for the next stage of their education and development.

Leaders use additional government funding for pupils well. Leaders' regular and purposeful checking of the quality of teaching and learning has helped to ensure that teaching is ef...fective and pupils usually achieve well. Leaders follow up pupils' absence quickly and check that pupils who are not attending school are safe.

However, attendance is below the national average and this means that some pupils are not achieving as well as they could be. Pupils behave well in class and around the school. All staff work effectively together to make sure that pupils who need extra help to manage their behaviour receive this in a consistent way.

The curriculum provides a wide range of opportunities for pupils to develop their skills and independence. Leaders make the most of the school's unique environment to provide additional vocational qualifications for pupils in key stage 4 and post-16 provision. This helps to improve further, pupils' skills for life and chances to gain employment.

Leaders track the progress each pupil makes in different subjects but they do not always use this information to look at how well different groups are performing across the school. They are not able to demonstrate the small steps of progress pupils with complex needs make. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well.

Pupils take part enthusiastically in high-quality enrichment opportunities. Pupils feel safe at this school. Leaders have made sure that their strong systems for keeping children safe are understood and put into practice by all staff.

Leaders of the school and the residential provision do not yet make best use of what they learn from individual incidents to improve their future practice. The residential provision provides an outstanding experience for pupils and a high level of care and protection. It enables them to make outstanding progress.

Higher-ability pupils are not always challenged sufficiently to make sure that they make even better progress. Compliance with national minimum standards for residential special schools The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 ('the independent school standards'), the national minimum standards for residential special schools and associated requirements.

Information about this school

Walton Hall is a special school for secondary aged and post-16 pupils who have moderate, severe or complex learning difficulties and autism.

It is part of the Shaw Education Trust, a multi-academy trust which includes Blackfriars and Coppice special academies and five other schools in and beyond Staffordshire. Walton Hall provides short-term residential provision for 60 pupils during term time. The school became an academy in 2014.

When the predecessor school was inspected in June 2014, it was judged to require improvement. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is above the national average. The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language are below the national average.

The majority of pupils are transported to and from school by minibus. The school is located in a rural part of Staffordshire and the site is organised into three separate departments. Pupils in post-16 provision are based in the 19th-century country house, which is a grade 2 listed building.

Pupils in key stages 4 and 5 attend Blackfriars School, Coppice School and Stafford College for some of their course options. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.