Westminster Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Westminster Academy is a welcoming and inclusive place. The school offers a broad and stimulating range of opportunities for all pupils. Pupils are kept safe and are well looked after.

They know they can talk with adults or report an issue if they have a concern.

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Staff are determined to ensure that all pupils, including students in the sixth form, succeed academically.

The sixth form provides an exceptional education for students.

The school identifies and supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils follow the same curriculum as their peers.
<...br/>Staff provide helpful support when it is needed.

Behaviour around the school is orderly. The school has established a calm environment in which pupils can learn.

If behaviour falls below the school's expectations, staff follow clear systems and take prompt action. Bullying does not happen often, but staff take effective action when it does.

Pupils have opportunities to take part in an extensive range of activities and visits.

Students in the sixth form experience a very rich offer. They benefit from visits to universities, support with internships and summer placements, as well as taking part in leadership and teamwork development programmes.

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

The school's curriculum is ambitious and matches the aims of what is expected nationally.

Leaders have thought about the knowledge that pupils should learn, and this is logically sequenced. For example, in English, pupils read from a range of literary texts in Year 7. Consequently, they experience a breadth of writers and genres.

This supports older pupils to study different whole texts in depth, including poetry, novels and plays. Pupils in the sixth form build on prior learning, reading a rich range of high-quality literature and responding critically with increasing precision and confidence.

Recently, leaders have made changes to the curriculum with the aim of ensuring greater consistency in its implementation.

In most subjects, this is embedded as the school intends. However, in a small number of subjects, this is less well developed. In these instances, pupils do not consistently secure the foundational knowledge they need as fully across the whole curriculum.

Students in the sixth form have a consistently high-quality educational experience. They study a range of subjects in depth. The carefully planned and highly ambitious curriculum is embedded across International Baccalaureate programmes of study.

Students are very positive about the support and opportunities the school provides.They are highly committed to their education and produce work of a consistently high standard.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge.

In most lessons, they provide pupils, including those with SEND, with activities that enable them to deepen their knowledge and apply what they have learned. Occasionally, activities are less well designed to consolidate intended knowledge, including for pupils with SEND. In these cases, pupils do not complete work that enables them to practise what they have learned.

The school identifies pupils with SEND effectively. Staff work closely with a range of specialists and external agencies, seeking high-quality advice about how to support pupils. Pupils receive additional support, including with reading, to help them to access the full curriculum.

Pupils behave well around the school. They are positive in their attitudes to their work and show respect to visitors. Staff use the revised behaviour policy to remind pupils of expectations, and this is effective.

Pupils and students in the sixth form attend well. Staff ensure that pupils receive high-quality pastoral support when they struggle.

The school has carefully designed the personal, social and health education curriculum so that it supports pupils' wider development.

Pupils learn about how to stay healthy. Staff work with a range of specialist agencies to provide pupils with extensive support for mental health. Pupils learn about risk and how to keep themselves safe, including when they are online.

Leaders prepare pupils and students in the sixth form well for the next stage of education, employment, or training. For example, students in the sixth form have the opportunity to work on course-related projects in university laboratories.

Leaders have an accurate view of the school.

They are focused on what is working well and areas that need further development. The trustees maintain effective strategic oversight of the school's work. They fulfil their statutory responsibilities well.

Staff are proud to work at the school. They appreciate the support from leaders for their well-being and the professional development opportunities that the school provides.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Recent changes to the curriculum are not fully embedded. Teachers are still getting used to delivering the curriculum content and addressing gaps in pupils' knowledge. The school should ensure that the new curriculum is fully embedded.

The school should also provide appropriate professional development to ensure that staff have the expertise to implement the curriculum with confidence. ? Sometimes, the work given to pupils, including those with SEND, does not enable them to achieve the aims and ambition of the curriculum. The school should ensure that tasks and activities are purposeful, deepen pupils' knowledge and are meaningfully adapted, as required, for pupils with SEND.