Woodfield Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that Woodfield Academy is an inclusive school. Pupils celebrate difference and treat one another with respect. The recently appointed headteacher has introduced the school's ethos of '#onewoodfield'.

Pupils understand this and the school's values of compassion, resilience, respect and responsibility. Pupils feel safe in school. They say that bullying does happen, but they are confident that teachers will sort it out.

Pupils benefit from a wide range of extra-curricular activities. These include sport, art, film club, archery and quidditch. Many pupils attend annual residential trips and visits to support what they are learning in school.

Pupils val...ue the extensive programme of rewards for behaving well and for meeting the school values. They are proud of the badges they can earn and the reward events they can participate in. However, pupils say that behaviour in lessons is not always good enough, and leaders agree.

Pupils understand the new behaviour system and say that this is already making behaviour better.

Pupils do not benefit from a well-sequenced curriculum in all subjects. This means that they are not always able to build on their prior learning.

Leaders are aware of this and are making changes, but there is still more work to do.

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

The headteacher joined the school in September 2021. He has a clear vision for the school, and most staff and pupils support this.

The headteacher has identified many of the weaknesses of the school and is working with the new leadership team to address these. However, leaders do not always focus on the priorities that will make the biggest difference to pupils' learning. Some new systems are not being implemented consistently and leaders have not monitored the systems well enough to make sure that staff's expectations of pupils are consistent.

Leaders have begun to work on improving the curriculum. In some subjects, leaders have thought carefully about what pupils should learn and when. In these subjects, pupils remember the important things they need to know.

In other subjects, the curriculum is not sequenced well. This prevents pupils from recalling important information. Leaders have recently introduced the way that they would like teachers to deliver all lessons.

This has not been in place long enough for leaders to see the impact they would like.

Teachers receive valuable information about pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have made sure that teachers have the skills they need to help pupils with SEND to achieve well in lessons.

Leaders prioritise reading. They have introduced a daily reading lesson to support pupils' wider reading. Pupils at the early stages of reading benefit from a well-taught phonics programme.

This helps pupils to learn to read fluently so that they can learn well across the curriculum.

Leaders have introduced new systems to improve behaviour in lessons. Staff and pupils agree that these systems raise expectations of how pupils should behave.

However, staff are not always consistent in how they use the new processes and leaders are not monitoring these systems sufficiently well to help them to identify what to do next. There are a high number of suspensions and permanent exclusions. Leaders have introduced the 'pupil support unit' and 'nurture area' to support the behaviour of pupils who need it most.

However, these are not improving the behaviour of a small number of pupils and the number of suspensions is not reducing.

Pupils learn about relationships and sex education and health education. However, leaders have not made sure that all pupils have learned the important knowledge they need keep themselves healthy and safe.

The school joined the Bordesley Multi Academy Trust on 1 April 2022. The trustees are clear about the support that the school needs to improve and have begun to provide this help. The trust has ensured that there is now local governance in place at the school.

This has helped provide leaders with the support and challenge they need to improve pupils' experiences and learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff are knowledgeable about the safeguarding risks that pupils may face.

They report any concerns they have to leaders, who respond to these appropriately. Leaders support those at risk of harm well, working with external agencies to gain support for their pupils. Leaders make sure that they carry out all the necessary checks on adults in the school.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe online. Leaders have begun to consider how to make sure that all pupils learn about how to identify risks that they may experience.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not made sure that the knowledge pupils need or the order in which this knowledge should be taught has been clearly identified in all subjects.

This means that pupils are not able to build on their learning over time. Leaders should make sure that all curriculum planning identifies the key knowledge pupils need to learn in the right sequence, so pupils know more and remember more. Teachers do not always present key information clearly or check pupils' understanding systematically.

This means that misconceptions arise and are not always addressed. Leaders should make sure that teachers deliver information effectively and check that pupils understand what they are learning. ? The numbers of suspensions and permanent exclusions are high.

Leaders have begun to take action to reduce these; however, some pupils miss too much learning. Leaders should review the strategies that they use to improve behaviour to reduce the number of suspensions in the school. ? Leaders have introduced a number of new systems and processes.

However, these are not monitored well enough to ensure that they are implemented consistently and that actions are focused on what will make the biggest difference. This means that pupils do not always benefit from consistent expectations and effective teaching. Leaders should make sure that they monitor school processes to make sure that they are well focused and consistently implemented.