Excelsior Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Excelsior Academy is a unique and complex school.

It caters for primary and secondary-aged pupils from a deprived multi-cultural community. Around half of pupils speak English as an additional language. Pupils speak over 40 different languages.

Many pupils join or leave the school during the school year.Pupils do not do well enough in their studies. Early years education is not providing a good enough start.

Standards of reading are too low at the end of the primary phase. In the secondary phase, pupils have made poor progress in recent years. Not enough pupils gain the qualifications they need to get on in life.

However, leaders are addressing these... problems. Teaching is improving, and the curriculum is becoming more ambitious.Different cultures integrate happily.

The staff work hard to build up positive and trusting relationships. The vast majority of pupils behave well and conduct themselves sensibly. Inevitably, a few pupils find it difficult to integrate and abide by the rules.

Leaders do all they can to keep these pupils in education. The school does much to support pupils' personal and social development. Sometimes, pupils fall out with one another.

However, there is little bullying. The pastoral staff act quickly if this happens and sort it out.

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

Senior leaders did not act quickly enough after the last inspection.

Concerns grew when standards remained low in the primary phase and fell further in the secondary phase in 2018. Since then, the trust and the interim principal have got to the bottom of what was wrong. Although standards did not improve in 2019, they have halted the decline.

Leaders are in the process of transforming the curriculum they offer. In the primary school, the curriculum is broad and balanced. Leaders are ready to introduce a more suitable secondary school curriculum from September.

Leaders are raising expectations. They want more pupils to study a more challenging programme. Currently, few pupils are studying GCSE subjects that make up the English baccalaureate.

Next year, leaders want 60% of pupils to do so. In preparation for this, they have focused on improving the quality of teaching. A new approach to planning lessons has been introduced.

Some teachers have found this a challenge. However, in many lessons, pupils are learning more. Teachers have quickly adopted this new approach across the full age range.

Although this has raised the bar, the quality of teaching is still variable. Some departments, such as English and mathematics, are further on than others.In the past, leaders did not do enough to put reading at the heart of the school's work.

The teaching of early reading is still not good enough. The school has a programme to teach children phonics. However, teachers do not teach phonics skilfully enough.

Some phonics sessions are delivered in noisy and distracting rooms. Children find it difficult to concentrate. Weaker readers do not get enough help to catch up.

Teachers provide books that children can read. However, weaker readers in Year 1 are slow to develop as fluent readers. By the end of the primary phase, standards in reading are too low.

Currently, around 60% of pupils in key stage 3 cannot read well enough. This makes it difficult for them to learn. Senior leaders now recognise the importance of reading.

They are providing much better help for pupils in the secondary phase to help them catch up. However, their plans to improve literacy are not as clear in the primary phase.Last year, standards slipped in the early years.

A new leader has been appointed recently. However, some staff absence is making it difficult for her to coordinate the team. Some adults do not do enough to encourage or question children when they are choosing from the activities available.

The early years does have good curriculum planning in place. However, developments in the curriculum have not been fully implemented, as the new leader does not have the time or resources to do this. The early years team works closely with parents and carers.

The team makes sure that children with particular needs are fully included in learning activities.The sixth form is providing a good quality of education. There are courses for all pupils who wish to stay in education.

This includes A levels, vocational courses and courses at lower levels. Many students in the sixth form did not attain a good GCSE pass in English or mathematics. A good proportion of those who re-sit the examination improve their grade.

The sixth form is being well led and managed. Teaching is improving. Students attend well.

There are well-planned opportunities to build students' character. They receive good careers information and help with applications to higher education. Most students undertake a work-related placement as part of their study programme.

Senior leaders and the trust provide ethical leadership. They are determined to meet the many challenges that young people in the community face. Managing behaviour at the Excelsior Academy can be a challenge.

Some teachers would like senior leaders to help them more. Leaders are developing their own alternative provision for the most challenging pupils. Most pupils behave well.

Lessons flow smoothly. Leaders only exclude pupils as a last resort. Pupils' attendance was close to the national average in recent years.

However, this year more pupils have returned to their home country for prolonged periods. The level of attendance has fallen. Many pupils in Years 10 and 11 have missed school often.

This risks their chances of attaining good GCSE qualifications.The school does much to support pupils' personal development. Personal, social, health and religious education lessons cover topics about British values, diversity, safety and identity.

Pupils know a lot about each other's culture and faith. There is an LGBT group. Pupils are tolerant and supportive of one another.

They are proud of the cultural diversity within the school. Pupils are taught workplace skills and have excellent careers advice. There is a good range of extra-curricular opportunities that cater for pupils' diverse interests.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make all the necessary vetting checks on adults who work in or visit the school. Safeguarding leaders face considerable challenges.

There are many pupils who are vulnerable and in need of help and protection. The school has lots of pastoral staff who provide this support. They are well organised.

There are good systems in place to make sure pupils get the help they need. The team works hard to get to know the community. Leaders keep good records of the actions they take to protect pupils.

They work extensively with different external agencies to protect pupils.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

In each phase of the school, many pupils are held back because they cannot read well enough. Weaknesses in the teaching of reading mean pupils fall behind in the primary school.

In the secondary phase, pupils with weaker reading skills find it increasingly difficult to learn new, more complex knowledge. Under-developed reading is the single biggest barrier to pupils' achievement. The work begun in the secondary phase to address this has made a good start.

Leaders need to ensure that they give the same priority to improving the teaching of early reading and the development of reading across the primary phase. Pupils who join the school and speak English as an additional language need immediate help with reading. .

The quality of teaching in the secondary phase is variable. Leaders have raised the bar, but in some departments further training is needed to improve teachers' subject knowledge. Leaders need to ensure that teachers cover knowledge in enough depth and detail, particularly in the subjects that contribute to the English baccalaureate.

Leaders must also provide effective training for those teachers who are more challenged by some pupils' behaviour. . The early years is not providing a good quality of education.

Some adults are not prompting and questioning children enough. Some children have not developed good routines and are easily distracted. As a result, some children are not getting off to a good start.

Leaders need to stabilise staffing and provide the new early years leader with the time and resources she needs to implement the curriculum effectively. . The attendance of secondary pupils needs to improve.

There are too many days being missed by pupils in key stage 4. Leaders need to ensure that their expectations for attendance are clearly communicated to families. The attendance team must continue to be tenacious and determined in its efforts to improve attendance.