Westbourne Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The principal has a clear and ambitious vision that is shared across the school. School leaders and governors have a clear understanding of the strengths of the school and take effective action to bring about further improvement.

The school's broad, balanced and flexible curriculum meets pupils' needs. Pupils enjoy positive relationships with their teachers and engage productively in their work because teaching is typically effective. Across the school, teachers are proactive in promoting pupils' use and understanding of subject-specific terminology.

High-quality training and mentoring for teachers help promote improvements to the quality... of teaching and learning. Leaders have robust systems for monitoring the quality of provision and putting in place interventions, for example to improve pupils' behaviour. Leaders ensure that pupils are safe and secure, both at school and for those attending alternative provision.

Pupils behave well, both in lessons and around the school site. The school has taken effective action to reduce the number of pupils who are given a fixed-term exclusion over the past two years. Pupils benefit from an effective programme of careers education that prepares them well for the next stage of their education, training or employment.

Leaders are diligent in their efforts to engage with parents and carers, especially those who speak English as an additional language. Some variability remains in the quality of teaching in some subjects, for example in the quality of teachers' questioning to assess understanding and bring challenge. Provision in science is not as strong as in some other subjects.

The low reading ability of some pupils is a barrier to their learning. The progress of disadvantaged pupils, although improving, continues to be below that of other pupils within the school. Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough.

Too many disadvantaged pupils are persistently absent from school.

Information about this school

The principal has been in post since 2014. The school is an average-sized secondary school.

The school became an academy in February 2013 and part of the Academy Transformation Trust in April 2013. There have been changes to governance structures since the school joined the trust. Responsibility for governance rests with the trust board.

Some responsibilities are delegated to the local academy committee, which works closely with the school. The school has a vertical tutoring system and is split into four houses, each one led by a head of house. The school is part of the Ipswich Opportunity Area.

The school uses several alternative providers. These are Lindbergh Campus, Parkside Academy, Chantry Academy, Alderwood Academy, St Aubyn Centre and Poplar Adolescent Centre. One third of the school's pupils speak English as an additional language, which is above average.

Up to 15% of pupils in year groups join the school after the beginning of Year 7. The school has pupils from 15 out of 17 possible ethnic groups, which is above the national average. The school participates in two Erasmus projects with a Romanian and a Lithuanian school.

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