Nottingham Girls' Academy

Inspection of Nottingham Girls’ Academy Robin’s Wood Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG8 3LD

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Sixth-form provision Outstanding Previous inspection grade Good

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The executive principal of this school is David Tungate. This school is part of Greenwood Academies Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Wayne Norrie, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Mike Hamlin. 7 and 8 November 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Nottingham Girls’ Academy is an inclusive school that provides an exceptional and broad education. The school serves a diverse community and provides a welcoming environment where all pupils flourish. Pupils are very happy to attend the school. They enjoy mutually respectful relationships with caring staff. Older pupils are proud to act as role models and mentors for their younger peers.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has the very highest expectations for what all pupils can achieve. The wide range of subjects and courses on offer have been well chosen to match pupils’ interests and aspirations. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive excellent support. Pupils achieve exceptionally well. Students in the sixth form benefit from a curriculum designed to precisely meet their individual needs. Many go on to aspirational destinations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school supports pupils’ wider personal development remarkably well. Pupils maturely and enthusiastically discuss issues such as race, religion and gender equality. Some pupils have formed an ‘equalities group’ that actively campaigns for social justice, including lobbying local politicians. Many pupils benefit from opportunities to pursue their sporting or artistic talents. All pupils receive excellent careers guidance from a wide range of sources including colleges, universities and employers.

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better?

The curriculum is rich and highly ambitious. Subject curriculums identify precisely the knowledge that pupils need to learn and remember. They are structured to ensure that pupils build on what they already know towards increasingly challenging aims. The school has thought carefully about the wider knowledge that pupils should learn. This includes themes like diversity and equality, as well as cultural knowledge. These ideas are purposefully woven into the subject curriculums.

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better?

The curriculum is very well planned to meet the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language. Pupils with more complex needs benefit from ambitious personalised curriculum planning. There is a focus on literacy and building pupils’ vocabulary. Staff support pupils to develop their reading skills so that all can access the curriculum in full.

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better?

Knowledgeable staff consistently deliver the curriculum well. They explain and model new concepts clearly. Pupils benefit from frequent opportunities to recall prior learning. This helps them to remember what they have learned and make links to new knowledge. Staff expertly check pupils’ learning and address misconceptions quickly and accurately. They routinely adapt lesson activities to support all pupils to gain knowledge and develop skills. Pupils thrive. They enthusiastically discuss their learning and take pride in their work. 7 and 8 November 2023

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In the sixth form, staff know the students very well and routinely provide personalised learning activities. Lessons are challenging, but staff make sure that students have the knowledge and vocabulary they need to rise to the challenge. They encourage students to think deeply and stretch their understanding through clever questioning.

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The curriculum for personal, social and health education is exceptionally well planned and delivered. The topics are well chosen to reflect the issues that affect pupils. The school provides excellent support for pupils’ mental health. This includes advice for pupils to care for their own well-being, as well as excellent pastoral care and counselling when pupils need help.

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Pupils consistently demonstrate mature and positive attitudes in lessons and around school. Incidents of poor behaviour are rare. When they do happen, staff deal with them quickly and effectively. The school works tenaciously to promote high expectations for behaviour and attendance. Staff provide excellent support for a small number of pupils who struggle to meet these expectations.

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Pupils are very well prepared for their next steps in education and future careers. They receive impartial advice about the different options that are available to them. Students in the sixth form are very well supported to find out about universities and apprenticeships that interest them.

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The school provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities. All pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, benefit from these opportunities. Pupils enjoy trips that enhance their experience of the curriculum, such as a trip to Bletchley Park linked to mathematics and history. The school provides music lessons for many pupils. There are a variety of clubs that include a range of sports, dance, drama and debating.

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The school, supported by the multi-academy trust, has firmly established a culture of the very highest expectations. Staff are proud to work in the school. They work together to ensure that all pupils benefit from the rich, ambitious curriculum and broad set of experiences that the school offers.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 7 and 8 November 2023

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 7 and 8 November 2023

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sixth form

Principal David Tungate (Executive Principal)

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sixth form

Date of previous inspection 7 and 8 December 2021

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Greenwood Academies Trust.  The school uses nine alternative providers. Of these providers, four are registered and five are unregistered.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 7 and 8 November 2023

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 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the executive principal and other members of the senior leadership team.  The lead inspector met with leaders from the Greenwood Academies Trust, including the chief executive officer. The lead inspector spoke to the vice-chair of the board of trustees.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: mathematics, science, languages, performing arts and social sciences. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also visited a number of lessons and looked at pupils’ work in some

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other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at social times around the school.  Inspectors met with groups of pupils from a number of different year groups, including pupils with SEND, to hear about their experiences of the school.  Inspectors met with a range of teaching and non-teaching staff.  Inspectors considered responses to pupil and staff surveys, as well as responses to Ofsted Parent View.

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Inspection team

John Spragg, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Jayne Ashman His Majesty’s Inspector 7 and 8 November 2023

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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