Highfield Leadership Academy

Inspection of Highfield Leadership Academy Highfield Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY4 3JZ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The principal of this school is Anand Patel. This school is part of Star Academies, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Sir Hamid Patel CBE, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Kamruddin Kothia OBE. There is also an executive principal, Shahina Ahmad OBE, who is responsible for this school and four other schools within the trust. 12 and 13 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Some pupils readily embrace the wealth of opportunities that the school provides, particularly opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Pupils spoke convincingly about how well they are supported by staff. Pupils appreciate that their views are represented by the school council and taken into consideration when decisions about school life are made. The school offers a range of clubs. For example, some pupils participate in a cookery course at a local college. Others enjoy getting active in badminton.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has created an environment where pupils feel safe and happy. At the school’s entrance, staff greet pupils warmly. However, many pupils are persistently absent despite the school’s efforts to encourage them to attend.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils generally behave well in lessons. They mostly follow the school’s rules diligently. Pupils are typically respectful to their peers and to their teachers. However, with the introduction of a new behaviour policy, the number of occasions in which a small minority of pupils are internally excluded because of poor behaviour has risen over time.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s expectations of what pupils should achieve are rising. The trust has supported the school to considerably strengthen the curriculum offer. However, the delivery of the curriculum is variable across year groups and subjects. As a result, many pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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better?

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum. The trust has provided extensive training for teachers, which has improved their subject knowledge and approaches to teaching. Some teachers are using their refreshed knowledge to deliver subject curriculums well. However, this is not the case for all subjects. At times, teachers do not design learning that enables pupils to understand the subject content of the curriculum. Some of the activities that teachers provide do not enable pupils to build a deep understanding of the subjects that they study.

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better?

There is an unevenness in how well teachers use assessment strategies to check on pupils’ learning. Now and then, assessment tasks do not allow teachers to identify pupils’ understanding of facts well enough. At other times, assessment strategies are not used effectively to identify and address gaps in pupils’ understanding. In addition, teachers do not use assessment information consistently well to either move pupils’ learning on or to ensure that gaps in knowledge are remedied. Some pupils struggle to connect their ideas. Often this is because their prior knowledge is not secure. Consequently, some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve well.

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better?

There is a calm atmosphere in the school. Most pupils are polite and helpful. A high staff presence, for example, at lesson change over and during social times, gently 12 and 13 March 2024

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encourages pupils to behave well. Typically, there is a consistent approach to managing pupils’ behaviour and most pupils respond well to this.

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Despite the many actions that the school has put in place to raise pupils’ attendance, absence rates have increased over time. This matches the picture in the local area. Many pupils miss a considerable proportion of their education. Furthermore, these pupils do not benefit from the extensive offer that is in place to support their personal development.

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The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND accurately and shares this information with staff. Generally, pupils with SEND have their needs met successfully. In key stage 3, pupils who find reading difficult are supported well to catch up. However, the same level of support is not given to pupils in key stage 4 who are in the early stages of reading. These pupils, therefore, struggle to access the curriculum. This hinders their achievement.

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The school offers a wide range of opportunities to match pupils’ different interests. For instance, pupils can take up roles such as Highfield helpers, eco-champions and anti-bullying ambassadors. They have a secure understanding of the rich diversity in society. For instance, pupils enjoy sampling cuisine from other cultures. There is a comprehensive careers programme that builds pupils’ knowledge of different careers. This helps to prepare them well for their next steps.

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Staff are proud to work at this school and they feel valued. They said that staff workload is well considered. For example, designing learning alongside other colleagues has helped to ease their workload.

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Trustees have not ensured that the school has made sufficient progress since the last inspection. Despite the strengthened curriculum, the trust’s and the school’s evaluation of the quality of education is overgenerous. It does not pinpoint sufficiently well the deficiencies in the delivery of the curriculum. Therefore, weaknesses in the quality of education persist.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Many pupils do not attend school regularly. The number of pupils who are absent and persistently absent has risen over time. These pupils miss out on their learning and the gaps in their knowledge widen over time. They also do not benefit from the array of wider opportunities to support their personal development. The school should review its work with parents, pupils and external agencies in order to successfully raise attendance rates. 12 and 13 March 2024

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 Pupils in key stage 4, who find reading difficult, do not receive the support that they need to overcome gaps in their reading knowledge. This hinders how well they can achieve across the curriculum. The school should make sure that struggling readers receive effective support to enable them to read with fluency and accuracy.  The curriculum is not implemented consistently well across different subjects and year groups. Some teachers do not design suitable learning activities to help pupils to learn the content of the curriculum. This hinders some pupils from being able to build on their prior learning and to develop a deep understanding of the subjects that they study. The school should ensure that teachers are suitably supported to design learning that matches the ambition of the curriculum.  Some teachers do not use assessment strategies effectively to check what pupils know. As a result, gaps in their learning are not addressed. This means that some

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pupils struggle to build on their prior learning and to recall their learning over time. This hampers how well they achieve. The school should ensure that teachers check what pupils have learned and use this information to overcome gaps in their knowledge.

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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.

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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). 12 and 13 March 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 13 and 14 July 2021, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 A new principal has been appointed since the previous inspection.  The school makes use of four registered and two unregistered alternative providers.  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.  The school is part of the Star Academies multi-academy trust.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 12 and 13 March 2024

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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 carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, science, mathematics, modern foreign languages, art and design and geography. 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 discussed the curriculum in some 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.

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 The inspectors met with the principal, senior leaders, the CEO’s delegates, a governor, a representative of the local authority and staff.  Inspectors spoke to groups of pupils from Years 7 to 11 about their experience of school and their views on behaviour and bullying. Inspectors also observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text responses. They also considered the responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff and pupils.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s self- evaluation document, the annual operating statement, minutes of local accountability board meetings and records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Jenny Jones, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Rebecca Sharples His Majesty's Inspector 12 and 13 March 2024

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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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