Severndale Specialist Academy

Inspection of Severndale Specialist Academy Woodcote Way, Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY2 5SH

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Inspection dates: 19 and 20 November 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Sixth-form provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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The executive principal of this school is Lucy Lee. This school is part of the Learning Community Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Jane Hughes, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Kevin Barton. 19 and 20 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s vision of ‘enabling communication, independence and enjoyment for life’ is at the heart of everything it does for pupils. This helps to prepare pupils well to become valued members of society. The ‘Severndale Way’ ensures that there is a strong and consistent focus on supporting pupils to communicate their thoughts and learning. This means that children, pupils and students from the early years through to the post-16 provision have a voice in their learning and the pathways they follow. It also ensures that pupils can express their feelings. This helps staff to quickly identify and respond to any concerns about pupils’ safety and welfare.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve. It has developed a curriculum that enables pupils to successfully work towards and achieve these expectations. Staff know and understand each pupil’s pastoral needs very well, which enables them to help pupils engage positively with their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love coming to school and eagerly enter to be greeted by warm and welcoming staff. The positive relationships between staff and pupils are clear to see. This helps to create a calm environment where pupils display positive behaviours. A range of wider activities successfully develop pupils’ independence, sense of belonging and responsibility.

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

The school has redesigned the curriculum with a focus on ensuring that pupils are helped to succeed to the best of their ability. Communication is a key focus across the curriculum, and this helps pupils to access learning successfully across the wide range of subjects that they study. Basic skills are introduced in the early years and pupils build on these in carefully planned steps. For example, pupils in key stage 3 play competitive ball games skilfully because of the basic ball skills they develop in the early years. Teachers’ checks on pupils’ learning identify any gaps, which are then addressed before pupils access new learning.

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

The curriculum also includes a range of practical learning experiences that help prepare post-16 students for adulthood. These include workplace learning and basic home skills. This is a strength of the school. Across the different ‘learning pathways’, pupils achieve ambitious qualifications, including GCSEs. The school takes care to ensure that pupils have a range of quality careers information and guidance that enables them to move on to successful and meaningful placements and experiences after school.

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

Typically, pupils achieve well across the curriculum. However, there are some minor inconsistencies in the way that the curriculum is delivered from class to class. The school has not picked up on and addressed these issues as well as it could have. Consequently, at times, pupils do not achieve as well as they might.

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

Pupils develop their reading skills well. Staff’s determination that all pupils will learn to read pays off. As pupils progress through primary, secondary and on to sixth form, the focus on learning to read remains a key part of their learning. This starts in the early 19 and 20 November 2024

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years, where children grasp the basics through rhyme and sounds. Pupils then secure key phonics skills that lay the foundations for successful reading. Staff are quick to spot any gaps in pupils’ knowledge and provide extra help to close these gaps. The school also promotes a love of reading, and this helps to widen pupils’ understanding of a range of different texts.

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The school has adopted a positive approach to helping pupils learn how to manage their behaviour. This starts in the early years, where children quickly learn to follow routines. As pupils progress through the school, staff build on this and help pupils to develop skills to manage their emotions. This prepares pupils well for their move into sixth form and adulthood. Positive relationships between staff and pupils enhance this, along with specialist advice from wider agencies. Pupils learn and socialise together in a calm environment. The school supports and challenges families effectively to ensure that their children attend school regularly.

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The school enhances the curriculum with wider learning opportunities. These include activities in the community and trips to places of cultural significance, such as London. All pupils at the Mary Webb satellite benefit from participating in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, including how to travel independently. The range of activities help pupils to develop a sense of belonging and responsibility in the community.

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The school has taken effective action to review every pupil’s education, health and care (EHC) plan. However, the school does not consistently use these EHC plans well enough to formulate targets that help pupils progress through the curriculum. Targets, developed from pupils’ EHC plans, are sometimes too general and do not reflect pupils’ specific needs. This means that some staff do not have a precise enough understanding of the steps they need to take to best support pupils with their individual academic and pastoral needs.

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The trust has supported the school effectively to make significant improvements over the last two years. It has established a stable and effective leadership team and staffing structure. The trust has considered carefully staff’s workload and well-being when making changes to the curriculum and school organisation. Staff appreciate this, along with the training they have received to enable them to enact changes. The whole school community understands the school’s vision and works harmoniously together to realise it. This has resulted in considerable improvements to pupils’ achievements across the school. Parents and carers also recognise these improvements. They appreciate the care and support their children receive. Many parents reported how happy, settled and valued this makes their children feel.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 19 and 20 November 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 At times, the school has not ensured that objectives on pupils’ EHC plans are reflected as well in practice as they could be because targets on individual pupils’ plans are not specific enough. As a result, teachers do not provide the precise support that pupils need to enable them to achieve as well as they might. The school should ensure that targets developed from pupils’ EHC plans support them to meet specific needs and enable pupils to achieve highly across all areas of the curriculum.  The school’s checks on the curriculum are not focused well enough on how effectively it is being implemented by teachers. Consequently, the school is not identifying where some areas of curriculum implementation need further development. The school should ensure that the checks made on the curriculum are carefully focused to identify areas of inconsistency so that appropriate support can be put in place.

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How can I feed back my views?

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). 19 and 20 November 2024

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School details

School category Academy special sponsor-led

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form

Dates of previous inspection 15 and 16 March 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection there have been significant changes to the leadership of the school, including changes in the trust leadership.  The school is part of the Learning Community Trust.  The school operates a nursery provision on the Monkmoor site, including provision for two-year-olds. At the time of the inspection, there were no children in the nursery provision.  There is a 16 to 19 provision for students with moderate learning difficulties which is based at a local college. The school also operates a satellite provision at a local secondary school, which offers a key stage 3 and key stage 4 provision for pupils with moderate learning difficulties. 19 and 20 November 2024

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 All pupils have an EHC plan. The school caters for pupils with a broad range of special educational needs and/or disabilities. These include speech, language and communication needs, medical needs, physical disabilities, social and emotional difficulties and autism spectrum disorder.  At the time of the inspection, the school was not making use of any alternative provision.  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. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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.  The inspection started on 5 November 2024 when the inspection was announced. It was paused in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. Inspectors returned on 19 and 20 November 2024 to complete the inspection.  Inspectors met with the executive principal, vice and assistant principals, the designated safeguarding lead, the special educational needs co-ordinator and subject leaders.  Inspectors also met with representatives of the trust, including the chair of the board of trustees and a trustee, the CEO, the director of education linked to the school, the chair of the local governing board and the governor with responsibility for

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Information about this inspection

safeguarding.  The lead inspector met with two representatives of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: communication and language, reading, mathematics, physical development and personal social, health and economic education. 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 other subjects and how pupils and students are prepared for adulthood.  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 19 and 20 November 2024

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors considered the parent free-text comments and the responses to Ofsted Parent View. Inspectors also considered the responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Ann Pritchard, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Melanie Callaghan-Lewis Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Pete Hines Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 November 2024

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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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