a school not in a category of concern of Washington Academy

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Victoria Carter Headteacher Washington Academy Spout Lane Washington Tyne and Wear NE37 2AA

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Academy

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 19 February 2025, on behalf of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Academy

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school's key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school's progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school's previous graded inspection.

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Academy

During the inspection, I discussed with you, other senior leaders, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the trust and the chair of the board of trustees the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I visited lessons, spoke with pupils and staff and scrutinised the school’s development planning and self-evaluation documents. I also looked at the school’s safeguarding records, including the single central record. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the last inspection, the school has appointed a deputy headteacher with responsibility for the quality of education. This member of staff took up post in September 2024.

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Main findings

The quality of education is improving. Teachers receive high-quality professional development in both how and what to teach. Subject leaders receive the training and development they need to lead improvement in their subject areas. The school has strengthened further its approach to literacy and sustained its central focus on reading. Teachers have a secure subject knowledge. They present new information clearly and structure lessons well. However, the school is aware that further work is required to ensure that teachers adapt their teaching to meet all pupils’ needs.

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Main findings

The school, supported by the trust, has acted with appropriate rigour and urgency to address the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Trustees hold school leaders to account systematically. A raising achievement board, that includes trust and school leaders, meets regularly to evaluate the impact of the school’s work in improving pupils’ key stage 4 outcomes and to determine further action. The trust provides the school with additional leadership capacity and with subject specialist teachers in subjects with staffing shortages. Support from the trust is having a positive impact on the quality of the school’s provision.

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Main findings

The school prioritises attendance. It is addressing high levels of absence in a comprehensive, multi-layered and intelligent manner. It knows and understands the barriers to good attendance that individual pupils face. It works with pupils, parents and carers, and the wider community to remove those barriers. The school is improving attendance and reducing levels of persistent absence. However, levels of absence are still high. The school shows a relentless determination to improve attendance further.

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Main findings

The school engages with a wide range of external partners. These organisations support the school’s work with regard to leadership, the quality of education and attendance. The school values the support that these external partners provide.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, and the CEO of the Consilium Academies trust, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Sunderland. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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