The Keystone Academy

Inspection of The Keystone Academy Squinter Pip Way, Shrewsbury SY5 8PY

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Inspection dates: 28 and 29 January 2025

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

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Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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The headteacher of this school is Alison Bellaby. This school is part of Youth Engagement Schools 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), Nic Brindle, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Robert Halsall. 28 and 29 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ best interests lie at the heart of this caring and vibrant school. The Keystone Academy is a new school with a big heart. Pupils are safe and happy here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils join at different points of their education. Many begin with negative prior experiences and interrupted learning. At the start, pupils may need immediate support with their emotions and social interactions. The staff are highly skilled and expert at supporting pupils to settle and manage their behaviours positively. Furthermore, pupils’ mental health and well-being are supported effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships across the whole school community are respectful and nurturing. Pupils hold their teachers in high regard. Pupils behave well. On some occasions when bullying occurs, this is dealt with promptly and sensitively. The school supports pupils to understand how their behaviours impact on others. Consequently, this careful approach and support leads to pupils’ behaviours improving over time.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s motto, ‘be yourself, be brilliant’, is promoted well. Pupils’ individuality and differences are celebrated here. Pupils told inspectors how they feel valued, understood and how for some they feel for the first time that they belong somewhere.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is highly ambitious and aspirational for what pupils can achieve.

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

Since the school opened, there have been several changes. This includes moving to a new building, and the number of pupils has grown significantly. Nevertheless, the trust and school have ensured that pupils have settled and been well prepared as new pupils join this growing school.

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

During this period, the school has designed a curriculum with the needs of pupils in mind. For example, in personal, social and health education (PSHE), there is a sharp focus on preparing pupils for life outside of school, such as online safety, healthy relationships and visits to restaurants and shops. However, there are parts of the curriculum which are not yet developed well enough. The school has not identified the essential knowledge and skills that it wants pupils to learn and in what order in all parts of the curriculum. This is particularly the case in the primary phase of the school. In addition, the curriculum in the secondary phase does not build on the learning of pupils in the primary phase. This means that pupils have a disjointed learning experience as they move between the two phases. However, the school has identified this issue and is working to improve this area.

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

The school prioritises reading across the school. All pupils are assessed in their reading from the start. Effective strategies and interventions are in place. This helps pupils to catch up quickly. Some pupils do not have a positive view of reading when they first join the school. This changes over time. Pupils benefit from well-resourced book corners in classrooms and in the new library. Consequently, more pupils enjoy reading and are becoming fluent readers. 28 and 29 January 2025

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There is some variability in how well staff deliver the curriculum. In lessons, such as art and design, new skills are demonstrated clearly to pupils. Subsequently, the learning activities pupils are expected to complete are clear and help pupils to secure new learning. However, in some other aspects of the school’s curriculum, subject matter is not delivered sharply enough. When this happens, some pupils do not understand how to complete their learning activities and pupils do not develop key knowledge and skills well enough.

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All pupils arrive with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. Systems for identifying the needs of pupils are secure. Staff receive regular and effective training to support the range of needs for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and across school is calm most of the time. Any disruption is dealt with calmly by staff. Pupils respond positively and quickly. Pupils are eager to learn. During breaktimes, pupils have a range of activities to engage with. These include board games, football and playground equipment. Pupils are happy to spend time chatting to adults and to each other. The school is taking effective action to improve the attendance of pupils.

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Pupils’ personal development is very well supported. This is a strength of the school. Pupils are supported to understand their own thoughts and emotions. This helps to prepare them well for their future. Pupils enjoy a range of well-thought-out activities that widen their experiences. For example, they develop new skills when taking part in residential visits and raising money for local charities. Older pupils benefit from effective careers guidance. The school sets high aspirations for pupils’ futures in career, education or employment. Consequently, pupils have high expectations for themselves.

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Trustees are highly supportive of the school. They work closely together to share the high aspirations and vision that they have for pupils here. Trustees strive to offer the best possible experiences for pupils and are determined to ensure that their ambitions for pupils are realised.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum in the secondary phase of the school does not build coherently from the primary phase. This means that as pupils move between the two key stages, they experience disjointed education, as learning does not build on prior knowledge sufficiently well enough. The school should develop and implement a curriculum offer where pupils experience a greater coherence between the two phases of the school. 28 and 29 January 2025

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 In parts of the curriculum, particularly in the primary phase, the school does not develop some subject areas as well as others. The key knowledge, skills and vocabulary that the school want pupils to learn are not identified or sequenced in a clear and coherent way. This slows down pupils’ learning of important information. The school should ensure that it identifies the specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary it wants pupils to learn and remember in each area of the curriculum.  There is some variability in how well the school delivers the content of the curriculum. At times, some subject matter is not presented clearly or sharply enough. When this occurs, pupils are not clear about how to complete their learning activities. They do not learn some key knowledge and skills as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff have the skills and expertise to help pupils to benefit fully from the school’s

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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). 28 and 29 January 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This is the first inspection since the school opened in September 2022. The provision moved to the current location in November 2023. Pupil numbers have grown significantly since the school first opened.  Provision for early years and key stage 1 commenced in September 2024, with a small number of children and pupils.  The Keystone Academy is one of seven schools in the Youth Engagement Schools Trust, also known as the YES Trust.  The Keystone Academy is a specialist provider for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. The provision also includes pupils with communication and interaction needs and autism spectrum condition. All pupils have an education, health and care plan.  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 school

 The school make use of five unregistered alternative provisions. 28 and 29 January 2025

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, assistant headteachers, subject leaders, staff and pupils. Inspectors also met other leaders in the trust. The lead inspector met with the chair of the trust and another member of the trust board. Inspectors also talked with parents.  The lead inspector met with the CEO and other trust leaders to discuss school improvement.  The lead inspector met with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in English, including early reading, art and design and PSHE. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum, visited a sample of

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Information about this inspection

lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also looked at the work of the school in some additional subjects, including mathematics and computing.  Inspectors looked at a sample of individual education plans for pupils with SEND.  Inspectors observed pupils reading to a familiar adult.  Inspectors spoke to groups of pupils, formally and informally, about their learning and experiences at school.  Inspectors observed pupils at informal times, including to evaluate pupils’ behaviour.  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 considered responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included free-text

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Information about this inspection

comments. Inspectors also looked at responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation provided by the school. This included the school’s self-evaluation, school policies, curriculum documents and SEND records.

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Inspection team

Anna Vrahimi, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Janet Lewis Ofsted Inspector 28 and 29 January 2025

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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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