Abbeywood Community School

Inspection of Abbeywood Community School New Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8SF

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

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The head teacher of this school is Benjamin Dilley. This school is part of Olympus Academy 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), Dave Baker, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Sarah Williams. 18 and 19 March 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at Abbeywood Community School. They value the warm, supportive relationships they have with members of staff. This helps pupils to engage with learning and achieve well. The school has high expectations for pupils’ social, emotional, physical and academic development.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have positive attitudes to learning. In lessons and around the school, pupils behave very well. They know the routines of school and are punctual to lessons. They demonstrate empathy, politeness and kindness towards each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Through the curriculum, pupils have an impressive breadth of cultural, sporting and artistic opportunities. For example, pupils can participate in enrichment activities such as rounders, creative writing and crafts.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Sixth-form students value the extensive number of subjects they can study. For example, they have the opportunity to study subjects such as game design, criminology and engineering. They are positive about the support they receive to achieve well. In 2024, students achieved very well in a range of subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Across the curriculum, pupils learn about life beyond school. For example, they learn about the importance of freedom of speech through class discussions.

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

The school is led well. Leaders’ vision and relentless focus on developing the quality of education is shared by staff. The curriculum is well structured, enabling pupils to build progressively on their prior knowledge as they move through the school. The curriculum is academically ambitious. Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong. This means that pupils, including sixth-form students, acquire a breadth of knowledge about their respective subjects. Across the school, staff ensure that pupils remember what they have learned through frequent recap of prior learning. However, in a few areas, teachers do not address gaps in some pupils’ knowledge through adapting the teaching of the curriculum. Consequently, a minority of pupils do not learn some subjects as well as they could.

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

Reading is prioritised across the school. Pupils routinely engage in whole class reading of novels. For instance, pupils were observed engrossed in listening to their teacher read ‘Private Peaceful’ by Michael Morpurgo. The school has established an effective literacy programme to support pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), who struggle with reading and writing. In all subject areas, staff teach the reading and writing requirements of their respective subjects well. As a result, pupils are well supported to learn and write about their knowledge with accuracy and maturity.

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

Sixth-form students are positive about the quality of provision at the school. Through careful management of transport between the sixth-form sites, students are supported well. Students value the bespoke opportunities to develop their knowledge of further education, apprenticeships and employment. They receive effective guidance which 18 and 19 March 2025

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ensures that students are well prepared for their next steps. Students develop strong leadership skills through participation in the leadership group and supporting younger readers in the school. Students have been enabled to support the development of the sixth form provision. For example, they worked closely with the school to provide more study spaces and computers.

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Pupils with SEND receive strong pastoral and academic support. The school identifies their needs well and appropriate, personalised support is in place. Pupils are happy and fully integrated into the life of the school.

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Pupils’ attendance is strong. They value the importance of education in enabling them to access their next steps. However, some pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding do not attend as regularly as they should. Consequently, these pupils miss a lot of the educational and pastoral opportunities that the school offers.

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The guidance about careers, apprenticeships and further education is detailed and informative. The school is innovative in using the many industries in the local area to support pupils’ knowledge about the world beyond school. For example, pupils have opportunities to visit many engineering businesses near the school. Pupils also benefit from local industries providing work experience and interview practice.

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The school offers a breadth of enrichment opportunities such as theatre trips and visits to local cultural icons. This prepares pupils well to engage with the world around them.

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The school and the trust work collaboratively to enhance and enrich the academic and pastoral curriculum. Governance is strong. Governors and trustees challenge and support the school’s work in equal measure. Staff are overwhelmingly proud to work at the school. The school supports their workload and well-being well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, staff do not adapt the teaching of the curriculum to address the gaps that some pupils have in their knowledge. Consequently, these pupils do not learn as well as they could. The school must ensure that staff in all subjects use assessment information about what pupils know and do not know to plan adaptions to the teaching of the curriculum so that pupils learn successfully.  Some pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding do not attend school regularly. This means that they miss out on the educational and pastoral provision at the school. The 18 and 19 March 2025

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school should work closely with parents and carers so that these pupils attend school regularly and catch up on the education they have missed.

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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). 18 and 19 March 2025

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provision

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,237

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form

Date of previous inspection 19 and 20 November 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a part of The Olympus Academy Trust.  The school manages a specially resourced provision for 24 pupils with SEND, specifically for speech and language needs and/or autism, on behalf of the local authority. All have education, health and care plans.  The sixth-form provision takes place across three schools, including Abbeywood Community School, that belong to the Olympus Trust.  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. 18 and 19 March 2025

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 The school uses two registered alternative provisions and two unregistered alternative provisions.

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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.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher and members of the leadership team.  An inspector held discussions with members of the board of trustees, including the chair of the board of trustees and the CEO. An inspector also held a discussion with a member of the local governing body.  Inspectors conducted deep dives in modern foreign languages, science, design technology, English and geography.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  Inspectors met with staff to consider their views.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central

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Information about this inspection

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 the views of parents and carers who responded to the confidential questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View. They evaluated the views of staff from the Ofsted online questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Susan Aykin, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Rob Coles Ofsted Inspector 18 and 19 March 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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