Blackwater Academy

Inspection of Blackwater Academy 14 Riverside Drive, Stechford, Birmingham B33 9BF

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Inspection dates: 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this very welcoming school. They appreciate that staff take time to listen to them. Pupils feel safe and they quickly improve their attendance. For some pupils, this is the first time they have attended a school regularly for many years. The school treats pupils as individuals and values their contributions to keeping the school a safe place to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school aims to ensure that pupils achieve well. The curriculum sets out what pupils will learn. However, some staff do not have the subject knowledge and training they need to deliver the curriculum effectively. As a result, pupils do not receive an education that helps them achieve well across all subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school successfully helps pupils who are at risk of exclusion from their mainstream school to learn more positive ways of behaving. These changes in behaviour happen quickly because staff form positive relationships with pupils and have clear expectations about how they expect pupils to behave. Pupils try hard to behave well in class and are respectful of each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value school trips and well-being walks. Some pupils recount that this is the first school to let them go on trips. These trips help to enrich the curriculum.

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better?

The proprietor and other school leaders have a clear vision to ensure that pupils who are struggling to access education get another chance to re-engage with learning. Staff share this vision and help to make sure that it becomes a reality. Many pupils do return successfully to a mainstream school or other setting. Leaders do what they can to support staff’s well-being and help them manage their workload. For example, they give additional time to staff to complete work if they need it. The staff appreciate what leaders do to help them and the things they do to show their appreciation for them.

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better?

The school has a broad curriculum. In most subjects, the school has identified what pupils should learn in each year group. However, teachers’ subject knowledge is often weak. In addition, some do not have the appropriate expertise to teach the curriculum well. Pupils are regularly overloaded with confusing information. Often, pupils do not get sufficient time to process information or to respond to questions or tasks. At times, this results in pupils quietly opting out of learning and not achieving well in these subjects.

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better?

Teachers check what pupils have learned. However, teachers do not make effective use of this information so as to inform what pupils will learn next. This means that for some pupils the task is too easy, and for some it is too difficult. The school identifies pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities. These pupils receive extra support and guidance. However, sometimes the school does not identify the specific help these pupils need to access the curriculum. As a result, these pupils do 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025 not receive a curriculum tailored to meet their needs, which limits how successfully they learn.

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better?

Following the previous inspection, the school trained some staff in the skills that they needed to help pupils become better readers. However, the school has not maintained the improvements it originally made to the teaching of early reading. Currently, staff do not have the expertise, support or resources to help pupils improve their reading. Some pupils do not have the knowledge they need to tackle new words. They lack the confidence they need to read in the wider curriculum subjects. This limits their future opportunities and access to accreditation routes.

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better?

The proprietor and other leaders check what happens at school. They make sure that most of the independent school standards are met, for example safeguarding and attendance. However, checks on how well teachers teach the curriculum do not accurately identify when staff need extra support and training. It also means that the proprietor does not have an accurate view of how well pupils learn the curriculum. As a result, the proprietor and leaders have not ensured that the school meets some of the independent school standards relating to the quality of education. The proprietor ensures the school complies with Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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better?

Everyone in this school takes responsibility for supporting pupils to behave appropriately. Pupils know and follow routines. For example, they hand in their phones on arrival without fuss. Pupils are helped to understand the choices they can make to keep themselves safe. They learn about gangs and how this sometimes relates to different postcodes. The mentoring team plays an integral part in helping pupils behave appropriately. The school quickly challenges pupils with low attendance. This helps pupils to rapidly improve their attendance.

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better?

The school caters well for pupils’ broader development. It has thought carefully about what pupils need to learn in the curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education. Pupils enjoy this learning. Well-being walks help them discuss sensitive, but important, issues such as knife crime, bullying, gender and sexuality.

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better?

Pupils learn about different careers and the qualifications they might need for these. This is through specific lessons, special days, and visits to colleges and workplaces.

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better?

The school has a well-considered framework that identifies what it wants pupils to experience and understand about different cultures and religions. Pupils have many opportunities to engage in interesting activities and to participate in visits. For example, the school has created music workshop days and participating in the football team is a popular choice for many pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The school does not use formative or summative assessment effectively. As a result, it does not have an accurate view of how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum or what their next steps in learning should be. This limits pupils’ progress through the curriculum. The school should ensure that assessment is used to inform future learning activities.  Teachers’ subject knowledge is often weak, and some do not have the expertise to teach the curriculum well. As a result, many pupils are not securing their knowledge before moving on to new learning. The school should ensure that teachers have the subject and pedagogical knowledge they need to deliver the curriculum well.  The school does not have the expertise or resources to support pupils who need help at the early stages of learning to read. This means that pupils are not gaining the important knowledge and skills that they need to become confident

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

readers. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise and resources they need to support pupils to learn to read well.  Although pupils are in classrooms, some staff do not ensure that they engage pupils in their learning well enough. When this is the case, pupils often switch off and miss important information that they need to complete the tasks set. As a result, pupils often produce little or no work and they often have a poor recollection of the learning from previous lessons. The school should support pupils to be attentive in lessons and find ways to re-engage pupils who switch off in the lesson.

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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. 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £16,000 to £45,000

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School details

Email address info@blackwateracademy.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 to 28 April 2022 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025

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Information about this school

 Blackwater Academy offers places for pupils aged 11 to 20 years. At the time of the inspection, there was a very small number of post-16 students in the school.  The school operates from 14 Riverside Drive, Stechford, Birmingham B33 9BF.  The previous standard inspection took place on 26 to 28 April 2022. Since then, there has been a material change inspection on 22 November 2023.  The school provides education for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.  Many pupils only attend the school for a short period of time and sometimes for specific days as part of an alternative provision made by their school and local authority. Pupils are admitted to the school through a number of different local authorities, including Stoke City and Solihull.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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Information about this inspection

The school has failed to meet the independent school standards. These are the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspection started on 11 February 2025. It was paused in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. Inspectors returned on 25 February 2025 to complete the inspection.  Inspectors held meetings with members of the proprietor body, the headteacher and other senior leaders.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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.  The lead inspector made a tour of the school to check the suitability of the

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Information about this inspection

premises and accommodation against the relevant standards.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, science and history. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025 visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including school policies and attendance information.  The inspectors considered responses to Ofsted Parent View and to Ofsted’s online staff survey.

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Inspection team

Amanda Green, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Tracey O’Keeffe-Pullan Ofsted Inspector 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if- – 2(1)(a) the proprietor ensures that a written policy on the curriculum, supported by appropriate plans and schemes of work, which provides for the matters specified in sub-paragraph (2) is drawn up and implemented effectively.  2(2) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(1)(a), the matters are- – 2(2)(h) that all pupils have the opportunity to learn and make progress.  3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school- – 3(a) enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught; – 3(b) fosters in pupils self-motivation, the application of intellectual, physical and creative effort, interest in their work and the ability to think and learn for themselves; – 3(c) involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

management of class time; – 3(d) shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the pupils, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons; – 3(e) demonstrates good knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being taught; and – 3(g) demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess pupils’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that pupils can progress.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34(1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school- – 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; and – 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. 11 February, 25 and 26 February 2025 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

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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