Medeshamstede Academy

Inspection of Medeshamstede Academy Reeves Way, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE1 5LQ

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

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The principal of this school is Matthew Bloodworth-Flatt. This school is part of Greenwood Academies 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), Wayne Norrie, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Christine Hall. 23 and 24 April 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Across the school, there are inconsistencies in how well pupils learn. While some pupils receive high-quality provision, this is not the case for all. Too many pupils do not learn as well as they could due to inconsistencies in the way the curriculum is taught. The school has high expectations for pupils and wants them to do their best. While pupils’ behaviour has improved, they do not achieve as highly as they are capable of.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Warm relationships between staff and pupils are the cornerstone of the school. Pupils are valued and seen as individuals. They receive well-tailored support to help them with their social and emotional needs. As a result, the school is a calm and purposeful place for pupils. They enjoy spending time with friends, whether sitting and chatting quietly at lunchtime or playing games in the outdoor spaces.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The youngest children receive the support they need as they take their first steps into school. Older pupils benefit from work experience and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme to help them apply their growing ‘life skills’ in the real world. All pupils benefit greatly from the school’s forest area, which provides rich opportunities for pupils to take well-calculated risks.

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

Since the previous inspection, the school has made significant improvements. Important parts of the school’s work such as behaviour and readiness for life in the wider world have been prioritised. While the quality of education is not yet good, improvements to this area of the school’s work are having a positive impact. Leaders have plans to ensure that all pupils learn and achieve as well as they should.

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

When consideration is given to the information in each pupil’s education, health and care plan (EHC plan), the curriculum is adapted to the needs of the pupils, and they learn well. Ongoing checks on what pupils know and can do support pupils to build new knowledge and skills. However, this practice is not consistent across the school. Important information about what pupils know is not consistently considered. At times, pupils are asked to complete activities that do not help them to understand or apply new knowledge. This can cause them to develop misconceptions, which can be missed and not addressed. Not all pupils receive the quality of education they should.

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

The school is acutely aware of the importance of pupils learning to read. Teachers help pupils to learn phonics, which they do well. Staff are well trained to teach the school’s phonics programme. Some older pupils find reading difficult. Where this is the case, these pupils receive highly effective support to help them catch up. As pupils become more confident readers, they read more widely, accessing the rich and diverse range of books on offer in school.

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

Pupils behave well. They are well supported by staff to help them manage their feelings and emotions. Most of the time, the school is a calm and relaxed environment. Those who need extra help with their behaviour and emotions receive well-tailored guidance. 23 and 24 April 2025

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The school’s work over the past few years to improve attendance is having a positive impact. Pupils attend well. If a pupil starts to miss too much school, the school follows this up quickly with parents and carers. The school provides extremely helpful advice and support to ensure that a pupil’s attendance will improve to what it was.

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Pupils benefit from a well-considered personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum. They are enabled to see themselves as individuals and celebrate the difference between themselves and others. The school thinks carefully about when pupils are ready to learn particular content, especially regarding relationships and sex education. Pupils learn well in these areas, helping them to be ready for the challenges they will face in the wider world as they move into their next stage of education.

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Older pupils receive regular and useful careers information. This helps them to consider their next steps. Many pupils leave Year 11 and move to college to study courses such as motor mechanics or drama.

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Trustees, trust leaders and school leaders work in harmony. Support and challenge from the trust have played a significant role in bringing about improvement in many aspects of the school’s work since the previous inspection. Staff are proud to work at the school. They receive ever more useful training to help them sharpen their practice and continue to bring about improvements. Staff are fully behind the changes leaders have made, and continue to make, to provide the best education and care for pupils as they can.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The teaching of the curriculum is not delivered consistently well across the school. Some pupils do not learn the important knowledge and skills they need to prepare them for their next steps. The school should ensure that staff have the subject knowledge and skills they need to deliver the curriculum well to all pupils.  The school does not always use assessment information effectively to design learning activities and opportunities to meet the needs of pupils. At times, adaptations are not made to the curriculum for pupils who need them. As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they should. The school should ensure that information about what pupils know and can do is used to adapt the curriculum effectively to meet their needs.

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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 23 and 24 April 2025

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when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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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). 23 and 24 April 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 17 and 19 May 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Greenwood Academies Trust.  The school currently uses three unregistered alternative provisions.  All pupils at the school have an EHC plan. The school caters for pupils with a diagnosis of autism.  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  Although the school is registered to have children in the early years, at the time of the inspection there were few children on roll in this phase. As such, the inspectors did not to give a grade and report on the provision to avoid identifying individual children.  The principal joined the school in April 2025 at the same time as some other assistant principals took up their post. In the spring term, education directors from the trust took on the interim leadership of the school.

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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.  Inspectors held meetings with the principal, the deputy principal, the assistant principals and a range of other school staff. Inspectors held meetings with the chair of the trust board, the CEO and education directors from the trust.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, PSHE and creative arts (which encompass art, music and drama). 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.  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

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Information about this inspection

extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documents, including attendance records, pupil records, records of governing board meetings, school development plans and school self- evaluation documents.  Inspectors considered the responses to the online survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View, and Ofsted’s online staff survey.

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Inspection team

Nathan Lowe, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Alex Tomkins Ofsted Inspector 23 and 24 April 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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