Rise Academy

Rise Academy

Address: Fountain Road, Hull, HU2 0LH Unique reference number (URN): 144422

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Pupils make demonstrable improvements to their attendance from their starting points. This includes more vulnerable pupils, such as those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils who find attendance and punctuality more difficult get effective support to help improve this. Staff are not complacent. They work relentlessly and with sensitivity to support pupils to develop positive attendance routines over time and re-engage pupils with education.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Across school sites, the environment is routinely calm. Leaders ensure that behaviour is managed well. Staff apply well-embedded behaviour expectations that support positive staff and pupil relationships. Praise and reward are used to motivate pupils with great success. Low-level disruption is rare. Staff are swift to intervene and support pupils if it were to occur. As a result, pupils are confident to engage in learning and demonstrate positive attitudes to their education.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

If pupils struggle with their behaviour choices, staff provide targeted pastoral and behaviour support. Where necessary, staff adapt the curriculum to address sensitive behaviour topics and develop pupils’ understanding. This supports pupils to reflect and improve their behaviour. These are skills that equip pupils well for their next steps.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders prioritise inclusion. They rigorously monitor and evaluate the impact of their work to ensure that pupils benefit from highly effective and precise personalised support.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders are highly ambitious for all pupils. The school’s pupil premium strategy strengthens the educational provision for disadvantaged pupils. It enhances pupils' individual learning experiences and raises their aspirations for their future pathways and their access to future opportunities. Part of the success of this strategy lies in the provision of suitable alternative provision for bespoke learning such as motor vehicle maintenance and construction.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Well-trained staff identify pupils’ needs quickly and accurately when they join the school. As a result, pupils quickly settle into school life. Leaders and staff monitor pupils’ ongoing progress closely. This enables them to provide effective ‘waves of support’ as pupils' barriers to education change and evolve. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children in care receive targeted support through bespoke learning packages agreed with parents, carers, professionals and the pupil. Pupils value the strong relationships that they develop with staff who support their diverse needs well.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders understand their role locally to support pupils with SEND. The school works actively with the local authority to improve vulnerable pupils' engagement with education.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school’s highly inclusive culture is reflected in its approaches to personal development. All pupils benefit from the rich and extensive provision on offer. Leaders take proactive steps to ensure that all pupils can participate in enrichment and wider learning activities. They ensure that staff make reasonable adjustments and adaptations to accommodate pupils’ individual needs. This includes pupils in care and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They learn about online and local risks that they may face in the community. Pupils develop an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships and consent. They learn to become confident, resilient and independent learners who can reflect on their actions and respect the diversity of other pupils’ values. Notably, they learn to conduct themselves with integrity and cooperate effectively with their peers.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders encourage pupils to develop their future aspirations. Pupils experience a broad range of opportunities to learn about the available options for their next steps in education, employment and training. The school actively engages local employers. Employers provide work experience through workplace visits and engagement meetings. Pupils are well- informed about potential career paths they may follow. Pupils receive personalised careers advice. They attend careers fairs to understand the local employment landscape and the pathways to achieve their future ambitions.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils benefit from a broad range of activities to develop their talents and interests. These include access to sports leadership roles, the arts and dance. Some pupils receive personalised music tuition to learn how to play an instrument. Pupils develop their understanding of local governance and democracy well. They have observed debates in Hull Town Hall and visited the Houses of Parliament to learn about developing legislation. This equips pupils well with the knowledge and skills that they need beyond school.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils receive daily lessons to build their reading, writing and mathematics knowledge. Over time, pupils develop this foundational knowledge successfully and typically achieve well from their starting points. In general, pupils routinely progress to close any learning gaps they have.

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Achievement Expected standard

Reading is an important part of the curriculum. Those pupils that need additional support to improve their reading skills receive support to improve their phonics knowledge. A consistent phonics approach and successful whole-school reading programme support pupils to become confident readers.

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Achievement Expected standard

The school is successful in enabling pupils to achieve positive next steps in their education. Some pupils return to mainstream education or move to specialist placements. Those that stay at the school are typically well prepared for their next stage of education, employment or training. An increasing number of pupils at the school sit national examinations that include GCSEs. Many pupils achieve vocational accreditation that matches their future career aspirations.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have identified that many pupils join the school with gaps in learning. These include spoken language and reading. To meet these needs, the school’s curriculum has a deep focus on developing these areas of pupils' important foundational knowledge. The school is typically successful in closing these gaps.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The curriculum is well sequenced. Typically, staff deliver it skilfully and their subject knowledge and expertise support pupils to learn well. Staff are responsive to pupils' learning, using assessment information to identify adaptations and plan interventions effectively. This helps pupils to achieve well.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff receive regular support for their professional learning. This strengthens their subject knowledge and teaching delivery. Staff's detailed and accurate knowledge of pupils ensures they prepare pupils for their next steps in learning effectively. For older pupils, this includes qualifications to support them towards next steps in education, employment or training.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders are ambitious to further promote reading. They have introduced reading for pleasure across the school and an oracy programme to develop pupils’ spoken language. These are at the early stages of implementation.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have added capacity to the school’s leadership team. This is to further improve the quality of teaching in the school and check the impact of curriculum provision. This work is being embedded.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Many aspects of the school’s leadership and governance demonstrate strengths. There is much to celebrate. Leaders have secure oversight of each school site and prioritise what areas need to develop further. They have accurately identified where standards are not consistently strong across all areas of the school’s work. As a result, they have recently added leadership capacity to the school to focus on strengthening pupils' educational offer.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Those responsible for governance know the school well. They meet their statutory duties and have a strong vision for inclusion. The school has further strengthened its governance arrangements, adding increased educational experience to what they can offer. Leaders are effectively held to account for the performance of the school by trust committees. This includes regular reviews of the school’s performance and scrutiny from trust leaders. This informs leaders’ decision-making.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff value working at the school. They receive well-considered, regular professional learning. This offer includes development to strengthen curriculum delivery and ongoing safeguarding training to keep their knowledge sharp. Leaders ensure that staff members have manageable workloads and that their wellbeing is prioritised. Staff appreciate leaders’ accessibility and openness. Those staff members who are new to teaching speak highly of the support they receive.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The school engages positively with families of pupils who attend the school. Parents and carers speak highly of the school’s work to support them and their children. They recognise the positive impact of the school’s work on their children’s education and the support to re- engage them with learning.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils value the learning and support that they receive at Rise Academy. They benefit from a well-designed curriculum that is appropriate for their age and stage of learning. This is further personalised to meet their individual needs. This helps pupils get back on track with learning and builds important knowledge and skills over time. As a result, pupils are increasingly well prepared for their next stage in education, employment or training.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Typically, well-thought-out teaching and support helps most pupils overcome the barriers to learning that they may face. The school has a keen focus on developing pupils’ foundational knowledge, particularly reading and oracy, across a range of learning areas. This enables most pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with other vulnerabilities, to typically achieve well in school. An increasing number of pupils progress to take national examinations.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils arrive from a range of schools. Many have been out of education for considerable periods of time. Staff welcome each pupil warmly and get to know them individually. This helps pupils to develop a sense of belonging and helps them to begin to thrive in education. A notable number of pupils' attendance improves significantly. Staff are caring and responsive to pupils' needs. They are highly aware of the barriers to learning that pupils face.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Staff work tirelessly to develop pupils’ self-confidence. Pupils are encouraged to develop their independence and learn how to conduct themselves positively. They behave well. Staff settle pupils into school expertly each day. The school is calm and pupils are focused in lessons. This enables them to learn successfully. Pupils demonstrate respect for staff and other pupils. Pupils feel safe at each school site. They value the effective support they receive if there are instances of bullying. However, such instances are rare.

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Next steps

• Leaders should strengthen the consistency of curriculum delivery across school sites to ensure all pupils experience consistently high-quality teaching across all curriculum areas. • Leaders should further embed the improvements to the school's quality of education strategy, ensuring that it provides the information required about the impact it is having and informs current, strategic priorities for staff's professional learning.

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Team inspectors:

Suzette Garland-Grimes, Ofsted Inspector Dennis Ley, Ofsted Inspector

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About this inspection

This school is part of The Constellation 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), Cathy Taylor, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Neil Porteus.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

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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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the head of school, executive headteacher, senior leaders, curriculum leaders and a range of teaching and non-teaching staff. Inspectors also met with members of the local governing body and trustees. Inspectors met the CEO and members of the trust's central team, as well as representatives from the local authority. Inspectors spoke with pupils in lessons, at social times and in more formal meetings. Inspectors visited each school site. Telephone calls were held with staff from 2 alternative provisions used by the school to educate some pupils.

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About this inspection

Inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

A significant proportion of pupils have education, health and care plans for social, emotional and mental health needs and a number of pupils have speech language and communication needs.

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About this inspection

The school makes use of 4 alternative provisions that are unregistered.

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About this inspection

Rise Academy operates across 5 sites: Rise Academy, Fountain Road, Hull HU2 0LH; Rising Stars, North Road, Hull HU4 6LQ; Rise Up, Caroline Street, Hull HU2 8DY; Rise Above, Anlaby Park Road, Hull HU4 7JB and Rise Ahead, Southcoates Lane, Hull HU9 3AT.

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About this inspection

Head of School: Ms Sophie Grant The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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