The Milford Academy

The Milford Academy

Address: Dungannon Road, Clifton Estate, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG11 9BT Unique reference number (URN): 138741

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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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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils learn to reflect on their own views, consider the perspectives of others and recognise the difference between right and wrong. They speak confidently about cooperation, compromise and managing friendships. Pupils like having chances to take on responsibilities, work with others and share their ideas. These experiences help pupils to become more confident and make a positive contribution to school life. Pupils show respect for different cultures and beliefs, although their understanding of fundamental British values and protected characteristics is not yet as secure. Leaders are refining the curriculum to strengthen this knowledge.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The personal development programme is broad and purposeful. It offers leadership opportunities, enrichment visits and the ‘Milford Memories’ experiences, which broaden pupils’ cultural and creative horizons. Pupils value the opportunities available to them.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Relationships and health education are taught appropriately. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe, including online. They talk clearly about emotions, friendships and personal boundaries. Additional projects enhance this curriculum. These projects help pupils to understand local risks and needs. For example, pupils learn about the impact of discrimination as well as peer pressure and crime.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school's pastoral support is responsive and well targeted. It helps pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged, to feel settled and ready to learn. Staff act quickly when concerns arise and work effectively with external agencies. A central feature of the school’s personal development and wellbeing work is its commitment to engaging parents and carers. Leaders invest significant time in supporting families, recognising that effective family support can directly benefit pupils.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils’ progress across the school varies, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those with gaps in prior knowledge. Some pupils do not use their foundational knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics with confidence. This makes it harder for them to learn new concepts with increasing independence and accuracy. As a result, some pupils move through the school without securing the essential knowledge they need, and they are not as well prepared for their next steps as they should be.

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Achievement Needs attention

Where progress is stronger, teachers understand pupils’ starting points well and build learning effectively. However, this does not happen consistently. Published outcomes show that pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve broadly in line with national averages. However, pupils who do not meet national expectations at key stage 1 continue to struggle to close their gaps in learning as they move through the school, particularly in reading and mathematics.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Overall, attendance remains too low. Rates of persistent absenteeism, although improving, continue to be too high, including for disadvantaged pupils. A small number of pupils face entrenched barriers, and the school works closely with external agencies to reduce these challenges. Despite this, too many pupils still miss school and important learning. Leaders take a wide range of actions to improve attendance. For some pupils and their families, these actions lead to more regular patterns of attendance over time.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Leaders do not yet analyse trends and patterns in attendance or behaviour with enough precision to evaluate the impact of their actions or to target improvements more effectively.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Behaviour across the school is typically calm, respectful and positive. Pupils feel safe, enjoy school and trust adults to help and support them. Staff respond quickly to concerns and address incidents of discrimination or unkind behaviour promptly. Pupils who need help to manage their emotions receive bespoke pastoral support. Staff know pupils well and make appropriate adjustments for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, these pupils remain over represented in suspension figures, which have not reduced over time.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders' checks on teaching and curriculum implementation have been hindered this year. This is because leaders have taken on additional teaching commitments, and the school has reduced leadership capacity, particularly of special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

A significant number of pupils do not apply basic skills in spelling, grammar, punctuation and handwriting with sufficient accuracy. Errors and misconceptions in pupils’ work sometimes go unnoticed. Some pupils move on before securing essential knowledge from earlier lessons.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Curriculum adaptations for disadvantaged pupils, or those who face barriers to learning, vary across school. This limits how well these pupils can access the curriculum.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The school has constructed a broad and ambitious curriculum that builds logically over time. Leaders provide further training for staff when needed. When the curriculum is taught well, pupils secure the knowledge they need. Pupils who fall behind in reading receive structured support to catch up. The curriculum promotes language and vocabulary development through well ‑ sequenced subjects. This supports pupils to make meaningful links across learning. Staff use clear routines to support pupils' engagement in lessons. They help pupils to build their resilience to setbacks in their learning.

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Early years Needs attention

At times, adults miss opportunities to develop children’s language, thinking and confidence. This means that gaps in children's development are not always identified and addressed by staff during play.

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Early years Needs attention

Children in the early years settle quickly, follow routines and grow in independence. Staff interact warmly with them, although the quality of these interactions varies. In some areas, adults use rich language, introduce new vocabulary and build on children’s ideas through meaningful conversation.

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Early years Needs attention

The curriculum offers a broad range of activities linked to the early years framework, including early reading, number and creative play. The environment is thoughtfully planned so children can revisit and rehearse previous learning. However, a small number of activities are not closely matched to children’s developmental stages, which slows progress for some.

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Early years Needs attention

Reading is given high priority. Children enjoy action rhymes in Nursery and sharing favourite stories with familiar adults. They learn to distinguish environmental sounds in preparation for reading. In Reception, most children learn to sound out words to read and spell, supported by staff whose expertise in early reading continues to strengthen.

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Early years Needs attention

Staff work closely with parents, creating a strong partnership that supports children’s wellbeing and development.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders are not yet using all available information to understand the impact of their actions. Although they have accurately identified the barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils, they cannot clearly evaluate the impact of funding, resources or interventions. This limits their ability to secure improved outcomes for these pupils.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The newly established special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) resource base, Milford Milestones, provides a suitable environment for pupils with complex needs. However, its curriculum is still at an early stage of development. Expectations for what these pupils, and other pupils with SEND across the school, should know and recall are not clearly defined. This does not help these pupils to work purposefully towards their education, health and care plan targets.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The school is committed to being inclusive. Progress towards fully realising this ambition has slowed as staff and leaders continue to develop their expertise. Recruitment challenges have left key responsibilities unfilled, and the school has struggled to secure external support for the school’s specialist provision. The school prioritises reasonable adjustments for pupils with SEND, social and emotional needs, and those new to English. Despite this, the quality of support these pupils receive varies too widely, limiting the consistency of their experience.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders do not use the information they have about the school in enough depth to spot patterns, check what is working well or report clearly to governors. Governors understand their statutory duties but do not yet provide the level of challenge or oversight needed. They do not have a clear enough picture of the impact of leaders’ actions. This limits their ability to hold leaders to account for how resources are used and how well the school is improving.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Recent staffing changes mean key leaders are now taking on class responsibilities. This reduces the time they have to drive improvement with the pace and rigour needed. Although leaders make decisions that support pupils’ best interests, including those who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, improvements are not yet consistent or sustained across the school.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders understand the school’s strengths and the areas that need further development. They have identified sensible priorities for improvement. However, their actions are not yet planned or carried out in a way that brings about the right change quickly.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The school has created a positive culture, where staff feel valued, supported and able to contribute to improvement work. Leaders think carefully about staff wellbeing and workload. Professional development is planned so that all staff, including early career teachers, can develop their skills through clear and well ‑ structured training and support.

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

Pupils at Milford Academy speak with genuine enthusiasm about their learning. They describe lessons as fun, exciting and full of moments that make them feel proud of what they achieve. They enjoy the wide range of subjects and experiences on offer. Staff help them manage their emotions and remove worries that might get in the way of learning, particularly for pupils who face additional barriers. However, too many pupils do not attend regularly enough. High rates of persistent absenteeism limit how well some pupils learn over time and how effectively they access the ambitious curriculum.

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

Pupils say they feel safe in school. They enjoy their learning. They feel listened to and valued. Pupils trust adults to act quickly if they have concerns, including any rare instances of bullying. Classrooms remain calm and purposeful. Most pupils live up to the high expectations that staff set for their behaviour. Most pupils feel a deep sense of belonging to the school community and describe a warm, respectful atmosphere, where staff include them in all aspects of school life. Pupils love wearing the Milford badge and representing their school on visits, knowing that their behaviour reflects the high standards expected of them. They value opportunities beyond the classroom, such as special events, trips and activities that broaden their experiences and help them to discover new interests.

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

Pupils achieve broadly in line with national averages. However, too many current pupils make errors in basic grammar and handwriting, and staff do not consistently identify or correct these mistakes. As a result, pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education as they could be. Although leaders set ambitious aims, they do not use systems and processes with enough rigour to maintain clear oversight of what works well and what needs further development.

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Next steps

• Governors should hold leaders to account with greater precision and ensure they have a sharp understanding of the priorities and improvement actions that will have the greatest impact on pupils across the school. • Leaders should continue to strengthen staff expertise so that they can design a curriculum that responds effectively to the increasingly complex special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) within the school. • Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment accurately so that any gaps in pupils’ knowledge or skills are identified and tackled quickly. • Leaders should ensure that all pupils, including those with SEND, have the necessary early reading, writing and mathematical knowledge linked to their age or stage of development so that they are ready for their next stage in education. • Leaders should ensure that all families understand the school’s expectations and actions around regular attendance, and that these lead to sustained improvements so that pupils,

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Next steps

including those who are disadvantaged, attend school regularly. • Leaders should ensure that all early years staff consistently engage in high ‑ quality interactions with children in every area of provision, indoors and outdoors.

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About this inspection

The Milford Academy is a single academy trust, which means that other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The chair of the board of trustees in this school is David Dickinson.

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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

Inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. The lead inspector held a meeting with 2 governors, including the chair.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke to pupils informally throughout the inspection and met formally with groups of pupils. Inspectors met with a group of staff and spoke to parents at the start of the school day.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The headteacher took up post in April 2024. The deputy headteacher joined the school in September 2024.

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About this inspection

The school no longer takes 2 ‑ year ‑ olds in its Nursery provision.

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Lead inspector:

Shaheen Hussain, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Chrissie Barrington, Ofsted Inspector Martin Adamson, Ofsted Inspector Justine Roberts, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

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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School capacity

The school's specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities was set up in September 2025. It will cater for up to 16 pupils. Some of these places will be commissioned by the local authority, others will be pupils on the school's roll. Pupils that attend this provision are likely to have an education, health and care plan.

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School capacity

The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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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 at any point in the last six years.

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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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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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What does this mean?

The type of Special Educational Needs provision provided at the school (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2023/24 (final) 62% 61% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 58% 60% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2023/24 (final) 68% 74% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 67% 73% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 75% 72% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 72% 72% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 70% 71% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2023/24 (final) 75% 73% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 68% 73% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2023/24 (final) 68% 62% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 67% 59% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 47% 58% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2023/24 (final) 68% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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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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