V.A.S.E Academy

V.A.S.E Academy

Address: Park Lane, Birmingham, B21 8LE Unique reference number (URN): 147702

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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. Insufficient evidence: Inspectors were unable to gather sufficient evidence to judge whether safeguarding standards are met.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The school's provision for the inclusion of all pupils is a significant strength. This is because the school takes considerable care and attention to ensure that it understands the pupils' needs. These are carefully assessed when pupils first start. When necessary, the school makes astute use of external agencies to ensure that it has a suitably detailed picture of the support each pupil needs. Appropriate and suitably detailed adaptations are then agreed to support the pupils to learn well and to thrive at the school. These are well communicated to all the staff, which means that they are consistently applied. All this means that the pupils quickly integrate into the school, learn the curriculum and benefit from the wider opportunities.

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Inclusion Strong standard

All staff fully understand the pupils and their needs. The school ensures that adaptations are regularly reviewed and updated to respond to the pupils' development. This helps to ensure that there is consistently inclusive practice in place across the setting. The school is also ambitious for pupils who are known to social care, and their reviews show carefully mapped- out targets and support to enable them to thrive. Reviews of education, health and care plans are thorough.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The school uses alternative provision appropriately, mainly to provide work-related learning opportunities to develop pupils' interests and aspirations.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

There are many strengths to the school's provision for pupils' personal development and well-being. Pupils have extensive teaching about different cultures and beliefs, including visits to local places of worship. This means they can articulate differences between religions and can appreciate the diversity of life in modern Britain. The school places significant emphasis on establishing cooperative and empathetic relationships. This supports pupils in the development of their social skills and contributes to the school being a harmonious place with a strong set of shared values.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school's curriculum for pupils' personal, social, health and economic education is well embedded. This means pupils develop a strong understanding of the key learning they need to live healthy and fulfilling lives. The school's work in this area is significantly enhanced by its work on developing pupils' oracy, supporting them to discuss sensitive or challenging topics well. Pupils understand healthy relationships and celebrate difference and diversity. Pupils understand life in modern Britain thanks to the school's work in this area, and visitors such as the local police.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school provides extensive and tailored provision for pupils to develop their knowledge of future careers, education and training. Alongside the opportunities to experience places of work, this means pupils have significant understanding of potential next steps and how they can access them. The school takes considerable care to ensure that all pupils secure appropriately ambitious destinations when they leave.

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Expected standard

The school also takes considerable pride in the number of trips and visits which it offers. These bring pupils' learning to life and mean they develop their experience. Pupils speak especially highly of recent trips to Birmingham, a residential trip abroad and the regular visits to a local farm.

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Achievement Expected standard

The school takes into account the pupils' needs in the teaching of the curriculum, which means they learn the key knowledge they need. The school closely tracks how pupils in all year groups are performing to ensure that they learn well across the curriculum. Where suitable, pupils are entered for appropriate examinations. They achieve increasingly well across a range of high-quality and suitably ambitious qualifications.

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Achievement Expected standard

The school provides positive experiences of the world of work and independent careers guidance. This helps pupils to be well prepared for the choices they have about the next stage of their education, employment or training. The school supports pupils well to secure suitable destinations when they have finished at the setting.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Many pupils arrive at the school having had very poor attendance at their previous settings. Consequently, the school has to work hard to instil the value and importance of regular attendance at school. For most pupils, the school has been successful in this and they attend school more frequently. The school tracks pupils' attendance closely. Leaders work effectively with parents, carers and external agencies for pupils who need further support to attend regularly. Leaders are aware where further improvements to pupils' attendance need to be made to ensure that as many pupils benefit fully from the education the school provides.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

The school takes considerable care to understand each pupil and their needs. This means that pupils have the support they need to meet the school's high expectations of their behaviour. This ensures that the school is a welcoming place where pupils and adults respect each other. Bullying is not tolerated. When pupils continue to need further support with their behaviour, this is rapidly put in place. Pupils trust the adults who are there to support them because they are known as individuals. Pupils typically try hard in lessons because they understand that this is what is expected of them.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have carefully ensured that the curriculum at V.A.S.E. academy is broad and enables the pupils to access ambitious qualifications. Each subject is well planned and sets out the key knowledge that pupils should learn in a logical order. Leaders are mindful that pupils arrive at the school with significant gaps in their learning. There is appropriate provision for pupils who need support with their reading, and regular reviews of the impact of this additional support. This ensures that pupils are able to secure the knowledge in numeracy and literacy which they need to thrive elsewhere.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Teachers have the appropriate training to deliver the school's curriculum. They generally select learning tasks which are appropriate and which enable the pupils to learn the key knowledge they need. Regular assessments usually allow teachers and leaders to assure themselves that pupils have secured the key knowledge they need for the qualifications they are working towards. In a minority of places, there are inconsistencies in how well teachers check pupils' understanding and adapt the learning tasks appropriately. Occasionally, teachers do not take due account of pupils' prior gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed before they can start new work. Despite this, pupils generally learn well.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have a clear and ambitious vision for the school. Pupils are at the heart of this.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders understand their role in the development of the provision. Decisions taken at the school are always in the interests of pupils. This has ensured that the setting has been developed well to suit the school's context. For example, the school has created a new kitchen area for pupils to learn cookery, and has added the sixth-form provision.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors provide suitable support and challenge. They fulfil their statutory duties, such as those relating to safeguarding and ensuring that the independent school standards are met.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff at the school speak highly of the regular training they receive. This helps them to understand pupils' needs fully and to ensure that there is consistency in how they are met. Leaders work well with staff to manage their workload and to support their well-being.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The school has strong capacity for further improvement, with a clear understanding of the next steps to be taken in its development, for example in ensuring that even more teaching is of consistently high quality, and further work to improve pupil attendance.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

The school has recently opened provision for sixth-form students and has a small number currently on roll. These students have individualised timetables, which are fully adapted to meet their needs and aspirations.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

The school has used placements at various alternative providers thoughtfully to provide the students with meaningful workplace education and experience. Students appreciate these and how they are organised and adjusted according to their feedback.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

Students benefit from courses in English and mathematics at the school, which are of high quality. These enable students to secure meaningful qualifications.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

Students develop a secure understanding of living fulfilling and healthy lives through personal, social, health and economic education that they receive. Students are well informed about the choices they can make in their stage of education, employment or training through the careers advice the school provides.

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

Pupils typically arrive at V.A.S.E. academy with a very fractured experience of education, and gaps in their learning. The school takes considerable time to understand each pupil deeply, and to identify and meet their needs. As one pupil, whose comment was typical of many, stated, 'The school really gets to know you.' This all means the school is a harmonious place, where adults model positive relationships. Pupils respect each other and difference is celebrated. As pupils feel understood and known, they are happy.

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

Pupils learn well because the curriculum is well designed and taught. Teachers and additional adults understand the pupils and how to support them effectively. This helps them to be in a good position to achieve well.

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

Pupils and students appreciate the many opportunities which the school provides. These include extensive work-related learning experiences for pupils and students in the sixth form. Pupils also appreciate the trips and visits which the school organises because these help them to develop their confidence and independence. Pupils especially enjoy the new cookery rooms which the school has installed. These enable them to practise cooking and help them to develop key skills to thrive and live independently.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue to develop the consistency of approaches to check pupils' understanding and adapt the learning tasks appropriately to address gaps in pupils' knowledge. Leaders should further embed their attendance strategies, including their engagement with parents and carers so that their actions lead to continued sustained increases in attendance.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this standard inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, and checked the school's compliance with the independent school standards. These are the requirements set out in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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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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Independent school standards

Independent school standards are either met or not met for each category. During the inspection, inspectors spoke with leaders, staff, pupils and students and parents. They also spoke with a representative of the governing body, the former chair of governors of the school, and representatives from the local authority.

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Independent school standards

All pupils have an education, health and care plan. The school mainly caters for pupils with autism.

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Independent school standards

The school uses three registered alternative providers.

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Independent school standards

The name of the proprietor is Muhammed Majid and the acting chair of the governing body is Simone Martin. The fees currently charged are between £30 000 and £80 000. The school's email address is contactus@vaseacademy.co.uk. The school operates from Park Lane, Birmingham B21 8LE.

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Independent school standards

Since the last inspection, the school has increased its capacity to 60 and opened a sixth- form provision. This was following a material change in October 2023.

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Independent school standards

1. Quality of education provided Standards met

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Independent school standards

2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils Standards met

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Independent school standards

3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils Standards met

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data is from 24 February 2026 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors Standards met

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Facts and figures used on inspection

5. Premises of and accommodation at schools Standards met

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Facts and figures used on inspection

6. Provision of information Standards met

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Facts and figures used on inspection

7. Manner in which complaints are handled Standards met

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Facts and figures used on inspection

8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools Standards met

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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.

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Insufficient evidence

Inspectors were unable to gather reliable enough evidence to grade an evaluation area. This is rare and normally only happens if there are no pupils on roll at the school.

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Insufficient evidence

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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Insufficient evidence

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Insufficient evidence

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Insufficient evidence

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Insufficient evidence

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

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