Unity Academy Blackpool

Unity Academy Blackpool Warbreck Hill Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY2 0TS

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Monitoring inspection report: 3 and 4 March 2026

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At the most recent graded inspection, the following areas were identified as needing to improve:

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 Trustees and members of the local governing body have not held the school to account for the decline in the quality of education pupils receive. They have acted too slowly to secure much-needed improvements. As a result, pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, from Years 1 to 11 do not achieve well. Those responsible for governance must develop a detailed oversight of the performance of the school and secure rapid improvements to the quality of education.  The delivery of the curriculum is weak. The activities staff design to teach the curriculum do not help pupils develop sufficient depth of knowledge about the subjects they study. This prevents pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), from achieving well. The school should ensure that staff are equipped to deliver the curriculum successfully so pupils can build on what they know and deepen their learning over time.

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 Staff are not quick enough to rectify gaps and misconceptions in pupils’ knowledge. This means that pupils move on to new learning before they are ready. This hinders their progress through the curriculum. The school should ensure that staff address pupils’ misunderstandings in a timely manner so pupils build their knowledge securely over time.  In some lessons, pupils do not demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning. When this happens, the behaviour of these pupils hinders the learning of others. The school should provide these pupils with the support they need so they are motivated by their studies and achieve well.

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Leaders and trustees are taking effective action to improve the school but

continued work is needed to remove the special measures designation.

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Leaders and trustees are taking effective action to improve the school but

HMCI is of the opinion that the school may appoint early career teachers. Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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During the monitoring inspection, inspectors focused on the following evaluation areas:

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 Leadership and governance  Attendance and behaviour  Curriculum and teaching  Inclusion  Achievement

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Leadership and governance

Following the previous inspection, the trust and school leaders reflected carefully on the findings. A new culture of transparency, which is characterised by honest and accurate self-evaluation, has been established across the trust and school leadership. Leaders have accurately identified the root causes of weaknesses in leadership, the delivery of the curriculum and pupils’ achievement. They are taking suitable action to bring about much- needed improvement. This means that pupils’ experiences of school are much more positive than they were previously.

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Leadership and governance

The trust moved quickly to address the weaknesses in local governance following the previous inspection. Leaders have established a new support and development board that has appropriate expertise to support the school’s recovery. Regular, well-attended and focused meetings ensure that members of the board undertake their duties effectively. They consider a comprehensive and well-balanced range of information. This informs governors’ understanding of leaders’ actions and the impact that they are having across the school. In addition, the trust has strengthened communication and accountability across all levels of governance to further support the school during its current challenging circumstances.

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Leadership and governance

Leaders have not shied away from identifying additional areas for improvement, such as pupils’ attendance and behaviour. They have quickly secured a more positive culture of behaviour across the school, with a renewed focus on clear expectations. The school environment and classrooms are usually calm, and teachers and pupils can focus more on learning. Leaders have begun the process of supporting staff across the primary and secondary age ranges to develop their teaching practice. This is beginning to reduce the variability in teachers’ delivery of the curriculum and increase the effectiveness of teachers’ assessment strategies. Leaders have suitable plans to make further refinements to their checks on teaching. This is to ensure that individual teachers receive support that is more closely matched to the strengths and weaknesses in their practice.

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Safeguarding

At the previous graded inspection, safeguarding was evaluated as being effective. Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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Attendance and behaviour

As part of their drive to improve pupils’ education, leaders have prioritised strengthening the culture of behaviour and pupils’ attitudes to learning. Leaders have introduced new behaviour expectations, which are known by staff and pupils, alongside refreshed systems to challenge pupils’ misbehaviour. They have successfully established a calm environment where pupils across the primary and secondary age ranges are ready to learn. While this is the norm for most pupils, a small, but persistent, minority continue to need further support to reach the school’s new behaviour expectations.

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Attendance and behaviour

To further support pupils’ learning, leaders have increased their ambition for pupils to attend school regularly. They consistently promote high expectations for pupils’ attendance across all year groups. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their attendance, and they feel well supported to attend school. This work is successfully reducing the number of pupils who are persistently absent, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have carefully identified the weaknesses in teaching across the primary and secondary phases. They have used these insights to develop appropriately focused strategies to strengthen teaching across each phase, class and subject area.

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Curriculum and teaching

A comprehensive support programme has ensured that teachers in the primary phase usually introduce and explain subject matter effectively. In some subjects, such as English and mathematics, teachers typically ensure that the activities they design for pupils are carefully matched to the knowledge that they should learn. However, this approach is more variable in other subjects. This means that pupils do not learn the knowledge leaders have identified as securely as they should.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders’ use of new schemes to deliver the English and mathematics curriculums in the primary phase has supported staff to incorporate more checks on pupils’ learning. This provides teachers with greater insights into what pupils know and understand. Even so, the ways in which teachers use this assessment information to shape what pupils should learn next are not consistently effective.

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Curriculum and teaching

Teachers in the secondary phase have benefited from training to support how well they introduce subject content and explain the methods that pupils need to learn. As a result, teachers have an increased range of tools to support more consistent delivery of the curriculum across subjects. For example, teachers more confidently use approaches to help pupils recall previous knowledge. Teachers also make greater use of strategies to model learning to pupils. In places, these techniques are used well to support pupils to engage in learning. Elsewhere, however, staff’s use of these approaches often prioritises task completion ahead of deepening pupils’ understanding. This means that pupils are not helped to gain the confidence to apply new knowledge with independence.

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Curriculum and teaching

Secondary teachers have also been supported to develop their use of assessment strategies in lessons. This has strengthened many teachers’ understanding of when, and how, to check on pupils’ learning. However, these strategies are sometimes not used as Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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well as they should be. Sometimes, the assessment activity fails to identify the specific gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Furthermore, teachers often make limited or no use of this information to adapt or reshape what pupils will do and learn next.

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Through suitable checks, senior leaders have a clear and accurate picture of the strengths and weaknesses in teaching across the school. Leaders are keen to increase the pace of improvement. With support from the trust, subject leaders are currently being supported to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to contribute to these checks and make a greater contribution to the development of subject teachers.

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Leaders across the early years and the primary and secondary phases are fully aware of the importance of securing pupils’ knowledge of English and mathematics. Primary staff are using new approaches to teaching reading and writing in order to strengthen pupils’ knowledge. In addition, the refreshed approach to mathematics is aimed at securing pupils’ fluency in number. Secondary leaders have a well-established and credible approach to reading. Furthermore, they are in the process of implementing similar strategies for writing, oracy and mathematics. Leaders understand the importance of developing appropriate systems to track and measure the impact of these strategies.

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Inclusion

Leaders’ approach to inclusion is improving. In part, this is because the successful focus on improving behaviour has enabled leaders to more accurately identify the cognitive and learning needs of pupils with SEND. The inclusion team works collaboratively to identify and monitor the needs of these pupils. It carefully considers the additional support that pupils need to feel included in, and ready for, school.

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Inclusion

Leaders have disadvantaged pupils’ best interests at heart and understand their role in raising aspirations. The school’s pupil premium strategy accurately identifies the barriers that these pupils face to their academic achievement and personal wellbeing. However, the strategies to overcome these barriers are sometimes vague. Furthermore, these strategies often do not holistically consider the multiple factors that pupils may need support for. Leaders understand this is necessary to ensure that pupils’ needs across a wider range of contextual factors are better identified and supported.

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Inclusion

Inclusion sits at the heart of the curriculum. Teachers are well informed about pupils’ needs and the barriers that they face. However, despite a considerable amount of professional development, support for pupils in lessons, including for those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND, is variable across classes and subjects. Adaptations in the form of appropriate resources help pupils overcome some of their physical barriers. However, the existing weaknesses in teaching and assessment continue to hamper teachers’ ability to adapt their teaching to better meet pupils’ specific learning needs.

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Achievement

Ongoing improvements to teachers’ practice across the primary age range are supporting most pupils to make suitable progress through the reading, writing and mathematics curriculums. Pupils typically secure foundational knowledge, for example in early reading. Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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This is reflected in recently published data. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has increased and is close to the national average. In 2025, pupils’ attainment in national curriculum tests at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics matched the national average. Even so, the number of pupils gaining the higher standard by the end of key stage 2 remains below average. Furthermore, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics continues to lag behind the attainment of pupils who are not disadvantaged, nationally.

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The inconsistencies in teaching and assessment practice in the secondary phase continues to affect pupils’ progress across the curriculum. Too often, teaching restricts what content or work pupils get the opportunity to do. For many pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, this hampered ambition affects their gains in knowledge and development of skills as they move through the curriculum. This resonates strongly with recently published data across key stage 4. Nearly all indicators of attainment and progress have been below that seen nationally in the last 3 years. This continues to be the case for all pupil groups.

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Additional next steps

Leaders and trustees should continue to work to address the priorities for improvement identified in the last graded inspection report.

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About this inspection

The inspectors carried out this monitoring inspection under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005, and it was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require special measures following the graded inspection that took place in December 2024.

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About this inspection

The school’s previous inspection was carried out under the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) at that time. The renewed EIF took effect from 10 November 2025. The areas for improvement identified at the school’s graded inspection and subsequent monitoring inspection have been cross-referenced to the relevant evaluation areas in the inspection toolkit for consideration on this monitoring inspection.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this monitoring inspection was not to determine grades for any of the evaluation areas set out in the school inspection toolkit. The purpose was to identify and report on the school’s progress in addressing priorities for improvement since the school’s previous inspection.

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About this inspection

Since the previous inspection, the trust has established the support and development board, a new body for local governance. All the members of this board have taken up their roles since the last inspection.

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About this inspection

Since the previous inspection, the school has appointed an acting headteacher. The school has also redefined the roles and responsibilities of the senior leadership team.

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About this inspection

The school is part of the Department for Education’s Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence programme. Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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During this inspection, meetings were held with the acting headteacher, other senior leaders and staff. Inspectors also met with the chief executive officer, trustees and members of the school’s support and development board to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection.

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Lead inspector

Michael Pennington His Majesty’s Inspector

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Team inspector

Alan Hammersley Ofsted Inspector Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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About this school

Resourced provision or SEND unit No Monitoring inspection report: Unity Academy Blackpool 3 and 4 March 2026

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and inspects 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 for looked- after-children, safeguarding and child protection.

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