Bridgwater College Academy

Bridgwater College Academy

Address: Parkway, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 4QY Unique reference number (URN): 138375

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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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This school requires special measures

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to provide an acceptable standard of education, and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Early years Needs attention

At times, staff do not engage children in high-quality interactions that would securely develop their speech and language skills. Leaders are in the process of addressing this through professional development.

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Early years Needs attention

Leaders have carefully designed a curriculum that is broad and increasingly prepares children well to move from Nursery through to Year 1.

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Early years Needs attention

Leaders’ recent work to widen the range of different activities available for children during the day is beginning to make a difference to children’s learning. Nevertheless, currently, some activities are not well matched to children’s starting points.

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Early years Needs attention

Leaders have prioritised children having a positive start to their time in early years classes. Staff build positive relationships with families so that children’s individual needs are well known. They work with other professionals, such as healthcare experts, to plan appropriate support. Children quickly learn the routines and expectations of the school day. This means that most children typically cooperate well with each other and enjoy their learning.

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Early years Needs attention

Children begin to learn to read and write quickly. Staff share stories with children to both develop their love of reading and ignite their imaginations. Children in Reception successfully learn phonics to build their reading accuracy.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

In the secondary phase, the personal development curriculum is not well developed. Pupils have an inconsistent experience in lessons, which limits their depth of understanding about important topics. This means that not all secondary-aged pupils are as well prepared for adult life as they could be. Recent changes to the primary curriculum have focused on pupils' learning about different cultures and world events. This includes celebrating difference and highlighting the importance of showing respect towards others. This supports pupils to understand the values that underpin British society.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

Leaders are in the process of designing a personal development programme that develops pupils’ understanding of healthy lifestyles and relationships in an age-appropriate way. For example, pupils are confident to talk about consent and how they keep themselves safe online. Pupils learn about different religions and cultures and are beginning to have opportunities to explore moral issues. Leaders are also in the process of further refining the

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Urgent improvement

curriculum to ensure that it covers topics that are particularly relevant to the local community.

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Urgent improvement

The careers provision is a notable strength of the school. Pupils in the secondary phase have a range of opportunities to learn about the world of work. This is raising aspirations and helping pupils to consider appropriate next steps into education, employment and training.

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Urgent improvement

Pupils of all ages enjoy participating in a range of extra-curricular activities. Clubs such as performing arts and sport develop pupils’ talents and interest. Trips and visits bring the curriculum to life for pupils and help to develop their character. For example, Year 6 pupils are excited about the upcoming residential. Secondary-aged pupils enjoy the annual enrichment week as it is a chance to ‘try new things’. Leaders work with families to ensure that disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities can take part in the full wider offer of the school alongside their peers.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Pupils’ achievement in published outcomes at the end of key stage 2 is significantly below national averages. Pupils who are disadvantaged also achieve less well than their peers nationally. This means that pupils cannot read, write and understand mathematics at a level needed to be successful in their next stage of learning. The quality of work currently produced by pupils across the key stages continues to reflect weak achievement.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Pupils who complete qualifications at the end of key stage 4 do not achieve as well as they should. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers nationally is widening. A significant proportion of pupils are not successful in their English and mathematics qualifications. This limits their ability to move successfully on to their next steps.

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Attendance and behaviour Urgent improvement

Pupils do not attend well. Too many pupils are persistently absent from school. Leaders have not taken sufficient action to address poor attendance over time. They have not been successful in re-engaging persistently absent pupils with school life.

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Attendance and behaviour Urgent improvement

Truancy from lessons is a significant concern on the secondary site. Pupils fail to follow staff instructions to return to lessons. Leaders have begun to raise expectations for attendance. New systems for monitoring attendance have begun to develop, but this work is very recent.

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Attendance and behaviour Urgent improvement

Significant work has been undertaken to raise expectations for behaviour within the primary phase. As a result, the primary phase is generally calm and orderly. However, disruption to learning does occur and teachers are inconsistent in their expectations of pupils. In the secondary phase, lessons are frequently disrupted by poor behaviour. Staff and pupils are unclear about what the routines and expectations should be. Breaktimes are not calm. As a result, some pupils raise concerns about how they feel unsafe in some areas of the school.

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Attendance and behaviour Urgent improvement

Bullying is a frequent concern for pupils. Too many pupils do not report incidents because they do not believe that adults will successfully help them to resolve concerns. Consequently, inappropriate language, derogatory comments and altercations between pupils are commonplace.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Leaders have not taken sufficient steps to secure the improvements needed in the quality of teaching across the school. This work is beginning, but pupils are not yet benefiting.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Teachers have not had the training and support they need to implement the curriculum effectively. As a result, teachers do not select appropriate activities to support pupils to learn and remember important knowledge.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Teachers do not check effectively what pupils know and can do. They do not identify quickly pupils who have not yet secured the foundational skills of reading, writing and mathematics. Consequently, teachers cannot help pupils to fill in gaps or resolve misconceptions.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Leaders have not ensured that staff have the information and expertise they need to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities to learn the curriculum. Equally, teachers do not adapt their teaching to meet the needs of pupils with other barriers to learning, for example when a pupil is not proficient in English.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Subject leaders have planned a broad and well-sequenced curriculum. They have made sensible changes to match the local context. However, across the curriculum and phases, staff do not have high enough expectations of what pupils should know and be able to do.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Leaders do not ensure that pupils’ individual needs are accurately identified. Leaders have made changes in the primary phase to help correct this. However, this work is recent. In the secondary phase, this improvement work is yet to take place. Consequently, the individual barriers and needs of a significant number of pupils are currently unknown.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do not consistently receive effective support to enable them to be successful in their learning. Leaders do not sufficiently monitor pupils’ progress and are therefore unable to assess the impact of any intervention or support. As a result, leaders do not spend additional funding, such as the pupil premium, effectively.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Pupils who attend the Polden Centre have had their individual needs assessed. Staff engage with other professionals to plan pupils' personalised provision. However, their individual curriculum is at times not ambitious or sufficiently adapted to meet their needs. Where used, leaders have selected appropriate alternative provisions for pupils’ needs and future ambitions.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Leaders have an ambition to create an inclusive culture. This includes setting out a graduated response and beginning a staff training programme. However, the recent nature of this work means that the vision of an inclusive culture is not yet realised.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Over time, leaders and those responsible for governance have not taken appropriate action to address the school's significant weaknesses. This has had a detrimental impact on all pupils, but particularly those who are disadvantaged, have special educational needs and/or disabilities or have barriers to their learning. Parents also raise concerns about the experiences their children have had during their time at the school.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

There have been very recent changes to the senior leadership of the school and trust. The trust has also secured support from external organisations to help build capacity for improvement. Leaders now have a clear vision for improvement, but this work has yet to be undertaken.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Those responsible for governance do not ensure that they have an accurate view of the effectiveness of the school. They acknowledge that they have been over-reliant on verbal assurances of improvement. They have given insufficient consideration to published data, such as outcomes and attendance. While the trust is in the process of changing its governance operations, at the time of the inspection, it is not providing both effective support and challenge to leaders. Consequently, concerns have persisted over time and aspects of the school are now in need of urgent improvement.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Staff have not had the professional learning opportunities that they need to ensure that they have the expertise for their roles. Leaders recognise the need to rectify this swiftly to both improve the experiences of pupils and support the workload and wellbeing of staff.

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

Pupils attending this school do not receive an acceptable standard of education. Pupils’ achievement in national tests and examinations at the end of key stages 2 and 4 is well below national averages across the assessed subjects. Teachers do not have high enough expectations for what pupils should know or be able to do. Consequently, the work pupils produce is not of a high enough quality to prepare them well for their next steps. Children attending Reception and Nursery benefit from the recent improvements in the curriculum and setting.

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

Many pupils enjoy being in school with their friends. However, too many pupils do not attend school frequently enough. This means that they miss a significant amount of learning. Pupils are not sufficiently supported to catch up when they return to school. Many pupils have a positive relationship with a trusted adult. This means that they feel safe. However, pupils have shared significant concerns about the behaviour of other pupils. This behaviour regularly disrupts their learning. For some pupils, bullying is frequent. Pupils are reluctant to report incidents as they are not sure that adults will help them to resolve issues.

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

Leaders have not ensured that systems are in place to accurately identify pupils’ barriers to learning or wellbeing. While new practices are now in place within the primary phase, this has not been replicated in the secondary phase. Consequently, these pupils are not as successful in their learning as they should be.

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

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and about the values that underpin life in modern Britain, for example tolerance and respect for others. However, this is not always reflected in their behaviour towards each other. Pupils enjoy extra-curricular activities such as clubs and trips. Increasingly, leaders encourage a greater number of pupils to participate in these opportunities.

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Next steps

Those responsible for governance should ensure that they have a robust oversight of the improvement work taking place so that they can appropriately support and challenge leaders. Leaders should put effective systems in place to accurately and swiftly identify pupils' barriers to learning and share this information with staff so that pupils can receive effective support and be successful in their learning. Leaders should ensure that teachers have the expertise they need to teach the curriculum effectively so that attainment rises for all pupils across all key stages. Leaders should ensure that there are clear expectations and commonly understood routines so that pupils behave well and engage positively with their learning. Leaders should ensure that the personal development programme is well matched to the local context of pupils to prepare them well for adult life. Leaders should continue to revise their approach to continuous provision so that adults

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Next steps

support children to learn as well as they should.

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About this inspection

This school is part of the Bridgwater and Taunton College Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the interim chief executive officer (CEO), Mark Thomas, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Andrew Berry.

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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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Team inspectors:

Matthew Shirley, Ofsted Inspector William Morgan, Ofsted Inspector Anna Mills, Ofsted Inspector Jo Guest, Ofsted Inspector Caroline Musty, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

Inspectors spoke with school and trust leaders. Inspectors also spoke with teaching staff, support staff and representatives of those responsible for governance.

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Facts and figures used on 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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Facts and figures used on inspection

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

HMCI strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers. The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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Facts and figures used on inspection

There have been significant changes to the school leadership since the last inspection. The interim CEO and the Head of Primary took up their posts in September 2025. The Interim Head of Secondary took up post in March 2026.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The school has a specialist resource base called The Polden Centre. This has 24 places for pupils with autism in key stage 3 and key stage 4. There are currently 19 pupils attending this provision.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The school has a nursery for children aged 3 and above. This is called Little Owls.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The school makes use of 5 alternative provisions, including 4 that are unregistered.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

Interim Head of Secondary: Laura Campbell 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 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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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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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

2023/24 (final) 71% 72% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 65% 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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English and maths GCSE

Percentage of pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Attainment 8

A measure of pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Progress 8

How much progress pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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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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national average

2023/24 (final) 38% 46% Close to average

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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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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

2023/24 (final) 65% 58% 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) 51% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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national average

2022/23 (final) 19.6% 25.2% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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national average

2022/23 (final) 30.5 35.0 Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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national average

2022/23 (final) -0.82 -0.57 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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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Destinations after 16

Percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4).

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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

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