Childwall Sports & Science Academy

Childwall Sports & Science Academy

Address: Queen's Drive, Liverpool, Merseyside, L15 6XZ Unique reference number (URN): 138787

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Safeguarding standards met

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

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How we evaluate safeguarding

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

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How we evaluate safeguarding

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

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders check patterns in pupils' attendance often and carefully to ensure that pupils, who are struggling to attend, get the help that they need quickly. This additional support ensures that these pupils attend school more often. The school has gained an external award for how it focuses on attendance and inclusion. For example, leaders support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with other specific barriers to attendance effectively. Staff liaise well with pupils' families to identify anything that may affect their attendance, such as transport costs. Although many pupils come from far outside of the school's catchment area, often taking multiple buses to school, most pupils attend school regularly.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils are cooperative in lessons and behave well at social times. They work well with each other. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and respectful. Routines are clearly well established, such as the way pupils hand in their mobile phones at the start of the school day. Pupils follow these routines closely. Pupils who sometimes struggle to manage their behaviour get the help that they need and have spaces to calm themselves if needed. Pupils understand that bullying and discriminatory behaviour are unwanted and are not tolerated.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders are rightly proud of their inclusive approach. They ensure that staff have the information that they need to meet pupils’ wide range of needs. When pupils have barriers to learning, leaders identify them quickly and put in place the help that pupils require. Because of this, most pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils attend school regularly. Their achievement is steadily improving. Leaders use alternative provision thoughtfully and ensure that it has a positive impact on the pupils who attend these provisions.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders think carefully about their plans to make the right provision for pupils with particular barriers to learning. They use additional funding appropriately to support pupils, such as through employing additional staff to provide specific help. Leaders also use funding to provide effective support for pupils, who cannot read fluently, write skilfully or use numbers confidently. Consequently, vulnerable pupils access the same curriculum as their peers. When pupils have other barriers to learning, such as learning to speak English as an additional language, leaders ensure that they get the specific help that they need. Leaders' checks on the impact of their support for disadvantaged pupils are not as sharp as they could be. At times, this affects how quickly any gaps in these pupils' learning are addressed.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders and those responsible for governance understand and fulfil their statutory responsibilities, including for safeguarding. They are inclusive in their approaches. Those responsible for governance understand the school’s strengths and areas that still need further development. Their decisions are focused on what is in the best interests of the pupils.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have an outward-facing approach. They embrace a culture of challenge and support. They are assisted by the trust to work productively with external partners on the school’s continued improvement. For example, working with an external governance expert is strengthening further the governing body’s effectiveness in supporting and challenging school leaders.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders ensure that teachers and non-teaching staff gain a wide range of opportunities to continue their professional learning. Staff appreciate this. Leaders make sure that staff feel valued. They designate ‘green weeks’ in the school’s calendar, when after-school commitments are reduced. This supports staff with their workload. Leaders also encourage staff to participate in wellbeing projects. Morale is high and the rate of staff turnover has reduced considerably.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders engage constructively with the community and with parents and carers in a number of different ways. These include innovative opportunities, like attending the school's ‘cultural days'. Relationships between the school and its community are strengthening. Most parents would recommend this school to others.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders ensure that the personal development programme is carefully designed. It is thoughtfully tailored, so that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those with other barriers to learning can access the same learning as their peers. Pupils learn about fundamental British values and current issues in society, such as violence against women, 'bystander behaviour' and immigration. They also learn about topics such as mental health and healthy relationships. Pupils can explain, for example, the risks of alcohol and how this links to the concept of consent. Pupils learn how to stay safe online. They are respectful of diversity. This helps them to be well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils benefit from a range of other opportunities to develop themselves personally. These include learning to play a musical instrument, which nurtures their talents, participating in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which develops their independence and joining new clubs to widen their interests. These activities ensure that pupils gain opportunities they may not otherwise have. When pupils face barriers to participation, leaders use funding to support them to access the same opportunities as their peers. Pastoral support is effective. Leaders ensure that the pupils at this school receive the support that they need to help tackle any social or emotional barriers to success.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils, including students in the sixth form, gain a wide range of meaningful careers experiences. For example, Year 9 pupils attend a careers fair with local employers and pupils participate in a ‘meet the professional’ event. When pupils go on work placements, leaders ensure that these are purposeful and linked to pupils’ ambitions. For example, students studying health and social care get work experience in local hospitals. Because of this support, the majority of pupils are successful in their next steps in education, employment or training at ages 16 and 18.

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Post-16 provision Expected standard

Leaders ensure that all students, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning, get the help that they need to be successful. This includes support for their mental health or difficult life situations, such as those suffering bereavement. Consequently, students have a strong sense of belonging to the sixth form. They appreciate the help and care that they receive.

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Post-16 provision Expected standard

Most teachers deliver the curriculum effectively. Students largely achieve well in vocational and technical qualifications. While A-level outcomes are not as positive, leaders have identified the reasons why and are taking the right actions to address this. They review the curriculum each year to ensure that it meets the needs of students. As a result of this review process, for example, leaders introduce new qualifications to add to the courses on offer for students.

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Post-16 provision Expected standard

Students benefit from visits to universities, meaningful work experience and opportunities to coach younger pupils by leading clubs. This strengthens their independence and their communication skills, while preparing them to achieve their future aspirations. Consequently, students grow in confidence and successfully secure appropriate places in universities, employment or apprenticeships linked to their ambitions.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils' attainment at the end of Year 11 is below average in many subjects. Current pupils' achievement reflects the actions leaders are taking to address this, showing early signs of improvement. This includes disadvantaged pupils' progress through the curriculum, which is beginning to accelerate. In the sixth form, students achieve more securely overall, especially in their vocational and technical courses.

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Achievement Needs attention

Leaders ensure that pupils who cannot read and write fluently, or who struggle to use numbers confidently, get the help that they need. The school uses specialist staff to support these pupils effectively. Consequently, pupils are catching up quickly and then keeping up in general. This ensures that they have the necessary skills to be successful in the next stages of their education or training.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders ensure that the curriculum is well designed. They check the quality of teaching regularly. While some teaching is effective, it is too variable across the school. Where teaching is at its best, pupils gain the subject knowledge and the skills that they need to, which prepares them well for their future education. This is inconsistent, however. Some teachers do not check pupils' learning effectively enough to identify any gaps in their knowledge, hindering the action they can take to address them. Some pupils’ work reflects misconceptions that have not been addressed fully enough. As a result, some pupils do not make the progress through the curriculum that they should. Leaders are taking the right actions to ensure that the standard of teaching becomes more consistent across the school, but the impact of these actions is not yet realised fully. Additionally, the school does not meet the government’s expectations for the minimum hours that pupils should attend school each

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Most teachers use information about pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities to adapt their teaching appropriately. For example, teachers give pupils extra time, when this is needed, and use specific resources well, such as electronic devices for pupils who have a visual impairment. Because of this, these pupils access the same curriculum as their peers.

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

Pupils at Childwall Sports and Science Academy, including students in the sixth form, are happy and feel safe. They know that if they have a worry, such as about bullying, staff will not tolerate this and will deal with it quickly and effectively. Pupils enjoy their learning. Because of these factors, most pupils attend school regularly.

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

Pupils behave well in lessons and at social times. They are polite, friendly to newcomers and proud of their diverse community. Pupils celebrate and support the differences between each other. They participate in enriching events, such as ‘heritage day’ and ‘culture day'. As a result of this, they are developing into young adults who live out fundamental British values, such as tolerance and individual liberty. Families are welcomed into the school. Most parents and carers would recommend the school to others. Pupils who join the school mid- year largely settle well and feel welcomed.

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

Overall, pupils do not attain highly enough in their examinations at the end of Year 11. Leaders understand the reasons for this and are taking the right action to improve pupils' progress through the curriculum. Students in the sixth form largely attain in line with national averages. This includes those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning.

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

Pupils benefit from a wide range of different activities to help them to develop personally. These include ‘STEAM’ club where pupils have opportunities to use their science knowledge in practical, fun ways, such as making bath bombs. Overseas visits, for example, to Alicante, develop pupils’ cultural awareness and language skills. Pupils also join a range of sporting clubs. Additionally, pupils read regularly, which helps them to widen their vocabulary and improve their fluency in reading.

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Next steps

Through improving the consistency and effectiveness of teaching across the school, including how teachers identify pupils' misconceptions and address them fully, leaders should continue to raise pupils' achievement further and ensure that this is reflected in more positive examination outcomes, particularly at the end of Year 11.

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Team inspectors:

Dympna Woods, Ofsted Inspector Christopher Beard, Ofsted Inspector Louise McComas, Ofsted Inspector Alison Rigby, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

Leaders should sharpen their checks on the effectiveness of the strategy to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, so that this strategy is having the full impact that leaders intend. Building on the success of their strategies to improve pupils' attendance, leaders should ensure that rates of attendance continue to rise further. Leaders should ensure that they meet the government’s expectations for the minimum hours that pupils should attend school each week.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Lydiate Learning Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Ann Stahler, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by John Graham.

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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 spoke with school leaders, trustees, governors and teachers during the inspection. They also spoke with representatives of some of the alternative provisions that the school uses.

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About this inspection

The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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About this inspection

The school currently makes use of 5 alternative provisions, all of which are registered.

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About this inspection

Head of School: Dr Alex Thomas This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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About this inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 23 June 2026

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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 6 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 needs support 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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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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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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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) 30.8 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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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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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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A-level average point score

The average points that students achieved per A-level entry.

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A-level value added

A score showing students’ progress between the end of key stage 4 and the end of their academic qualification studies.

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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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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 9.5% 8.4% Close to average

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Persistent absence

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

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 29.8% 25.6% Close to average

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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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Urgent improvement

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

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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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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