Highfield Littleport Academy

Highfield Littleport Academy

Address: Elmside, Ely, CB6 1LJ Unique reference number (URN): 140882

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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 significant improvement

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Overall, pupils’ attendance is above the national average for special schools. Leaders and staff build strong relationships with families, so that pupils feel safe, valued and want to attend. Leaders celebrate improvements well, including attendance certificates that recognise pupils’ efforts and encourage frequent attendance. Leaders use their detailed knowledge of pupils to judge when to intervene and when to pause, such as when a pupil is recovering from illness or medical treatment. However, too many disadvantaged pupils continue to miss school regularly. Although leaders act, they do not set out or communicate clearly expected improvements, meaning some of these pupils remain persistently absent or see attendance fluctuate rather than improve and sustain.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Pupils are mostly calm and settled. Staff use a gentle, reassuring manner that helps pupils feel safe. Positive relationships mean bullying is rare. If pupils use inappropriate or discriminatory language, leaders inform parents and carers so they can work together to reset expectations. When pupils become unsettled, staff notice and step in. However, staff responses vary in effectiveness and speed. Staff value leaders’ prompt support during challenging moments. Still, leaders know there is work to do to guide staff to predict and prevent pupils becoming unsettled, and to respond effectively when it happens.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Although staff use pupils’ education, health and care plans to shape provision, there is too much variation in how well they deliver it to help pupils work towards their long-term goals. Staff do not always break these long-term goals into specific, measurable short-term targets or adjust them quickly, when they prove too ambitious or too easy. Weak oversight means leaders cannot tell whether the issue lies in the targets, the provision itself or how staff deliver it. Consequently, they cannot give staff the support needed to ensure that the provision works as intended to help pupils overcome barriers to learning and wellbeing.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders identify disadvantaged pupils’ barriers to achievement accurately. For example, they have a clear rationale for using funding to strengthen pupils’ communication, so pupils can make requests and develop greater independence. However, this is not realised well enough in practice. Leaders recognise that they need to check more carefully how well these approaches are working to ensure that the pupil premium funding has the intended impact.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders work positively and proactively with external partners, including those who support children in care and those who provide mental health services. Parents and carers value how leaders and staff advocate and care for their children.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Standards slipped suddenly because of turbulence in leadership. The trust responded appropriately and as quickly as it reasonably could. Still, this disruption unsettled staff and some left. Leaders struggled to recruit experienced replacements. This has weakened pupils’ learning and achievement. Very recent leadership changes have steadied the school. Parents and carers, pupils and staff now report renewed confidence in leadership.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Current leaders evaluate the school accurately and set clear priorities. They acted first to tackle the dip in pupils’ behaviour last term, ahead of their plans to redevelop and relaunch the curriculum and professional learning programme. Leading in this way quickly restored the calm, safe environment that existed before. It has improved morale and put staff in a positive frame of mind to accept the changes and raised expectations that leaders plan to introduce.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders’ approach to professional learning has not been sharp enough over time. Staff have always received training, but leaders have not checked well enough that key messages are understood or used effectively. Consequently, weaknesses in practice are not spotted early. When staff left and new staff joined, gaps became more obvious. Therefore, too many staff are not well prepared to teach pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Open communication means trustees understand what is happening in the school. They fulfil their statutory duties, including seeking external experts to check the information leaders provide for assurance. However, the information trustees receive does not give them enough detail to challenge leaders about whether pupils are achieving as well as they should.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

The school has facilities that support pupils’ wider development, such as an accessible gym that helps pupils build physical strength and a mock flat, where older pupils practise independent or semi-independent living. Although these spaces are used, leaders plan to use the curriculum relaunch to ensure that they are used more regularly and purposefully so they have greater impact on pupils’ personal growth.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

Staff use the relationships, sex and health education programme to teach pupils important content. For instance, because many pupils enjoy using technology, and some older pupils have mobile phones at home, staff teach pupils how to behave safely online. They also explain terms such as ‘trolling’. This helps pupils understand how and when to report concerns, keeping them safe on and offline.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

Pupils form warm, positive relationships with leaders, staff and peers, which enriches their daily experience. While residential trips and educational visits broaden pupils’ horizons, leaders recognise the need to expand the extra-curricular offer so it better complements the curriculum and provides more opportunities for pupils to develop their talents, interests, creativity and social skills.

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Urgent improvement

The school offers a suitable range of pastoral support, including counselling and play-based therapies. Trusted staff are also on hand, when pupils are having a difficult day or when challenges outside school affect their wellbeing. Parents and carers whose children use this support value how easy it is to access. It puts their mind at ease knowing their child is receiving help.

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Urgent improvement

Careers education gives pupils and their families help to think about next steps in education or training. Consequently, pupils move on to college or local care settings. Leaders know some pupils, especially those on formal pathways, could move on to advanced qualifications and wider options after school if the curriculum is linked more closely to careers education.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Pupils who are pre-verbal or nonverbal do not build their communication skills securely. For example, picture-based communication is not used in a consistent way, so pupils do not develop a clear understanding of what staff are telling them or how, in time, they can communicate their own needs and ideas. Consequently, their ability to understand others and express themselves stays at an early stage. This does little to prepare them for the future.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Many pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, have gaps in reading, writing and mathematics. These gaps are not picked up routinely, so pupils move forward with shaky foundations. This holds back pupils, including those who could achieve more advanced qualifications to widen their future choices in education, employment or training. The lack of ambition limits what pupils are able to aim for and what they might confidently do next, when they leave the school.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

The purpose behind the different curriculum pathways has become unclear. Over time, staff have been given the freedom to plan new ideas, but leaders have not checked this closely enough to make sure what pupils learn stays ambitious and well thought through. Similarly, how best to assess pupils so they stay on the pathway that aligns with what they know and can do is muddled. As a result, some pupils are in classes that do not meet their needs. Leaders have started to fix these issues. For example, they are refining the curriculum to ensure that what pupils learn is appropriate for their age and stage. However, this work is ongoing and so currently the weaknesses persist.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Teaching across the school is weak. Staff do not routinely explain steps clearly, show pupils how to complete tasks well, or check understanding often enough to keep pupils focused and secure in their learning. Although staff aim to use research-informed practice for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, they do not thread this through everyday teaching. Consequently, approaches designed to build listening, engagement and self- regulation skills often falter because transitions between activities are not planned well enough. Pupils become unsettled, limiting how well they develop the skills they need.

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

Pupils are not achieving well enough. Sometimes, they disengage from learning because tasks are either too easy or too hard. Most pupils stay calm when this happens. Others, particularly pupils who are nonverbal or pre-verbal, respond in unsettled ways. Staff are not quick to adapt their teaching in the moment or across lessons to address this. The way staff use pupils’ education, health and care plans to inform support also varies across the school. The issue is less about pupils receiving their entitlement and more about how well that entitlement is delivered. The systems that should oversee this and help pupils overcome barriers to learning are not working well enough. For pupils, the situation has worsened over the course of the year. They are all capable of achieving much more.

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

Leaders' recent changes mean that staff now run the start of the day as a calm, well- choreographed routine. They greet pupils from their transport, or from their parent or carer, with familiar faces and predictable cues. If a guided hand helps a pupil feel ready, staff offer it. If a 'secret' handshake is part of a pupil’s welcome, staff do it with gusto. Pupils walk into school happily, feeling wanted and knowing they belong. This sense of belonging helps explain why pupils feel safe and why their attendance is, for the most part, positive. Also, because staff model kindness and respect, pupils tend to treat each other similarly.

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

Pupils relish taking on responsibility. The pupils who run 'Jax’s Café' enjoy shopping for ingredients, preparing food and drinks, serving customers and manning the till. They work well as a team and behave professionally under the guidance of encouraging staff. Pupils love the experience. It gives them a real taste of what the world of work can offer in adulthood.

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Next steps

Leaders must define clear curriculum pathways and align these with assessment so that staff plan coherent learning for pupils. Leaders must guide staff to review which approaches reduce learning barriers for pupils, adjusting any that do not show clear, measurable impact on what pupils achieve. Leaders must ensure that teaching responds to pupils’ needs so that pupils can access learning, engage purposefully and build knowledge securely. Leaders must help staff select and teach suitable communication approaches for pupils who need them, ensuring regular chances to practise communicating with increasing independence. Leaders must ensure that staff identify and address gaps in pupils’ foundational knowledge so that all pupils achieve well, including those capable of gaining qualifications that broaden future opportunities. Leaders should establish suitable strategies to reduce persistent absenteeism among

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Next steps

disadvantaged pupils, communicating expectations clearly and monitoring progress closely to secure sustained improvement in attendance. Leaders should ensure that staff use suitable strategies for calm, effective responses to unsettled behaviour, enabling pupils to remain settled and focused on learning. Leaders should extend the personal development programme, so that pupils encounter broader opportunities that support their growth, interests and emerging talents. Leaders should use their insights to shape timely, targeted professional learning that tackles emerging weaknesses early. Trustees should ensure that the information they receive about pupils’ achievement is sufficiently clear and specific to enable them to hold leaders to account for the school’s educational performance.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Active 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 (CEO), Lynsey Holzer, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Claire Heald.

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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

This inspection took place on 7 and 8 July 2026.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the CEO, the director of education, the headteacher, interim deputy headteachers, assistant headteachers, heads of department, a trustee, the chair of the local trust committee, and a representative from the Cambridgeshire virtual school.

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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

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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About this 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 inspections we carry out.

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About this inspection

The school has a small number of children and students, who attend early years and post- 16 provision respectively. Due to the small numbers, these provisions are not reported on separately. Inspectors gathered evidence about the experiences and outcomes of these pupils, and this evidence is included in the inspection findings above.

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Team inspectors:

Bessie Owen, His Majesty's Inspector Catherine Assink, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

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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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 7 July 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 inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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What does this mean?

The headteacher had been in post for 5 weeks when the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The school caters for pupils with moderate, specific, severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties. All pupils have an education, health and care plan.

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What does this mean?

The school does not currently use alternative provision.

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What does this mean?

Headteacher: Adam Daw 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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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

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

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