Abbey Grange Church of England Academy

Overview: Abbey Grange Church of England Academy is a school that achieves highly, with pupils building strong foundations in reading, vocabulary, and subject knowledge from the moment they join. They make rapid progress through a well-sequenced curriculum and talk confidently about what they know and how ideas connect. National outcomes at key stage 4 show notable strength, with attainment and progress well above national figures for several years, including in English and mathematics.

Strengths:

• Pupils achieve highly at this school, making rapid progress through a well-sequenced curriculum.

• Teaching is consistent and purposeful, with staff using the Abbey Learning Cycle to structure learning and give pupils time to practise, discuss, and apply new ideas.

• Pupils are well prepared for their next steps, with most moving on to further or higher education with confidence, supported by high-quality guidance and a curriculum that develops both knowledge and character.

• Attendance and behaviour are strong, with pupils attending regularly and showing high levels of respect to adults and to each other.

• The school has a well-planned and ambitious curriculum that gives pupils strong foundations for future learning, with leaders thinking carefully about what pupils should learn and when.

Areas to improve:

• The school should continue to strengthen post-16 provision so that teaching, assessment, and outcomes match the high standards seen at key stage 4.

Safeguarding: The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfilling their specific responsibilities and having established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon, and managed.