Alec Reed Academy

Overview

Alec Reed Academy is a mixed academy for pupils aged 3 to 19, where leaders and trustees share high ambitions for success. The report describes a school where pupils are “safe and happy,” benefit from a “broad and interesting curriculum,” and are well prepared for future education or employment.

Strengths

• Early years provision is rated “Outstanding,” with children in Nursery and Reception playing and learning in a “very well-resourced environment” that prepares them effectively for Year 1.
• The curriculum is “carefully designed” with strong links between primary and secondary phases, ensuring subject content supports long-term learning, such as in history and mathematics.
• Teaching is effective, with staff who “know their pupils well” and routinely check understanding; pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are “very well supported” to access the same curriculum.
• Personal development is robust, featuring a “very rich careers programme” with one-to-one advice and a thoughtful personal, social and health education curriculum that addresses current issues like vaping.
• Safeguarding arrangements are “effective,” with a “large and well-trained team” ensuring concerns are reported clearly and vulnerable pupils receive tenacious support.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should enable pupils in key stage 3 to study more subjects in “greater depth for longer” to ensure a deeper understanding across the full breadth of the curriculum.
• Leaders should ensure secondary pupils better manage their own behaviour when moving around the building and during social times, so these periods are “calm and orderly.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective,” noting that systems are in place to quickly identify at-risk pupils and that children feel safe and know how to report worries.