Brentnall Academy

Overview

Brentnall Academy is described as a "flourishing school" that has achieved an "impressive" standard in just over two years. Leaders have established a culture where pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, "feel safe and feel that they belong here." The school is on a "very positive and upward path of continual improvement," with strong leadership and high standards of behaviour.

Strengths

• Leaders are "highly ambitious" for disadvantaged pupils, providing "thoughtful use of the school’s extra funding" to ensure they have an "equal chance to thrive."
• The school’s focus on special educational needs and/or disabilities is "skilful," with staff working "very effectively" with parents and professionals to meet pupils' needs.
• Pupils develop a "deep and genuine regard for other people’s faiths, cultures and communities," and their kindness has attracted "national attention."
• Behaviour is "calm and self-controlled," with bullying being "rare" and managed "very effectively."
• The curriculum is "well-thought-out and logically ordered," resulting in "effective and rapidly improving teaching."

Areas to improve

• Leaders should ensure staff build pupils’ "handwriting, grammar and punctuation skills" and develop their ability to "write longer pieces of work."
• Leaders should make certain that actions on attendance enable "all pupils to benefit from the school’s curriculum and teaching."
• Leaders should ensure pupils further develop their understanding of "the works of different authors" through the new curriculum.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an "open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility" and concerns are "actively identified, acted upon and managed."