Elements Academy

Overview

Pupils at Elements Academy have a "mixed experience" as the school undergoes significant changes following a trust reset. While there are positive developments in culture and specific subjects, the report states that pupils "do not achieve as well as they should" due to inconsistent teaching and high absence rates. The inspection identifies several areas requiring improvement across education quality, behaviour, and leadership.

Strengths

• Staff manage behaviour incidents in a "calm and consistent way," and pupils are confident staff will deal with bullying well.
• Subject curriculums are "increasingly well connected," with progressive development in mathematics and creative writing skills.
• The school is developing a "strong reading culture," with pupils enjoying daily phonics activities and ‘drop everything and read’ time.
• Pastoral care is prioritised, with "warm relationships" at the heart of the school and effective therapeutic support, including music therapy.
• Careers provision is effective, with most pupils moving on to "suitable and successful destinations."

Areas to improve

• Ensure staff receive necessary support for subject-specific knowledge when teaching outside their specialism, particularly in the secondary phase.
• Develop expertise in adaptive teaching strategies to consistently meet the complex needs of pupils with SEND.
• Improve pupil attendance and engagement, as persistent absence remains too high.
• Enhance strategic oversight and record-keeping for pupils on temporary part-time timetables and alternative provision pathways.
• Improve communication with key stakeholders, including parents, following a period of turbulence.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.