Focus 1st Academy

Overview: Focus 1st Academy is a good school that provides a supportive and inclusive environment for its pupils. Pupils benefit from strong relationships with teaching staff and feel safe and happy. The school has made significant improvements since the previous inspection, particularly in addressing weaknesses in the curriculum.

Strengths:

• Pupils benefit from strong relationships with teaching staff and feel safe and happy.
• The school has a broad curriculum in place, with most subjects identifying the important knowledge and skills pupils need to know in a logical order.
• Pupils are highly motivated and show positive attitudes to their learning, with attendance remaining a priority for the school.
• The provision for pupils' personal development is exceptional, with purposeful opportunities for pupils to build their confidence, resilience, and self-esteem.

Areas to improve:

• Sometimes, teaching approaches are not effective enough when addressing pupils' misconceptions and errors, meaning some pupils do not have the knowledge and skills they need to be ready to learn new content.
• In a few subjects, the school has not identified the key skills, knowledge, and vocabulary it expects pupils to learn and when, meaning some pupils have gaps in their knowledge and skills.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.