Leicester Islamic Academy

Overview: The Leicester Islamic Academy is a happy and cohesive school where pupils develop a strong understanding of fundamental British values and the important role they are expected to play within these. The school provides a nurturing and supportive environment where children feel safe, happy, and encouraged to do their best.

Strengths:

• The school has designed and implemented an ambitious curriculum that makes clear what pupils are expected to learn and remember.
• Pupils develop a love of reading and have an impressive recall of what they have learned, able to apply this learning in new contexts.
• The school provides well for pupils' personal development, with a well-designed curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE) that teaches pupils about a wide range of people, places and communities.
• The school is well led and managed, with proprietors, senior and middle leaders knowing their school well and being quick to act where improvements are needed.
• The school's safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas to improve:

• The school's phonics programme is made up of several constituent parts that do not align as well as they could, meaning that some pupils who are at the earliest stages of learning to read do not master phonics as quickly as they could.
• In a small number of cases, teachers do not adapt teaching well enough to cater for the needs of pupils with SEND, meaning that not all pupils with SEND learn the curriculum as well as they should.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.