Lift Crescent View

Overview

The Ridge Academy is a special academy where pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are described as "polite, keen to learn and proud of their school." The report highlights that staff know pupils well, using this knowledge to raise self-esteem and ensure readiness for learning. Overall, the school provides a high-quality education with effective leadership and strong personal development outcomes.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe, are treated fairly, and have "a trusted adult they can talk to in school."
• The curriculum design effectively identifies essential knowledge, with teachers adapting resources to ensure pupils learn age-appropriate content.
• Reading is prioritised, with staff ensuring pupils secure phonic knowledge and a well-stocked library nurturing a "love of reading."
• Behaviour incidents have reduced significantly due to training that created a "shared language and expectation" among staff.
• Provision for pupils with SEND is seen as "everyone's responsibility," with precise targets devised based on careful consideration of parent and pupil voice.

Areas to improve

• In some wider curriculum subjects, pupils do not have secure knowledge of important concepts, preventing them from making connections to build on prior learning.

Safeguarding

The report states that "the arrangements for safeguarding are effective."