Manchester Vocational and Learning Academy

Overview: Pupils enjoy attending this welcoming school, where they value the time that staff take to get to know them as individuals, and positive relationships with staff and classmates create calm and purposeful classrooms. Pupils are supported well to build up their self-esteem and become increasingly confident, and they work hard and strive to meet the high expectations that the school has.

Strengths:

• Pupils enjoy attending this welcoming school and value the time that staff take to get to know them as individuals.
• Positive relationships with staff and classmates create calm and purposeful classrooms.
• Pupils are supported well to build up their self-esteem and become increasingly confident.
• The school has developed a comprehensive personal, social, health and economic education programme.
• The school has designed an appropriate impartial careers information, education, advice and guidance programme.
• Staff are positive about what the school does to support their workload and well-being.

Areas to improve:

• In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not account for the gaps that some pupils have in their knowledge, and as a result, some teachers are not sure what key knowledge they should prioritise when designing learning.
• In some subjects, the school has not ensured that teachers have the knowledge they need to teach the intended curriculum effectively.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.