North Star 180°

Overview

Aspire Academy is a special school where pupils are described as “enthusiastic and successful learners.” The report highlights that “significant changes to the school’s curriculum and behaviour expectations have had a substantial and positive impact on pupils’ development in a short time.” Overall, the school provides a “calm and purposeful” environment where staff effectively support pupils’ social, emotional, and mental health needs.

Strengths

• The curriculum is “highly individualised” and carefully adapted to match pupils’ personal, social, and emotional needs as set out in their education, health and care plans.
• Staff build “strong” relationships with pupils, helping them to “recognise and express their emotions effectively” and feel safe.
• Reading provision is robust, with staff using secure knowledge of phonics to ensure pupils read with “accuracy and fluency.”
• Behaviour and attendance have “significantly improved,” supported by routines that help pupils understand their feelings and re-engage in learning.
• Pupils are well-prepared for adulthood through career guidance, work experience, and learning about “positive and healthy relationships.”

Areas to improve

• The school must refine assessment in the wider curriculum to ensure learning builds on existing knowledge and “closes gaps in knowledge.”
• Subject leadership across the wider curriculum is “not fully developed,” requiring improvement to ensure sufficient oversight of pupil progress in all subjects.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”