Outwood Academy Freeston

Overview: Outwood Academy Freeston is a good school with high ambitions, aspirations, and expectations for all pupils. Pupils take pride in their work and achieve well in examinations and assessments. The school has a well-planned curriculum and strong systems for managing behaviour.

Strengths:

• Pupils take a great deal of pride in all that they do.
• Pupils achieve well in examinations and assessments.
• The school has a well-planned curriculum that is based on the latest educational research.
• Teachers have secure subject knowledge and deliver the curriculum effectively.
• Pupils learn the curriculum increasingly well and develop secure knowledge.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have their needs identified quickly and receive expert support.
• The school has strong systems and processes for managing behaviour, which are having a positive impact.
• Pupils receive a comprehensive programme that promotes their personal development.

Areas to improve:

• Occasionally, some staff do not check pupils' learning consistently and effectively, which means that pupils have gaps in their knowledge or misunderstandings that go unnoticed.
• A small minority of pupils report concerns about bullying and derogatory language, although the school has robust procedures for reporting and tackling these issues.
• The school's work to engage with parents and carers has had a mixed impact, with some parents continuing to feel dissatisfied with aspects of the school's provision.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.