Q3 Academy Tipton

Overview

Pupils and sixth-form students “enjoy coming to this school” and feel “safe, supported and heard.” The report highlights that “improvements made to the curriculum and to teaching and learning are starting to have a positive impact,” resulting in an “ambitious, coherent and carefully sequenced curriculum.” While current pupils are achieving more positively than previous published outcomes suggest, the report notes that historical data “do not reflect these more recent positive changes.”

Strengths

• Staff apply the behaviour policy consistently, creating a “calm and purposeful environment” where pupils behave with “respect and consideration.”
• The curriculum is “ambitious, coherent and carefully sequenced,” with strategies that make learning “accessible to all,” including those with SEND.
• Reading is “at the heart of the whole curriculum,” with struggling pupils quickly identified and supported to make “rapid progress.”
• Personal development is a priority, with pupils valuing PSHE lessons and opportunities to “broaden their experiences and develop their cultural understanding.”
• Careers guidance is “very well designed,” with dedicated time built into the curriculum from Year 7 onwards.

Areas to improve

• The school should ensure staff have the “knowledge and confidence to adapt learning activities successfully to meet the needs of pupils,” as improvements in identifying needs are not applied consistently across subjects.
• The school should ensure that systems for checking what pupils have learned at the end of each lesson are “used consistently” by all teachers to support those who have missed lessons or not understood content.

Safeguarding

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