Red Kite Academy

Overview

Red Kite Academy is a specialist school where “pupils are at the heart of all decisions” and staff provide a “personalised approach to caring and learning.” The report describes a setting where pupils “feel safe,” “enjoy school,” and benefit from high expectations designed to prepare them for adulthood. Overall, the school is judged as providing a good quality of education, behaviour, and personal development.

Strengths

• Staff “care about all their pupils” and effectively support those with challenging behaviours, ensuring bullying is “not tolerated.”
• The curriculum is carefully planned with “four different curriculum pathways” to meet diverse needs, with a strong focus on “effective communication and language.”
• Teachers “adapt their teaching” and check understanding before introducing new learning, helping most pupils achieve their education, health and care plan targets.
• Phonics teaching is effective, with books “well matched to the phonics pupils know,” and all pupils report they “enjoy reading.”
• Sixth-form students have “good attitudes to their learning” and access work experience and careers guidance to prepare for “further education, adult social care packages and employment.”

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure clarity on what pupils on the formal pathway need to learn in the wider curriculum so they can “recall and deepen this knowledge.”
• Leaders should ensure pupils have a “comprehensive understanding of difference in society,” as some pupils’ knowledge of different faiths and cultures is currently limited.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with a “strong culture of safeguarding” where all staff know their collective responsibility and pupils understand how to keep themselves safe.