Rochdale Islamic Academy

Overview: Rochdale Islamic Academy is an Islamic faith secondary school for girls that does not meet all of the independent school standards. The school has made progress in improving the quality of education, but still has weaknesses in leadership and management.

Strengths:

• The school has a suitable safeguarding policy that takes into account statutory guidance.
• The school has a clear curriculum policy, plans, and schemes of work that take into account the learning needs of all pupils.
• The school has refined its framework to assess pupils' work regularly and thoroughly.
• The school has enlisted the guidance and expertise of external support to improve its provision for pupils with SEND.
• The school has a renewed drive to secure rapid school improvement, with a recently appointed headteacher and changes to trustees and governors.

Areas to improve:

• The school does not meet all of the independent school standards, particularly in part 8, quality of leadership in and management of schools.
• The school is overly reliant on external support to ensure that the standards are met securely and consistently over time.
• The school still has weaknesses in its curriculum, including plans and schemes of work that do not meet the needs and aptitudes of all pupils.
• The school's leadership is fragile, with the headteacher and some trustees and governors being new to their roles.

Safeguarding: The school has a suitable safeguarding policy that takes into account statutory guidance, and staff have the training they need to identify pupils who may be at risk of harm.