Spalding Academy

Overview

Spalding Academy has “taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.” The school is described as “caring and welcoming,” with “high expectations” for pupil achievement and behaviour. Most pupils “progress very well through the curriculum and achieve highly,” supported by a broad curriculum and effective pastoral care.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate “excellent attitudes to learning,” showing “resilience when work is more demanding” and maintaining “positive, respectful relationships” with staff.
• The curriculum is “broad and ambitious,” with clear learning intentions; disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) “achieve exceptionally well” in many subjects.
• Reading is promoted effectively through timely interventions, form-time reading, and library lessons, helping pupils develop “a love of reading.”
• Behaviour is “commendable,” with lessons described as “calm and purposeful,” and the number of suspensions is reducing due to effective conduct systems.
• Pupils are “exceptionally well prepared for their next steps,” benefiting from high-quality career advice and opportunities for broader development, such as the ‘aspire’ challenges.

Areas to improve

• The school must ensure staff consistently “explain new learning clearly” and use checks on pupils’ understanding to “inform future teaching,” as some teachers currently do not do this well enough, hindering learning in certain subjects.

Safeguarding

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