St Aidan's Church of England Academy

Overview

This ungraded inspection found that aspects of the school’s work “may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection,” triggering a future graded inspection. Despite this, the school is described as “warm and welcoming” with “happy” pupils who enjoy positive relationships with staff. The report notes that “decisive action from the trust means that the school is now improving,” particularly in behaviour and attendance, though significant challenges remain.

Strengths

• The curriculum is “broad and ambitious,” allowing pupils to build knowledge and skills over time across academic, vocational, and creative subjects.
• Teachers “use their expertise to explain concepts to pupils clearly,” and the school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) accurately.
• The school teaches new vocabulary effectively to support reading, and recently introduced strategies for reading fluency are “beginning to have a positive impact.”
• Pupils have a “secure understanding of healthy relationships” and benefit from effective careers education and extra-curricular opportunities.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must address “inconsistencies in the delivery of the curriculum” to ensure pupils, particularly disadvantaged ones, acquire deeper knowledge and achieve well.
• The school must further develop its approach to improving attendance, as “too many pupils continue to have high levels of absence,” causing significant gaps in learning.
• Staff must apply the behaviour policy consistently, as inconsistent procedures mean pupils are “not motivated by the rewards system” and display negative attitudes.
• The school should develop a “positive culture for reading for pleasure,” as it is currently not promoted widely enough.

Safeguarding

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