The Forest View Academy

Overview

The Forest View Academy is described as a place where pupils “love attending” and feel “calm, safe and comforting.” Leaders have successfully improved reading provision, and staff maintain warm, respectful relationships with children who conduct themselves very well.

Strengths

• Pupils are “keen to learn,” get on well together, and help look after one another.
• Reading has improved significantly, with trained staff providing “close support” so most struggling pupils “catch up with their peers.”
• The curriculum in most subjects is “ambitious and well thought out,” using “steps to success” to deepen learning.
• Pupils show “high levels of empathy,” learn about diverse role models, and understand how to look after their mental health.
• Staff value in-school training and feel leaders are “mindful of their workload.”

Areas to improve

• In a small number of subjects, the curriculum is not sufficiently ambitious or logically sequenced, leaving pupils with “gaps in their knowledge.”
• The personal development programme does not focus well enough on teaching pupils what it means to “live in modern Britain” or understand British values.
• Leaders’ plans for improvement are “not always sharp enough,” and trustees do not always hold leaders to account sufficiently well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff spotting signs of risk promptly and keeping detailed records to keep pupils safe.