Bulwell Academy branded 'inadequate' by Ofsted following latest inspection

The school was inspected over two days, on October 4 and 5, and the inspectors’ report has now been published.

Oftsed rated the school as ‘inadequate’ for the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management, while it said the school’s sixth sixth-form provision ‘requires improvement’.

But the school said that rapid progress was being made to improve matters.

The report said SEND pupils were not receiving good enough education and that leaders’ expectations of SEND pupils were too low.

It said pupils were not always confident teachers could resolve bullying problems effectively and the school was criticised for failing to enrich pupils’ by not encouraging them to experience new things outside of their community and not getting the chance to develop new skills and talents.

It also said pupils were not learning enough about different faiths and cultures.

The reported added that the sixth form was too small but at students valued the support they receive from their teachers.

The report praised the way teachers are delivering the curriculum at key stage three and said teachers had good subject knowledge.

But it added that key stage four, pupils were not knowing and and remembering as much as they should.

The report also said school leaders had ‘failed to make sure that a well-structured, rigorous and sequential reading programme is in place’, adding that many pupils ‘struggle to access the curriculum because they cannot read well’.

The report also highlighted attendance concerns saying: “Some pupils are frequently absent and and there is little sign of pupils’ attendance improving at the pace needed.”

Addressing what the school needed to do to improve, the report said the school needed to urgently improve its education for SEND pupils, highlighting that ‘too many are removed from lessons and placed in the school’s ‘reset’ provision or suspended’.

Leaders need to ensure meaningful checks are taking place for all pupils to plug gaps in learning.

Leaders must urgently put in place a well-planned, structured and resourced reading programme and pupils must be supported to read accurately and fluently without delay.

New, more effective, systems to tackle pupil absence were needed and that leaders must continue their work to ensure that safeguarding systems ‘quickly identify the pupils who require support.’

Chris Keen, executive principal of Bulwell Academy, said: “In the last few months, interim head of school Sam Williamson and I have been able to make immediate changes to improve a number of areas at Bulwell Academy.

"This has included introducing literacy programmes to help improve pupils' reading skills, providing more opportunities for pupils to learn new skills after school and making time for teachers to further develop their skills in the classroom.

“While we were disappointed in Ofsted’s conclusion that the school should be graded ‘inadequate’ following the inspection earlier in the autumn term, we are confident that Ofsted would already be able to recognise the rapid progress made in a few short months.

"As evidenced in the October performance tables, Bulwell Academy is the most improved school in Nottingham from 2019 on the Government’s headline progress 8 measure, which is indicative of the improvement work that has been done thus far."