Leaders have designed an effective approach to teach reading. Pupils benefit from dedicated reading lessons, where they read plays and novels with enthusiasm. Pupils who struggle to read are helped to become better readers through additional support. Leaders have given reading a high priority in the school and have created libraries in each block to ensure that pupils can easily access high-quality texts.

Ofsted 2023

Using the data provided from primary schools, student progress is tracked on a personalised learning checklist against a route planner to ensure they are always on track to meet their academic potential. If students ever fall behind, we run an intervention programme helping them to catch up.

The quality of teaching is consistently good at the Lower Academy because every child has a Personalised Learning Checklist. Teachers use the checklist to track progress as well as to plan learning based on the needs of the individual.

There is a personalised learning checklist for every subject which is constantly monitored to ensure progress is made. Students have formal assessments twice a year and following these assessments we will report progress to parents and carers through Progress Review appointments. The results of the assessments and discussion with parents and carers allow us to implement appropriate therapies and interventions to drive further progress, create equity and remove barriers.

These interventions include:

• Academy ‘Out of Hours Learning Programme'
• Homework
• Enrichment Sessions
• Twilight sessions
• Saturday school
• Half term school
• Digital learning
• Our continued investment in digital learning tools such as Satchel, Mathletics & Reading Eggs
• Curriculum pathways catering for specific needs
• Student Development Teams
• External agencies to support mental health and well-being
• Funding to remove barriers