Ernulf Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 January 2025

Pupils settle into the life of the school well. They make new friends and enjoy their lessons. Pupils are safe, happy and well looked after. Older pupils are, in the main, positive about the improvements that have been made to the school. They appreciate the increased number of enrichment opportunities. During their weekly 'electives' session, pupils enjoy developing new skills and exploring their interests. There is a wide range of activities that they benefit from, including sports, music, art, mathematics and paranormal club. The revised curriculum is now ambitious for all pupils. It has been expertly designed to build on pupils' prior learning and revisit important knowledge. Pupils appreciate this increased challenge. They are proud of what they know and are keen to achieve well. They like the quizzing and opportunities to think deeply. In the main, pupils work hard and grapple with tricky concepts, which are taught well. Due to recent improvements in the curriculum, most pupils now achieve well. However, the impact of these changes is not yet evident in the published examination results, as previous pupils have not benefitted fully from them. In lessons, most pupils behave well. They understand the rules, and most pupils follow them consistently. Pupils are attentive and listen respectfully to their teacher. Disruption to learning is rare. When it does happen, teachers respond quickly to minimise its impact on pupils' learning.

What the school should improve

• After checking what pupils know and can do, teachers do not consistently provide pupils with sufficiently precise guidance and actions to improve their work. As a result, some pupils do not know how to improve and deepen their understanding. The work that they produce does not always meet the ambition of the curriculum. The school should ensure that teachers consistently provide pupils with guidance on how to improve their work and deepen their understanding.
• Some pupils do not meet the school's high behaviour standards. Incidents such as pushing in corridors and the use of derogatory language upsets the large majority of pupils who want to enjoy a respectful and positive atmosphere. The school should strengthen its behaviour support strategies to ensure that all pupils adhere to the high expectations for behaviour.
• The school has not established effective communication with parents and carers. Some parents feel less engaged with the school. This lack of engagement reduces opportunities for effective collaboration between the school and families. This leads to many parents lacking confidence in how well their concerns are addressed. The school should take rapid action to strengthen communication strategies to ensure that parents and carers feel informed, valued and included in their child's education.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)