Haywood Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 19 April 2023

Pupils at Haywood Academy, and students in the school's sixth form, enjoy coming to school. They feel part of a caring community that supports them to do as well as they can. Pupils are very appreciative of the many and varied experiences and opportunities that help them to prepare for their next steps. Teachers have high expectations of how and what pupils and students will learn. Classrooms are calm spaces where the focus is firmly on learning. The vast majority of pupils work hard and try their very best. High expectations of behaviour are well established and well understood. Pupils value the rewards they receive for good behaviour. There is great emphasis on teaching kindness in this school. As a result, pupils and students take care of one another. Pupils and students are friendly, polite and respectful to adults and to each other. They are very confident that if they have a problem, there will always be someone to help. They say that assemblies and community time are very important in their school and that they learn to keep safe and look after each other.

What the school should improve

• On occasion, curriculum plans do not identify carefully enough how learning will build and develop for each year group. Where this is the case, pupils do not always learn and remember as much as they could. Leaders should ensure that all subject curriculum plans clearly identify what pupils should be learning in each unit of work, to build up to the agreed end point.
• Formal assessment is not always designed well enough to ensure that it measures what pupils have not learned as well as what they have learned. This means that teachers do not always have the right information to help them adapt their plans. Leaders should make sure that formal assessment helps to identify gaps in learning more precisely.
• A small number of sixth-form students are not prepared well enough for their next steps. Study programmes do not always provide important elements to support students' development and ability to succeed in life and work. As a result, some students do not achieve what they need to move on. Leaders should make sure that study programmes include all elements, particularly work experience, and identify how students will be supported to achieve their aspirations.
• Students' attendance is not regular enough in the sixth form. As a result, a few students miss a significant proportion of their study programme. This impacts negatively on their achievement. Leaders should take action to improve students' attendance in the sixth form.

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