Maltby Redwood Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 16 March 2022

Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Leaders understand the community and the families well. Everyone in the school community feels part of 'Team Redwood'. Staff work hard to build positive relationships with families. All staff are committed to the welfare and achievement of the pupils that they work with. Staff, pupils and parents and carers talk about the family feel of the school. As one pupil said, 'Once you have been to Redwood, you don't want to go anywhere else.' Pupils feel safe and know that if they have any concerns or worries they can speak to a person that they trust. When bullying occurs, staff deal with this quickly and effectively. Pupils behave well in lessons and are keen to learn. In the dining hall, pupils are polite to each other and the staff helping them. In the playground, pupils take responsibility for their class play equipment trollies and enjoy playing with, and alongside, each other. Pupils are taught about respect and tolerance as part of their general experiences and as part of relationships and sex education. They understand different types of family structures and understand the importance of treating everyone they meet with kindness. Pupils talk positively about the experiences they have as part of the curriculum, like visiting the space museum as part of their learning in science.

What the school should improve

• Leaders have not checked that all staff fully understand the finer details of the phonics curriculum. As a result, some teachers do not consistently identify misconceptions or address these quickly for pupils who are at the earliest stage of reading. Leaders should ensure that all teachers of early reading have the most up-to-date training as soon as possible.
• Leaders' monitoring of school improvement priorities, such as targets for pupils with SEND and the curriculum in early years, lack rigour. As a result, leaders sometimes have an unclear picture of how well some areas of the curriculum are being enacted. Leaders should ensure that monitoring is sufficiently robust and in-depth to quickly identify and address any inconsistencies in teaching and the achievement of pupils.
• Not all staff in the early years have a strong understanding of the curriculum or the most effective pedagogical approaches to support children to learn. Consequently, the curriculum is not implemented as well as it could be. Leaders should ensure that all staff in the early years receive training which supports them to deliver the curriculum for the school's youngest children.

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