Mildenhall College Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 1 May 2024

Pupils enjoy the positive relationships they have with adults at school. They appreciate that they have someone to talk to if they need to. Many older pupils support younger pupils through the school's peer mentoring scheme. This provides pupils with a listening ear when they need it or help with their learning. Pupils benefit from the many opportunities to be involved in the school community. They are positive about the wide range of clubs that they participate in. These build their confidence and help them develop new skills, for example in the chess and singing clubs. Pupils appreciate the school's increasingly ambitious curriculum. It is often well taught, and pupils receive appropriate support from adults when needed. Pupils enjoy being challenged in their lessons and are pleased when they achieve well. During social time, pupils manage their behaviour well. The atmosphere around site, including outside, is often calm and friendly. Pupils enjoy chatting to their friends or playing football. In class, many pupils display the same high levels of good behaviour. This is particularly the case for the older pupils. Sometimes, younger pupils experience disruption to their learning. This frustrates them as they want to work hard.

What the school should improve

• In a few areas of the curriculum, plans are not precise enough in the identification of the core knowledge and skills that pupils need to acquire, particularly at key stage 3. Where this is the case, staff are not sufficiently skilled in planning and delivering lessons which are well designed to deepen and develop pupils' subject knowledge and skills. As a result of this lack of clarity in curriculum planning, assessment is not effective at identifying gaps in pupils' knowledge. This leads to some pupils not achieving as highly as they should. The school needs to make sure all areas of the curriculum are well planned, and staff are appropriately trained in how to deliver them effectively, so pupils achieve consistently well across all subjects.
• Some teachers do not consistently apply the school's behaviour policy, particularly in key stage 3. This leads to disruption in some classes, preventing pupils from getting on with their learning. This frustrates pupils, and their parents, who want a consistently high-quality learning experience across all lessons. Leaders need to ensure that all staff have high expectations for how all pupils should behave and that all staff follow the academy's behaviour policy as intended.

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