Outwood Academy Adwick

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 January 2023

Outwood Academy Adwick is a friendly and inclusive school where everyone is welcome. Leaders pride themselves on their high expectations. These expectations are met by the majority of pupils. Staff share leaders' ambitious vision for the school and help pupils to make positive choices inside and outside of the classroom. The school has a supportive and caring culture. Staff build warm and friendly relationships with pupils. Pupils achieve their full potential. Pupils know that staff will listen to them if they have a concern. Pupils feel safe and valued at the school. Leaders' records show that bullying is rare. If it happens, pupils are confident that staff will deal with it quickly. Instances of poor behaviour have reduced significantly over time. However, lessons are still affected by low-level disruption from a minority of pupils. Leaders recognise that more work is required with a small group of pupils to ensure their behaviour improves more rapidly. Leaders have created a positive culture at the school. Pupils' achievements are celebrated regularly. Leaders have established 'The Adwick Way' which provides staff and pupils with a clear understanding of excellence. Pupils always do their best. They value the opportunity to be recognised for their hard work.

What the school should improve

• A minority of pupils are not meeting the behaviour expectations at the school. This means that some lessons are disrupted by poor behaviour and learning time is lost. Leaders should review which strategies are having the most impact on improving behaviour and implement these consistently and at pace across the school so that the behaviour of pupils who continue to misbehave improves over time.
• The attendance of some groups of pupils is improving too slowly. These pupils do not benefit from a good quality of education because they are not attending school often enough. Leaders should further strengthen their approach to improving attendance, ensuring all pupils come to school regularly.
• Some leaders do not have a clear strategic understanding of the impact of their work, for example around behaviour. This means that some actions being taken are not as effective as they might be. Leaders should ensure they have a strong, shared understanding of which strategies are most effective to address school improvement priorities, particularly pupils' behaviour and attitudes.

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