Portslade Aldridge Community Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 20 January 2026

Pupils develop a very strong sense of pride and belonging because of the highly positive ethos of the school. Pupils behave really well, and relationships throughout the school are warm, trusting and open. Pupils make a central contribution to developing and deepening the school’s culture of respect and ambition. They experience a very well-designed curriculum that is delivered effectively by knowledgeable teachers. The school provides well for pupils who have specific needs or barriers to their learning. Disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully involved in school life. Pupils are well prepared for their next steps when they leave school. Pupils work and socialise very well together and have positive attitudes to school. This serves them well for life beyond school, and they develop the right values to make positive contributions to society. Although most pupils enjoy school, too many do not attend regularly enough, including pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils. This means that they are not benefiting enough from the effective provision that the school makes. Pastoral support is a strength. Staff care for pupils and give them the support that they need when they need it. Staff know pupils well, and pupils feel safe. Pupils value greatly the support and care that they receive. Most feel that bullying is rare but dealt with well. Pupils are confident to raise any worries that they have with staff, who then act on these swiftly and appropriately. There is a full and wide-ranging extra-curricular programme that enables pupils who participate in these activities to explore new interests and develop their existing skills and talents. These include a wide range of sporting and artistic pursuits. Pupils take on particular roles that develop their leadership experience, such as being prefects or members of the school council.

What the school should improve

• Pupils' rates of attendance need to improve further and rapidly so that pupils are benefiting fully from the school's effective provision and achieving more. This is particularly the case for pupils who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders should build on the early positive indicators of improvement to ensure that there is a securely rising trend in pupils' attendance levels over a sustained period of time. • The school should continue its work to improve the consistency of teaching further so that it is, overall, highly effective. In particular, leaders should ensure that teachers check the security of pupils’ knowledge routinely before moving on to new content and understand fully pupils' different starting points so that subsequent learning can be adapted accordingly.

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