Star Academy, Sandyford

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 September 2022

Leaders have created a calm and inviting school, which is welcoming to all. Leaders make sure that they know their families and pupils and this creates a clear sense of community. Pupils feel safe and happy and they enjoy coming to school. Parents value this. Staff are proud to work here. Pupils behave well. They recognise the value of kindness and are polite and respectful to others. Pupils form positive relationships with their friends and staff. Pupils know adults will help them sort out any fallouts, which means bullying is rare. Experiences such as visits to museums help pupils to remember their learning. In their learning, pupils reflect the school vision 'desire to learn, learn to achieve' when they talk about what they know. For example, pupils confidently explain their learning across different subjects. Leaders have high expectations of staff and pupils. They provide a broad curriculum, which extends to activities out of school time. Pupils enjoy attending these activities and speak positively about them. Staff encourage pupils to be independent and responsible. Pupils are encouraged to play a part in a wider school life. For example, the 'junior leaders' programme develops pupils' leadership skills.

What the school should improve

• A number of subject leaders are new to their post. They are still developing some aspects of their leadership skills, including checking how well their subject is being delivered and what actions are needed to improve the delivery of the curriculum further. Senior leaders should provide subject leaders with support and training to improve their skills in monitoring how well their subjects are being taught to identify how they could be developed further.
• While the teaching of phonics is effective, some staff are still developing their expertise in delivering the relatively new phonics scheme. Some activities are not matched well enough to the sounds pupils know and what they need to learn next. As a result, some pupils do not make as much progress as they could in learning to read. Leaders should ensure that all staff develop their skills and expertise in teaching the phonics programme to enable all pupils to make good progress in learning to read.

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