Summercourt Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 March 2025

Pupils are happy and safe at Summercourt Academy. The vision and values permeate through the school. For example, through 'Aim High, Smile and Shine', pupils speak highly of the kindness of others. They are polite, considerate and inclusive of everyone because they know that equality is important. The school has high expectations of pupils through the design of its broad and ambitious curriculum. Staff are determined for pupils to succeed in all that they do. Pupils rise to this, achieve well and show positive attitudes to their learning. This begins in the early years, where children thrive with an impressive start to their educational journey. Pupils' wider development is at the heart of Summercourt. The school provides a wealth of opportunities, especially to develop pupils' talents and interests. For example, the school works with local theatres to provide a range of performance experiences. It ensures that pupils participate in a variety of extra-curricular clubs and sporting events throughout their time at school. Pupils talk fondly of these, including the gardening club, where they learn how to look after plants. The school tracks participation of its offer closely to ensure that all pupils benefit, including disadvantaged pupils, whose involvement is high.

What the school should improve

• In a minority of subjects beyond early years, the school has not identified clearly enough the knowledge pupils need to know and revisit. As a result, some pupils do not deepen their knowledge of concepts well enough to build and retain their learning. The trust needs to ensure the school is clear about the sequencing of knowledge that pupils need to learn and revisit in all subjects so that they can deepen their understanding equally well across the breadth of the curriculum.
• In key stages 1 and 2, sometimes learning tasks do not help pupils to make links with previous knowledge or deepen their learning well enough. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge and so are less prepared for future learning. The trust needs to ensure that tasks given to pupils enable them to build their knowledge securely across all subjects.

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