The Valley Leadership Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 April 2026

Pupils are greeted warmly by staff when they arrive at school. This gets each day off to a positive start. Pupils are, in the main, happy at school. They enjoy positive relationships with each other and with staff. Pupils know they can be themselves, free from discrimination and intolerance. They are clear that everyone is welcome in their school. This includes those who are new to school. These pupils are buddied up with a peer who helps them to settle in quickly. Pupils feel safe at school. They report that incidents of bullying are rare. When they do happen, pupils know that leaders and staff will resolve such incidents quickly. Pupils know the school rules and most live up to leaders' expectations for their behaviour. As such, the school is typically a calm and purposeful environment. Although there are signs of improvement, many pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not attend school often enough. Pupils enjoy the number of sporting clubs that are on offer. They wear their leadership badges with pride. During social times, pupils enjoy playing chess and card games, interacting positively with each other. Pupils appreciate the time that they get to spend with their friends. Regardless of their barriers to learning, or their needs, all pupils are included fully in the day-to-day life of school. Pupils benefit from leaders' increasingly creative strategies to help them overcome their barriers to learning. For example, some pupils spend time in the 'pioneer' or 'amp it up' centres to receive the support that they need to access the curriculum. Improvements to the curriculum mean that some pupils are achieving better than they did in the past. Even so, over time, pupils have not been prepared well enough for the next stage in education. Some pupils, especially older pupils, continue to have gaps in their learning which hinder their progress through the curriculum.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should ensure that staff are better equipped to spot and then resolve the gaps in pupils' learning, especially for older pupils, so that they make smooth progress through the curriculum and achieve well.
• Leaders should ensure that teachers address the gaps that some pupils have in their spelling, grammar and punctuation knowledge so that pupils are able to write fluently and accurately across different subject areas.
• Leaders should build on their strategies to tackle absence rates so that more pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, attend school regularly.

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