Beacon Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Standards at the school have declined since the previous inspection in 2020. Academic standards, and standards of behaviour, are poor.

Although the trust's support for the school has intensified recently, the school does not currently meet the needs of many pupils.

Many pupils do not behave well. Some staff have low expectations of pupils.

This means that poor behaviour is often unchallenged. Consequently, pupils frequently disrupt lessons. Many pupils show a lack of pride in their achievements.

Pupils state that prejudicial language and bullying occurs and that this is not always dealt with effectively. However, pupils feel safe and most have a trus...ted adult to speak to.

The activities that pupils attempt in lessons are often not matched to their needs.

In many subjects, pupils do not receive effective feedback and are not challenged to think deeply. As a result, pupils do not achieve well or understand how to improve. This has contributed to poor outcomes in national tests and assessments.

Pupils enjoy taking part in the school's enrichment activities. These include sport, arts, craft and reading, along with trips to theatres and sports events. There are some pupil leadership opportunities.

However, other aspects of the school's personal development offer require further improvement.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school and the trust have not been successful in stemming a decline in standards since the previous inspection. Processes to check the quality of leaders' actions are underdeveloped.

Consequently, the school has not understood fully where improvements are most needed. The trust recognises this and, together with current leaders and those new to the school, has begun to make the changes needed. For example, staff are positive about recent changes to their workload and the support they receive.

However, these changes, including changes to the curriculum, are in their infancy.

Teachers have secure subject knowledge. However, many teachers lack the expertise required to support pupils to develop a wealth of knowledge.

Pupils' understanding is not assessed effectively. Misconceptions are not identified. In several subjects, teachers do not know where gaps in knowledge are or provide meaningful feedback.

As a result, pupils do not know how to improve. Teachers sometimes set work which is not matched to pupils' needs. Consequently, some pupils lose interest in learning and make limited progress through the curriculum.

The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified effectively. However, there are limited adaptations made in lessons to meet their needs. The school does not ensure that staff have the expertise to provide effective support for pupils with SEND.

Pupils often struggle to recall their learning. They have limited command of subject-specific vocabulary. However, there are some notable exceptions.

For example, in history pupils are more articulate about their understanding. Pupils find this subject interesting as ideas are well explained and questioning is used effectively to build their knowledge. In some other subjects, pupils spend too much time completing activities that do not meet their needs.

As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school's provision for struggling readers is not effective enough. Pupils do not benefit from a clearly sequenced programme of support.

Consequently, pupils do not improve their reading well enough as they move through the year groups. The school is in the early stages of improving their approach to reading. For example, reading for pleasure is promoted during form time.

However, too few pupils read across the curriculum.

The expectations of some staff are not sufficiently high or routinely enforced. The school's behaviour policy is not consistently implemented.

As a result, there is significant disruption to many lessons. The school makes effective use of alternative provision to support pupils with complex behavioural needs. A significant number of pupils do not attend school regularly.

They miss too much important learning. The school's work to improve attendance shows some early signs of impact for some pupils.

Pupils experience a structured programme of personal development.

Pupils are strongly supported in learning about different careers. The school has changed the structure of the personal, health, social and economic (PSHE) education programme this academic year. The PSHE curriculum supports pupils to learn, for example, about relationships, how to keep healthy and about different religions.

However, pupils lack deeper understanding about fundamental British values and the importance of celebrating differences.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school, including the trust, have not taken effective or swift enough action to address the decline in standards that has occurred.

The school should ensure that actions to address the school's weaknesses are effective. This includes ensuring that staff have the expertise and knowledge to enact agreed actions. ? The school's quality assurance systems are not effective enough.

This means that leaders' perspectives about the school's strengths and weaknesses are not accurate. Consequently, actions to improve the school do not happen quickly enough. The school should review the mechanisms in place for quality assurance at all levels and ensure that improvement actions are prioritised and robustly enacted.

• Teaching is not adapted to meet the needs of pupils, including pupils with SEND. The work pupils are provided with is not demanding enough. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school should ensure that teachers have the expertise required to provide pupils with demanding work and that teaching is adapted to successfully meet the needs of pupils with SEND. ? Pupils do not benefit from a clearly sequenced programme of support for reading. As a result, pupils do not improve their reading well enough as they move through the year groups.

The school should ensure that pupils receive a clear programme of support for reading and that pupils have regular opportunities to practise their reading. ? Assessment is not used effectively to gauge what pupils know and remember about their learning. This means that feedback is not effective in supporting pupils to improve.

The school should ensure that assessment is used effectively across all subjects and that pupils benefit from accurate feedback on how they can improve. ? Some staff have low expectations of pupils' behaviour. Additionally, the behaviour policy is inconsistently implemented by some staff.

This results in poor pupil behaviour, which causes widespread disruption to learning. The school needs to ensure that staff have high expectations of behaviour and that they consistently implement the behaviour policy. ? Strategies to improve attendance are not well developed or embedded.

Too many pupils miss important learning. This impacts on the outcomes they subsequently achieve. The school should ensure that there is a well-developed and resourced strategy in place to improve pupils' attendance.

• The PSHE curriculum is undergoing development and is not currently having the impact that is needed. As a result, pupils have limited knowledge about key aspects of life in modern Britain and the importance of tolerance and respecting diversity. The school should ensure that the PSHE curriculum is fully developed and that pupils have a well-developed understanding of the importance of tolerance and respect for others.