Brighton Aldridge Community Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides a welcoming environment for pupils. It is ambitious for all, setting challenging expectations.

Pupils have positive attitudes to learning. Most work hard to meet those expectations and to be ready for the next step in their lives and learning.

Pupils have access to a wide range of subjects to build important skills and develop their interests.

They like the broad sporting opportunities in the main school and the sixth form. This includes links to Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, Sussex Cricket and the Russell Martin Academy, which feed into the school's sporting academies. The school offers many extra-curricular options.

Pupi...ls value the 'BACA 100' list of things to do at the school. Very strong links with the local community extend well beyond sport, for example giving pupils opportunities to work with employers in the city.

Close support for pupils' welfare is an important feature of school life.

Pupils feel safe. The school goes to great lengths to ensure pupils have a trusted adult. Pupils say they are confident to talk with staff if they have any concerns.

Effective guidance for those who require help to behave well means they usually get back on track. Parents are very positive about the improvements in their children's experiences at the school.

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

The school has continued its effective improvement drive since the last inspection, focusing its efforts on the most important weaknesses.

The school has provided the right training and development for staff. This has led to clear improvements in key areas of the school's work. The quality of education has improved so that pupils' learning builds securely on what they know.

As a result, they are now achieving well in subjects across the curriculum. Leaders and staff are ambitious to do more. They are taking the right action to ensure that pupils' current levels of achievement are fully reflected in their GCSE results.

Staff feel well supported, including those new to teaching. The school works hard to engage with groups such as parents and carers, local authority services and other education providers. Those with governance oversight provide a strong balance of challenge and support for leaders.

The school offers an ambitious curriculum. It has a strong focus on key areas such as reading, alongside a wide range of options in key stage 4 and the sixth form. These include vocational subjects, which are popular with pupils.

The school is encouraging more pupils to study the GCSE subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate. It offers a wide range of modern foreign language options, where past numbers have been lower.

Staff design pupils' subject learning well, ensuring it takes place in a logical sequence.

They usually select appropriate tasks to support pupils' learning. The school has worked hard to sharpen how new learning is explained to pupils and the effectiveness of teachers' checks on how well pupils have understood it. This is much improved so that staff typically correct any misunderstandings.

However, a few occasions remain where staff do not identify when pupils' understanding is less secure and tackle it.The school identifies effectively any pupils who need support to read well. This includes through close work with primary schools when pupils join.

The right support is provided so that pupils catch up. The school has improved how reading is supported in day-to-day lessons, so this now helps build pupils' confidence.

Effective training for staff has honed their support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

On most occasions, staff make good use of information about these pupils to adapt activities and support their achievement. While this is much more consistent than in the past, there remain occasional instances when activities are not suitably tailored to match pupils' needs. The school ensures that support for pupils with education and health care plans, including those who attend the Swan Centre, continues to be a strength.

It is precisely focused on what they need.

The school has refined its approach to managing pupils' behaviour. Staff are well supported to apply the school's high expectations consistently.

Pupils respond well to the system of consequences and rewards. This has sharply reduced the number of behavioural incidents and suspensions. Disruptions to learning are rare.

Staff usually manage low-level disruption well. Sixth-form students behave very well and provide a positive model to others.

The school has a clear focus on pupils' attendance, especially among more vulnerable pupils.

Although figures remain below the national average, the school has reduced overall absence effectively and the numbers of pupils who regularly miss school. Staff support pupils with poor attendance tenaciously so that these pupils' attendance improves. However, the school is not always effective in identifying any pupils whose attendance is becoming a concern early enough.

This means action to avoid poor attendance could be even more effective.

A well-planned programme supports pupils' personal development. The school has worked hard to build an aspirational culture.

Pupils learn to respect each other and to maintain healthy relationships with others. They value the school's diversity, enjoying events such as celebrating the food of different cultures. The school's major focus on sport means it is a significant element of the school's character.

Pupils like this. The school offers good leadership opportunities for pupils, for example as prefects or leaders on climate awareness.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• At times, teachers do not check that pupils have fully understood new learning effectively. This means uncertainties are not always remedied for pupils and their achievement is not as strong as it could be. The school should make sure that assessment processes are fully effective in identifying gaps in pupils' knowledge so that teachers can address them.

• On occasions, teachers do not reflect the best practice in the school by adapting activities to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. As a result, when this happens, pupils do not learn as effectively as they could. Leaders should ensure the strong practice evident in the school in making adaptations is the norm across the school.

• Although the school has taken a range of effective actions to improve pupils' attendance, it does not consistently identify pupils at risk of poor attendance early enough. Preventative work, therefore, is not consistently targeted to head off the problem before attendance becomes a concern. The school should focus more sharply on early identification of issues with pupils' attendance to trigger support even more swiftly.

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