A school has been told its quality of education and leadership ‘requires improvement’ by inspectors.
An Ofsted report found University Academy Holbeach to be a ‘welcoming’ place with an ‘ambitious’ curriculum.
And despite the education centre’s behaviour and attitudes, personal development and sixth-form provision all being classed as ‘good’, inspectors found the two other categories needed improvement.
University Academy Holbeach
“This is a welcoming school. Everybody gets along,” the report, published following an inspection on November 12 and 13, said.
“Pupils are happy here and say they feel safe. They enjoy positive relationships with caring staff.”
The report added that ‘pupils respect diversity’, ‘discrimination is never tolerated’ and ‘incidents of bullying are taken very seriously’.
However, it added lessons could be delivered more effectively.
“The curriculum provides a very broad range of academic and vocational subjects.
“There are high expectations for what all pupils can achieve, including pupils who are disadvantaged or pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
“However, because the curriculum is not always delivered as effectively as it could be, pupils do not always achieve as well as they should.”
Listing what UAH does well, the report added ‘the curriculum is ambitious’ and ‘there are many vocational courses available’ while ‘the school quickly identifies when pupils have additional needs’.
“The school’s curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE) is well considered and delivered effectively,” it added.
“Safety is a key focus, with pupils benefiting from visits from the police and fire services. In PSHE lessons, pupils consider how to maintain healthy relationships and how to take care of their own mental health.
“The personal development programme prepares students very well for their lives after school. Pupils, and students in the sixth form, receive very detailed information about future choices in education and careers.
“There are many opportunities for them to meet with local employers and hear about future opportunities, including apprenticeships. The vast majority of pupils go on to be successful in their chosen destinations.”
When listing areas the school needs to do better, the report continued: “Teachers do not reliably check how well pupils can recall what they have learned previously or how well they have understood new knowledge.
“They do not always identify accurately when pupils have knowledge gaps or misconceptions.
“Teachers do not routinely adapt learning activities to meet pupils’ needs. As a result, some pupils, including pupils with SEND, sometimes do not receive the support they need to make sense of new information. At other times, activities are not challenging enough.”
It continued, adding ‘senior and trust leaders, and those responsible for governance, do not have a close enough oversight of work to improve the school’s curriculum’.
UAH has 1,420 students on roll aged 11 to 18.