City school rated inadequate by Ofsted inspectors

Work to improve pupils’ behaviour at Birches Head Academy has not had sufficient impact, Ofsted said

A Stoke-on-Trent school where "too many pupils behave in a way that leaves other pupils feeling afraid" has been rated inadequate by Ofsted.

In a report on Birches Head Academy published on Thursday, school inspectors raised concerns around bullying, high rates of absence and pupils struggling to remember what they were taught.

The report followed an inspection of the school in October.

Birches Head Academy, which is run by the Frank Field Education Trust, said it disputed some of the findings, but had already taken action to improve.

Ofsted said that bullying and incidents of discrimination were too common, and some students did not report their concerns as they thought it would make little difference.

A "significant" number of pupils misbehaved, and a "significant" number regularly missed too much school, said inspectors.

In lessons, Ofsted said pupils generally worked well and focused on their learning, but checks on their understanding were inconsistent, with too many struggling to remember what they had been taught.

Inspectors acknowledged that the curriculum had been redesigned to make it more ambitious, and the academy had worked to improve behaviour in class, but poor behaviour was still an issue around the school.

'Fully aware'

In response, Birches Head Academy said that the judgement clearly did not match its aspirations and expectations.

The school said it was "fully aware" there was much more it had to do, but felt it was not fair the overall rating was "heavily reliant" on a number of individual interviews, when during the inspection areas of "real progress" had been observed.

It said it had worked "tirelessly" to address any concerns raised, and taken "decisive and swift actions" to bring things back to "good" across all areas of the school.