School turned around after 'period of turbulence'

Fortis Academy is part of a multi-academy trust called Shaw Education Trust

Education leaders at one of Birmingham's largest schools have significantly improved behaviour and attendance after what Ofsted described as a 'period of turbulence'.

Fortis Academy, formerly known as Great Barre Academy, received a 'good' rating by Ofsted after an inspection in October.

This is four years after the 'requires improvement' it received in 2019.

"Leaders have significantly improved the school, including in the curriculum, behaviour and attendance," said an Ofsted report.

The Ofsted report from 2019 stated new leaders had been put in charge of the school but various areas, such as attendance and the uptake of languages at key stage four, still needed to be improved.

Since then, changes to the curriculum have "successfully built a new culture at the school", according to the new report.

The recent report stated that ties to local sports clubs and special events such as 'World Culture Day' helped to extend the pupils learning beyond the classroom and the teaching of foreign language subjects has also been doubled at key stage three to encourage the uptake of such subjects at key stage four.

This has led to more pupils studying the subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate, according to the Ofsted report.

Criticism included some pupils work, particularly children with special educational needs and disabilities, was not "sufficiently adapted" to allow them to understand what they were learning.

"Additionally, teachers sometimes move on to new content without checking that pupils have secured their understanding of key ideas fully," the report added.

Depsite this, the recent feedback shows a positive change in the school.

Attendance at the school has improved and the new curriculum was described by the Ofsted report as being 'ambitious'.

"The published GCSE outcomes do not reflect the good quality of education that pupils are now receiving," the report said.