A West Cumbrian school has been rated inadequate by the education watchdog.
West Lakes Academy in Egremont, previously rated as outstanding, was visited by Ofsted on June 17 and June 18.
Its report, published today, said the school was inadequate and was failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education.
It was graded inadequate for its quality of education, leadership and management and as requiring improvement in behaviour and attitudes, personal development and in its sixth form provision.
Inspectors also said the people responsible for leading, managing or governing were not showing the capacity to secure improvements at the school.
It added that the trust and the school had been through a significant period of turbulence and uncertainty since the previous inspection and that leaders at all levels were aware that staff morale at the school had been low.
The report added: “It has appointed a substantive headteacher and additional leaders, who know what needs to be done to improve the school. This team has begun to develop systems and procedures to address the issues in the quality of education, but these are in their infancy. As such, there is limited impact on the quality of education that current pupils receive.”
The school’s last full inspection in 2017 said it was an outstanding school overall. Ofsted no longer makes an overall effectiveness judgement in inspections.
It was exempt from routine inspection until November 2020 due to the outstanding rating. It received an updated and ungraded inspection in 2023, which said the school had retained its outstanding rating at the time.
However this report said it had not addressed the weaknesses identified in 2023.
The school is part of the Changing Lives Education Trust and inspectors criticised the trust for not holding the school to account effectively.
The report added: “It has failed to address the issues that have led to pupils’ weak achievement over time. The trust has not held the school to account for the decline in the quality of education that pupils receive.
“As a result, pupils, including pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils and some students in the sixth form, do not achieve well.”
The latest inspection found weakness in the quality of education, an incoherent curriculum that did not help children build knowledge they needed to achieve, particularly for SEND students, and high rates of absenteeism in some pupils.
It also said some pupils and sixth formers did not benefit from a rich programme of wider experience and said as a consequence, pupils were not as well prepared for life in modern Britain as they should be.
The report said: “Pupils have a limited range of wider opportunities available to them to develop their talents, interests and leadership skills. Some pupils enjoy sports, art and music clubs.
“As school counsellors, a small group of pupils have begun to shape improvements at the school. Some students in the sixth form act as buddies to younger pupils.
“Even so, the activities that the school provides do not routinely ensure that pupils become confident and independent young people.”
The report also found that learning activities that pupils and some sixth formers complete do not help them to develop a sufficient understanding in the subjects that they study.
It added: “Many of the tasks that pupils are given limit their ability to build more complex knowledge or to grasp more difficult concepts. As a result, they are not as well prepared as they should be for each stage of their education.”
It also found:
- Staff do not make appropriate checks on what pupils know and remember
- Staff do not routinely address gaps and misconceptions in pupils’ knowledge and understanding
- Assessment information is not used to address gaps in learning well
- Pupils move on to the new learning before they are ready which adversely affects their curriculum progress
- The learning of SEND pupils is ‘hampered’ by the overall weak quality of education
- In lessons, staff do not ensure that pupils make the most of the activities that they design for them
- Some pupils do not routinely get the help that they need to read with fluency, which makes accessing the curriculum difficult for them
The report said the school was at the early stages of developing systems to accurately identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND.
It added: “The learning of many of these pupils is hampered by the same weaknesses in the quality of education that adversely affects the achievement of others.
“This is because staff do not have the expertise that they need to provide support for the learning needs of pupils with SEND.”
It also added that in contrast, those pupils who accessed the school’s enhanced programme of support fared much better.
Pupils who attended the West Lakes Connect provision were found to receive support that meets their needs, so that their attendance rates and self-belief improve over time.
Some students in the sixth form were also found to benefit from a vocational curriculum that was well matched to their needs and interests.
It said that these students achieved well and moved on to meaningful destinations.
The school’s provision for pupils’ personal development was also flagged by inspectors.
The report said: “The school’s provision for pupils’ personal development, including for some students in the sixth form, does not prepare them sufficiently well for life in modern Britain.
“The school’s limited range of opportunities to take on responsibilities, or to develop pupils’ talents and interests, prevents pupils from becoming confident and independent young people.”
It added that while the school did support pupils who struggle to manage their own behaviour well, in lessons, it said some pupils did not find their studies motivating.
The report said: “The school’s expectations of pupils’ attitudes to learning are low. It does not help pupils to build the resilience that they need to tackle more complex learning.”
The inspection also found that teaching at the school does not meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
It added: “Teaching is not successfully adapted to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. As a result, these pupils do not progress through the curriculum as well as they should.”
Subject curriculums were also found to lack coherence and inspectors said they did not require teachers to deliver ambitious subject content.
The report said: “These activities reflect the low aspirations that the school has about what pupils should achieve. This prevents pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, from achieving well.”
Inspectors said the school had also not established consistently high expectations of pupils’ attitudes to learning.
The report said that in lessons, staff did not ensure that pupils make the most of the activities that they designed for them.
The education watchdog also strongly recommended that the school did not seek to appoint early career teachers and that would be considered again during a future monitoring inspection it carried out.
The report praised some of the school’s recent actions and student support including promoting regular attendance, which had seen rates of students attending school improve.
It added that safeguarding was effective at the school and that pupils knew how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy and how to stay safe online and in the community.
It said that pupils are typically happy and feel safe at the school and that while in the past pupils lacked confidence in reporting and resolving issues, this has improved and the school now takes swift action in response to pupil issues.
Inspectors also said pupils recognised the features of a healthy relationship and value the differences that may exist between people.
A spokesman for West Lakes Academy said: “While we are disappointed by this report, we accept its recommendations fully and the new leadership team which is now in place at West Lakes Academy is already working hard to quickly address them.
“The report recognises that this work has already begun and, with new directors of mathematics and English also due to start in September, our focus now is to accelerate change and see positive impact from their appointments.
“We have already achieved change in student behaviour and how the school responds to students’ concerns, which is noted in the report.
“The school is now moving at pace to apply the same approach to developing the curriculum and personal development opportunities.
“We have high expectations of staff and students, and everyone in school will be working to make sure the necessary improvements in teaching and learning are made at pace.
“That also means ensuring there is strong support from all stakeholders to enable all students to reach their potential.
“As the report says, West Lakes has been through a period of turbulence. However, with a new, ambitious and determined leadership team in place, we are looking forward to swiftly addressing the concerns raised, with the support of the school community.”
