Jewellery Quarter Academy

Jewellery Quarter Academy is not currently providing an acceptable standard of education for many pupils. Inspectors found serious weaknesses in curriculum design and delivery, leadership and management, and the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, while behaviour and personal development require improvement. The school has experienced considerable staffing instability, including changes in senior leadership, and the new headteacher joined in September 2024. This inspection followed complaints to Ofsted about safeguarding, behaviour and leadership, although safeguarding arrangements were found to be effective.

Strengths

• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Most pupils are polite to staff and visitors and say they feel safe.
• Pupils recognise recent improvements in the school's work to celebrate positive behaviour.
• The school offers a wide range of enrichment activities that pupils appreciate.
• The PSHE curriculum is carefully organised and pupils can discuss keeping safe outside school.
• New attendance procedures are beginning to improve attendance rates.
• New leaders are taking steps to address weaknesses, especially in behaviour.
• Staff appreciate leaders' consideration of workload during a period of change.

Areas for Improvement

• The curriculum is at an early stage of design and delivery in many subjects and has not improved pupils' achievement.
• Expectations of pupils' academic success are not high enough.
• Disadvantaged pupils do not progress well enough through the curriculum.
• Teachers do not check pupils' understanding effectively, so gaps in learning remain.
• Pupils do not record information accurately and many lack a solid foundation for new learning.
• Identification of pupils with SEND and the strategies to support them are at an early stage.
• Many teachers do not use pupils' learning plans to adapt learning for pupils with SEND.
• Support for weaker readers varies and important reading information is not shared clearly with staff.
• Staff do not implement the behaviour policy consistently, and some pupils' behaviour disrupts learning.
• Some pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, do not attend school regularly enough.
• Because the PSHE curriculum is new, pupils have gaps in earlier learning that limit their readiness for life in modern Britain.
• Leadership instability and trust oversight have not stemmed the decline in disadvantaged pupils' achievement.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Jewellery Quarter Academy attended 91.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 27.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 32.2% of pupils at Jewellery Quarter Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Jewellery Quarter Academy had 15.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 22.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 15.6% of pupils at Jewellery Quarter Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 0.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Jewellery Quarter Academy received £9,221 and spent £9,659 for each of its 614 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,694,000 (£2,758 per pupil).

Across all 4 schools of Core Education Trust, income was £8,815 and spending £8,892 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Birmingham · Birmingham local authority: places and applications

Jewellery Quarter Academy is part of Core Education Trust, which runs 4 schools. The nearest others:

• City Academy Birmingham
• Rockwood Academy Birmingham
• Arena Academy Birmingham

What is Jewellery Quarter Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Jewellery Quarter Academy is Inadequate, from an inspection in May 2026.

When was Jewellery Quarter Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Jewellery Quarter Academy was last inspected in May 2026.

How many pupils does Jewellery Quarter Academy have?

Jewellery Quarter Academy has 556 pupils on roll.

What age range does Jewellery Quarter Academy cover?

Jewellery Quarter Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Jewellery Quarter Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 38.1, and 31% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Jewellery Quarter Academy?

Jewellery Quarter Academy is at St George's Court, 1 Albion Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B1 3AA.