Kitts Green Academy

Kitts Green Academy is a small SEMH school for boys where all pupils have an education, health and care plan, and almost all pupils are eligible for free school meals. Many pupils arrive having missed long periods of education and being disengaged, so leaders rightly prioritise helping them feel safe, happy and able to belong. Safeguarding standards are met, pupils generally feel safe, and the school has become calmer, with behaviour improving and a major reduction in restrictive physical interventions and suspensions. The inspection found real strengths in leadership, care and pastoral support. Leaders and the trust have a clear vision, accurate understanding of weaknesses, and are providing targeted training and support. Staff feel valued and better supported, pupils benefit from an ambitious curriculum that is tailored to their needs, and there is a strong focus on reading and mathematics foundations. Pupils also access valuable wider opportunities, including judo, community gardening, pupil voice, careers guidance and planned vocational provision. However, the school is not yet meeting expected standards across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, or personal development and wellbeing. Curriculum delivery is inconsistent, SEND adaptations are uneven, and catch-up is not systematic. Attendance remains too low, persistent absence is high, and some pupils still feel anxious when peers are distressed. Inclusion remains inconsistent, especially for autism and other non-SEMH needs, and the personal development programme lacks structured monitoring. Leaders know what needs to change and have begun to address these issues, but the impact is not yet evident across all aspects of the school.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture and vigilant staff.
• Pupils generally feel safe, and bullying is rare and dealt with promptly.
• A caring, relational environment where adults understand pupils' vulnerabilities and needs.
• Strong leadership vision and accurate self-evaluation, supported by the trust.
• Staff report targeted training, feel valued, and say their wellbeing and workload are considered.
• Restrictive physical interventions have reduced by more than 75% compared with the same period last year.
• Suspensions have reduced, and pupils report that behaviour has improved.
• Staff are skilled at recognising when pupils are struggling and de-escalating anxiety.
• The curriculum is ambitious, broad and carefully tailored to pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Reading and mathematics foundations are rightly prioritised, including a synthetic phonics programme.
• Pastoral support is increasingly effective in helping pupils re-engage and enjoy learning.
• Pupils access valuable opportunities such as judo, community gardening, school council, PSHE, careers guidance and planned vocational construction provision.
• The trust ensures statutory duties are met and a local governing board is adding assurance.
• Leaders place pupils' needs at the centre of developments and have clear short- and long-term improvement plans.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement across the curriculum is not consistently secure, so pupils are not as well prepared for future learning as they should be.
• Curriculum delivery is inconsistent, and some activities are not well matched to intended learning.
• Adaptations for pupils' SEND are uneven, with autism needs less well addressed than social, emotional and mental health needs.
• Some pupils remain overly reliant on adult support rather than learning independently when adaptations are made.
• Attendance is still too low, and persistent absence is high, affecting learning and wellbeing.
• Suspensions still happen too often, despite recent reductions.
• Some pupils still feel anxious when peers become distressed or behave in unsettling ways.
• In non-core subjects, key concepts are less secure and prior learning is not consistently revisited.
• Catch-up support is not systematic across the curriculum when pupils miss learning.
• SEND identification is secure and timely but does not yet translate into consistently effective classroom practice.
• Personal development and wellbeing opportunities lack a structured framework for tracking participation and outcomes.
• Parents have mixed views about behaviour and aspects of the school site, and relationships with parents need strengthening.
• Difficulty appointing specialist teachers and past weaknesses in staff support contribute to inconsistent curriculum delivery.
• Recently introduced strategies have not yet shown impact across all aspects of the school's work.

In 2024–25 pupils at Kitts Green Academy attended 78.3% of sessions (the national figure for special schools was 87.2%). 70.0% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 35.3%).

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, 53.4% of pupils at Kitts Green Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 5.1%). 2 pupils were 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 Kitts Green Academy had 4.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for special schools was 6.6). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.5%).

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 Kitts Green Academy had 55 pupils, 100.0% of them with an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 99.5%).

It says it provides for: social, emotional and mental health.

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 special school schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Kitts Green Academy received £40,741 and spent £45,547 for each of its 58 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £27,000 (£464 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Thrive Education Partnership, income was £32,175 and spending £33,621 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

Kitts Green Academy is part of Thrive Education Partnership, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Calthorpe Academy Birmingham
• Corley Academy Coventry
• Kingsbury Academy Coventry
• The Warwickshire Academy Coventry
• Mary Elliot Academy Walsall
• Baginton Fields Academy Coventry

What is Kitts Green Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Kitts Green Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Kitts Green Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Kitts Green Academy was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Kitts Green Academy have?

Kitts Green Academy has 55 pupils on roll.

What age range does Kitts Green Academy cover?

Kitts Green Academy for pupils aged 5 to 14.

What are Kitts Green Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 0% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Kitts Green Academy?

Kitts Green Academy is at Hallmoor Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B33 9QY.