ONE of Bradford's biggest and most troubled secondary schools has been extensively praised by Ofsted for the way it has dealt with the most recent disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The leadership of Hanson Academy, in Swain House Road, has also been strengthened thanks to the support of Bradford Council's school improvement service.

The secondary school - which caters for 1635 mixed pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 - was rated Inadequate by Ofsted at its last full inspection back in March 2020.

It has been remotely visited twice since then, due to the complications brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Back in November last year, the school was not conducting "live" online lessons, but were planning to do so, and the curriculum was adapted to fill gaps in students' knowledge.

This latest report - from a monitoring visit conducted on March 23 - outlines that during the spring term, Hanson used a combination of "live" and pre-recorded lessons for those working from home during the national lockdown.

Roughly nine out of 10 pupils were educated at home during this period, with around two thirds of vulnerable pupils and all pupils with an education, health and care plan attending school.

Most pupils were attending school at the time of this inspection.

A small number of pupils in Year 11 were self-isolating due to Covid-19.

The reports overall assessment was that: "Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action to provide education in the current circumstances."

The headteacher, Richard Woods, and the whole leadership team were "determined" to make sure all pupils had access to education during the recent tumultuous times, listening to their views and making changes when needed.

The report states: "As a result, over time, pupils’ engagement in this has increased."

Parents were particularly positive about the school's approach to remote learning.

One said: "The work the school has done during the pandemic is incredible - the home learning was excellent."

Work that was done on reviewing and developing the school's curriculum prior to the pandemic was interrupted by the various restrictions.

But, with the help of a national leader of education, the school has renewed its focus on accelerating this and aims to implement the revised curriculum for September 2021.

Reading forms part of the school's main priorities.

The report states: "Reading is a whole-school priority. Leaders have made sure that staff know how important reading is for pupils’ future success.

"All staff who support pupils with learning to read have received effective training.

"Leaders’ focus on developing pupils’ love of reading has continued.

"This is beginning to have an impact.

"Pupils are expected to read daily during form time.

"Pupils at the early stages of learning to read receive phonics sessions and extra reading support.

"This is helping pupils to catch up with learning to read."

The area the school needs to focus on next is use students' previous learning to inform future teaching.

The report states: "Leaders and those responsible for governance should take further action to ensure that information about pupils’ prior learning is used consistently well to plan the next steps in the teaching of the curriculum."

The findings are based on discussions with the school's headteacher, other senior leaders, curriculum leaders, a national leader of education, representatives of those responsible for

governance and representatives of the local authority.

The inspectors, Jean Watt, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) and Timothy Jenner, HMI, also held discussions with a group of teachers and separate groups of pupils from Years 7, 11 and 13.

They considered responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including 44 free-text responses, and 110 staff questionnaires.

The T&A contacted Hanson Academy for a comment, but did not receive a response.

Read about the last Ofsted visit to Hanson here: