Ofsted, the government's education watchdog, has given The Deaf Academy's college a 'Requires Improvement' rating in its most recent inspection.

The academy has a school for ages five to 16 and a day and residential college for ages 16 and over at its Exmouth site on Douglas Avenue. Ofsted has a four-tier rating system: Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good, and Outstanding. 

Both The Deaf Academy's college and school were rated Requires Improvement in 2019, and its residential provision Good in 2021.

The inspection of its further education, i.e. the teaching at the college, was carried out from 15 to 17 March this year, and the report published this week.

Before 2020, The Deaf Academy was known as the Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education and was located on Topsham Road, Exeter.

The vast majority of its students are 'profoundly deaf', a medical classification, and British Sign Language is their first language. Many have additional needs that Ofsted said 'are barriers to learning'.

The positives

The report on the college found that learners feel safe and enjoy their time at college, and appreciate 'the calm learning environment and proactive approach to promote good behaviour and attitudes to learning.'

Students also value 'the strong ethos placed on being part of the deaf community'. For many, it is reportedly the first time that they have not felt isolated in an education setting.

It found that the leadership has 'high aspirations' for students, and has focused on developing the curriculum to meet learner's needs. In particular, it has helped students get functional literacy skills, and qualifications in maths and BSL.

The staff team also has people who are deaf themselves, including in senior positions. They act as role models to students, and teachers have 'expert knowledge' of working with young deaf people. Two teachers also received national recognition for developing an online curriculum for their students during the pandemic.

The arrangements for safeguarding were also deemed 'effective'.

The negatives

Ofsted said that while leaders have been developing the curriculum, the pace 'has not been rapid enough' since its last inspection in 2019.

The curriculum is also reportedly not 'individualised' enough. Teachers do not have a good enough understanding of what learners already know before planning, the curriculum is not ambitious enough for some students, and some are not able to be 'fully involved' in the learning.

The leadership has also been slow to recruit more staff for students who have specific communication needs, which impacts their learning.

Ofsted took issue with some of the language used by staff, for example referring to education as 'school'.

With regard to safeguarding, it said that leadership should prepare better risk assessments for areas where the school and college overlap.

The Deaf Academy was approached for comment but it did not immediately respond by the time of publication.

Click here to visit the Deaf Academy's website and here to read the Ofsted report.