Fortis Academy: ‘Enriching Lives’

Students, staff, parents and the wider community are all part of the Fortis Family. It is our mission to enrich the lives of everyone who interacts with us.

Our community is very diverse, with high levels of social deprivation in our catchment. By having the mission of Enriching Lives at the heart of everything we do, we remain focused on levelling inequities and providing an excellent education to all students, irrespective of their starting points.

We place a very strong emphasis on students’ personal development and wellbeing, with our core values woven into the fabric of the Academy. These values are:

• Character
• Resilience
• Aspiration

Changes since our last inspection

Structure of the Academy

The Academy’s curriculum areas are organised into Faculties, with the goal of sharing good practice and improving communication and consistency within the Academy.

There is a core Senior Leadership Team whose responsibilities cover all aspects of academy improvement.

There are twelve Associate Assistant Headteachers (AAHTs) who complete the Extended Senior Leadership of the Academy, each responsible for leading improvement in either a Faculty, or students of a particular year group.

Curriculum design and intent

We have a challenging, well-sequenced and effective curriculum for our students. This provides a satisfying and rich experience for students laying a strong basis for further study where students opt to pursue the subject into years 10 and 11.

Subject experts in Fortis are directly involved in the curriculum design and intent, which serves the dual purpose of developing the leadership expertise of junior staff but also ensures that the maximum number of teachers are involved in the leadership of the school. Rigorous processes are in place to assure the quality of the curriculum intent.

Each subject area has a pictorial learning journey. These reflect areas of engagement, enquiry and exploration across years 7, 8 and 9, GCSE subjects in year 10 and 11 and within our thriving Sixth Form. These are intentionally bespoke to each subject area to emulate the creative and innovative approach to learning within that faculty and or subject.

Curriculum implementation

Fortis Academy recognises that the biggest impact on students’ progress comes from high-quality lesson delivery in the classroom. The research evidence from the EEF specifically highlights the benefits of this on students who would otherwise be at risk of making slow progress, such as boys, students with SEND, and students for whom the school receives the Pupil Premium.

As a result, Fortis Academy has invested in the EEF’s programme of Embedding Formative Assessment, which involves every teaching member of staff in Teaching and Learning Communities.

Additionally, Fortis Academy has developed expectations for the format of learning in the academy, with clear and consistent Learning Steps based on educational research.

Enriching Lives

There has been significant investment in a rage of activities for students to engage in enriching activities and to support their community. Much of this is directly student-led and responds to their needs and pupil voice. Fortis Academy understands the impact that students can have as role models to their peers, and we actively encourage our students to be their best in representing their generation.

Since the formation of Fortis Academy and in the wake of the pandemic, some groups which have begun to flourish are:

• The Equality Experts group, whose remit is to continually raise the profile of our diverse and inclusive community and promote special cultural events, such as Black History Month and Pride Month.
• The Prefects and Head Students, who represent the Academy in the local community and uphold standards of their peers within the Academy.
• Vibrant and enthusiastic Performing Arts groups, who regularly engage with other local community groups as well as producing professional-quality performances to further enthuse their peers.
• The Ecological Committee, who have successfully achieved accreditation as an Eco School and from the Royal Horticultural Society.
• Extensive extra curricular offer utilising the on site Leisure centre engaging with local partners to deliver a high quality offer after school. Throughout the year these partners include West Midlands Police Safe Haven Youth Club, Aston Villa Community Programme and Birmingham Rockets Basketball.

Further details

For a more detailed description of the actions that have been completed at Fortis since our last inspection, please view the following document.

Useful information for your visit

Visitor parking is available at the front of the school, in the turning circle accessible from Aldridge Road. Space will be reserved for your team prior to your arrival.

Further information which you specifically request as part of your visit, such as the teaching timetables for members of staff involved in Deep Dive activities, will be added to this web page.