• Urban Academy 450 pupils in Nottingham
• Ofsted rating: Good
• FSM: 25.6%

Review rating:

Average rating across all Discovery Espresso reviews: 3.7/5

It is a very good website that has been developed well over the years to move with the curriculum and introduce new experiences for the children.

How well does it match the curriculum?

Brilliantly: There is more content (eg support / extension activities) than we expected

Strengths: A wide range of ways to teach the same objective i.e. through block coding and through Python.Weaknesses: Setting up child access is time consuming and logging in using QR codes doesn’t always work.

How well does it support adaptation for different groups of pupils?

Well: A large majority of resources are suitably differentiated for pupils

There are some ‘clues’ to help but these are sometimes hard to see, especially on iPads. The help video is too prescriptive and means the children can just copy it, rather than experimenting or tinkering themselves.

How well does it engage and motivate pupils?

Well: Pupils generally enjoy using it and tend to welcome doing so

Bright colourful interface is attractive and the newer version takes children step by step through objectives, attempting to build understanding. There are issues with using iPads as parts of the screen can be hidden or difficult to manoeuvre to.

How well supported is it by any included formative assessments?

Reasonably: There is some formative assessment included, but its usefulness is a bit limited

The children either complete or don’t complete the work and it can be hard to see what they are struggling with unless they ask for help. It would be helpful to have some sort of progress bar for each child on their assignments.

How well does it support planning?

Brilliantly: It has everything you could need and is straightforward to use with classes

It is clearly linked to objectives and shows progression through the year groups. Difficult to allow children who are new to the school or have missed parts to catch-up.

How well does it support home use / independent learning?

Well: Pupils could be expected to use this at home or independently, with a minimum amount of support or additional resources

As mentioned earlier, it is time-consuming to set up the children’s accounts and the methods used to login sometimes don’t function as they should especially the QR code reader login.

How would you rate it for value for money compared to similar resources?

Well: It’s worth the money and effort to introduce – more so than many similar resources I’ve seen

Lower the cost as a result of loyalty to the platform? Be able to set up homework through school’s learning platform.

Would you recommend it to a colleague in a similar school to yours? 10/11

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