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Following our recent Ofsted inspection, please find attached a copy of the report which will be published on the Ofsted website. The report is split into separate sections, as summarised below:

• Effectiveness of leadership and management – Good
• Quality of teaching, learning and assessment – Requires improvement
• Personal development, behaviour and welfare – Good
• Outcomes for pupils – Requires improvement
• 16-19 study programmes – Good

There are a number of really positive comments within each section of the report, which reinforce the progress made since September. It is particularly pleasing to have received three Good judgements in leadership and management, personal development, behaviour and welfare and the 16-19 study programmes.

Ofsted identified that the new Headteacher has established a culture of raising aspirations at all levels and that school leaders have a real focus on improvement. Inspectors also recognised that the governing body is strong and has a clear vision for the school. The report verifies that arrangements for safeguarding are effective and pupils spoken to during the visit unequivocally said they felt safe and that bullying was extremely rare. Inspectors described pupils as sociable, confident, articulate, polite and respectful, and pupils stated that they feel well supported by the school and that teachers really care about them. Sixth Form students described the school as calm, inclusive and supportive and the report also recognised that attendance across the school had rapidly improved this year.

The report acknowledges that the school has areas to improve: outcomes for pupils and the variation in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. These outcomes relate to results achieved last year, although Inspectors recognised that current GCSE predictions are improving and that A-Level results last year were in line with the national average. We have successfully recruited a number of new teachers for next year, which will have a significant impact on reducing the variation in teaching, with a particular focus in Maths, where we have recruited three teachers who are all joining us prior to the end of this term. The report also requested clearer tracking of catch-up funding, which is used to support literacy and numeracy with a group of Year 7 students. We invest this small amount of money in a number of projects, the impact of which we will review at the end of the academic year.