Challenge Partners

Summary of Findings:

Relationships with staff are strong. One student said,  ‘We like how the staff speak to us in a really positive and understanding way’.

The headteacher provides insightful leadership and is very ably supported by the leaders. Leaders successfully promote the school’s core aim of being an ‘academic and high achieving school’ whilst ensuring that ‘learning is fun’. They successfully promote the school’s core value of ‘Excellence’ not only with excellent outcomes but also with excellent character.

Students contribute to the calm, purposeful learning environment across the school by frequently demonstrating prominent levels of independence and an understanding of the systems in place with a great level of maturity.

The renewed senior leadership team has a clear vision for the growth of the school and has been implementing this in a systematic and reflective way. Leaders know what is going on and are very clear about the strengths of the school and where it can become even better.

Positive attitudes in all lessons demonstrate students’ engagement in their learning, as do their comments which show their deep level of learning, both inside and outside of school. The climate for learning is positive across the school and students feel safe to contribute to learning.

There is a sense of community and real trust among students that their concerns will be tackled, together with confidence in the way decisions are made. One student said, ‘They reach out to us, we don’t reach out to them’.