Fulbrook

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Fulbrook is a close and supportive community. Pupils enjoy school and attend regularly. They have positive relationships with staff.

Pupils are safe.

While the school has been going through a period of considerable change, expectations for learning are being established across the school. Although there are strengths in the curriculum that pupils access, there are inconsistencies in some areas while this is being developed.

Although pupils sometimes experience skilful teaching, this is not consistently the case. As a result, pupils learn better in some areas of the curriculum than in others.

Often, behaviour is orderly.

In many cases, pupils... enjoy learning. However, pupils' learning is sometimes disrupted by inappropriate behaviour. At times, behaviour does not follow the agreed expectations in place around the school.

This means that some pupils feel uncomfortable with the behaviour of some of the older pupils.

Pupils enjoy a wide range of opportunities. They appreciate the clubs, such as those for sports, coding and Japanese.

Pupils engage well with leadership positions; for example, the prefects learn responsibility through their lunchtime duties. That said, many pupils, because the values are newly introduced, do not yet demonstrate a deep understanding of them and how they should be applied in their day-to-day life.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school is going through changes that were unexpected and, consequently, challenging.

There are many aspects of the school that are in a transitional phase as it moves to become an extended secondary school. These changes have created some uncertainty among parents and carers, pupils and staff. During this process, the school has catered for a large proportion of pupils it had not previously been expecting.

This has created additional workload and pressure for leaders and staff. However, leaders have been resilient and worked very hard to ensure that the provision for pupils is sustained and improved during this transitional period.

While leaders have spent time considering the curriculum in the light of the changes that have taken place, there are inconsistencies in different areas of the curriculum throughout the school as this work is developing.

Leaders have created an overview of how learning builds up over time. In some areas, subject leaders plan the most important knowledge that pupils should learn. However, parts of the curriculum do not identify links between prior and future learning with sufficient detail.

Where teachers are knowledgeable, they ensure that pupils build well on previous knowledge. However, sometimes this is not done as well because some staff do not make sure that their teaching builds on what pupils already know. As a result, pupils do not remember enough of their learning.

The quality of curriculum delivery varies. Some staff are new to the school, and the curriculum is being newly implemented. Teachers explain and model learning effectively.

Often, staff check learning carefully. They rectify misconceptions and gaps. However, not all teachers are secure in how to help some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to learn effectively.

Leaders have recently begun to identify pupils' SEND more accurately. Some staff are not confident about how to meet these pupils' needs successfully. Because of this, some pupils with SEND do not do as well as they should.

The school has reviewed how it supports early readers. There is a well-considered plan to help them build up their fluency. This, however, is in its early stages of being put in place.

More widely, pupils are encouraged to read a variety of ambitious texts.

There is a new behaviour policy that sets out the school's standards clearly. Some aspects of this are working well.

Incidents of misbehaviour have reduced. While this is so, not all staff apply leaders' expectations consistently. This means that pupils can lose focus in lessons.

Leaders are aware of this and are working to support younger pupils who sometimes feel uncomfortable about the behaviour of some older pupils.

The curriculum for personal development is appropriate. Pupils learn about important areas, such as puberty and tolerance.

They receive the information and advice they should about their future options. However, the work that the school is doing to establish a shared understanding of important values is in its infancy. Consequently, this is not developed enough for pupils to be confident in explaining how they will apply these in their everyday life.

Governors have the knowledge and skills they need in order to carry out their roles. They are committed to the school and understand the challenges it faces. Governors regularly monitor the curriculum.

They know that there is more work to do. Governors check closely on safeguarding.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some aspects of pupils' personal development are in the early stages of being developed as the school reviews and relaunches its values and ethos. Currently, pupils do not have a full understanding of how they need to apply what they are learning to their day-to-day life. ? The planning and delivery of some areas of the curriculum do not help pupils well enough to see the connections between the different strands of their learning.

As a result, pupils do not remember enough of what they learn, especially in the longer term. The school needs to ensure that staff know how to routinely give pupils the opportunity to build on what they already know. ? Some pupils with SEND do not get the quality of support they need.

Not all staff are confident about how to adapt learning to meet these pupils' needs. This means that some pupils with SEND do not make the progress they should. The school must ensure that all staff get the training and guidance they require to support pupils with SEND effectively.

• Behaviour expectations are not applied consistently. As a result, low-level misbehaviour in lessons and around the school sometimes occurs. The school needs to check and make sure that all staff apply the behaviour policy consistently so that pupils routinely follow the agreed expectations set for behaviour.