Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Horncastle

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is an outstanding school with a good sixth form. It enables its students to achieve high levels in both their personal and academic development.

All groups of students, including those few who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make excellent progress between Years 7 and 11. The school has established a track record for enabling its students to attain consistently well above national average standards in GCSE examinations; this includes overall attainment in the school's specialist subjects. Provisional national data for 2011 show this trend continued with 44% of entries gaining A* and A grades and 78% A* to B grades.

Attainment on entry to the sixth form is broader than... in the main school. About two thirds of sixth form students have continued from Year 11 and the balance join from other local schools. All groups make good progress from their starting points to gain above average standards overall by the end of Year 13.

Combined with the continued high quality of the students' personal development in the sixth form, this enables them to gain good success in their university applications and the general pursuit of their chosen careers. However, although there are no patterns identifying a weakness in any specific subject, there are variations in students' achievement year-on-year. This has led to an uneven pattern in terms of the measures the school uses to determine students' success post-16.

In order to resolve this, the school is using its new expertise at senior leadership level to extend into the sixth form the more effective performance analysis systems being applied in the main school. The school's academic record and its resolution of the issues identified at its last inspection help to underpin the school's excellent capacity for improvement. Self-assessment by the school's leaders, from middle leaders through to the governing body, is open and perceptive.

In this, there is outstanding leadership from the headteacher, and encouragement for other staff to use their personal and professional skills to the best advantage. The school has an excellent curriculum, but has instituted widespread consultations to ensure it does not lose its edge in the face of contemporary developments in education. It is now looking to ensure that all subjects contribute fully to new national initiatives through the development of students' literacy and communication skills.

Inspectors agree with the school's own self-evaluation that teaching and assessment, and the monitoring of teaching and learning, are good. Improvements since the last inspection in the school's quality assurance systems, and the greater involvement of middle leaders in monitoring lessons and learning, have improved the proportion of good and outstanding teaching. The school's Learning and Teaching Group has been influential in the sharing of good practice and ensuring a greater focus on the impact of teaching strategies on students' learning.

However, there remain elements of teaching and assessment which are insufficiently consistent across the school. Oral feedback to students is usually very helpful, but marking is sometimes less so in noting how students may improve or in setting them targets for their next steps in learning. Furthermore, some teachers still adopt a lecturing approach which neither involves students sufficiently actively in the learning nor uses questioning effectively to check their understanding during lessons.

In such cases students become passive learners, and their progress more limited. Where the teaching involves students fully, their learning and progress take wing, as does their sense of enjoyment in learning.

Information about the school

This is a smaller than average-sized school.

Entry is by a selection examination at age 11; the school's policy is to accept students from the top 25% ability range nationally. Students with a wider range of ability are admitted to the sixth form. Most pupils are of White British heritage.

The percentage of girls attending the school is above the national average. The proportion of students from minority ethnic groups is below average and that for those who speak English as an additional language is well below average. The percentage of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those with a statement of special educational needs, is well below average, but covers a wide range of individual learning needs.

The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average. The school currently holds an International School Award, a Healthy School Award, an Eco School award and the School Council Silver Award. It is designated as a High Performing Specialist School for science and modern languages.