Alfred Lord Tennyson School-2 sites (Tennyson Rd and Alfred St)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school's 'RESPECT' values run consistently through this newly amalgamated school.

Across both sites, pupils are expected to show resilience, empathy, self-awareness, passion, excellence, communication and teamwork. Pupils do their utmost to do this, both in classrooms and around the school.

Pupils are well looked after.

They are kept safe. The well-tailored support that adults provide enables pupils to behave well and work hard. Pupils know how the 'calm zones', 'pit stops' and 'regulation stations' help them to control their emotions.

They recognise that things do not always go smoothly. As one pupil said: 'Everyone can have a bad day, but it's ...important that you deal with it.' The 'discovery base' provides expert support for those pupils who, occasionally, might find social times tricky.

Pupils are looking forward to coming together on the same site. Older pupils know the importance of being positive role models for younger pupils. They are eager to do this more.

The school has high expectations for all pupils to achieve well. However, there are some aspects of the curriculum and teaching that mean that pupils still do not benefit from a consistently good quality of education.

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

Much progress has been made since the two predecessor schools amalgamated in September 2023.

The school is now one, cohesive community. There have been many significant improvements. These include improvements: to the curriculum; teaching; behaviour; phonics; the provision for pupils with special educational needs and or disabilities (SEND); and the rate of suspensions, to mention but a few.

The school is on an upward trajectory. It is driven by a clear vision and, at all levels, ambitious and determined leadership. The school has good capacity for continued improvement.

Pupils who are at the early stages of learning to read do well. The school's phonics programme is systematic and well organised. Staff training, along with continued support and challenge, has resulted in the programme being taught consistently well.

Pupils remember the sounds that they have learned and use these to decode new and increasingly complex words. Any pupils who begin to fall behind are quickly identified and helped to keep up.

The school's curriculum has been fully overhauled.

In many places, including in the early years, it is fit for purpose and well thought through. However, this work is at an early stage of being put in place. It has not yet resulted in pupils consistently remembering what they have been taught.

Additionally, some weaknesses in curriculum design and teaching remain. In some subjects, the curriculum has been devised by bringing different resources together. The school has not ensured that these different elements are taught in a single, logical order.

While, in the majority of cases, the quality of teaching is effective, there are some inconsistencies to be ironed out. In some lessons, pupils are expected to complete a series of activities in a set order, regardless of what they know. This means that some pupils receive work that is too easy or too hard for them.

Some do not get to move onto the activities that are designed to help them think more deeply about what they have learned.

Pupils with SEND achieve well. Their needs are fully understood and catered for.

The targets that the school sets for these pupils are specific and measurable. Staff are skilled at providing the right sort of help at the right time.

Children get off to a good start in the early years.

The curriculum sets out the important milestones that children are expected to achieve as they progress through the Nursery and Reception Years. Staff check carefully to make sure that anyone who begins to fall behind is helped to keep up. Learning in the early years is exciting.

Children make good progress. They are well cared for.

The proportion of pupils at the school that speak English as an additional language has risen significantly over the last year.

The school ensures that these pupils have the help needed to feel happy and learn, including when they are new to the English language.

The school's programme for personal, social and health education (PSHE) prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils are knowledgeable about a wide range of religions and cultures from around the world.

They know that it is important to treat everyone equally. Pupils relish the diversity of their community and learning from each other.

At many levels, including governance, leadership is strong.

Middle leaders have benefited from intensive training. However, some subject leaders are at an early stage of leading their subjects. As such, they have not yet fully influenced how well their subjects are taught and how well pupils learn the planned curriculum.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's curriculum is at an early stage of implementation. In places, it is well planned and sequenced.

However, it does not make clear which are the most important parts that pupils need to know and commit to their long term memory. As a result, there are inconsistencies in how well pupils recall what they have previously learned. The school should continue to embed its curriculum and ensure that it makes clear the most important content that pupils are expected to know and remember over time.

• In some subjects, curriculums have been developed by bringing different resources together. The school has not ensured that these resources align precisely to form one, coherent, progressive curriculum. In some places, content is not logically sequenced.

This means that there is some disjointedness in what pupils learn. The school should ensure that the content of its' curriculums is logically sequenced and builds cumulatively over time. ? In some lessons, pupils are expected to complete a series of tasks in a specific order.

In these cases, some pupils receive work that is too easy or too hard for them. Some pupils do not get to undertake some of the tasks that are designed to help them think more deeply about what they have learned. The school should ensure that, in all lessons, pupils receive work that builds on what they know and can do.

• Subject leaders are at an early stage of leading their subjects. As such, they have not fully impacted on how well their subjects are taught and how well pupils learn the planned curriculum. The school should ensure that subject leaders fully execute their role, resulting in pupils knowing and remembering the content of the curriculum.