Bedminster Down School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for what pupils can achieve. Staff encourage pupils to 'have belief and be determined'. The school's historic published outcomes show some improvement in pupils' achievements, although they remain below expectations.

However, current pupils in the school receive a good quality of education. They are well prepared for their next steps.

Most pupils are happy at school.

They develop positive relationships with staff. In many lessons, pupils listen attentively and concentrate on their learning. Where low level disruption occurs, staff usually manage it well.

Around the school, staff are highly visible. As a result, pupils... feel safe. However, during social times, some pupils repeatedly display poor behaviour that is disruptive to school life.

A minority of parents and carers are concerned about the standard of behaviour at the school.

Pupils are positive about the range of extra-curricular opportunities available to them. These include skateboarding, indoor bowls, gardening and cheerleading.

Pupils can develop their sense of responsibility and leadership skills as members of the school council. They are proud of the changes that they have made to the school. These include upgrades to facilities and organising games for use in social times.

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

The school has taken steps to implement improvements, but it recognises the need to go further. The trust provides appropriate support and challenge. Staff are positive about working at the school.

The trust provides a package of services that supports staff well-being. However, many initiatives are in the early stages of implementation, so they have not had the required impact. The school does not evaluate precisely enough the difference that these new approaches are making.

Pupils learn a broad curriculum with ambitious content. Subject leaders make links with the locality of the school. For example, in history, pupils connect their study of the Blitz with the impact on Bristol.

The school promotes the importance of learning a modern foreign language. At key stage 3, pupils benefit from studying French. However, the number of pupils who study the suite of subjects known as the English Baccalaureate at key stage 4 remains below the government's ambition.

The school quickly identifies the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. These pupils learn the same curriculum as their peers, with adjustments made as appropriate. Pupils who need additional support with their reading follow a programme matched to the areas that they need to develop, such as phonics or comprehension.

This means they catch up quickly and become more confident, fluent readers.

Staff are specialists in their subjects. Pupils show an increasingly confident recall of what they have learned over time.

On occasion, when teachers check what pupils understand, they do not spot and address gaps in pupils' knowledge.The school has made changes to how lunchtimes are organised. Pupils' conduct during these unstructured times has improved.

Incidents of bullying have reduced. However, other poor behaviour persists. Some pupils repeatedly receive sanctions but show little improvement in their behaviour over time.

For example, some pupils use derogatory language or fail to follow the instructions of staff. For this group of pupils, the sanctions used by the school do not have the desired impact.

The school understands the challenges that pupils may face within the community.

It adapts the curriculum to further educate pupils around these issues. For example, pupils are taught about online safety and knife crime. Pupils and staff work together on the school's 'respect charter'.

This promotes the importance of tolerance and prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

The school encourages pupils to be aspirational for their future. Pupils learn about a variety of qualification routes and careers through a carefully considered programme of speakers and visits.

These include catering and engineering companies, university visits and the opportunity to undertake a mock interview.

A high number of pupils do not attend school regularly. As a result, they develop gaps in their knowledge and fall behind their peers.

The school and trust have put a range of strategies in place to improve attendance. However, overall, absences remain too high.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Pupils' overall attendance is low. Too many pupils are persistently absent from school. Consequently, many pupils are missing large amounts of learning time and have gaps in their knowledge.

This hinders their academic achievement. The trust should ensure that the strategies in place are effective, and that the school continues to work with pupils and their families to improve attendance. ? The sanctions used for poor behaviour do not do enough to deter repeated negative behaviour.

As a result, some pupils receive frequent sanctions and miss out on aspects of learning when they persistently break the rules. The trust should ensure that the school's behaviour system and use of sanctions support pupils to secure an improvement in their conduct over time. ? The school has introduced several new systems and processes to support improvements.

However, the school has not carefully evaluated what is working well and what is not. Therefore, the schools' oversight of these improvements is not precise enough. The trust should ensure that new initiatives are carefully monitored and reviewed as they are implemented so that standards continue to improve.