Birchwood High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Birchwood High School know they are valued for who they are. Pupils accept that everyone is different. This diversity is celebrated in a warm, inclusive community.

Pupils' talents in sports and creative arts are nurtured and provide valuable opportunities to represent the school. New interests are fostered through the range of clubs on offer. Pupils take great pride in the improvements they have achieved as part of the school's pupil leadership team.

Recent changes have resulted in a renewed ambition for what pupils can achieve. Many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), respond to this ambition by working hard. A...s a result, they produce high-quality work that reflects the depth of their understanding.

Pupils, including those in the sixth form, achieve well in public examinations.

The majority of pupils behave well. However, recent changes to the way staff support and manage pupils' behaviour are not yet fully embedded.

This makes it difficult for some pupils to understand how to meet the school's high expectations. Consequently, while most learning happens in a calm, focused environment, some pupils' learning is interrupted by the behaviour of others.

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

The school has redesigned its curriculum to meet its high aspirations.

Pupils in key stage 3 now enjoy learning the full depth and breadth of the national curriculum. The school has carefully defined the important knowledge pupils should know in each subject. This prepares pupils well for further study in key stage 4 and in the sixth form.

Subject experts have set out the important information pupils should learn logically. Pupils learn small pieces of information and learn these well. Teachers then support pupils to combine these small pieces.

This helps pupils to develop a secure understanding of the topics they study. Teachers have deep subject knowledge. This helps them explain new ideas in a way that is easy for pupils to understand.

Complex, often abstract ideas in sixth-form study are simplified in a way students can comprehend. Teachers use the information provided about pupils with SEND to adapt their teaching. This helps these pupils access learning.

Teachers are alert to potential misconceptions in pupils' understanding. They check carefully to identify and address these swiftly alongside any gaps in knowledge.

Generally, the work set for pupils helps them secure their learning.

However, sometimes learning activities focus on what pupils already know and do not help deepen pupils learning. This includes the sixth form, where, occasionally, students miss out on opportunities to develop a rich understanding of their chosen subjects. In most cases, pupils, including those with SEND, learn well.

However, in some instances pupils' experiences are not always as positive. When some pupils experience periods of long-term substitute teaching, they fall behind. The school has taken action to mitigate this.

However, the impact of these actions is yet to be fully realised.The school has prioritised reading. Opportunities for pupils to access a broad range of books and stories are embedded across the curriculum.

The school supports pupils who struggle with reading well. Experienced staff help pupils overcome their individual barriers to reading. Sometimes the information about these pupils' reading is not effectively shared.

This hinders some pupils' progress to becoming fluent and confident readers.

The school has recently changed how it manages pupils' behaviour. While this has improved behaviour considerably, the new approach is not fully understood by a few staff.

Where this happens, there are some inconsistencies in how adults implement the agreed policy. Some pupils get confused about what is acceptable, as different adults respond to the same behaviours in different ways. This means that some pupils are unable to meet the high expectations set by the school.

This results in disrupted learning for some.

The personal, social and health education programme is well designed. It supports pupils to develop an age-appropriate understanding of important topics such as online safety.

Pupils understand the importance of healthy bodies and relationships. They place high value on how the school helps them maintain healthy minds through support groups, clubs and counselling.

The school's careers programme is extensive.

Careers opportunities are signposted in subject studies, including in the sixth form. Pupils access up-to-date and relevant information about different career routes and qualifications. As a result, pupils make well-informed, successful choices about their next steps.

Governors have a secure understanding of the school. They hold leaders to account while supporting them to improve the school. Sometimes, the school's strategic oversight is not as refined as it could be.

Occasionally, information is held in isolation or not evaluated effectively. This means that some strategies take too long or lack enough precision to have an impact. The majority of staff are proud to work at the school.

They recognise that the school does its best to manage their workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Important information about those pupils who struggle with reading is not always effectively shared.

This means that at times the programmes implemented to support pupils to become confident and fluent readers are not as effective as they could be. The school should ensure that all those responsible for supporting reading coordinate their approaches to best meet individual pupil needs. ? Some staff do not fully understand the expectations the school has for them when implementing the behaviour systems.

This means that some adults do not implement the behaviour policy as the school expects. As a result, pupils occasionally do not know how to meet the school's high expectations, and some learning is disrupted. The school should ensure that all staff have the knowledge and skills to implement the agreed procedures and do so consistently at all times.

• Sometimes the school lacks a strategic oversight of elements of its provision. This means the actions the school takes can be too slow, lack focus or be difficult to monitor. The school and governors should ensure that leaders have the expertise to bring together information from across the school to create clear oversight that informs and measures improvement strategies.

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