Chew Valley School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.

The headteacher and senior leaders are committed to ensuring that all students make good progress and enjoy school. They have a good understanding of what needs further improvement. Leaders, including governors, recognised that GCSE results in 2014 were disappointing.

They have taken effective action to put in place a range of strategies to rectify this. Leaders have worked determinedly to ensure that students develop the skills necessary to take responsibility for their revision and to work with resilience when preparing for their examinations. This is helping to strengthen achievement across a wide range of subjects.

The curri...culum has been developed to include a range of subjects which are well matched to students' talents and aspirations. Attainment is very high in a wide range of subjects. Teaching is good.

Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to effectively support students to make good progress across the curriculum. Students behave well in lessons and have good attitudes towards learning. They are well equipped to participate in learning and lessons start on time.

The school makes a very strong contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students. The school's Equality Teams, which are led and run by student leaders, provide opportunities for students to mix in socially diverse groups. Consequently, students demonstrate high levels of respect for each other and are extremely welcoming of difference.

Discrimination of any kind and the use of derogatory language are not tolerated. The leadership of pastoral care is extremely strong. Students feel very safe and well cared for when at school.

This view is endorsed by the vast majority of parents. Highly effective leadership of the sixth form ensures that all students make rapid and sustained progress. The numbers securing places at university, including Oxford and Cambridge, are high.

It is not yet an outstanding school because : Marking does not consistently enable students to make sustained progress. Not all teachers use information from assessments or from marking students' work to plan activities that help students to build on their prior learning. Disadvantaged students do not make as much progress or attain as well in mathematics as they do in English.

Teachers' professional development and training does not always match the development priorities for the school.

Information about this school

Chew Valley School is larger than the average-sized secondary school. It has a sixth form.

The majority of students are of White British heritage. Very few speak English as an additional language. The school has nine primary schools in its catchment area.

However, the school attracts students from a much wider area which can result in students in some year groups joining from more than 40 feeder primary schools. The proportion of disabled students and those with special educational needs is below average. The proportion of disadvantaged students who are eligible for the pupil premium is well below average.

The pupil premium is additional funding for students who are known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after by the local authority. Three students are in receipt of a highly personalised curriculum which is delivered at home due to medical reasons. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress in English and mathematics.