Freman College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Freman College continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in the friendly environment at Freman College. They are well cared for and enjoy excellent relationships with the adults. There is a strong pastoral support system in place, which gives pupils extra help if they need it.

Pupils are consistently kind and respectful towards each other. They show high levels of tolerance and understanding of each other's differences. Pupils act in a manner that ensures their peers feel included and welcome.

Staff have high expectations for how well pupils should achieve and behave. Pupils know this. They appreciate that their teachers challenge ...and support them to do well.

Pupils' behaviour is calm and orderly, in classrooms and during social time. They want to do well. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieve highly in their external exams.

This sets them up very well for their next stage of life.

Pupils belong to individual 'houses' and are very positive about this system. Younger pupils enjoy making friends with older students during form time.

They love to compete against each other in a wide range of activities, including sports, music, art, photography and drama. Pupils support each other to do well in these competitions. There is a strong sense of team spirit within the school.

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

Leaders work well with their main feeder schools. They have ensured that from the start of Year 9 the curriculum builds in complexity, taking account of pupils' prior learning. Pupils study a wide range of subjects throughout Year 9 before selecting their GCSE option subjects.

They have a rich and varied curriculum experience before beginning to specialise in their preferred areas of study. The school has ensured that there is a wide range of different courses available to students in the sixth form. This means that students study courses that are highly appropriate to their needs.

The curriculum is ambitious and delivered well across all key stages. A wide range of relevant trips are planned into the curriculum, which deepen pupils' understanding of their subjects. Teachers are skilled at planning lessons that develop pupils' understanding of the subjects they study.

Teachers consistently demonstrate secure subject knowledge. They explain new information clearly and encourage pupils to share their thoughts and opinions. They question pupils frequently to check they have understood the topic.

Any misunderstandings are quickly and effectively addressed. Teachers give pupils sufficient time to practise their learning, which helps them to improve. At all stages, pupils receive the support they need to achieve well.

Within curriculum plans, there are ample opportunities for teachers to use more formal assessments to check what pupils know. Teachers are well trained to do this precisely. They give pupils frequent feedback on how they are doing and how to improve.

Pupils value this help and guidance.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are very well supported. They benefit from the same high-quality teaching as their peers.

In addition, they may receive targeted help based on their individual needs. This can include extra reading support or focused help in lessons, for example prompts to help pupils start a task or to maintain focus on an activity.

The school has clear expectations for how pupils should behave.

Pupils rise to meet these high standards. They attend regularly, and staff are quick to intervene if a pupil's attendance drops. Incidents of poor behaviour are extremely uncommon.

If they do occur, staff take appropriate action to ensure that the normal high standards of conduct quickly resume. Pupils display high levels of self-control. Sometimes, teachers do not give pupils sufficient opportunities to develop their resilience or confidence in their learning.

For example, pupils can be over-reliant on their teachers' direction rather than demonstrating high levels of independence and motivation towards their tasks.

There is a comprehensive programme in place to support pupils with their personal development and careers education. Adults teach pupils about the different jobs available to them.

Pupils learn about university and apprenticeship courses. They are taught the importance of democracy and respect. Their spiritual development is nurtured.

Pupils have a strong knowledge of other religions. As well as the wide range of activities on offer through house competitions, pupils also develop their interests and skills through the enrichment opportunities. Art, cricket, rugby, chess and music are popular activities that many pupils enjoy and attend regularly.

Leaders, including governors, know the school well. They take effective action to make continued improvements to the school where needed. Staff and parents are extremely complimentary about the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, teachers do not give pupils sufficient opportunities to develop their resilience or confidence. Consequently, pupils are passive in their learning and reluctant to take risks.

They remain in their comfort zone rather than push themselves. The school needs to ensure that pupils receive the support they need to build their confidence and motivation in all lessons.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2015.