Grafham Grange School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

For those pupils who attend school regularly, school is an increasingly positive experience in some respects. They talk enthusiastically about the facilities available to them, such as 'the hub' and the gym.

The recent focus on their personal development, combined with staff who get to know them and support their future aspirations, helps these pupils to be more positive about school. Pupils are comfortable talking to staff. Pupils feel that staff take them seriously if they need to raise any worries.

However, pupils' experiences in lessons are poor because they do not learn what they need to. Lessons are not productive places of learning as learning activities are no...t matched to pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Too many pupils miss lessons or do not attend school at all.

They are not enthused about learning or accessing what the school has to offer.

In spite of these challenges, pupils, parents and carers, and staff are positive about the recent changes to the school leadership team. They recognise that they are already starting to see a difference in their daily experiences, particularly in regard to how dysregulated behaviour is managed.

For example, there are now less frequent incidents of physically challenging behaviour from pupils. However, all parties recognise that there is still a lot more to do to improve the overall culture of the school.

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

Pupils do not learn well across the school because lessons are not adapted well enough to their SEND.

Planned activities do not take enough note of pupils' current understanding or knowledge.

Curriculum thinking is muddled. In many areas, staff have produced ambitious routes through various subjects.

However, they admit themselves that these routes are not suitable for many pupils because they do not take account of their SEND. The new school leaders have identified the need to re-think the whole approach to the curriculum, based on pupils' SEND rather than historical ways of doing things. However, this work is still at the planning stage and so the negative impact on pupils remains.

Too often, staff have to adapt planned activities as they go. Pupils' SEND and their past attendance are not taken into account until the lessons are underway, if at all. This is exhausting for staff and ineffective for pupils who do not learn well.

This means that gaps in pupils' knowledge are not being filled effectively and they lack the foundations for new learning to be successful.

There is currently no effective way of supporting pupils who struggle with their reading. The trust has recognised this and provided support from a partner school, but this work is in its infancy.

At the moment, the specific needs of pupils are not clear and therefore not able to be properly addressed.

Alongside all this is a stronger personal development curriculum and a group of staff across the school who care deeply for pupils. They get to know pupils well and relationships across the school are mostly productive.

Pupils learn about the wider world and enjoy the rich variety of extra-curricular activities they take part in. The football team was proud to win an important match during the inspection. Pupils spoke of their visit to Parliament with interest, reflecting on the debate about climate change that they had seen.

They are supported to consider options for careers through a range of activities such as a careers fair. However, this is only the case for those who attend school and far too many do not.

Most pupils are frequently absent from school or lessons.

The school's support for pupils to attend regularly is not effective. Additionally, when they are in school, pupils' absence from lessons is too easily accepted. Staff try to work with pupils when they leave or truant from lessons.

However, staff struggle to return pupils to lessons because there are so many pupils out and around the school at one time. For some pupils, this is an opportunity for a social gathering. School information suggests that recent actions to address this issue are starting to have an impact, but it is still early days.

Many pupils access alternative provision. This has recently been reviewed and new leaders are starting to adapt the packages of provision that pupils access. They aim to ensure these arrangements meet pupils' needs and give them the best chance of success.

However, this has not yet been undertaken for all the pupils accessing this wider offer. A number of pupils currently have a reduced timetable, and these are only now being reviewed by the school.

The school has been part of the OHCAT multi-academy trust since 2018.

Concerns about provision for pupils' SEND, attendance and behaviour were raised at their monitoring inspection in 2022. Trust leaders have provided more expertise and tried different strategies since that time, but these have not worked. A new leadership team joined the school in January 2024.

Current identified priorities appear to be showing an initial positive impact. For example, the number of physical interventions has dropped substantially, as have the incidents of challenging behaviour.

While these are encouraging developments, they are not yet having the needed impact for pupils, their families or staff, all of whom know that the current provision is not effective.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The current school curriculum is not sufficiently matched to the needs of all pupils. Most pupils struggle to access the planned curriculum.

For others, the curriculum is not matched well enough to their SEND. The school needs to rapidly review its curriculum to ensure that it is fit for purpose and to support all pupils to achieve well. ? Delivery of lessons is impeded by pupils' absence from school.

Pupils frequently miss sections of learning and are left to catch up at a later date. There is currently little oversight of whether they do this or not. The school needs to develop a systematic process for understanding the specific barriers for pupils' attendance in order to support them in overcoming these, so that more pupils attend school more regularly.

• Pupils who struggle to be confident and fluent readers are not adequately supported. As a result, some pupils cannot access the curriculum effectively. The school needs to rapidly identify the pupils who need specific and targeted support and put this in place so that they can gain these essential skills.

• New leaders are starting to address many areas of need in the school. They, and the trust, need a more robust overview and evaluation of these steps to ensure that these important actions are having the impact they intend. ? It is recommended that the school does not appoint any early career teachers.