Hazel Grove High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and students in the sixth form are benefitting from rapid and successful improvements at Hazel Grove High School.

Leaders and staff collaborate very well to set highly ambitious goals for pupils and students.

Pupils and students enjoy the wide range of subjects that they study. They receive the high-quality encouragement and support that they need to achieve increasingly well.

Pupils and students feel safe. They spoke highly of the many opportunities that they get to learn about staying safe. Pupils believe that staff care about them.

They said that staff are approachable and highly supportive. They trust staff to help them if they need it..../>
Pupils and students are well guided about how to behave.

They look after each other well. Pupils said that behaviour is much better than in the past. Bullying and other harmful behaviours are uncommon, but if they do occur, staff deal with such incidents effectively.

Students in the sixth form are supported extremely well to reach demanding goals. They have exemplary attitudes to their education and wider development.

Pupils and students benefit from an exceptional approach to personal development.

They participate well in the 'electives programme'. They enjoy an extensive range of additional opportunities and competitions in their free time. Pupils get a rich understanding of the world through the many opportunities to explore faith, politics, society, the environment and other important themes.

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

Trust and school leaders have secured swift and sustainable improvement to the school. The weaknesses identified at the previous inspection have been dealt with effectively and convincingly. Leaders have taken impressive steps towards their ambitious vision for consistently high standards of education and behaviour.

Their work to secure pupils' personal development is exceptional.

Trust and school leaders have transformed the culture of staff's development. Leaders have carefully used the expertise in the trust to raise staff's expectations and strengthen leadership throughout the school.

Staff benefit from extensive opportunities to develop their specific knowledge and skills. They have used this support very well to make a real difference in how they deliver the curriculum. This has improved pupils' achievement, their attitudes to learning and their behaviour.

Pupils and students, including those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), benefit from an ambitious and wide- ranging curriculum. Subject curriculums ensure equal opportunity for all pupils to learn a rich body of important subject knowledge.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge.

They are quickly acquiring a deeper understanding of how to teach their subjects even more effectively. Often, teachers present subject matter clearly and provide pupils in Years 7 to 11 with suitably demanding work. They support most pupils well, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND.

Consequently, many pupils are making much greater gains in their learning than they did in the past. However, teachers are not as secure in delivering the curriculum in a small number of subjects. In these subjects, some pupils cannot securely recall the knowledge that they have previously learned as well as they can elsewhere.

Students in the sixth form access an aspirational and carefully designed programme of study that meets their specific needs. Teachers are highly skilled in supporting students to quickly acquire complex knowledge. Consequently, students gain a deep and secure understanding of the subjects that they are studying.

They are exceptionally well prepared for their next steps in education, employment or training.

Pupils are well supported to strengthen their reading skills. Pupils who are at the earliest stages of learning to read get well-matched support which helps them to improve their reading knowledge.

Increasingly, all pupils' learning is enhanced by well-chosen opportunities to promote reading in their subjects.

Staff carefully identify the specific needs of pupils with SEND. They ensure that these pupils are supported effectively in their lessons.

Specialist staff provide expert additional support for pupils who need it. Pupils who attend the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced provision) are skilfully supported. These pupils are helped to overcome their specific challenges to learning.

This means that they achieve well.

Leaders and staff have successfully embedded high expectations for pupils' behaviour. Staff make fair and consistent use of the new behaviour system.

Pupils' behaviour has improved rapidly. Low-level disruption in lessons has reduced quickly. Most pupils demonstrate positive behaviour when moving around the school site.

Leaders ensure that a carefully structured range of opportunities provides pupils and students with an exceptional personal development programme. Pupils confidently talked about positive relationships, valuing differences and making good decisions.

Leaders have successfully re-established a wide, rich set of extra-curricular experiences.

Many pupils, including those that are disadvantaged, are enjoying the extra opportunities to develop their talents and interests. Pupils told inspectors how these valuable additional experiences help them to develop new qualities. Pupils are very well prepared to make a positive contribution to their local community and the wider world.

They are thoughtful, reflective and considerate citizens.

Staff prepare all pupils and students well for their future beyond school. Leaders provide well-planned opportunities for pupils to explore their future education and the world of work.

They thoughtfully refine these opportunities to support pupils' specific needs.

Leaders consistently collaborate positively with staff. Staff feel that leaders truly value staff's consultation.

Staff told inspectors that leaders are continually mindful and supportive of staff's workload and well-being. They are highly positive about what leaders do to support them.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding. They are well informed about the specific risks that pupils and students may encounter in their lives. They educate pupils well about how to stay safe.

Leaders and staff are vigilant about the safety of pupils and students. They act promptly to identify and share concerns.

Leaders ensure that pupils get carefully matched support when they need it.

They make highly effective use of additional support from expert safeguarding partners. Leaders carefully check on the effectiveness of support that pupils are getting. They thoughtfully refine support to ensure pupils get the care that they need.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, there is variability in how well some teachers deliver the important knowledge that pupils are intended to learn. In these subjects, some pupils cannot recall what they have previously learned as well as they can in other subjects. Leaders should ensure that teachers get the support that they need to deliver important knowledge contained in each curriculum consistently well.