King Edward VI Handsworth School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where pupils thrive because of the school's high expectations of their academic and personal development. Pupils rise to this challenge, determined to achieve their high aspirations.

Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve excellent outcomes in their GCSE and A-level examinations and are set up well for future success in their chosen careers.

The school's culture of mutual respect is deeply embedded. This respect is demonstrated in how pupils conduct themselves.

They support each other's learning and do not disrupt lessons. Staff rarely need to remind pupils of the school's expectations because pupils manage themselves so well.... When the school raises the bar in its expectations, for example the recent focus on punctuality, pupils respond well to meet this.

Pupils are rightly proud of how their diversity is valued and celebrated. For example, the 'out of the box' pupil team helps to educate the community about neurodiversity. Pupils appreciate the many and varied extra-curricular opportunities available to them, including many led by sixth-form students.

They make the most of the visits on offer, including trips abroad and activities that support their learning in curriculum subjects.

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

The school has a broad curriculum, designed to enable pupils to fulfil their academic potential. Subject curriculums are carefully sequenced to ensure pupils achieve well and are fully prepared for success in their examinations.

This is why they are so successful.

Teachers demonstrate impressive subject knowledge when delivering the curriculum. This helps pupils, as they progress through the school, to develop an increasing sense of personal enthusiasm for learning and a desire to explore their subjects beyond the taught curriculum.

This is palpable in the sixth form, where students are keen to explore complex ideas and concepts, sometimes with a degree of intellectual independence akin to undergraduate learning.

The school has worked on improving how well the curriculum is implemented. Some of this work is embedded and reflected in consistently strong practice, for example in how well pupils learn to recall and consolidate previous learning.

However, there are some subjects where the school's chosen strategies are not as secure as they are elsewhere, for example the informal checking of learning 'in the moment'. The school has started to address these small areas of inconsistency. Checks on how well pupils have understood their learning, via their formal assessments, are strong.

This results in pupils having a clear understanding of what they need to work on to improve their marks. In some lessons, especially in the sixth form, pupils have regular opportunities to discuss their learning in a way that deepens their thinking and understanding, as well as develop important oracy skills. However, this is not always the case.

The school ensures that pupils know the value of reading, both for pleasure and for academic development. Pupils make great use of the well-resourced library and appreciate the carefully chosen diverse range of texts available to them.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs expertly identified.

Staff know how to support them in lessons, making appropriate adaptations to ensure they are enabled to learn and achieve well. Pupils with SEND and their parents and carers appreciate the support they receive.

Pupils' attendance is high.

They conduct themselves with maturity and show respect for others. They benefit from excellent advice and guidance around careers and their next steps. They are well supported with applications for university and apprenticeships.

The exceptional quality of the school's work on personal and character development is visible in how pupils treat each other and care for the school community and beyond. Kindness and service to others are praised through the 'cheers for peers' and 'gratitude' cards they send to each other and staff. Pupils enjoy taking on the myriad of leadership roles available to them because they want to make a positive contribution to the school community.

However, the school is not resting on its laurels. It continues to develop this area so that all pupils become well-rounded, socially responsible individuals.

The trust successfully ensures that the school is meeting its responsibilities.

Staff benefit from excellent professional development at school and trust level. The culture of care shown to pupils is also felt by staff. Recent changes in leadership have brought about several changes at the school.

Many of these changes are already starting to show positive impact on the school's provision. Many parents shared their support for these changes and how they are enabling the school, and their children, to flourish.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the curriculum is not designed in a way that ensures pupils have meaningful opportunities to discuss their learning. This means that pupils are not always enabled to deepen their understanding, explore different ideas or develop their oracy skills through their learning. The school should ensure that there is a strategy in place to support the effective development of oracy across the curriculum.