New College Worcester (NMSS)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This school inspires, nurtures, and empowers pupils to succeed both in their education and in later life. It maintains high expectations for all pupils, including those in the sixth form. Staff give careful consideration to the needs of pupils with visual impairments.

This allows pupils to thrive. Parents and carers view the school as a community.

The relationships between staff and pupils are built on mutual respect and nurturing.

Interactions are filled with smiles, laughter, and joy. Pupils are attentive to each other's individual visual impairment needs and provide excellent support. The overall atmosphere among students is extremely positive.

Th...e school enables students to learn to live and work independently.

The school begins preparing pupils for life after school at an early stage. The school actively establishes connections with workplaces that promote and support individuals with visual impairments.

It advocates for visual impairment in the workplace, aiming to help all pupils achieve their career ambitions.

There is a huge array of extra-curricular activities on offer to promote pupils' talents and interests. Many consider the needs of the visually impaired.

These include shooting, tandem riding, cultural food club and a highly skilled choir.

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

There is a well-balanced and ambitious curriculum in place for all year groups, including the sixth form. It considers the individual needs and interests of the pupils.

The school has made sure that learning builds logically and that pupils make links with their learning over time. For example, in history, pupils learn about capital punishment in the 1950s. They then compare this with the use of capital punishment in previous centuries.

As a result, pupils achieve well and gain a range of suitable qualifications by the time they move on.

Skilled teachers deliver the school's curriculum. They carry out initial assessments of pupils' abilities when they start school.

They then adapt the curriculum for each pupil's individual need. Nearly all teachers have specialist qualifications. Staff support pupils well in lessons, particularly if they have difficulty understanding.

Teachers carry out planned checks on pupils' learning. However, staff do not use these checks consistently well to address misconceptions or gaps in learning. This affects how well pupils learn.

Subject leaders are experts in their curriculum. They make sure that a range of resources enable pupils to access their learning. These include braille, enlarged texts and the use of technology.

The school is further developing subject leaders. It makes sure that they carry out regular checks on how their subject is being delivered by other members of staff. However, this work is at an early stage.

Subject leaders need further support to fully develop their curriculum areas.

All subjects promote reading well. The school ensures that pupils who need extra support to read, in whatever form, receive it.

Many pupils love to read in their own time, either reading themselves or listening to audio books.

The school is determined for pupils to attend well. Some pupils have a number of issues which prevent them from attending school regularly.

These include pupils with specific health problems and pupils who are waiting to move to a different school. The school works closely with parents and local authorities to support these pupils.

Pupils' personal development is a strength of the school.

It is a priority. By ensuring pupils learn important life skills, the school prepares pupils very well for their next steps and adulthood. For example, students in the sixth form know that learning how to cook and clean through the 'independent living skills curriculum' will enable them to live independently at university.

The school's personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum is very well thought out and organised. Form tutors know the pupils well and adapt the curriculum to address each pupil's specific needs. Pupils speak positively about the experiences they receive both academically and socially.

The school is acutely aware of and promotes pupils' physical and mental health. For example, through physical education lessons, pupils learn about fitness and the importance of exercise. The school regularly discusses mental health issues with pupils.

It monitors pupils' mental health closely and provides extra expert support if necessary.

A skilled new governing board is passionate about the school. There is a commitment to ensuring pupils live a successful life after school.

New staff are particularly positive about how the school supports them in their role. Leaders make sure that staff workload is appropriate and manageable.

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, staff do not use their checks on pupils' learning to address gaps and misconceptions consistently. Consequently, some pupils do not learn in as much depth or detail as they could. The school should make sure that staff use the school's approaches to assessment consistently.

• The evaluation and oversight of some subjects is not as developed as it could be. Subject leaders monitor their subject but have not acted on their findings to further improve pupils' learning. The school should ensure that subject leaders receive the support needed to carry out their roles effectively and bring about improvement in their subjects.