Sir John Nelthorpe School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.

Students' achievement throughout Key Stages 3 and 4 is good. Standards are well above average by the end of Year 11 in English and mathematics and in some other subjects, reflecting students' good progress. Progress in English has been outstanding for the last two years.

Students achieve well and sometimes better because teaching is consistently good throughout Key Stages 3 and 4 and provides good challenge for many students. Students' behaviour is sensible and considerate around the site. They feel safe.

They show a real desire to learn in lessons and respect the staff's efforts to help them to achieve well. The good relationsh...ips between students and between students and staff create a positive environment for learning throughout the school. The school promotes students' personal development, including their responsibilities as young citizens, very well.

Through the good curriculum, the school promotes students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding effectively. The headteacher has made a strong start in his role and has put good systems in place to check all aspects of students' work. Subject leaders are contributing well to the school's capacity to improve further because of their good knowledge of achievement in their areas through much more focused checking of teaching and progress.

The governing body has a comprehensive understanding of the quality of teaching and achievement and is therefore able to hold leaders to account for how effectively they carry out their roles. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Achievement in the sixth form requires improvement because teaching is variable in the challenge it offers students and in their degree of involvement in their learning. The monitoring of their progress is not sufficiently detailed to raise achievement as quickly as possible.

Challenge for the most able students in Years 7 to 11 is variable, so they do not all attain the standards of which they are capable. Attendance, including in the sixth form, is average.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than others of its type and the number on roll has fallen since the previous inspection.

It has a split site, with a five-minute walking distance between one and the other. Most students are of White British heritage and speak English as their first language. The proportion of students known to be disadvantaged and therefore supported through the pupil premium is below average at 16%.

The pupil premium funding is additional government funding for students who are known to be eligible for free school meals, and those who are looked after by the local authority. The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs is below average at 8%. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 11.

The school works in collaboration with The Vale Academy as part of the Brigg sixth form to provide a broad range of courses for the sixth-form students. The school is part of a consortium of seven secondary schools and two colleges, working together to raise achievement and strengthen leadership and management. There is alternative provision for 19 students in Years 10 and 11 at the Skills Centre at Baysgarth School in Barton-upon-Humber.

The provision is delivered by North Lindsey College. The school does not enter any students early for GCSE examinations. The headteacher took up his post in September 2014.