St Clement’s High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Clement's High School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value the community ethos of this small school. They appreciate the good relationships they have with staff and many of their peers.

Pupils regularly take advantage of the wide range of enrichment opportunities that are on offer to develop their character and interests. Recent trips to the theatre in London, to Berlin and to New York were very popular. Pupils spoke animatedly about how these trips increased their understanding and passion for their subjects.

Pupils feel well supported in lessons. They appreciate the help they get to do well, both during class and after sch...ool. Lessons are generally very orderly, and adults have high expectations of how pupils should behave and what they should achieve.

A minority of pupils who sometimes struggle to maintain attention are supported to quickly refocus on their learning if they get distracted.

Bullying is rare, and pupils appreciate the supportive pastoral team, who care for them. Pupils are kept safe.

The majority of pupils are confident that staff would deal effectively with any issues that they reported. However, a small minority of pupils can make inappropriate comments and do not always act in a respectful way towards their peers.

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

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum to support pupils to achieve well.

Leaders recognise the importance of learning a language and have recently made significant developments in this area, including the introduction of Spanish. This had led to increased numbers of pupils studying languages.

Teachers are knowledgeable in the subjects they teach.

They are often skilled at providing resources and planning lessons in order to ensure that most pupils do well. For example, teachers are experienced in using questioning effectively. Teachers are confident in adapting their explanations to help pupils to understand the intended learning.

This ensures that most pupils keep up with their peers.

Leaders are developing their use of assessment in order to support pupils to achieve well. In many subjects, such as art and Spanish, teachers are proactive in identifying what pupils know and can do, and they are quick at responding to pupils' needs.

Timely feedback allows pupils to correct misunderstandings as they occur. This ensures that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are supported to meet the demands of the curriculum. In some subjects, teachers do not always provide the most appropriate or ambitious work to support pupils to deepen their understanding of the subject and excel.

Sometimes, teachers are not sufficiently robust in checking that pupils, including those with SEND, have learned the material they have been taught.

Leaders are quick to identify pupils who struggle with reading. If needed, pupils are provided with targeted help to support them to become fluent readers.

Pupils enjoy using the library, and regular opportunities to read in lessons help them to further build their confidence.

Pupils benefit from a well-developed enrichment offer. Many pupils take up the opportunity to develop their interests.

Pupils are passionate about increasing their fitness by attending sports clubs such as netball and football. They are proud to have achieved well in the recent Magistrates' Court Mock Trial.

Pupils demonstrate good levels of respect for people with disabilities and of a different race or religion.

However, some pupils do not display sufficiently high levels of mutual respect for the protected characteristics of gender and sexual orientation. Inappropriate comments leave some pupils feeling uncomfortable.

Leaders act in pupils' best interests.

They are inclusive and ensure equality of opportunities for all pupils. Most staff and parents are positive about the school's leadership.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have ensured that staff are well trained and confident in reporting safeguarding concerns. If a concern is raised, safeguarding leaders are quick to respond. They maintain accurate records about the help that is given to pupils who need it.

Pupils speak highly of the support they receive from the pastoral team. Where needed, safeguarding leaders liaise with external safeguarding agencies appropriately to ensure pupils receive the right support.

Appropriate background checks are carried out on adults before they start working at the school.

Pupils have a good understanding about how to stay safe, online and offline.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• A small number of pupils make disrespectful comments about the gender or sexual orientation of other pupils. This behaviour is not always reported.

Leaders need to ensure that pupils are confident to report all concerning behaviours so that the small number of pupils who do not act appropriately are educated to improve their behaviour and respect towards others. ? Some teachers do not check what pupils know and can do. They do not provide pupils with the appropriate support and resources to fully develop the skills and knowledge they need to meet the demands of the curriculum.

This means that some pupils, including those with SEND, do not learn as well as they should. Leaders need to ensure that teachers routinely check pupils' understanding and intervene in a timely manner if they fall behind.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually, this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2017.

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