The Bishop David Brown School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

The Bishop David Brown School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are immensely proud to belong to this vibrant and inclusive school. They value the trusting relationships they build with staff and each other.

There are nurturing environments around the school, such as the 'spirit room and garden', where pupils feel safe and well looked after. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully included in every aspect of school life. They benefit from receiving bespoke support when needed.

Adults use the information in pupils' education, health and care plans to adapt the curriculum to meet the individual nee...ds of pupils.

The school's house system creates a positive competitive environment among pupils. They enjoy taking part in creative and academic competitions, such as 'effort challenges' as well as various sports events.

Pupils love receiving rewards to celebrate their efforts, such as 'VIP' passes and non-uniform days.

Pupils from all backgrounds and ages get along well. They look out for each other and make sure that nobody feels isolated, regardless of when they join the school.

Staff celebrate their diverse school community through events like the Japanese and International Days. Pupils value these opportunities and the extensive clubs that are on offer to them. For example, they can attend chess and debating clubs as well as various sports clubs.

Pupils also feel lucky to have leisure facilities on site where they can swim as part of their physical education curriculum. They are happy and enjoy the learning on offer to them.

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

The school has a developed broad and carefully considered curriculum to support the school's ethos of 'enabling all to achieve to their full potential'.

As a result, staff take time to remove any potential barriers to pupils' ambitions and aspirations. Staff ensure that high-quality additional help is available for pupils if needed to develop their literacy and numeracy skills.

Pupils study a range of subjects which prepare them well for future education, and employment.

Teachers ensure that pupils learn important knowledge and skills in a carefully ordered way. Links with the school's feeder primary schools mean that staff know what pupils have learned before so they can build on this once they have joined the school. For example, the history curriculum is sequenced chronologically and makes use of the local context for Woking.

Most teachers have secure knowledge of the subjects they teach. They help pupils learn the subject content in line with the school's policies. For example, through 'take five' tasks, teachers make sure pupils recall important knowledge.

Pupils' understanding is checked by using 'yellow sheet activities', where they apply what they have learned. These checking processes to identify any gaps in understanding are relatively new and are continuing to be embedded. In addition, the school recognises some variability in teaching across the different subjects.

Regular professional development opportunities by trust advisers and subject forums are helping to develop staff expertise. This includes supporting those teachers who are new to the teaching profession. All of this guidance is focused on helping pupils securely learn across the school's full curriculum.

The school prioritises reading through daily 'DEAR' sessions. Pupils are encouraged to read aloud in class to develop their oracy skills. Pupils who find reading more difficult are quickly identified and benefit from well-considered interventions.

This is also true for pupils who speak English as an additional language. Staff explore with pupils lots of interesting subject-specific language. Pupils soon become proficient at using this themselves.

Pupils' polite and respectful conduct creates a calm atmosphere in lessons. Learning mostly takes place without disruption. At social times, pupils interact cheerfully with their peers and with staff.

On rare occasions, if pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour, the support that they receive from staff is commendable and enables them to self-regulate. The majority of pupils attend school regularly because they genuinely enjoy coming in each day to learn.

Pupils learn about healthy relationships, consent and how to keep themselves safe online.

The personal, social and health education programme is thoughtfully considered. Topics such as relationships, consent and harassment are taught with sensitivity. Careers education across the school effectively raises pupils' awareness of different pathways for their future aspirations.

Pupils learn, in readiness for adulthood, about apprenticeships and universities, as well as what life is like in their local community and modern Britain.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum in some subject areas has been recently developed.

Teacher's expertise in these subjects is more varied, meaning pupils are not always learning as much as they could. The school should continue with their improvements to strengthen the teaching across the full curriculum. ? Some specific strategies for teachers to swiftly check pupils' knowledge and understanding have recently been implemented.

Consequently, some staff and pupils are not yet confident in using these to identify where there may be gaps in knowledge and understanding. The school needs to continue to embed these checking processes and develop teachers' expertise so that this information is used effectively to inform the next steps of learning.

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 2019.