The Mosslands School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and happy at The Mosslands School. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils benefit from strong pastoral support.

They appreciate that staff care for them well. Students in the sixth form are positive role models for younger pupils, for example, by acting as reading buddies.

The school is ambitious for all pupils.

However, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Recent changes to the curriculum are helping current pupils to build on their learning more securely. Nonetheless, in some subjects, it is too soon to see the impact of improvements to the curriculum on pupils' achievement.

The school has raised its e...xpectations of pupils' behaviour. Most pupils behave well in lessons and around the school site. However, a small number of pupils receive suspensions due to lapses in their behaviour.

Consequently, these pupils miss important learning. Added to this, some other pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should. These pupils develop gaps in their learning.

The school provides a broad range of activities and events for pupils beyond the academic curriculum. For example, many pupils participate in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award or in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competitions. Pupils also benefit from a range of sports clubs, school trips and international visits.

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

In most subjects, the school has identified what pupils, including students in the sixth form, should know and remember. The school has carefully identified the order in which this content should be taught. Although the school has accurately identified and remedied weaknesses in the previous curriculum design, in some subjects, it is too early to see the impact of this work on pupils' attainment.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge in most subjects. They explain concepts to pupils well, including in sixth-form lessons. Teachers use thoughtfully designed activities to help pupils to deepen their knowledge.

However, from time to time, teachers do not deliver the curriculum as effectively as they should. This hinders how well some pupils learn.

The school is in the process of strengthening the assessment strategies that teachers use to check what pupils have learned.

For example, teachers have received training to support how they check what pupils know and remember across a series of lessons. This is improving how quickly teachers identify and address pupils' gaps in learning.

The school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), accurately.

Teachers receive the information that they need to ensure that they can meet the needs of these pupils in their lessons. However, beyond lessons, there is other information that could help the school to understand if they are fully meeting the needs of SEND pupils. For example, details of attendance, behaviour incidents and involvement in extra-curricular activities are not collated to identify whether the wider needs of pupils with SEND are being addressed.

The school has prioritised reading, including providing appropriate support for those pupils who find reading more difficult. The school is increasing the range of texts that pupils read, for example, through the form time reading programme. Staff are beginning to explore the impact that the reading programme is having on pupils' learning, however, the school has not fully evaluated the effectiveness of each of the strategies.

The school has implemented many strategies to address some pupils' low rates of attendance, including for students in the sixth form. For some pupils, rates of attendance have improved, however, for others they have remained static or decreased. The school is not clear enough about which strategies have had the most impact on improving attendance for different pupils.

Expectations for pupils' behaviour are high. Staff apply the updated behaviour policy consistently well. This is enabling the school to better support those pupils who need to improve their behaviour.

The school's curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE) has been strengthened. Pupils can recall key learning, for example, about keeping healthy or financial literacy. However, pupils' learning in other aspects of PSHE is less secure.

This is because there is variability in the delivery of PSHE lessons.

The school is in the process of developing its provision for careers education, including growing opportunities for meaningful work experience. In the sixth form, a small number of students do not receive the information that they need to make informed decisions about their qualification choices and subsequent career paths.

As a result, some students are not aware of the full range of next steps that are available to them.

Governors are equipped with the expertise that they need to provide effective challenge to, and support for, the school. They understand the priorities for ongoing improvement and the actions that the school has taken to address these.

Governors have recently overhauled their monitoring processes to support a greater analysis of the impact that the actions have had, although this is in the early stages.

Staff feel well supported by the school. They said that they are consulted when new initiatives are implemented, which ensures that they have a manageable workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, some teachers do not deliver the curriculum in line with the school's intentions. As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they should.

The school should ensure that teachers are suitably equipped to deliver the curriculum consistently well. ? Some pupils do not attend school regularly, despite the school's efforts to improve attendance rates. As a result, these pupils have gaps in their learning.

The school should ensure that it analyses attendance data for specific groups of pupils more effectively. This will enable the school to identify the most effective strategies to improve pupils' rates of attendance. ? A small number of students in the sixth form are not clear as to what they could do next following the completion of their studies.

The school should ensure that the careers information that students receive enables them to understand the progression routes open to them based on their choice of subjects. This will support students to be more ambitious for their future destinations. ? The school's monitoring arrangements do not clearly identify the impact of new initiatives on how well pupils, including pupils with SEND, achieve.

This includes the monitoring of newly introduced attendance strategies and updated approaches to reading. As a result, the school does not know if some of its actions have been successful. The school should ensure that it evaluates its strategies carefully so that it can identify the precise next steps needed to improve further.