Weston Secondary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Weston Secondary is a diverse and vibrant community.

The school has high ambitions for pupils. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school is working hard to put these ambitions into practice.

However, not all pupils are achieving consistently well. Leaders are taking appropriate actions but improvements are not yet fully secure. There is too much variability in pupils' learning across subjects currently.

Pupils are supported well and the majority know they are safe. Many pupils are confident they have someone to speak to if they need help. They know that, while bullying happens, staff take action to address this....

However, some pupils are not always confident incidents will be dealt with well when they occur. While many pupils behave well, some do not which can disrupt the learning of others. Pupils do not attend school regularly enough and some are not punctual either to school or lessons.

The school provides a range of extra-curricular activities, including music and sports clubs. Some pupils spoke highly of their involvement in these activities, including the school production. The majority of pupils are well mannered and confident.

However, not all pupils receive the right information and teaching to support their personal development.

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

The school has designed a curriculum which is ambitious. Expectations for all pupils are high.

This includes pupils with SEND and other disadvantaged pupils. While proportions of pupils who are studying the full suite of subjects in the English Baccalaureate at key stage 4 are currently low, there is a clear ambition that all pupils can access this. The school also provides a range of alternative, appropriate options.

The knowledge pupils need to learn has been clearly sequenced in the curriculum, which the trust has supported effectively. There has been significant investment in training staff to develop their knowledge of the curriculum and how to teach it. However, the delivery of the curriculum varies across the school.

Not all staff have the knowledge and skills they need to ensure that pupils are all learning what is needed. The ambitions of the curriculum are not yet fully met. Not all pupils are achieving as well as they should.

Additional support for pupils with SEND in 'The Hive', 'Gateway' and 'Horizons' provisions is effective. Staff here have a strong understanding of the needs of the individuals they work with. Adaptions for some pupils across the curriculum are not as effective.

Although some pupils with SEND receive effective bespoke support carefully tailored to their needs, this is not consistently the case for others. The school is committed to developing a culture of reading. They provide support for pupils who have difficulty reading.

This approach is not, however, rigorous enough to ensure all pupils are receiving the right help they need to learn to read quickly.

The school has taken effective steps to ensure there is a clear approach to managing behaviour, including through the use of praise. This is not always applied consistently; therefore, not all pupils behave well.

This disrupts lessons at times. Too many pupils are not attending school regularly. This is having a significant impact on their learning.

In addition, not all pupils are punctual to school and lessons, which again means time focusing on learning is lost. The school is taking effective actions to address this, and there have been some demonstrable improvements.

There is a well-designed plan for the teaching of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education.

Pupils are taught about different faiths and relationships and how to keep themselves safe, especially online. Pupils from Year 7 to Year 11 have access to a range of effective and appropriate careers information. However, the PSHE scheme is not consistently taught well across the school.

Therefore, not enough pupils are benefiting from this provision.

Trustees have a clear vision for the school and have taken effective action to ensure that progress is being made towards this. The trust has provided significant support to increase the capacity of the school to provide what pupils need, and it is clear that this is having a positive impact.

Staff know they are supported well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Within and across subjects there is variation in how effectively the curriculum is being implemented.

As a result, not all pupils are learning as well as they should be. The school needs to continue to ensure that teachers all have the knowledge and skills they need to deliver the curriculum effectively. ? Not all pupils are attending school or lessons regularly enough.

Some pupils are not punctual to lessons. This means they are not learning what they need to in order to be successful. The school needs to continue to take action around attendance and punctuality to ensure that more pupils are in school and in lessons on time.

• While the new plans for PSHE are clear, there is variability in how effectively they are delivered. Pupils, therefore, do not all learn enough to support their personal development fully. The school needs to ensure that all pupils get the information that they need by supporting staff effectively to teach the programme consistently well.

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