Amherst School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 10 May 2022

Amherst School is a warm and welcoming community where leaders do whatever it takes to help every child flourish. Pupils love their time at school, not least because of the enormous range of opportunities on offer. Pupils benefit from a fabulous array of extra-curricular activities, from sports and music clubs to chess and juggling. Pupils describe the school as a special place to be. This environment helps pupils to become remarkably confident and self-assured. Their exceptional behaviour and attitudes reflect the school's values of trust, kindness, determination, politeness, fairness and cooperation. Bullying is extremely rare at the school. Pupils feel safe and have absolute trust in adults to resolve any issues that arise. Parents and pupils feel proud to have this school in their local community. Summing up the feelings of many, one parent wrote, 'Amherst allows every child to thrive. It is a welcoming, positive and trusting school that provides amazing educational support'. Leaders have planned a broad and varied curriculum. Pupils develop a love of learning due to engaging experiences within and beyond the school. Recently, leaders have focused on strengthening the curriculum further to enhance pupils' learning.

What the school should improve

• In a minority of foundation subjects, such as geography and art, leaders are at an early stage of identifying the precise knowledge they want pupils to learn. As a result, pupils' knowledge in these subjects is not yet secure. Leaders should identify and sequence the specific knowledge they want pupils to know and remember. This will support teachers in ensuring that new knowledge builds on existing knowledge. Leaders need to complete the process of reviewing the curriculum within their identified timescale. For this reason, the transitional arrangements have been applied.
• Assessment in a minority of foundation subjects is not fully developed. This means that in these subjects, teachers do not have precise information about how well pupils have remembered important knowledge. Leaders should ensure that assessment is further refined in these subjects to provide teachers with the information they need to plan learning that builds on what pupils already know and can do, and ensure that pupils' learning is secure.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)