Birchwood High School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 January 2025

Pupils at Birchwood High School know they are valued for who they are. Pupils accept that everyone is different. This diversity is celebrated in a warm, inclusive community. Pupils' talents in sports and creative arts are nurtured and provide valuable opportunities to represent the school. New interests are fostered through the range of clubs on offer. Pupils take great pride in the improvements they have achieved as part of the school's pupil leadership team. Recent changes have resulted in a renewed ambition for what pupils can achieve. Many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), respond to this ambition by working hard. As a result, they produce high-quality work that reflects the depth of their understanding. Pupils, including those in the sixth form, achieve well in public examinations. The majority of pupils behave well. However, recent changes to the way staff support and manage pupils' behaviour are not yet fully embedded. This makes it difficult for some pupils to understand how to meet the school's high expectations. Consequently, while most learning happens in a calm, focused environment, some pupils' learning is interrupted by the behaviour of others.

What the school should improve

• Important information about those pupils who struggle with reading is not always effectively shared. This means that at times the programmes implemented to support pupils to become confident and fluent readers are not as effective as they could be. The school should ensure that all those responsible for supporting reading coordinate their approaches to best meet individual pupil needs.
• Some staff do not fully understand the expectations the school has for them when implementing the behaviour systems. This means that some adults do not implement the behaviour policy as the school expects. As a result, pupils occasionally do not know how to meet the school's high expectations, and some learning is disrupted. The school should ensure that all staff have the knowledge and skills to implement the agreed procedures and do so consistently at all times.
• Sometimes the school lacks a strategic oversight of elements of its provision. This means the actions the school takes can be too slow, lack focus or be difficult to monitor. The school and governors should ensure that leaders have the expertise to bring together information from across the school to create clear oversight that informs and measures improvement strategies.

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