Bordesley Green Girls' School & Sixth Form

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 26 April 2022

Pupils are happy at this school and want to succeed. They work hard in lessons and enjoy learning. Staff are equally ambitious for pupils. Teachers have a strong understanding of their subject and prepare pupils well for their examinations. In many subjects, pupils achieve extremely well. In most lessons, pupils show a positive attitude to their learning and behave well. They listen carefully to their teachers and complete work to a high standard. At social times, pupils generally behave sensibly. Many pupils sit and chat with friends or play games together. Pupils say that if incidents of bullying do occur, they are confident that staff will deal with them quickly so they do not persist. Pupils study a broad range of subjects. At key stage 4 and in the sixth form, there are a range of both academic and vocational qualifications. Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is inclusive and aspirational to meet the needs of those wanting to go on to higher education. Many extra-curricular clubs have been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several different sports and subject clubs have restarted this year, including art, Urdu and football. This is appreciated by pupils.

What the school should improve

• The curriculum in modern foreign languages is not coherently planned and sequenced. In addition, not enough curriculum time has been allocated to the subject to ensure pupils are able to develop their knowledge and skills in sufficient depth. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum in modern foreign languages is well structured and has an appropriate amount of curriculum time.
• There are some new leaders in post and some aspects of the school's work are at an early stage of development. This means that areas such as literacy and careers education have new initiatives in place, but the impact is either beginning to emerge or is yet to be seen. Leaders should ensure that they evaluate all new initiatives carefully so that they continue to have a positive impact on the school's work.
• The relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum is not sequenced as well as it could be. Some sex education topics are only taught in key stage 4 and therefore younger pupils do not have a full understanding of the issues relating to sexual health. Leaders should strengthen their RSE curriculum so that all year groups understand key sex education topics in an age-appropriate way.

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