Deer Park School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 29 November 2023

There is an extremely positive culture at this school based on the values of inclusion, kindness and community. This culture can be felt throughout the whole school, and the values can be seen in pupils' excellent behaviour and positive relationships with each other and with staff. Parents are also extremely supportive of the school, which many describe as a 'family'. The school's curriculum is ambitious for every pupil. In all year groups, pupils take a broad range of subjects. Staff ensure that all pupils produce work of a high standard. Where pupils require additional support, staff put targeted help in place swiftly. The school is committed to pupils' personal development, as well as their academic success. It organises a wide range of opportunities so that pupils can explore existing interests and talents, discover new ones and take on responsibilities. For example, pupils lead the school's 'Rights Respecting School' project, which helps bring the whole community together. A huge number of pupils participate in these activities, including disadvantaged pupils. Consequently, pupils here are resilient and have a strong sense of self. They feel very happy and safe in school. They trust staff to help them if they have a concern.

What the school should improve

• There is a little variability in the implementation of the curriculum. As a result, some pupils do not fully embed what they have learned with high enough levels of accuracy or depth of understanding. This can be seen in the quality of some pupils' ability to apply what they have learned fluently. The school should continue embedding the best pedagogical practice securely and consistently across the school.
• The school's reading strategy is not yet fully embedded across the curriculum. As a result, pupils are not routinely helped to access diverse and ambitious texts as part of their learning. This means that pupils are not yet developing the breadth of their vocabulary and cultural capital as well as they could. The school should continue to embed this aspect of the reading strategy across the curriculum and support staff to help pupils access these texts.

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