Light Hall School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 September 2021

'The best from everyone, all of the time' is the school motto. Staff and pupils work hard to live up to it. Pupils enjoy a wide range of extra-curricular activities. The curriculum supports their personal development. Teachers pay attention to the progress of all their pupils. Pupils are positive about the way teachers help them to learn. They make good progress. Pupils get on well with each other and with their teachers. In this large school, staff are attentive to the well-being of pupils. In their inspection survey responses, many parents praised the school's welcoming atmosphere. They also mentioned the effective support their children get, including the period when they had to learn from home because of the pandemic. Pupils usually behave well in lessons and around the school. Poor behaviour is not accepted. If any pupils misbehave, then teachers are prompt to respond. The school supports pupils who misbehave to improve their behaviour. Staff also tackle bullying well. Pupils feel safe at school and do not consider bullying to be a problem.

What the school should improve

• The new curriculum has only been implemented in full since the start of this academic year. Its introduction coincided with several new teachers and subject leaders starting at the school. While the implementation of the curriculum is successful overall, there are still variations between subjects in terms of the impact on pupils' progress. The school needs to further develop systems to measure the impact of the new curriculum and ensure that progress is equally strong across all subjects.
• The periods of time when pupils were educated remotely due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions have changed some pupils' and parents' attitudes to attendance. Consequently, the school's strategies to sustain a high level of attendance are not as effective as they used to be. The school's records show that attendance for all groups is not back to pre-pandemic levels. Leaders need to continue to adapt their strategies to secure higher attendance for all groups.
• Promoting a love of reading is a key part of the school's 'literacy for learning' policy. While the objective to have pupils reading in school across the curriculum is broadly met, reading outside school is not widespread. As the literacy policy is in its early implementation phase, the school needs to continue to look for new initiatives to increase the number of pupils who read for pleasure.

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