Litherland High School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 20 February 2024

Pupils are proud to attend Litherland High School. They appreciate the commitment and care that staff display for them each day. This helps pupils to feel safe, happy and valued in school. The school ensures that staff have high expectations for pupils' behaviour. Pupils respond well to these expectations. They demonstrate positive behaviour in lessons and during breaktimes. The school is equally ambitious for pupils' learning, including those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). In recent years, the school has considerably strengthened the curriculum across a broad range of subjects. As a result, an increasing number of pupils achieve well. Pupils appreciate the opportunities that the school provides for their personal development. They have a secure understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy in their everyday lives. Pupils take part in a range of clubs and activities that build their interests and talents. For example, pupils have tried new sports such as curling or judo, and they have taken part in a range of performances and art projects. Pupils on the junior leadership team are excellent role models for younger pupils. They are thoughtful and professional when representing pupils' views to staff. Pupils said that leaders readily consider their suggestions and ideas. This contributes further to the strong relationships between staff and pupils.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of subjects, the school's assessment strategies do not provide teachers with sufficient information to identify how well pupils are learning over a series of lessons. As a result, some pupils develop gaps in their learning. The school should ensure that in these subjects, approaches to assessment enable teachers to successfully identify and remedy pupils' missed or forgotten learning.
• In some subjects, the school has not identified the subject-specific vocabulary that it wants pupils to know and remember. From time to time, this prevents some pupils from learning as deeply as they could in these subjects. The school should ensure that pupils are suitably furnished with the subject-specific terminology that they need to build a deep body of subject knowledge.
• The school does not have a clear enough understanding of the impact of some aspects of the curriculum. On occasions, this hinders staff from knowing when further improvements to the curriculum are necessary. The school should ensure that it has appropriate strategies in place to fully evaluate the quality of education that pupils receive.

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