Meole Brace School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 July 2024

Pupils are proud to be part of Meole Brace School. The school pays serious attention to ensuring that pupils know and value the importance of equality, diversity and inclusivity. This effort fosters a respectful and positive environment where pupils feel safe and enjoy attending school. In the past, the school has not ensured that pupils achieved as well as they could, including in public examinations. Now, though, a well-designed curriculum and new approaches to teaching are having a positive impact on pupils' progress. The school has clear expectations for how all community members should interact with each other. Staff consistently communicate these expectations, known as the 'Meole Brace Way', to the pupils. The pupils value this clarity and strive to meet these expectations. The pupils benefit from many opportunities that positively contribute to their personal development. These include taking on significant leadership roles. The school's parliament provides recommendations for improving various aspects of the school, which the leaders take seriously. The parliament was pleased to see its suggestion for reducing queuing at lunchtime recently implemented. Additionally, the school's range of extracurricular activities, which includes music groups, sports clubs, and more, is extensive.

What the school should improve

• Occasionally, some pupils are given work that does not enable them to build on their previous learning or address gaps in their learning. This makes it harder for them to achieve consistently well. The school should ensure that all staff in all subjects consistently provide pupils with work that is well matched to their starting points.
• Teachers do not consistently ensure that all pupils produce work to the best possible standard. This hampers their progress. The school should ensure that all teachers routinely expect and support pupils to complete their work to a high standard so that they can all achieve to the best of their ability.
• There are inconsistencies in how the school evaluates the effectiveness of the quality of education in some subjects. This means that the school does not have a full picture of what is working well and what needs further refinement across all of the curriculum. The school should strengthen systems to check and evaluate the impact of their work.

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