Onslow St Audrey's School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 December 2023

Onslow St Audrey's is a welcoming, inclusive school. Pupils from different backgrounds and cultures and with a range of talents and needs form a harmonious community. The school embraces the diversity of its pupils, including the 47 languages that are spoken. Pupils respond well to the school's expectations. Behaviour in lessons is sensible and pupils focus well on their learning. Around the school, pupils treat each other with respect. Pupils who need it benefit from carefully tailored support to help them to improve their behaviour. 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 and well-delivered curriculum is helping pupils throughout the school to make positive progress. The sixth form is growing in popularity. Students are proud of their school. They are studious and ambitious, and good role models for the younger pupils. Pupils have a range of opportunities to take leadership roles. The learner voice council make recommendations for improving challenge and rewards in lessons, which leaders take seriously. The student council was pleased that its idea for the 'skip the queue pass' was recently adopted. The range of enrichment opportunities is growing and includes football, science club and public speaking.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, teachers do not check pupils' understanding within lessons well enough. This means that teachers do not always know where gaps in knowledge exist or when pupils are stuck. The school should ensure that teachers systematically check learning in their subjects so that they can identify gaps in learning and give pupils the help they need in a timely way to keep up with the intended curriculum.
• Teachers do not always know which strategies to use to support pupils who have SEND, particularly those pupils who find learning more difficult. As a result, at times, pupils miss out on important learning in lessons. The school should refine the information they give to teachers to ensure that it is precise and is relevant to day-to-day teaching, and consider how best to develop teachers' knowledge of SEND further.

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