Ormston School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 1 July 2025

Ormston School is a place where pupils feel safe and well supported. Pupils are happy to attend the school. They recognise the positive contribution it makes to their education and lives. Staff form strong and supportive relationships with pupils. This ensures pupils feel settled and well cared for. The proprietor and the school have high expectations for pupils. They have a clear aspiration for all pupils to develop personally and academically. The school has developed a broad and ambitious curriculum. It enables pupils to build confidence and achieve well across a range of subjects. Pupils experience a wide variety of learning and personal development opportunities outside of the classroom. For example, pupils visit the local cricket ground to develop their sporting skills. They grow their own food to sell at the nearby urban market. Pupils enjoy making use of the school's wooded grounds to be active and strengthen their social skills during outdoor learning activities. The school's educational approaches support pupils' learning and emotional well- being effectively. Staff provide swift and well-thought-out support if pupils become overwhelmed. As a result, the school environment is typically calm. Most pupils behave in a sensible manner throughout the school day.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the implementation of the curriculum does not consistently meet the needs of the most able pupils. Most-able pupils experience variability, and an occasional lack of ambition in the way the curriculum is taught across the school. This means some pupils do not achieve as highly as they could. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to adapt learning activities in a way that consistently meets the needs of the most able pupils and enables them to deepen their knowledge.
• The school does not give sufficient attention to the technical aspects of writing. This includes spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting. As a result, some pupils are not able to write with accuracy consistently. The school should ensure that pupils develop fluency in the basic skills of writing so that they are able to write independently and accurately across all areas of the curriculum.

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