Reepham High School and College

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 7 May 2025

Pupils enjoy coming to this warm and welcoming school. They appreciate how everyone in the school values each other for who they are. Pupils develop a strong sense of pride in their own and each other's achievements. Winning county sports championships, speaking at a public event or achieving excellence in a piece of work are equally recognised and celebrated. Pupils work hard to achieve the ambitious goals their teachers have for them. They listen attentively in class. They respect each other's right to learn in a calm and disruption-free environment. Students in the sixth form develop strong independent study skills that help them take their classroom learning to a deeper level. Pupils achieve and are well prepared for their next steps. Pupils enjoy a range of activities that bring their learning to life. Trips to Normandy and Ypres bring the history pupils study into reality, while practising their language skills. Theatre trips enrich learning in English and performing arts. Pupils place high value on the school's enrichment week. They relish the chance to take part in life-defining experiences. For example, some unearth historical artifacts on archaeological digs. Others learn how to scuba dive to explore the marine life of the Norfolk coast.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, the advice staff give does not help pupils improve the quality of their written work. Consequently, misconceptions, mistakes and errors in knowledge and key skills such as spelling and grammar are repeated over time. Hence, pupils do not always learn the key knowledge as securely as they could. The school should ensure that teachers have the expertise to provide pupils with the advice they need to support them to improve their written work.
• Sometimes, the adaptations to teaching do not address the specific barriers to learning for pupils with SEND. As a result, sometimes, these pupils do not learn the curriculum as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and expertise to consistently adapt their approaches to meet the individual needs of pupils.
• The programme to support pupils who struggle with reading lacks the rigour in its design, implementation and tracking. This means that some pupils take too long to develop the confidence and fluency in reading they need to access the curriculum as intended. The school should ensure that programmes of support for the weakest readers are designed and implemented to enable those pupils to quickly become confident and fluent readers.

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