Richard Lander School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 October 2023

Richard Lander School is a happy and inclusive school. Staff have high expectations of pupils and live out the school's motto of encouraging pupils to 'be the best you can be'. Pupils achieve well. When they leave school, they are well prepared for their next steps in education or employment. The school is calm and purposeful. Pupils are proud to attend and say that they feel safe. Staff and pupils enjoy warm, respectful relationships. Classrooms are positive learning environments. Some incidents of bullying do take place. However, the school takes swift and effective action to resolve these. Pupils benefit from an extensive and exciting range of extra-curricular opportunities. As well as creative arts and sports clubs, there are also large numbers of national and international trips every year. For example, pupils talk passionately about a month spent visiting Uganda and working on building projects to support the development of a partner school. Many pupils demonstrate their teamwork and resilience by being part of the Greenpower Education Trust race-car team or participating in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme. Pupils can take on leadership roles, such as being subject leaders, sports leaders or a head student.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, assessment is not used well enough to evaluate and improve the impact of the curriculum. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge that persist, or they do not develop a deep enough understanding of key concepts. The school should ensure that assessment is used effectively in all subjects.
• The school has not fully developed a culture in which pupils read for pleasure. As a result, most pupils do not read widely beyond the academic curriculum. The school should ensure that pupils read a rich and diverse range of texts to improve the culture of reading for pleasure.

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