Ridgewood High School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 July 2023

Ridgewood is a caring, inclusive school where leaders strive to provide the best for their pupils. Leaders in the school have introduced a number of changes to improve provision, particularly with regard to the curriculum and behaviour. These are having a positive impact. Pupils feel happy in school. They are clear that there are strong support systems in place if they have a problem, so they feel safe. Warm and respectful relationships are present between pupils and staff. Leaders have recently refined approaches to how they manage behaviour to ensure that there is greater consistency within the school. Their approaches are having a positive effect. Leaders have high expectations for what they want pupils to achieve. They have reviewed the curriculum and are ambitious for what they want pupils to know, do and understand. Leaders mostly understand the areas that need further development. Pupils benefit from a broad curriculum and a wide choice of options. The careers programme raises pupils' aspirations and highlights the benefits of further and higher education.

What the school should improve

• Leaders have not clearly identified the knowledge that pupils will learn, and the order in which this will be taught, in some subjects. This prevents pupils from building effectively on what they already know. Leaders should ensure that all subjects clearly identify the key knowledge that pupils should learn and how this will be sequenced.
• Sometimes teachers do not check precisely enough that pupils are secure in their knowledge of the most important curriculum content. This means that some pupils can find it difficult to learn new information in these subjects, because teachers have not checked they are secure with prior knowledge. Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment consistently in all subjects, to pinpoint what pupils know and can do, then ensure that new learning builds securely on this.
• Leaders' checks on recent developments in the curriculum, and approaches to managing behaviour, are not sufficiently systematic to ensure that all provision matches the best. As a result, there are inconsistencies, and less effective practice persists. Leaders should ensure that assurance systems are in place to evaluate that these developments are being implemented as intended.

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