Ridgewood School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 13 December 2022

Pupils attending Ridgewood School benefit from a good quality of education. Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes towards school. They attend regularly. Staff and leaders manage pupils' behaviour well. This is particularly impressive given the cumbersome nature of the school site and the use of many standalone school buildings. Pupils are well prepared for life after school. Their destinations are appropriate and ambitious. The support available for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) has improved. However, there remains more to do to ensure pupils who struggle to read fluently benefit from consistent support at the school. A wide range of extra-curricular clubs are available. Leaders track attendance at these to help increase the number of pupils who benefit from these opportunities. Leaders also survey pupils on a regular basis to help understand what is going well and what needs to improve. Appropriate support is offered when pupils raise concerns linked to bullying and/or feeling safe at school. This is important as some pupils report hearing unkind comments more often than they would like to. There have been several recent changes to the board of trustees at this standalone academy. Trustees are aware they have more to do to monitor the school's progress.

What the school should improve

• Some pupils, who leaders have identified as needing help to read fluently, are not receiving appropriate support. This limits their ability to access the curriculum fully. Leaders should ensure that all pupils who need help to read are provided with appropriate support.
• Leaders do not routinely check that the PSHE curriculum is being well received by pupils. This limits the impact of what is otherwise a well-planned curriculum. Leaders should quality assure the PSHE curriculum more regularly, ensuring they better understand what pupils can recall from this subject.
• Trustees do not hold leaders to account thoroughly enough. Furthermore, they do not keep comprehensive records of the work they do to support the school. The oversight they have of the school is less comprehensive than it should be. Trustees should review their fulfilment of essential governance duties, ensuring they are doing all they can to support and challenge leaders with their school improvement priorities.

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