Sandwell Community School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 23 April 2024

The majority of pupils enter the school having had long-term disruption to their education. Many have deeply ingrained patterns of poor attendance. When they enter the school through the Assessment Centre of Learning, all pupils are supported to re-engage positively with education. Leaders use initial assessments carefully to decide what pupils need in order to succeed. Over time, pupils develop increasingly positive attitudes towards education, start to attend more regularly and improve their behaviour. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their actions. They develop their thinking to consider the consequences of the choices they make on themselves and others and how this will affect their future. The school is very ambitious for its pupils. Staff help them to build towards high-quality qualifications or a return to a mainstream school. As a crucial part of this work, many pupils move to the Main School Centre of Learning. They are supported well in this transition. The curriculum on offer allows pupils to experience a wide range of subjects in preparation for their next steps. Pupils have strong and positive relationships with staff, who they know want the best for them. Pupils feel safe and know there is someone to help when they need them, either for educational or personal reasons.

What the school should improve

• Teachers do not always select appropriate work for pupils to complete. This results in lost learning time so pupils do not make as much progress through the curriculum as they could. The school should support teachers to select tasks which match the ambitious curriculum consistently for all pupils and help to close gaps in knowledge.
• Attendance and punctuality are not as strong as they need to be. As a result both of absence and of lateness pupils miss valuable time in lessons. The school needs to consider how it might adjust the school day to support pupils to access more of the ambitious curriculum being delivered, as well as ensuring that when pupils do arrive in school, they go promptly to lessons so that no learning time is lost.
• Pupils are not always encouraged to express their thinking verbally in lessons. As a result, some remain reticent to do so. The school should work with staff to develop pupils' skills and confidence to better prepare them for their next steps.

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