Stour Valley Community School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 April 2023

Pupils and staff forge positive and supportive relationships. Pupils feel comfortable to talk to staff. Pupils experience a culture where their well-being is prioritised. This includes access to mentoring and counselling. They value the range of different ways to report any worries, including anonymously. Consequently, pupils feel happy and safe. Pupils learn a broad and interesting curriculum. They enjoy their learning and are engaged in most lessons. Most pupils enjoy, and are well supported in, their reading. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), get the support they need to access the same curriculum. Pupils behave well and typically learn without disruption. They move calmly around the school site. The 'ethics committee', which is made up of pupils, has played an active role in establishing positive behaviour expectations that pupils follow. This helps to ensure that incidents of bullying are rare. However, when incidents do occur, staff ensure they are followed up effectively. Pupils benefit from an interesting range of trips and visits. These include popular residentials, theatre and ski trips.

What the school should improve

• In an isolated pocket of the curriculum, teachers' expectations of what pupils should learn are not high enough and teaching does not engage pupils well. Consequently, pupils do not securely retain important information. Leaders need to ensure that, in this pocket, teachers receive further training and support, so that: expectations are high enough; what pupils learn engages them; and pupils retain and recall important information.
• Leaders have made changes to ensure that pupils with SEND have their needs effectively assessed and identified. However, the cycle of reviewing how well identified needs are being met is not fully developed. Some parents have frustrations that their input and voice in the review process are not given sufficient consideration. Leaders need to ensure that all pupils with SEND have an appropriate review cycle in place, to ensure that the parent's voice is fully heard, and that pupils' needs continue to be consistently well met.
• Some pupils at the earlier stages of learning to read do not receive precise enough interventions. This limits their ability to read with age-appropriate fluency. Leaders need to ensure that all pupils at the earlier stages of learning to read receive precisely targeted interventions that effectively address the barriers to them being able to read fluently.

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