The Grange School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 May 2022

Pupils are proud to be part of this respectful community. They told inspectors that the school community is 'accepting of anyone' and that they can be themselves without fear of prejudice. For example, those pupils who are members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community can be open about their sexuality and gender identity. The trusting relationships that pupils, including children in the early years, have with staff help them to feel happy and safe in school. Pupils are confident that staff will help them if they have any concerns. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are eager to live up to the high expectations that staff have for them. In particular, older pupils value highly the improvements secured in pupils' behaviour and pastoral care since the school opened. During lessons, pupils focus closely on their learning. They are supported appropriately by staff to behave well and to be successful learners. Those pupils who attend the specially resourced provision benefit from effective support from highly skilled staff. At social times, corridors and social spaces are calm. Pupils are assured that staff will deal with any incidents of poor behaviour quickly and appropriately. Pupils are clear that bullying of any sort will not be tolerated and would be taken seriously by staff. Pupils benefit from a range of extra-curricular activities to further their talents and interests. For example, Year 7 pupils recently enjoyed competing in their first basketball match. Pupils across year groups enjoy weekly clubs such as netball, dance, rugby, cooking and quidditch.

What the school should improve

• Occasionally, some teachers, including in the early years, lack the subject-specific expertise and confidence to select the most appropriate pedagogical approaches to deliver certain aspects of curriculum. This hinders some children and pupils in learning the intended curriculum and progressing as well as they should. Leaders should ensure that teachers have the support necessary to design learning that supports the intent of the subject curriculums.
• Although leaders have designed systems to identify and address pupils' misconceptions, from time to time, some teachers do not use these systems sufficiently well to single out pupils' missing component knowledge. This hampers these teachers in their efforts to help pupils to overcome some of their misunderstandings. Leaders should ensure that assessment systems are used consistently well by teachers to check on pupils' learning and inform teaching so that pupils can embed and use their knowledge fluently.

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