The Sittingbourne School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 March 2023

Staff have high aspirations for what all pupils can learn and achieve. This level of ambition is evident throughout the school. This includes in the specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which includes specially designed courses. Here, as across the rest of the school, leaders adapt the curriculum effectively to meet pupils' needs. Pupils are proud of how tolerant and supportive their school is, giving examples such as the active LGBTQ+ society. They are confident to report instances of what they call 'DRB' (discrimination, racism and bullying). Leaders challenge any perceived intolerance through 'character education' and personal development lessons. Pupils can and do request topics they want to learn more about in these sessions, which are used by leaders to develop the personal development programme further, for example in the recently introduced learning about personal finance. The vast majority of pupils behave well in school. Movement around the site is settled and there are few incidents of bullying. Where this does happen, the majority of pupils are confident that staff deal with it swiftly. Staff set clear routines in lessons and around the school, such as having year group zones in the playground. This helps to ensure that pupils feel safe in school.

What the school should improve

• While they are reducing, the rates of persistent absence remain too high. As a result, too many pupils are missing out on their education. Leaders need to continue to identify the barriers to pupils' attendance, to ensure these pupils attend school more regularly and benefit from the education the school provides.
• More pupils are now studying a modern foreign language, but not enough are encouraged to take the more rigorous combinations of subjects that make up the EBacc suite of qualifications. Leaders need to ensure that pupils are given the information they need to understand the range of options available to them, thereby strengthening the number of pupils taking these more challenging and ambitious qualifications.
• Suspensions are used appropriately, but the number of suspensions in school are high and not reducing quickly enough. As a result, some pupils are missing out on time in school. Leaders need to continue to work with pupils who struggle to regulate their own behaviour, to support them to be in school and in lessons more consistently.

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