Warlingham School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 9 November 2022

Warlingham is a welcoming, friendly school. A staff member described it as a 'massive family'. The relationships between staff and pupils, and between pupils themselves, are very positive. Pupils trust and value their teachers and support staff. Pupils are happy and feel safe. Leaders have high expectations of pupils. The school's values of 'courage, commitment and kindness' run through every aspect of school life. Leaders are ambitious for pupils' learning. Pupils speak positively about this expectation, and they live up to it. Consequently, pupils achieve well. The majority of pupils behave well. They are polite and courteous in lessons. At social times, they mingle happily and act with consideration. Some pupils need extra help with their behaviour. These pupils value the support they get from staff at 'The Bridge' and 'The Maple Room'. Staff deal well with any bullying incidents. Most pupils are confident that bullying is taken seriously. Pupils have access to a large selection of activities outside the classroom, including clubs, sports and trips. Many pupils take part in The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. The annual activities week, which includes trips to the Lake District and Paris, is very popular. Sixth- form students enjoy volunteering activities, such as working with local charities and reading with younger pupils.

What the school should improve

• Too few pupils in key stage 4 choose to study a modern foreign language. This means that the proportion of pupils gaining the EBacc is low and below the government's and school's ambition. Leaders should take action to ensure that more pupils study languages into key stage 4.
• Not all teachers use assessment information well enough to adapt learning to meet pupils' needs. As a result, sometimes pupils are not embedding their knowledge well enough. Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment of learning to adapt their teaching to pupils' needs, so that knowledge embeds securely in pupils' long-term memory.

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