William de Ferrers School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 September 2024

Pupils enjoy attending William de Ferrers School. They take advantage of a range of clubs, visits, and opportunities. These include the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme, sports clubs and learning the ukelele. These opportunities develop pupils' confidence and character. The school offers all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), a broad curriculum. Where teaching is strong, pupils are highly engaged and learn well. However, the quality of teaching is not yet consistently good across school. As a result, many pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Pupils have responded positively to the school's new behaviour policy. Most pupils now behave very well. Pupils treat each other, and adults, with courtesy and kindness. If pupils need support to improve their conduct, they receive it. Pupils learn about how people may be different from themselves. They understand the importance of respecting these differences. Pupils feel safe in school. They know how to seek help if they feel unsafe. Pupils learn about topics such as the safe use of social media, county lines and healthy relationships. Effective careers advice and guidance helps pupils, including students in the sixth form, to make informed choices about their next steps.

What the school should improve

• The school has not ensured that the quality of teaching is of a high enough standard. In some lessons, activity choices do not ensure that all pupils gain the knowledge and understanding they need to achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff receive the necessary training to enable them to provide consistently high- quality learning experiences, which build on pupils' skills and knowledge.
• The school's identification of pupils' reading ability is not effective. Support for pupils who require help with reading is not delivered well enough. These pupils do not always improve their fluency and accuracy when reading. Consequently, they find it hard to access the curriculum fully. The school should ensure that it rigorously checks how well pupils can read and that well-trained staff deliver effective support to enable weaker readers to catch up with their peers.

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