Cleeve Park School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff, pupils and parents recognise the positive changes in their school in recent years. Pupils are courteous and respectful.

They typically treat one another with consideration and enjoy supportive and professional relationships with staff. Staff are motivated, well supported and provided with the training they need to deliver their roles well.

Leaders, including governors and the trust, have high expectations for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and students in the sixth form.

Leaders provide an ambitious curriculum which supports pupils to prepare well for qualifications and their next steps. Outcomes i...n national tests have steadily improved in recent years and pupils' work is typically of a high standard across the curriculum. In the sixth form, courses offered reflect local employment opportunities and support students' ongoing education and training.

The school provides a range of wider opportunities, open to all pupils, such as debating, art, music, drama and sporting clubs. Pupils enjoy special opportunities, such as representing their area in a Boccia competition for pupils with a disability and performing in the school's popular musical productions. Sixth-form students work towards the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and offer mentoring to pupils at the special school that shares the same site.

Pupils at all levels benefit from carefully thought-out careers advice, information and guidance.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has ensured that the curriculum is broad and interesting. Leaders have set out the key content pupils need to know in a logical sequence.

They provide regular opportunities for pupils to recall knowledge from previous learning and build on it to deepen their knowledge and understanding. In art in Year 7 and 8, for example, pupils learn about proportion, accuracy and perspective before attempting complex drawings of anatomy and contemporary portraiture in Year 9. Pupils in GCSE and post-16 classes use what they have learned earlier to produce confident and skilful drawings.

In some instances, teaching focuses on enabling pupils to think more deeply about subject content. For instance, when discussing literature in English, pupils are routinely asked to think about deeper meanings in the text they read. However, in some areas of the curriculum, teaching does not support pupils to think deeply about subject content.

This is because the curriculum thinking has not identified as many opportunities to do so. Where this is the case, pupils recall curriculum facts with ease, but they do not readily use what they know to make sense of more complex ideas.

The school ensures that staff members develop their subject expertise.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge. They present information clearly and check pupils' understanding systematically. This supports all pupils, including pupils with SEND, to understand new information and to recall with accuracy what they have learned previously.

Leaders have identified key terminology that pupils need to know in order to understand important ideas. Teachers promote this well, checking that pupils know what new words mean and how they relate to the subject content. However, pupils are not expected to use this specific language routinely themselves, nor are they encouraged to discuss their ideas and understanding in detail.

As a result, pupils' spoken contributions are not as detailed, confident or well developed as they might be.

Reading is given a high priority here. Leaders, including governors, understand that pupils' access to the full curriculum depends on their reading fluency.

The school's 'Cleeve Canon' of texts ensures that pupils, students and teachers read high-quality literature together. The school ensures that there are plenty of opportunities to read. For example, students in the sixth form read weekly with younger pupils.

All staff have received training in the best ways to introduce texts to pupils, and in how to support pupils to read for accuracy and understanding. As a result, pupils are well supported and use familiar routines across the curriculum to read new texts. Leaders identify and provide effective reading support to pupils who need it.

They catch up quickly.

Pupils show interest in their learning. Classrooms are typically settled, and where any disruption does arise, staff deal with it well through the school's behaviour policies.

The school provides a range of thoughtful additional support where pupils need it to improve their conduct. Attendance is a priority. The majority of pupils have high attendance rates and the school works closely with those whose attendance needs to improve.

In the sixth form, students attend regularly and are punctual.

Pupils learn about different religions, backgrounds and beliefs. They have been taught about the importance of treating others with respect and tolerance.

Pupils, including students in the sixth form, appreciate the range of relevant information they receive about how to stay safe from harm and avoid risks, including online.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some curriculum thinking is less sharply defined than others.

Where this is the case, teaching and support focuses less clearly on helping pupils to recall precisely what they have learned previously and using that knowledge to help pupils to understand more complex ideas. The school should continue its work to identify precisely key knowledge in the curriculum and its link to future learning of more complex concepts. The school should ensure that teaching focuses on supporting all pupils to access more complex subject concepts where this is less securely embedded.

• Teaching does not routinely focus on giving pupils opportunities to use key vocabulary they have learned. As a result, pupils' lack subject precision and opportunities are missed to extend their thinking further. The school should ensure that teaching promotes the use of key vocabulary that pupils have been taught.

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