Droitwich Spa High School and Sixth Form Centre

Overview

The report describes a school where “many pupils enjoy attending” and value “warm relationships” with staff. Leaders have made “good progress” in addressing previous inspection issues, resulting in a “calm and orderly environment” and effective curriculum sequencing in many subjects.

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from a supportive ethos, with teachers who “care and want us to do well.”
• The new behaviour policy is “well understood,” helping staff manage conduct consistently.
• There is a “vast and wide-ranging number of extra-curricular activities,” including international visits and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are “supported well,” with accurate identification of needs and suitable lesson adaptations.
• Sixth-form students make “strong progress” and display “exemplary” attitudes to their studies.

Areas to improve

• Some teachers do not consistently check learning, meaning “gaps in knowledge are not picked up quickly” and progress slows.
• The school lacks a “coherent reading strategy,” leaving weaker readers without effective support for fluency and comprehension.
• Governance has not held leaders sufficiently to account for pupil premium spending, meaning disadvantaged pupils “do not achieve as well as their peers.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”