Hednesford Valley High School

Overview

Hednesford Valley High School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. The school helps pupils to be ‘ready to learn’ in school and ‘ready for life’ after school, with recent changes improving the quality of education. Strong, professional relationships between staff and pupils are tangible, creating an environment where pupils feel safe and valued.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school, are rarely absent, and display good manners and respect for others.
• The school uses education, health and care (EHC) plans to determine suitable curriculum pathways, ensuring learning builds on past knowledge.
• Teachers and teaching assistants work well together, using a ‘recall-routine-recap’ model to reinforce learning.
• Systems for supporting early-stage readers, including phonics sessions, help pupils with weaker reading skills improve.
• Sixth-form students pursue academic and vocational qualifications with success and are well prepared for adulthood through work experience and community projects.

Areas to improve

• The school should routinely use checks on pupils’ learning to inform the choice of learning activities so they are more sharply matched to pupils’ needs, avoiding tasks that are too easy or difficult.
• Checks on the curriculum need to be more focused on how well it is being delivered by teachers to accurately identify areas requiring development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.