John Kyrle High School and Sixth Form Centre Academy

Overview

The report describes a school with a “welcoming and friendly culture” where pupils “actively demonstrate the school’s value of respect.” Significant improvements have been made since the previous inspection, with new leadership establishing an “ambitious and inclusive vision.” However, because these changes are relatively new, they are “not yet embedded,” and “pockets of inconsistency still remain.”

Strengths

• Pupils “get on well with each other” and meet high expectations for behaviour, moving around the site “calmly and requiring minimal supervision.”
• Teachers possess “strong subject expertise” and “enthusiastically share their subject knowledge,” particularly in sixth-form lessons where students enjoy “high-quality discussion.”
• The school provides “high-quality support” for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) through dedicated ‘hub’ and ‘haven’ provisions.
• Careers guidance is effective, helping “almost all pupils successfully move into the next stage of education, employment or training.”
• Pastoral support is described as a “strength,” contributing to improved attendance and reduced incidents of poor behaviour.

Areas to improve

• The curriculum in some key stage 3 subjects lacks clear sequencing, meaning “the key knowledge pupils need to learn is not clear” and they do not always understand how their learning builds over time.
• Teaching adaptations for disadvantaged pupils, those with SEND, and those who are persistently absent are not always effective, leading to gaps in knowledge.
• The school needs to strengthen its work on literacy and oracy, as pupils do not always have opportunities to discuss learning and practise new vocabulary before written tasks.

Safeguarding

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