King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls

Overview

This ungraded inspection found that aspects of the school’s work “may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection,” triggering a future graded inspection. While pupils demonstrate “strong behaviour” and benefit from “excellent provision” for personal development, recent strategies to improve academic outcomes have not yet had a “sustained, positive impact.”

Strengths

• Pupils exhibit “strong behaviour” and “improvement in many pupils’ attendance,” creating a “productive and inclusive place of learning.”
• The school provides “excellent provision to enhance their personal and character development,” including leadership roles and clubs.
• Pupils are “exceptionally well prepared for life after school” through effective career guidance and personal, social, health and economic education.
• Reading is a “high priority,” with targeted support helping pupils become “confident, fluent readers.”
• Support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective, with staff using “targeted interventions” to help pupils “overcome their barriers to learning.”

Areas to improve

• Staff do not always “consistently deliver the curriculum as leaders intend,” hindering sustainable improvement in achievements, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
• Some staff do not use formative assessment well enough to identify learning gaps, meaning they do not “routinely adapt their teaching to fill these gaps.”

Safeguarding

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