Sir Tom Finney Community High School

Overview

Sir Tom Finney Community High School continues to be a good school, providing a supportive environment where pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities thrive. The report highlights that pupils are "happy and settled," benefiting from high expectations and a curriculum designed to meet their diverse needs and prepare them for future independence.

Strengths

• Pupils feel "valued and included," fostering a culture where they "support each other and work well together."
• Staff possess a "secure knowledge" of individual pupil needs, adapting teaching effectively to ensure "very little low-level disruption."
• The curriculum in key stage 3 prioritises reading and communication, using creative methods like "multi-sensory lesson[s]" to help pupils become "confident, fluent readers."
• Leaders provide robust support for staff well-being and professional development, creating a "strong culture of teamwork."
• The sixth form effectively prepares students for independence through work experience and vocational training, resulting in successful transitions to employment or further education.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must refine curriculum planning in key stage 4 and sixth form, specifically ensuring teachers identify "what they want pupils to know and be able to do" in a small number of subjects.
• Reading strategies for older pupils are "not as well designed" as those for younger students, preventing them from building on earlier successes; leaders should finalise curriculum thinking to address this.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff receiving regular training and leaders being "persistent in securing the help that they need for pupils and families."