Summerhill School

Overview: Summerhill School continues to be a good school, with a caring and supportive atmosphere where pupils are happy and relationships between pupils and staff are courteous and respectful. The school places a strong emphasis on pupils' personal development, including their well-being and mental health.

Strengths:

• Pupils and staff greet everyone in a caring and supportive way.
• Community and togetherness are at the heart of the school.
• Pupils are happy in school and understand the 'CARE' values, including courage and ambition.
• Relationships between pupils and staff are courteous and respectful.
• The school has effectively developed strategies to support pupils who are not confident readers.
• Specialist staff rapidly address weaknesses in pupils' phonics, grammar and comprehension.
• The school understands the importance of attendance and takes highly effective and successful action to work with families in which pupils' absence is higher than it should be.
• Pupils' well-being is a priority for the school, including promoting pupils' positive mental health.
• The personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) curriculum is well planned and sequenced.
• Governors know the school very well and support and challenge appropriately.

Areas to improve:

• Teachers do not consistently check that all pupils understand and remember what has been learned in some subjects, which means that some pupils do not fully understand the necessary knowledge as effectively in some subjects compared to others.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.