The Mirfield Free Grammar

Overview: The Mirfield Free Grammar School is a warm and supportive community where pupils feel safe and learn about important life lessons. However, the school's work to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils is not effective, and the gap between their performance and their peers remains too large.

Strengths:

• The school has high expectations for pupils' academic achievement.
• Pupils benefit from a range of careers advice and activities, including mock interviews and a careers fair.
• The school develops opportunities for pupil leadership through the Young School Leaders Programme.
• The school places a high priority on reading, with effective phonics and 'fixing fluency' interventions.
• Pupils behave well, and lessons are calm, with a co-ordinated whole school approach to attendance having a positive impact.

Areas to improve:

• Some aspects of the school's work to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are not effective, and disadvantaged pupils do not achieve well enough.
• The implementation of the sixth-form curriculum and provision is still variable, with some students in the sixth form not achieving as well as they could.
• Targets for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not specific enough, meaning that learning is not always precisely adapted to meet the individual needs of pupils with SEND.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.