Walkwood Church of England Middle School

Overview

Walkwood Church of England Middle School continues to be a good school, where the ethos and values are central to every aspect of life. Pupils enjoy their learning in mostly calm classrooms, benefit from strong relationships with teachers, and achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Strengths

• Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum that is broad and balanced, ensuring pupils cover the full national curriculum across key stages 2 and 3.
• Teachers possess strong subject knowledge and use routines, such as ‘superhero’ skills, to build effective learning habits and create purposeful environments.
• Reading is a high priority, with programmes in place to help pupils improve fluency and comprehension, resulting in wide and frequent reading.
• Pupils feel safe, with very little bullying; staff deal with incidents quickly and effectively, and pupils are confident they will receive help.
• Leaders support personal development through spiritual and social education connected to the school’s values, alongside strong careers education.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should ensure all teachers carefully plan lessons and assign work that enables pupils to achieve the aims of the curriculum, as some current tasks hinder progress.
• Leaders should ensure all teachers use assessment information effectively to adapt teaching, as some do not address misconceptions or gaps in learning, holding some pupils back.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff quickly identifying risks, responding appropriately, and working closely with families and external agencies.