West Somerset College

Overview: West Somerset College is a school with a total of 760 pupils, which is below the national average. The school has a strong standard, with leaders working above the expected standard. However, the school needs attention in several areas, including achievement, attendance and behaviour, and curriculum and teaching.

Strengths:

• Leaders ensure that pupils' individual needs are identified accurately and promptly.
• Leaders work effectively with professionals and external agencies to reduce barriers to pupils' learning.
• Pupils receive useful careers information, education, advice and guidance.
• Pupils, and post-16 students, receive suitable pastoral care and support.
• The school generally reduces barriers to learning for pupils who are disadvantaged or with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Areas to improve:

• Most pupils' achievement is not as high as it should be, including the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.
• Pupils who have not secured foundations in reading and mathematics do not catch up quickly enough.
• The school needs to strengthen the quality of teaching across the curriculum so that pupils and students typically achieve well in national examinations.
• Leaders should take action to reduce persistent disruptive behaviour so that the school's ethos is embedded effectively in all areas.

Safeguarding: The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfilling their specific responsibilities and having established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed.