Top Shropshire school told to improve

The leadership, management, quality of teaching and the achievement of pupils at William Brookes School in Much Wenlock were all criticised by inspectors from Ofsted.

But the behaviour and safety of the 960 pupils, including its 140 sixth formers, were all rated good following the inspection on January 8.

Headteacher Geoff Renwick said the overall judgement of "requires improvement with good features" had been expected because of the school's disappointing GCSE results.

The judgment of "requires improvement" replaces the previous Ofsted verdict of "satisfactory", with schools urged to aim for the higher "good" rating.

In their report, inspectors said teaching is "not consistently good enough to make sure that students learn well. As a result, too many students, particularly boys, are not making as much progress as they could be across all subjects.

"Teachers' expectations of what students can achieve are not always high enough, and they do not always set work at the right level of difficulty. Sometimes the most-able students find it too easy, while the less-able students find it too hard.

"The most-able students do not achieve their full potential. In 2014 GCSE examinations, the percentage of high grades was below average or well below in most subjects.

"Senior leaders have not ensured that the good teaching practice has been shared sufficiently well between teachers. Not all teachers check that students follow the guidance from marking to improve their work.

"Until recently, subject and other leaders did not always have an accurate view of how well students were doing in their areas of responsibilities.

"Although senior leaders recognise what needs to be done to improve the school, some of the initiatives are too recent to have made a difference."

However, the report did praise a number of aspects of the school and said that governors "have put the right systems in place to raise achievement in the school. Consequently, this is an improving school."

The inspectors also praised the sixth form, said pupils felt safe and behaved "extremely well throughout the school", and that attitudes to learning were "good".

"The governing body has a secure knowledge of the school's strengths and weaknesses," the report added.

Mr Renwick said: "I am pleased that the inspectors recognise our good practice and progress since September, describing the school as improving. The report shows our sixth form is rated good and all students make good progress towards their personal and national targets."

Shropshire Councillor Ann Hartley, Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said the inspection confirmed the views of the local authority in identifying the need for improvement. "The inspection also recognises the headteacher and governors have taken action to begin that improvement," she said.