Whitchurch school rated 'good' by Ofsted
A Whitchurch school has been praised following a recent inspection by an education watchdog.
Sir John Talbot's in Whitchurch has been rated as 'good' by Ofsted.
The school, which is part of the Marches Academy Trust and has 465 pupils on the roll, has received praise for its leadership, teaching and pupil behaviour.
The Ofsted report states: "Leaders have created a culture of high expectations and positive behaviour at Sir John Talbot’s School. Pupils are respectful and well behaved. Relationships between pupils and staff are positive.
"Governors have a detailed knowledge of the school and a strong strategic overview. The Marches Academy Trust’s support for the school is effective and has a positive impact on many areas of the school.
"Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong. They plan their lessons carefully and ensure that there are a variety of engaging tasks which meet the needs of pupils.
"Leaders respond quickly to any weaknesses they identify. In areas where pupils’ progress has been weak in the past, leaders’ actions are addressing this effectively.
"Leaders’ work to teach pupils about risks they face is very effective. Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe.
"Many pupils join the school with weak literacy and numeracy skills. Leaders’ plans to address this are beginning to have a positive impact.
"Pupils’ progress is good. Disadvantaged pupils’ progress is improving quickly towards that of other pupils nationally with similar starting points.
"Pupils’ attendance has improved recently. However, some pupils’ persistent absence remains a challenge."
But the report also highlights where the school can improve further, including pupil absence.
"The school can continue to swiftly reduce the level of persistent absence, particularly that of disadvantaged pupils, by responding quickly with interventions when attendance becomes a concern for groups of pupils.
"It can establish the most effective strategies for individual pupils and develop a range of strategies to secure high attendance.
"It can improve progress in English by fully evaluating and embedding the recent changes made by leaders and carefully supporting leaders and teachers of English, especially those teachers who are new to the school.
"It can further improve the literacy and numeracy skills of pupils across the school by continuing to identify pupils who need the most support, fully evaluating the current strategies to improve literacy to see which are the most effective, including the use of catch-up funding, and developing all teachers’ expert," the report added.
No one from the school was available to comment.
