Ofsted says Huddersfield school is ‘improving’ and has ‘high expectations’ – but some pupils are not turning up

A Huddersfield school has ‘high expectations’ of all pupils and most are well behaved – but some are missing out by not turning up.

Ofsted inspectors praised Netherhall Learning Campus High School in Rawthorpe, Huddersfield, although the school is still rated overall as ‘Requires Improvement’, which has not changed since an inspection in 2022.

Since then, the leadership of the school has been changed at all levels, while the curriculum has been revised and changed. Following an inspection in May, Ofsted said: “The Netherhall Learning Campus High School is an improving place to learn. Students feel safe. Most students are happy to be at school, but some don’t attend as often as they should.”

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The report added: “Pupils enjoy lessons and want to do well. There are also plenty of opportunities outside the classroom for students as well. The school has high expectations of all students. Most students respond well to these expectations. The students are very well behaved. in their lessons.

“The school has worked hard to improve the lessons so that the order in which they are taught makes sense to the students. Leaders do everything possible to ensure that students receive the best experiences possible. There is support for students to help them achieve their learning goals. For some students, more support is needed.

Around school, students generally know how to behave, “but where staff supervision is light, a minority of students sometimes forget what is expected of them.”

Ofsted said changes to the curriculum helped pupils remember important knowledge, but added: “However, in some subjects, the number of lessons per week makes it difficult to cover the content in the necessary depth. Teachers regularly check students’ understanding. This helps students. to remember important knowledge, even so, in some subjects, some students struggle to remember learning that is not so recent.”

Regarding pupil absences, Ofsted said: “The majority of pupils attend this school regularly. However, some students lose too much learning due to regular absences. Although the school is responding to this, improvements in participation rates are slow over time.”

Inspectors were impressed by pupils’ behaviour, commenting: ‘Behavior around the school and during lessons is calm and orderly. Students know that there are clear routines to follow and they respect them.”

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Wider student development is a strength of the school, Ofsted said. There are lots of extra curricular and high quality activities during breaks, lunchtimes and after school with many students getting involved.

Governors are now asking school leaders to respond more effectively and to better understand the school’s strengths and areas for development. Ofsted concluded: “There is more work to be done by the school to ensure that leaders know the school as well as they can.

“The actions of leaders are sometimes reactive rather than proactive. This is because quality assurance activities do not inform school self-evaluation as accurately as they should. This limited the speed of change. Consequently, the overall efficiency of the school is still not good. “

The school was rated Good in three areas – behaviour, personal development and sixth form. Overall rated as Needs Improvement.

Ofsted made a number of recommendations to the school for improvement. The school caters for pupils between the ages of 11 and 19 and has 810 pupils on the roll, of which 105 are sixth form pupils. The director is Michael Kent.