The quality of education at a Bushey secondary school has declined and its pupils are underachieving, Ofsted has said.
Bushey Meads School’s latest report was published today (April 4) following inspections in January, which graded three categories ‘requires improvement’ and two ‘good’.
Inspectors said that in many places the school is a calm place to learn with well-behaved pupils – but a minority can disturb others’ learning, which “frustrates” those who see peers falling short of the school’s “clearly articulated values”.
“Since the previous inspection, the quality of education has declined,” inspectors wrote. “A range of factors, including high staff turnover and recruitment issues mean that pupils are not achieving as well as they should.
“Leaders are beginning to stabilise staffing. Nevertheless, there is inconsistency in how well staff support pupils’ learning and progress through the curriculum.”
For stronger areas, staff deliver effective lessons with engaging activities, but this is not the case everywhere, according to the report.
In some core areas, high staff turnover has caused “variability in how the curriculum is delivered” – with checks on learning not always used well, and staff sometimes failing to quickly spot where pupils are struggling.
The secondary school in Coldharbour Lane, which has 1,238 pupils and is part of the Bushey St James Trust, was previously graded ‘good’ in 2019 – before Ofsted scrapped one-word ratings. Three categories were ‘good’ while two got ‘outstanding’.
This year’s assessment saw quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management rated ‘requires improvement’, while sixth-form provision and personal development was ‘good’.
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Inspectors added: “Despite the issues, the curriculum itself is ambitious. Pupils, including students in the sixth form, access a range of interesting subjects.
“The sixth-form curriculum is working well. Teachers have good subject knowledge and so quickly pick up students’ misconceptions. Students have good attitudes to their studies. They are prepared well for the future.”
Support for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is a “priority”, with Bushey Meads’ specially resources provision ‘The Laurel’ seeing leaders carefully identify what help is needed.
The school also recently improved its approach to supporting pupils’ reading, as those who fall behind access appropriate support to catch up, and leaders have “increased the robustness of their attendance procedures”.
However, inspectors also said the school’s “new behaviour approach is hampered by inconsistencies in how staff uses it”.
“While everyone knows the behaviour expectations, sanctions are not always applied consistently. Suspensions remain high as the school continues to deal with pockets of poor behaviour.
“Despite very recent improvements, several pupils and parents remain frustrated about how learning is disrupted. This is echoed by a significant minority of staff.”
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Concluding the report, inspectors wrote: “Trustees and leaders are well aware of the issues in the school.
“They have recently built capacity to support the school to improve. There have been some green shoots of improvement, for instance around attendance. There is still, however, much more work to do to improve the school for the benefit of all pupils.”
Bushey Meads School declined to comment when approached by the Watford Observer.
