Forge Valley School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Strong leadership, management and governance have considerably improved the school's effectiveness since the last inspection. The enthusiasm and commitment of the inspirational headteacher and his leadership team are unwavering.

Expectations are high, and the school continues to improve. Governors are knowledgeable and carry out their duties successfully. They have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement.

Teaching is good. Leaders have addressed previous weaknesses in teaching effectively. As a result, most pupils in the school are now making good progress from their starting points across a range of ...subjects.

Strong support is in place for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and this is helping them to make good progress from their starting points. Leaders have taken successful action to improve the progress made by disadvantaged pupils. As a result, the gap in progress made between this group of pupils and other pupils nationally is diminishing.

Relationships between pupils and staff are very positive. There is a strong culture of support in the school. As a result of effective leadership and good teaching, sixth-form students' learning, personal development and outcomes are good.

Careers guidance in the sixth form is strong. The curriculum is effective and provides very good opportunities for pupils' academic and personal development. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

They develop their strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding through assemblies and within their lessons. Pupils' personal development, behaviour and welfare are good. Pupils generally conduct themselves very well in lessons and around the school.

They are confident, polite and courteous to one another and to staff. Pupils show positive attitudes to learning. Leaders have improved pupils' behaviour since the last inspection.

Records of behaviour are thorough. However, leaders are not accurately evaluating the effectiveness of their actions. Overall, school attendance is above the national average.

However, despite the intensive work of the attendance team, disadvantaged pupils remain more likely to be absent than their peers. A small amount of variability remains in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in some subjects. This leads to an element of unevenness in the progress of pupils, including that of the disadvantaged pupils.

Information about this school

Forge Valley school is larger than the average-sized secondary school. The majority of pupils are White British. The school converted to an academy in January 2015 and joined the Tapton School Academy Trust.

The work of the trust is overseen by a board of trustees. Some responsibilities are delegated to the local governing body. The trust supports three secondary schools and five primary schools.

Forge Valley School hosts a resource base for 25 pupils with needs on the autism spectrum. Admissions to the provision are controlled by the local authority. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding is lower than the national average.

The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is also above the national average. The school currently uses Endeavour, Boys and Girls Club South Yorkshire, Blended Learning, Heely City Farm and Youth Association South Yorkshire, as alternative providers of education for a small number of pupils.