Redhill School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is an outstanding school.

It provides excellent value for money. Students leave Year 11 fully equipped with the skills and qualities they need for the next stage of education and their later lives. The exceptional care, guidance and support provided lead to high quality outcomes in terms of students' personal development.

Students are rightly very proud of the part they play in making the school an excellent place to learn. Their attitudes and behaviour are exemplary, resulting in a calm, orderly and very harmonious community where students from all backgrounds feel exceptionally safe. Students readily take on many roles of responsibility within school, including giving their opinions on... how learning can be improved.

The school's specialism provides them with a good understanding of life in other countries, but opportunities to become involved with the local community are more limited. Students' academic progress is equally outstanding. Attainment has been high for a number of years and is improving faster than the national average.

The school's academic successes are a result of outstanding teaching and a curriculum that is exceptionally well matched both to students' needs and their interests. Teachers have high expectations of how much and how quickly students will learn. The proportion of lessons that result in outstanding learning is high.

Most other lessons are taught well. However, in these, students do not learn quite as much because they are not given the opportunity to think deeply about the topics they are learning or to explain their understanding. The headteacher's vision of high expectations of, and equality for, all groups of students pervades all aspects of the school's work.

Staff respond enthusiastically to the senior leaders' commitment to providing high quality in all that it does. Accurate self-evaluation is based on the sophisticated use of data to identify where performance can be improved further. The school continues to go from strength to strength and its track record is clear evidence of an outstanding capacity for sustained improvement.

Information about the school

This specialist school for languages is larger than most other secondary schools. The proportion of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average, although the proportion with a statement of special educational needs is above average. Most students come from a White British background, with small numbers coming from a range of different ethnic backgrounds.

None are at an early stage of learning English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. A new headteacher took up post in September 2010.