Rainworth school gets 'Good' early Christmas present from Ofsted

The watchdog inspected the school on Warsop Lane on November 12 and rated it good for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and sixth form provision, giving it the overall ‘Good’ rating.

The report said the school, school which is part of East Midlands Education Trust (EMET), said pupils ‘learn well in most subjects’, ‘the

majority of pupils behave well’, ‘relationships are polite and cooperative’ and sixth-form students are ‘proud of the school’ and ‘serve as positive role models for younger pupils’.

It continued: “The school has developed a broad and balanced curriculum that provides year 10 and year 11 pupils with the opportunity to gain qualifications in subjects that reflect national expectations.

"Younger pupils learn well across a range of national curriculum subjects.

"Teachers have strong subject knowledge, they make regular checks on pupils’ understanding to ensure that activities build on prior learning.

"This enables pupils to learn and remember over time and deepen their understanding.

"However, at times there are some inconsistencies in this practice across school.

The school has high expectations of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

"Pupils with SEND learn the same curriculum as their peers.

"The school is developing a positive culture of reading and pupils who are at an early stage of reading are supported to become fluent and confident readers."

Inspectors also noted that the school has ‘appropriately high expectations of pupils’ attendance’ and that pupils’ overall attendance has improved since the Covd-19 pandemic with pupils understand the school’s high expectations for behaviour.

The report also praised pupils’ personal development at the school calling it a strength.

Inspectors also said that in some subjects, the school ‘does not identify all of the key knowledge that pupils need to learn and when’ and that the school ‘must ensure that all subject curriculums are equally ambitious, enabling all pupils to know, remember and do more over time’.

The report also noted the school’s approach to managing behaviour is, at times, ‘not consistently implemented’.

It said: “Consequently, a minority of pupils’ attitudes to learning are not as positive as they could be and the school’s high expectations of behaviour are not understood and appreciated by all parents.”

Mrs Carey Ayres, head teacher, said: “We’re very pleased with the report, we think it’s testemant to the staff and everything they do for the students and they’re wonderful students we’ve got here.

"There’s something really unique about this school that comes from the collective efforts of the staff and that’s all staff.

"We very much don’t have a teachers and others type thing, it’s all staff and they’re really in it for the students and the communities the school serves in Rainworth, Blidworth and Ravenshead and the surrounding areas.

"I know the staff work really hard to do the very best by them all.

"I was also really pleased that the report highlighted the personal development was a strength, almost outstanding, same for sixth-form provision, and it gave us really tangible things to help make what we provide for our students even better, which is great because you always want to continually improve.”