Oftsed inspectors praised Testwood School in Totton

A SCHOOL in Totton has taken “effective action” to maintain its standards since its previous assessment, Ofsted inspectors have found.

Following a two-day visit last November, a report said pupils at Testwood School in Testwood Lane are “rightly proud and happy” to be part of an “inclusive and caring” school.

Inspectors wrote: “Pupils and staff enjoy positive and mutually respectful relationships. The school has a clear vision for continued improvement and has high expectations of pupils’ achievement. It has made several recent changes to ensure that this level of ambition is realised.

“The school has taken recent action to improve behaviour. This is leading to a calm and purposeful place for pupils to learn.”

The report said the school, which has 876 pupils aged 11 to 16, had identified it was not “attaining as well as they could” because not enough time was being spent building knowledge and understanding subject matters in key stage 3.

Inspectors said school leaders have since redesigned the curriculum so that pupils learn more content in subjects before choosing their key stage 4 options, which now start in Year 10. Pupils are now “gaining a greater depth of knowledge” in these subjects, it was said.

Identifying areas for improvement, inspectors said there is “variability” in teaching vocabulary that could leave some pupils not fully understanding what they are learning, while checks on pupils’ learning are also variable, meaning feedback does not always lead to improved learning.

Inspectors added: “The school’s approach to improve attendance is not consistently applied with some pupils. This means that some are not getting the precise support they need to ensure they attend school regularly.”