Range High School

Stapleton Road, Liverpool, Merseyside, L37 2YN

Inspection dates

21-22 May 2013

Previous inspection: Overall effectiveness This inspection:	Not previously inspected Outstanding	1
Achievement of pupils	Outstanding	1
Quality of teaching	Outstanding	1
Behaviour and safety of pupils	Outstanding	1
Leadership and management	Outstanding	1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.

■ Students achieve outstandingly well.
■ By the end of Key Stage 4 attainment is well above average.
■ Given their starting points, nearly all students make the progress expected of them and the proportion of students that make better progress than this is high in comparison to most schools across the country.
■ Students who are disabled or have special educational needs also achieve outstandingly well because of the high-quality support that they receive.
■ Teaching is consistently good with much that is outstanding.
■ The quality of teachers' feedback to students on their work is somewhat inconsistent in providing them with clear guidance on how to improve their work and opportunities to reflect on and respond to their teachers' comments.
■ Some teaching does not give enough opportunities for students to find things out for themselves and develop their skills in working by themselves.

■ Students are very proud of their school. They feel exceptionally safe in school. Students' behaviour towards one another and the adults working with them is impeccable. They are unfailingly polite and well-mannered.
■ Students are highly positive towards learning and are always keen to do their best.
■ Students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding.
■ Leaders and managers, including an outstanding governing body, know exactly how well the school is doing and where it could do even better. There is no hint of complacency. The drive to improve the quality of teaching and raise achievement further is successful and unrelenting.
■ The sixth form is outstanding. Courses are very well tailored to meet the needs of students. Students achieve outstandingly well and thoroughly enjoy their time in the sixth form.
■ In the main school and the sixth form students are exceptionally well prepared for future success.

Information about this inspection

■ Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 44 lessons across the main school and the sixth form. Joint observations were carried out in four lessons with senior leaders.
■ Meetings were held with: senior and middle leaders; a group of teachers and teaching support assistants; students from the main school and the sixth form; and representatives from the governing body.
■ Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation including: data relating to students' achievement; records of the monitoring of teaching; policies and procedures relating to behaviour and safety; the school's self-evaluation summary; the school development plan; and minutes of meetings of the governing body.
■ Inspectors took account of 82 parental responses on Parent View as well as summaries of parental and student views carried out by the school. They also took account of questionnaires returned by staff.

Inspection team

Stephen Wall, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

Stephen Rowland Additional Inspector

Jim Bennetts Additional Inspector

Barbara Dutton Additional Inspector

Fiona Burke-Jackson Additional Inspector

Full report

Information about this school

■ Range High School converted to become an academy in November 2011. When its predecessor school, Range High School, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to be outstanding with a good sixth form.
■ Range High School is larger than most secondary schools.
■ The proportion of students known to be eligible for the pupil premium is very low. (The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children that are looked after.)
■ Nearly all students are White British.
■ The proportion of students supported through school action is below average. The proportion of students supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is broadly average.
■ The school meets the current government's floor standards that set minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress.
■ A few students in Key Stage 4 attend part-time vocational courses at Southport College.
■ Recently there have been several changes to the senior leadership of the school, including the appointment of a new headteacher and deputy headteacher.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Increase further the proportion of outstanding teaching by:
- making sure that teaching gives students more opportunities to learn things for themselves to develop their ability to work independently
- making sure that teachers' feedback to students in their marking is of consistent quality in showing students what they need to do to improve their work and that students have more opportunities to reflect and act upon their teachers' comments.

Inspection judgements

The achievement of pupils is outstanding

■ Students join the school with attainment that is generally above average.
■ Attainment in the main school has risen steadily and is well-above average. The proportion of students attaining five or more GCSE passes at grades A* to C including English and mathematics is consistently well-above average.
■ School data, confirmed by inspection evidence from lesson observations and the quality of students' work, show that attainment in 2013 at the end of Key Stage 4 is set to be even higher.
■ Nearly all students make the progress expected of them. The proportion of students making better progress than this is consistently high in comparison to national figures.
■ Attainment in the sixth form has also risen significantly and is securely above average. The majority of students in the vast majority of subjects exceed their challenging targets in AS and A-level examinations. The proportion of students that continue to higher education is impressive.
■ Standards in literacy and numeracy are high. They are promoted very effectively in English and mathematics lessons and in other subjects across the curriculum. Most students read widely, are exceptionally articulate and write with a maturity that often belies their age.
■ Students who are disabled or with special educational needs make outstanding progress from their individual starting points because of the excellent support that they receive. This demonstrates the school's exceptionally strong and effective commitment to providing equality of opportunity.
■ There are few students who are known to be eligible for free school meals. In 2012 less than 5% of students in the Year 11 cohort of nearly 200 students were known to be eligible for free school meals. School data shows that a significant number of these students were lower-attaining students on entry to Year 7. Overall, their attainment was above the average for similar students nationally. In English and mathematics they attained approximately one GCSE grade lower than other Year 11 students. The school provides strong, targeted support for these students. This enables them to make very good progress from their starting points.
■ The school receives very little Year 7 catch-up funding. What it does receive, however, it uses effectively to support students who join Year 7 with weak reading skills. School data show that this support is successful in improving students' reading skills and reading ages.
■ The school has an exceptionally coherent and well-thought-out policy for early entry to GCSE in a number of subjects. Evidence shows that this has no detrimental effect on attainment; rather, it enhances it.
■ The progress of the few students who attend part-time courses at Southport College is checked meticulously. The students achieve very well in their vocational courses.
■ Students achieve outstandingly well in the sixth form because of the excellence of the teaching they receive.

The quality of teaching is outstanding

■ Teaching is consistently at least good with much that is outstanding. Teaching in the main school was outstanding in over a third of lessons observed during the inspection. In the sixth form half of the teaching observed was outstanding. Some teaching was of such high quality that it enabled students to make hugely impressive gains in their learning and progress.
■ Teaching inspires students to want to learn. It is the root of their outstanding achievement and their exceptionally positive attitudes to learning.
■ Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and prepare their lessons exceptionally well.
■ Students enjoy learning because teaching makes learning interesting and rewarding. Lessons move along at a fast pace and teachers plan activities that are pitched at the right level of difficulty which match students' abilities and needs.
■ Where teaching is outstanding, students are actively involved in finding things out for themselves and enjoy the opportunities that they are given to work independently. They work very effectively in pairs and in groups where they enjoy contributing their own ideas and listening respectfully to the views of others. In one outstanding Key Stage 4 history lesson, for example, students were skilfully guided in groups by their teacher in researching the causes of America's involvement in the war in Vietnam. Students showed an excellent grasp of the concepts involved and showed excellent skills in organising their work coherently and lucidly. The teacher was able to 'take a back seat', only gently prodding the students in the right direction when necessary.
■ Where teaching is good, this same level of independence in learning is not always evident. Teachers occasionally and unnecessarily work harder than the students and this slows somewhat the progress that students are capable of making.
■ The teaching of English and mathematics is outstanding. It results in students who make excellent progress. By the time they leave the school, nearly all students have strong and secure skills in literacy and numeracy that equip them outstandingly well for future study, training or employment.
■ Teaching in the sixth form is highly successful in developing students' skills as independent learners. Students say that they feel challenged to give of their best regardless of the subjects or courses that they are following.
■ Teaching assistants give very effective support, especially to students who are disabled or with a statement of special educational needs.
■ Teachers mark students' work regularly. However, the quality of their feedback is inconsistent in showing clearly what students need to do to improve their work further and too few opportunities are given to students to reflect on and follow up teachers' suggestions.

The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

■ Students behave with deep respect for each other and the adults working with them. They are exceptionally well-mannered and courteous. Students manage their own behaviour outstandingly well and this leads to a relaxed and very orderly atmosphere in classrooms and around the school.
■ Students approach their lessons with high levels of enthusiasm and extremely positive attitudes, especially where outstanding teaching challenges their thinking and makes demands on them to find things out for themselves. They work very hard and with great enthusiasm. Teachers manage behaviour in classrooms exceptionally well. The high quality of their teaching gives students little opportunity or incentive to misbehave.
■ Students are exceptionally proud of their school. They enjoy and appreciate all it has to offer. Attendance is average and improving.
■ Pupils say that they feel very safe in school. They talk knowledgeably about potentially dangerous situations and how to avoid or deal with them. They are fully aware of the dangers posed by using the internet inappropriately.
■ Students say that bullying of any kind is very rare and that, on the few occasions it happens, it is dealt with very effectively.
■ The safety, attendance and progress of the small number of students who attend courses offsite are checked on meticulously.
■ The vast majority of parents are very happy with behaviour in the school.
■ Students' excellent behaviour, their deep respect for those who are different, and their impressive awareness of different cultures and religions prepares them well for life in a culturally diverse society and testifies to the excellence of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

The leadership and management are outstanding

■ Senior leaders and managers, including the governing body, set the tone of high aspirations and expectations throughout the school. They ensure that there is no hint of complacency and that there is a constant and tireless striving for ongoing improvement.
■ At the root of all the school does is a highly effective focus on improving the quality of teaching and students' achievement. As a result the quality of teaching has improved significantly. This, along with the rising trend of attainment in the main school and the sixth form, show the school's outstanding capacity to maintain its outstanding effectiveness.
■ Leaders and managers have made procedures for checking on the progress of students more rigorous and effective. Teachers use the information skilfully to adapt their teaching to meet students' needs and abilities.
■ Staff understand fully that improving their own classroom practice and boosting students' progress towards challenging targets are central to the management of their performance and to their progress up the salary scale.
■ The outstanding curriculum in the main school and the sixth form provides a wide range of courses and qualifications to meet students' needs and aspirations. An extensive range of popular enrichment activities in sport and the arts add significantly to students' positive attitudes to school, their outstanding personal development and to the excellence of students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
■ The school works very effectively with a range of partner schools to share expertise and best practice.
■ The vast majority of parents are strongly supportive of the school. The overwhelming majority of parents who recorded their views on Parent View would recommend the school to prospective parents.
■ Policies and procedures for safeguarding are fully in place and give no cause for concern.
■ The governance of the school:
- The outstanding governing body keeps its finger on the pulse of the school at all times. It uses information about the school's performance astutely to benchmark accurately its effectiveness against other schools and academies. The governing body holds the school rigorously to account and does not allow any hint of complacency to creep in. It knows the quality of teaching and fully supports strategies to improve it further. It has a firm grasp on finances and is clear about the use of performance management, salary progression and the effectiveness of the use of pupil-premium funding to hold staff and the school to account. The governing body keeps itself fully trained and up-to-date. The governing body was recently awarded Governor Mark for the second time.

What inspection judgements mean

School
Grade	Judgement	Description
Grade 1	Outstanding	An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils' needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment.
Grade 2	Good	A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils' needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment.
Grade 3	Requires improvement	A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection.
Grade 4	Inadequate	A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school's leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

School details

Unique reference number 137612

Local authority Sefton

Inspection number 412530

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

Type of school	Academy converter
School category	Non-maintained
Age range of pupils	11-18
Gender of pupils	Mixed
Gender of pupils in the sixth form	Mixed
Number of pupils on the school roll	1,155
Of which, number on roll in sixth form	205
Appropriate authority	The governing body
Chair	Mervyn Thomas
Headteacher	Graham Aldridge
Date of previous school inspection	Not previously inspected
Telephone number	01704 879315
Fax number	01704 835616
Email address	admin@range.sefton.sch.uk

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