A SECONDARY school has been told it is getting better – but it must still improve.
Hyde High School was subject of a monitoring visit by Ofsted as it seeks to achieve a ‘good’ rating.
But while progress has been made at the Old Road establishment, it was told there is still work to do – including spotting pupils’ misconceptions better.
In a letter, inspector Ahmed Marikar told Hyde High: “I am of the opinion that at this time the school continues to require improvement.
“Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action toward the school becoming a good school.
“But it should take further action to continue to build on the work already started to improve teachers’ use of assessment strategies so that they can identify errors and misconceptions in pupils’ work and understanding.
“On occasions, some teachers’ checks on learning are not effective. This means that teachers sometimes fail to spot pupils’ misconceptions.”
The inspector highlighted to headteacher Andrea Radcliffe much of the good work that has been done at Hyde High, though, and its results.
They added: “You, together with leaders, have continued to build on the improvements to the school that were noted at the previous inspection.
“Staff and pupils are supportive of your actions. They share your ambition to bring about further improvement. Staff are proud to work at the school.
“They spoke highly of the subject-specific training that they have received. Staff believe that leaders and governors are considerate of their workload and well-being.
“The effective action plan is a useful document. It enables leaders and governors to keep a sharp focus on the areas for improvement that were identified in the previous inspection report.
“This plan is helping to bring about swift and positive change to the quality of education that pupils receive. Pupils are benefitting from a broader and more ambitious curriculum than they did previously.”
The Ofsted inspector met with staff, pupils, governors and a representative of Tameside Council to discuss the actions taken since the previous inspection.
They also looked at samples of pupils’ work and observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and throughout the school day.
And it was concluded things are going well as they added: “You have raised staffs’ expectations of what pupils can do and should know.
“Subject leaders are taking effective action to improve their curriculums. These are typically well designed.
“As a result, pupils’ achievement is improving over time. You have improved the way that teachers use assessment strategies. This is helping them to check that pupils have learned the knowledge in the curriculum.
“The school is a calm and orderly environment. Pupils have positive relationships with each other and their teachers.”