'˜Pupil behaviour not good enough' at Princes Risborough School

The academy was judged by the education watchdog to ‘require improvement’ in July and inspectors who visited the school in December praised the hard work of leaders to turn things around.

However, in a letter to headteacher Peter Rowe, Ofsted inspector Sarah Hubbard said ‘some areas, such as behaviour, that needed development, have not yet received the attention they require’.

She said: “Some pupils’ conduct remains poor and disruptive to others’ learning...They speak while the teachers are explaining tasks to the whole class, they do not work hard enough when the teachers set them work to do and, in some classes, they ignore the teacher’s instructions. Teachers do not always challenge the conduct of these pupils by employing the agreed procedures and their progress consequently slows.”

Her letter said that ‘while overall attendance has improved, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils remains significantly below that of other pupils’.

She said the ‘progress pupils made in some Key Stage 4 subjects in 2015, such as science, was better than it was in 2014’.

“Teachers’ marking is now more consistent and most teachers follow the academy’s agreed policies. However, teaching has not improved quickly enough and gaps between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and others remain wide.”

She told Mr Rowe: “You now rightly concentrate on three key areas: a relentless focus on highest classroom practice; consistency in managing pupils’ behaviour; and ensuring rigorous accountability. However, these new and more focused priorities have not yet led to sufficient improvements in either teaching or behaviour.”