Duke's Secondary School in Ashington sees rating change after recent Ofsted inspection

Duke’s Secondary School, run by the Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust (NCEAT), was inspected by the government regulator on June 6 and 7 and found to have improved.

The school’s behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth form provision were rated ‘good’ but the ‘requires improvement’ rating for the quality of education brought down its overall grade.

Ofsted’s report acknowledges that progress has been made since the ‘inadequate’ rating in March in 2020, but found some teachers are not checking students’ understanding properly, leading to gaps in their knowledge and leaving them unable to do work they are given.

The report added: “Some pupils access a phonics programme if they need help decoding words. However, too few pupils currently access this programme. It is not delivered frequently enough to have maximum impact.

“Some pupils also have insecure knowledge of letter formation and, as a result, have poor handwriting. Some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive appropriate handwriting support, but more pupils would benefit from this.”

Inspectors recommended the school, which has over 1000 students, keep better records of student placements to other teaching providers so that the suitability of these placements could be better monitored.

The report praised the personal development programme and careers guidance available at Duke’s, as well as acknowledging behaviour had “improved significantly” since the last inspection.

It said: “There is a clear behaviour policy in place. Some pupils report minor variations in the application of the policy. These are not detrimental to overall standards of behaviour.

“Leaders track and monitor incidents of behaviour. However, their analysis of trends and patterns in pupils’ behaviour are not as precise as they could be to secure further improvements.”

Ofsted said the school’s safeguarding procedures are “effective” and staff are focused on improving the school, saying Duke’s leadership team are “ambitious and know what needs to be done.”

NCEAT chief executive Alan Hardie said: “Everyone at NCEAT is very happy that the huge improvements at Duke’s since the previous inspection have been recognised by Ofsted.

“To achieve ‘good’ judgments in four of the five categories demonstrates to parents and carers that Duke’s is a good school.”