Aylesford School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils embrace countless opportunities to develop positive character traits.

The school actively fosters courage, confidence and resilience, alongside other aspects of character development. Staff reward pupils' efforts, and pupils relish this positive reinforcement. The school's inclusive vision creates an environment where pupils feel happy and free to be themselves.

Community events hosted by the school help pupils learn and develop further. The popular 'dementia café' is a shining example of this, where pupils demonstrate empathy and kindness at the same time as learning vital skills such as organisation and taking responsibility.

The school is calm and o...rderly.

Pupils behave well. They are polite and courteous to each other and to visitors and staff. The school deals with bullying robustly and fairly.

Although some parents raise concerns, most pupils have confidence in how the school supports them and feel that bullying is rare.

The school has high expectations for everyone. However, some pupils do not learn as well as they should because the recent improvements to the school's curriculum are not fully embedded.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school's published outcomes in 2024 were well below national averages. This was due to weaknesses in the legacy curriculum, the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and some turbulence in staffing. Recently, the school has taken appropriate action to strengthen the quality of education that it provides.

Staffing has settled. However, some aspects of the school's improvement work are in the early stages. Currently, not all pupils learn as well as they should.

The school's curriculum has undergone significant review and refinement. It is ambitious and incorporates elements of the school's strong focus on character development. The school identifies the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities accurately and shares relevant information with teaching staff so that they can adapt the curriculum to meet pupils' needs well.

Staff use their strong subject knowledge to present new content clearly, and they explain new concepts carefully, especially in the sixth form. In some subjects, pupils learn well and produce high-quality work, for example in art and photography. However, the work given to pupils in some other subjects, including some core subjects, is not as well matched to the ambitious curriculum aims.

As a result, pupils do not build new knowledge and skills as effectively as they should.

In all subjects, regular checks provide valuable information to teachers and pupils about their progress through the curriculum. Sixth-form students use this information to support their own independent study.

In some lessons, teachers systematically check that pupils build critical knowledge and skills. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, teachers' checks are not precise enough.

In these cases, teachers do not address pupils' misconceptions or gaps effectively or swiftly enough. In the sixth form, expert staff use their strong subject knowledge to help students remember crucial elements of the curriculum and build powerful knowledge and vocabulary. They regularly and systematically check that students remember vital knowledge and skills.

The school has prioritised reading. The school's reading programme ensures that pupils read ambitious texts often. Pupils benefit from purposeful weekly library lessons, where expert staff help them to practise reading with fluency and comprehension.

Those who need it, receive bespoke support, for example, through small-group interventions that teach pupils to read with confidence. Pupils who have fallen behind with reading are identified quickly and receive specialist support to help them catch up quickly.

The school has rightly ensured that attendance remains a high priority.

As a result, attendance is consistently above the national average. Dedicated staff work closely with families to ensure that support is given when needed, especially when attendance is low. A range of specialist support helps pupils engage positively with their education, for example therapeutic support and support from educational psychologists.

The wider personal development of pupils is a strength. The school's focus on preparing pupils for life beyond school is comprehensive. The ambitious personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum teaches pupils vital knowledge and skills in an age-appropriate way.

Trained staff deliver this in well-designed weekly lessons throughout the school, complemented by effective use of daily mentor sessions. Sixth-form students benefit from age-appropriate PSHE and a tailored approach to preparing them for life in modern Britain. Throughout the school, the curriculum is enriched by a wide and varied offer of trips, visits and wider opportunities.

Assemblies further strengthen the programme. All pupils receive strong careers information and guidance, and as they progress through the school, they experience purposeful work experience opportunities.

Staff appreciate how well the school takes account of workload, for example, giving ample time to implement new policies.

However, the school's approach to evaluating the impact of its own policies and practices requires sharpening. Those responsible for governance do not have a clear enough understanding of the quality of provision and the areas that require significant attention. Some elements of school improvement have been effective, for example the focus on improving the sequencing of the curriculum.

However, those responsible for governance, including the trust, have only recently taken sufficient steps to understand the strengths and priorities for development. The trust recognises that the school's systematic process of self-evaluation and review requires more precision.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The improvements that the school has made to the curriculum have not been fully implemented yet. This means that in some subjects, there is variability in the implementation of the school's ambitious curriculum, and teachers do not help pupils remember and build on crucial information as well as they should. The school should continue to support staff to implement the curriculum effectively.

• Sometimes teachers do not check what pupils know or remember effectively. As a result, gaps and misconceptions in pupils' understanding are not identified or addressed as thoroughly as they should be. The school must ensure that teachers consistently diagnose these gaps and misconceptions accurately and adjust subsequent teaching accordingly to support pupils' learning further.

• The school does not have an accurate understanding of how well its actions to improve specific aspects of its provision, including the quality of education, are working. As a result, some of the strategies the school is using are not focused specifically enough on improving the impact of the curriculum. The trust and governors need to sharpen their understanding of the strengths and areas for development in the school and ensure that they evaluate the impact of improvements more precisely.

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