October 2022 Ofsted Inspection

The John Warner School was inspected by the education watchdog in early October 2022. During the two days of the inspection every aspect of the school was reviewed and analysed.

David Allman, the school’s Executive Headteacher, said: “The John Warner School has so much potential. We have brilliant students, some very dedicated staff and a strong school community. For lots of reasons, however, all those elements haven’t come together to ensure that our students are receiving a consistently high standard of education. 

“While we are pleased that the inspectors noted that the curriculum has elements that are very well planned and delivered and that most pupils have high aspirations and value their education – we cannot shy away from the fact that the inspectors rightly found too many areas of school life that did not match the standards that we set ourselves. This was particularly evident in some of the behaviour and attitudes that the inspection team saw.”

As a result, the Inspectors graded the Sixth Form and Quality of Education as Requires Improvement, but Behaviours and Attitudes and Personal Development as inadequate. Because of this, under the new Ofsted framework, Leadership and Management and the overall school grade is then automatically rated as Inadequate. 

Mr Allman added: “Since the report, changes have already been made. We have evolved our school leadership team. We have made significant improvements in how the behaviour policy is implemented and a huge amount of work has been done to ensure that our students feel able to thrive in our school community.”

“We are pleased that this work is already having an impact, but our parents, staff and, most importantly, our pupils deserve more. That is why we are leaving no stone unturned in reviewing how we can continue to move this school forward."

“This will mean building on our strengths, like our support for students with additional needs, careers development and our new PSHE curriculum, but be open to working with new partners to help us move our school forward.”

An Ofsted grading of this type means that the school will be subject to more scrutiny, which starts with a letter highlighting the Department for Education’s ability to move the school’s funding if improvements aren’t made.

Mr Allman added: “We are moving forward with pace and purpose, and we welcome the additional support and scrutiny that we will receive. I have no doubt that we will be in a much stronger position when we next welcome the inspectors to our school.”

Click here for our Ofsted Action Plan summary and links to detailed plans