Ravenscliffe High School in Halifax continues to be ‘outstanding’ after it retained its top Ofsted rating following a recent inspection.
Inspectors from Ofsted visited the school in October and observed different classrooms. They also met with pupils during breaks and held discussions with staff, senior leaders and governors, as well as taking into account the views of parents who completed online surveys.
The school was last judged in 2012, when it was also rated as outstanding. During October’s inspection, judges commented on the passion that the leadership team clearly has for ensuring the school continues to improve and the outstanding quality of education that the school has maintained.
The report is extremely complimentary about the highly effective teaching at the school and notes the wide range of different opportunities for pupils to learn at their own pace. It also praises the school’s ‘Springboard’ scheme, which ensures that as many pupils as possible are prepared for work after leaving school.
Ravenscliffe has a large number of pupils, and inspectors noted that at times getting around the building was very busy. However, they also commented that the school was exceptionally good at solving problems – the problem of the large amount of pupils is being addressed by the building of Ravenscliffe@SpringHall, a state-of-the-art sixth form centre for the school and local people.
Calderdale Council has invested £1.6 million into creating this exciting new facility that will benefit both the school – which is the borough’s only secondary special needs school – and the wider community. The project is also being funded by significant contributions from the school, its many supporters and Sport England.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, Cllr Megan Swift, said:
“This is a fantastic result for Ravenscliffe High School and I’m delighted that Ofsted has recognised the hard work that has gone into making the school such an outstanding place.
“With building work on the new sixth form well underway, I’m sure the school will go from strength to strength, and continue to be a place where pupils make great progress in a top-class learning space.”
The head teacher of Ravenscliffe High School, Martin Moorman, said:
“We were really pleased to secure the recent judgement from Ofsted; it was a big relief and gave vindication to the terrific efforts of so many staff and Governors at Ravenscliffe who have grafted so hard over the last few years.
“Additionally so many of our team have been involved in a second big challenge, of raising over £1.8m to build and equip Ravenscliffe@SpringHall. For many in our team, this has felt like a second full time job.
“So the Ofsted judgement helps to recognise the efforts of those people connected with the school and hopefully justifies the superb financial support that we have received from so many people in Calderdale and beyond, who have backed us with their hard earned cash and efforts. Hopefully, we can now push on to improve our provision on both the school site and the Ravenscliffe@SpringHall site from September 2018. We still have lots that we need to achieve. It has and always will be a big team effort.”