Windlehurst School

Windlehurst School

Address: Windlehurst Road, Hawk Green, Marple, Stockport, Cheshire, SK6 7HZ Unique reference number (URN): 131889

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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This school requires special measures

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to provide an acceptable standard of education, and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

Leaders provide pupils with some experiences that support their personal development beyond the academic curriculum. Staff demonstrate a clear commitment to meeting pupils' individual needs and create opportunities that broaden pupils' experiences. However, leaders have not established a coherent strategy for promoting pupils' personal development. As a result, they do not evaluate the impact of, or identify gaps in, provision with sufficient rigour. This limits their ability to demonstrate that all pupils benefit consistently from the opportunities available.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

Pupils can access some enrichment opportunities that help develop confidence, resilience and social skills. They participate in activities such as swimming and climbing, which encourage perseverance, independence and teamwork. Educational visits to local places of historical interest help pupils to develop a broader understanding of their community, heritage and the wider world. However, leaders do not have a systematic approach to these extra-curricular visits. Therefore, they cannot identify opportunities to consolidate learning or evaluate the impact they have for pupils. Consequently, leaders cannot demonstrate clearly how effectively these activities contribute to pupils' wider development.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

The curriculum supports pupils to develop their understanding of relationships, personal safety and healthy lifestyles. Pupils benefit from regular support and guidance from the pastoral team. Careers education and work-related experience help pupils begin to consider future pathways and employment opportunities. Leaders provide some opportunities to learn about fundamental British values and protected characteristics. However, this aspect of the school's work is not sufficiently developed or embedded across the curriculum. It does not have a sustained impact on pupils' understanding and appreciation of diversity, equality and life in modern Britain.

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Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention

Despite some positive features, the overall personal development offer lacks strategic leadership and direction. As a result, the quality and impact of provision is variable.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Pupils do not achieve well across the curriculum. Pupils can work towards accredited qualifications. However, many do not develop a strong enough body of knowledge to support future learning and employment. Pupils' progress from their starting points is too slow. As a result, gaps in learning persist and limit pupils' future success.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Too many pupils are not supported to achieve their potential. Where pupils have fallen behind with their learning, support does not help them catch up quickly enough. Pupils do not develop the secure foundational knowledge in reading and writing that they need to access learning successfully across subjects. Many pupils struggle to apply key literacy skills consistently. Errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling are common and often remain uncorrected. This reduces the quality of pupils' work and limits their ability to communicate ideas effectively.

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Attendance and behaviour Urgent improvement

Leaders have not secured acceptable levels of attendance. Pupils' attendance remains too low and shows little sign of improvement. Too many pupils miss substantial amounts of education. This weakens their academic progress and reduces their opportunities to participate fully in school life. Leaders have introduced a range of initiatives, but these have not addressed the underlying barriers to regular attendance. Attendance information is not used sharply enough to identify patterns or inform effective action. Consequently, leaders do not direct resources where they are most needed. Their work to improve attendance lacks urgency and precision. As a result, rates of absence remain entrenched. Too many pupils continue to miss important learning.

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Attendance and behaviour Urgent improvement

Behaviour does not support pupils to learn well. Disruption to learning is too common. In too many instances, pupils cannot rely on classrooms being orderly or free from interruption. As a result, some pupils lose focus and do not engage fully in their learning. Leaders have not established a culture where positive behaviour is routinely the norm. Leaders usually resolve incidents of bullying before they escalate. However, some pupils continue to use inappropriate and derogatory language. This creates an environment that is not consistently respectful. Leaders have not taken sufficient action to eradicate this behaviour or ensure that all pupils treat others with respect.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the substantial weaknesses in the quality of the curriculum and teaching. They significantly overestimate the effectiveness of what is on offer to pupils. This prevents them from identifying the most urgent priorities for improvement or providing staff with the professional development they need. Leaders believe that pupils receive a broad and ambitious curriculum. This is not accurate. There is not a broad enough range of subjects on offer to pupils throughout their time in school. As a result, pupils experience a narrow curriculum that does not prepare them well for future learning. Teaching is consistently weak. Teachers' expectations are too low and do not reflect pupils' potential. Staff routinely set tasks that lack challenge and do not allow pupils to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do. Teachers do not make effective adaptations to

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

support pupils to access the intended curriculum. Consequently, many pupils struggle to engage with learning and achieve poorly over time.

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Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement

Teachers do not use their checks on pupils' learning effectively enough. This, in part, is because their opportunities to do so are unnecessarily limited, as pupils complete very little work to demonstrate their understanding. As a result, teachers do not identify misconceptions, gaps in learning or pupils' next steps accurately.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Leaders have been ineffective in establishing robust systems to identify pupils' learning needs accurately. Many pupils arrive at school with significant gaps in their knowledge, understanding and skills. Despite this, leaders focus almost exclusively on pupils' social, emotional and mental health needs. While this work is important and supports pupils' wellbeing, leaders do not give sufficient attention to pupils' wider learning needs. As a result, many needs remain unidentified and unmet. Leaders do not ensure that staff have a secure understanding of pupils' barriers to learning or the strategies required to overcome them.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

The support that pupils receive in lessons is often inappropriate, ineffective or based on inaccurate assessments of needs. Teachers do not adapt learning well enough to enable pupils to access the curriculum successfully. Too many pupils struggle to engage with learning because staff do not understand or address difficulties that hinder their progress. Pupils become increasingly frustrated and disengaged when learning does not meet their needs. Leaders have not secured effective provision that enables pupils to achieve well. Pupils who are known to, or have previously been known to, social care are particularly poorly served. Their academic needs remain unmet, and they do not make the progress of which they are capable.

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Inclusion Urgent improvement

Leaders also fail to use pupil premium funding effectively. For example, they have directed funding towards improving attendance, yet it remains stubbornly low. Leaders do not evaluate the impact of their actions with sufficient rigour and have not adapted ineffective approaches quickly enough.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders have been unable to secure the improvements that the school urgently requires. There has been a significant decline in the quality of education. Pupils do not receive an acceptable standard of education. Leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses. As a result, priorities for improvement are often inaccurate or lack sufficient focus. Where leaders have correctly identified weaknesses, they have not implemented actions that bring about meaningful change. Consequently, weaknesses remain evident across important aspects of the school's provision. Pupils continue to experience disruption to their education because leaders have not addressed long-standing shortcomings with sufficient urgency or effectiveness. Leaders have not demonstrated that they possess the knowledge, expertise or strategic oversight necessary to bring about rapid and sustained improvement. They do not evaluate

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

provision well enough to identify precisely where improvements are needed. This is particularly evident in the school's approach to professional development. Leaders do not have a clear understanding of staff's training needs and cannot demonstrate that professional learning has improved practice. While a small number of staff recognise the scale of improvement required, this understanding is not shared more widely. Consequently, leadership beyond the senior team lacks the capacity to contribute effectively to school improvement.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Although governors have a clear vision for the school, their work severely lacks the level of oversight required. Their processes for monitoring the school's work are not robust enough to identify weaknesses or hold leaders fully to account for the school's performance. Governors do not challenge leaders rigorously and fail to ask sufficiently probing questions about the impact of leaders' actions. As a result, governance has not contributed effectively to securing improvement.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders give due consideration to staff wellbeing and workload. Staff appreciate this support. However, this has not led to the improvements in the quality of education that pupils urgently need.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils experience a poor quality of education at Windlehurst School. Leaders have failed to ensure that pupils receive the education to which they are entitled. Pupils significantly underachieve. Weaknesses in the curriculum, teaching and personal development programme severely limit pupils' progress and achievement. Many pupils do not enjoy learning. Teaching often fails to engage pupils or help them build knowledge securely.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Leaders do not identify pupils' needs with sufficient accuracy. They focus too narrowly on pupils' social, emotional and mental health needs at the expense of pupils' wider needs. As a result, staff do not understand the full range of barriers to learning that pupils face. Staff do not provide the support that pupils need to succeed. This weakens pupils' engagement, attendance and achievement.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

All pupils have an education, health and care plan. Despite this, leaders do not ensure ensure that pupils access a suitably ambitious curriculum. Pupils do not acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding they need. They are poorly prepared for the next stage of education, employment or training.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils develop positive relationships with staff. Staff support pupils to manage their emotions and behaviour. Consequently, pupils feel safe in school. They know who to ask for advice and support when required. However, leaders have failed to translate this strength into an effective education. The school's work beyond the academic curriculum lacks coherence and ambition. Leaders do not ensure the personal development programme is effectively thought through. As a result, pupils have significant gaps in their understanding. This includes their understanding of fundamental British values, such as tolerance and individual liberty, characteristics that are protected by law and the personal, social, health and economic education curriculum. Pupils are not prepared well for life in modern Britain.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Many pupils want to learn and engage positively with school. However, teaching frequently fails to meet their needs. A significant minority of pupils disrupt learning. Staff do not apply behaviour management and engagement strategies consistently well. Leaders have not established a culture in which learning can flourish. Consequently, disruption regularly undermines pupils' learning and progress. Pupils report that staff deal with bullying appropriately. However, leaders have failed to address persistent weaknesses in attendance. Too many pupils miss substantial amounts of education.

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Next steps

Leaders and governors must strengthen their oversight of the school so that they have an accurate understanding of the effectiveness of the curriculum, the quality of teaching and the culture of safeguarding. They must ensure that findings from their oversight are used to identify weaknesses quickly, hold staff to account and secure sustained improvement. Leaders and governors must implement clear and robust systems to identify pupils’ additional needs, including their social, emotional and mental health needs, at the earliest opportunity. They must ensure that assessment and information-sharing processes enable staff to understand pupils’ barriers to learning and use this information effectively when planning support and provision. Leaders and governors must raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve across the curriculum by ensuring that staff: have a clear understanding of the school’s

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Next steps

curriculum ambition; consistently challenge pupils appropriately; and do not accept low standards of engagement, behaviour or academic achievement. Leaders and governors must ensure that support, interventions and classroom adaptations are carefully matched to pupils’ identified needs and are evaluated regularly for their impact. They must ensure that staff understand how to adapt teaching effectively so that pupils can access learning and achieve well. Leaders and governors must ensure that gaps in pupils’ foundational knowledge are identified accurately and addressed swiftly. They must ensure that pupils secure the knowledge and skills necessary to access future learning and achieve improved outcomes. Leaders and governors must take urgent action to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence by implementing effective strategies to remove barriers to attendance. They must ensure that pupils attend school regularly so that absence does not impede

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Next steps

their ability to achieve, belong and thrive. Leaders and governors must ensure that the personal development curriculum is coherently planned, delivered and evaluated so that pupils develop sufficient knowledge and understanding of: the personal, social, health and economic curriculum; relationships, health and sex education; fundamental British Values; and the protected characteristics. They must ensure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain and understand how to stay safe, healthy and respectful of others.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Diana Horrocks.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator and various other staff in school. The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority. He also spoke with a group of governors, including the chair of governors.

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About this inspection

The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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About this inspection

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvements in the school.

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About this inspection

The school may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection. The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be considered again during any monitoring inspections we carry out.

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About this inspection

All pupils who attend the school have an education, health and care plan. The school caters primarily for pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs.

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About this inspection

The school currently makes use of 2 alternative provisions. Both are unregistered.

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About this inspection

The school operates over 2 sites. The second site is located at Millbrook Street, Stockport SK1 3NW.

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About this inspection

Headteacher: Christopher Ormiston The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 14 July 2026

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational needs support at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English indices of deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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What does this mean?

The type of Special Educational Needs provision provided at the school (if applicable).

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Destinations after 16

Percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4).

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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