Deptford Green school has been given the thumbs up by inspectors for the first time in more than ten years – with children even learning about chivalry.
Oftsted inspectors gave the comprehensive secondary a ‘good’ rating this year, the second highest possible, after three straight ‘requires improvement’ reports.
Inspectors said that Deptford Green’s quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management were all good.
The school, which is on Edward Street near the New Cross Road but falls within the catchment area for many Southwark residents in Peckham, Old Kent Road, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, has a “broad and rich curriculum that matches the ambition of the national curriculum,” inspectors said.
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Inspectors were particularly full of praise for school staff’s efforts to promote reading. They said: “They give pupils time to read widely, such as in form time and in lessons in the library. Staff work with pupils who need extra help with their reading.
“They give these pupils extra practice in reading to help them to read fluently and catch up quickly. Staff use their expertise to pinpoint and address weaknesses in pupils’ phonics knowledge.
“Leaders have not managed to prioritise reading without narrowing the curriculum for pupils who are weak readers and need to catch up.”
Students are also getting a good understanding of “conflict and democracy” from their history lessons, inspectors said.
This even stretches to themes like the “chivalric code” used by knights in the Middle Ages, as well as “patriarchal structure”.
Children are well safeguarded, with staff well-trained in dealing with any problems, including mental health issues.
Areas the school could improve are keeping on staff in a few subject areas, while some students in years 7 and 9 are not being given the same opportunities as the rest of their year groups, because their time is being taken up with extra reading and writing help. Inspectors said that the school should make sure all students have the same opportunities, without compromising children’s literacy either.
The school’s ‘good’ rating comes after ‘requires improvement’ results in 2018, 2016 and 2014. Before that it was rated ‘inadequate’ in 2011, with fewer than half of all students getting five A*-C grades at GCSE. The school’s last ‘good’ rating came fifteen years ago, in 2007.
Headteacher Emma Thurston came in at the start of the last school year, in September 2021.