Ofsted 2026

“Leaders lead with integrity and compassion… Inclusion is at the heart of the school.”
Ofsted September 2026

We are pleased to share the report from our Ofsted inspection that took place in the first full week of this academic year, one during which the Leadership Team and I worked collaboratively with a group of professionally respectful and experienced inspectors in the interests of our precious school.

At the beginning of the process, in the 90 minute call before anyone arrived in town, we painted for our lead HMI an entirely accurate self-evaluation of our school against the rightly demanding expectations of the new framework (which came into being formally in January of this year, and we are the first to experience it here in the Waterside). There has been a good deal of noise and concern regarding the new framework, as you may have seen wherever you access news. This is because Ofsted introduced a new inspection framework in November 2025, bringing significant changes to how schools are evaluated and how outcomes are reported. The new framework examines schools in greater depth and sets higher expectations across a number of areas- a challenge we welcome! As Ofsted makes clear, ‘judgements under the new framework cannot be directly compared with those made under the previous system.’ This is important context when reading our report or comparing it with reports from other local secondary schools who were all inspected before November 2025. At Noadswood, the team and I take the view that even greater ambition for every child, which is the spirit of the new framework, is an ambition we are entirely in alignment with. It energises our customary determined commitment to continuous improvement.

We have an authentic pride in everything terrific the inspectors agreed with us about and a fresh energy to continue to give attention to what the report identifies as needing it, which we also agree about. When you read it, you will see the report highlights Noadswood as a school where our young people feel valued, supported and able to thrive. Inspectors recognised our inclusive culture, describing Noadswood beautifully as a ‘happy school where pupils feel they belong and where relationships between staff and pupils are a particular strength’.

We are especially proud that inspectors recognised our commitment to supporting every child as an individual. The report acknowledges the valued pastoral care provided, the strong support for young people with SEND, and the positive partnerships we have built with families, external agencies and the wider community. It notes that your children feel safe, well supported and comfortable being themselves at school, and that our safeguarding culture is ‘open and positive’.

Inspectors also recognised the ambition that already underpins our work, even where we do not yet have consistency of impact to evidence in our outcomes for ALL students and in our attendance data in particular. They highlighted our broad and balanced curriculum, the expertise of our staff, students’ positive attitudes to learning, calm and respectful behaviour, and the extensive range of enrichment opportunities available to everyone.

The report reflects the dedication, professionalism and compassion of all our colleagues, who commit daily to ensuring all the students are known well, nurtured and supported to achieve their best. We are also delighted that inspectors recognised the positive relationships across our community, noting that both colleagues and parents expressed a strong sense of belonging to the school. We cannot thank you enough for all of that - every week I honour your support, partnership and challenge, because we always need all three.

At the same time, we recognise that the report identifies important areas where we must improve further: where we must flip the ambers to green with gusto, just like on all MOT reports! We genuinely welcome this feedback that confirmed our self-evaluation of our school: you see, we were already focused on ensuring that improvements to teaching are now consistently embedded and monitored as such right across the school, on the urgency with which students’ attendance continues to improve, and that crucially ALL students, no matter the starting point or challenges they face, achieve as well as possible. We will also continue to strengthen ALL teachers’ use of assessment to identify and address gaps in learning the way our most impactful already do, and we are well underway with the further development of our use of reading assessment information so that students are well prepared for their next steps. Finally, we are already committed to rigorously evaluating the impact of our improvement work with our Trustees, so that the difference it makes for students is clear to them and to all leaders at all levels of the school, and is well-sustained everywhere, not variable across the school.

Where we are at our best:

Mr Hewitt and I shared with the inspectors, that we know:

  • We have a rich, broad, well-planned and sequenced curriculum from which ALL students can choose and develop their passions and skills in excellent facilities with specialist staff, everywhere.
  • We flex the curriculum for those that need it: we are driven by the individual, what they enjoy and what they need from across our wide curriculum offer.
  • Science for all and Biology, Chemistry & Physics outcomes are consistently amongst some of the best results in the county.
  • Typically, 60-70% of our students pass both English & Maths together at grade 4 or above – in recent years as many as 50% have passed both at a higher grade of 5 or above.
  • There are very high outcomes in the vocational subjects: Dance, Health and Social Care, Child Development to name but three.
  • We have emerging strengths in outcomes for ALL building year on year in all of the Humanities subjects.
  • We have excellent pass rates for those following any one of our three foreign languages, French, German or Spanish.
  • High prior attainers here perform exceptionally well here with excellent 8/9 grade pass rates.
  • Students have excellent relationships with their Key Stage 4 teachers and there’s a year on year uptick in taking seriously the outcomes they will get in ALL subjects rather than a focus on ‘what I need for this next step I have chosen’… but this now needs to apply to everyone….

Where we are giving our attention:

Mr Hewitt and I also shared these areas to which we are giving our attention and the inspectors, again, agreed with us:

  • Some young people who receive Free School Meals do not achieve as well as they could – we believe in them all, and we know we can improve this.
  • Too many children do not come to school enough: these youngsters who are persistently absent, of course, do not achieve as well as they could do nor as well as everyone who attends well who has a similar starting point – we have made progress with this as a school family in the last year, as the report states – we now need to do more together.
  • Over the last three years the achievement gap between students with SEND and those without has not closed as much as we would have liked and in some cases this gap is wider than in other schools nationally – we have a huge amount of support and provision for children with SEND, but we now need to see a consistency in the impact of our teaching so that achievement more consistently matches the care and the offer.

How can you be involved in our work going forwards?

As mentioned above, I value your support, partnership and challenge, always, so perhaps you’d like to join me, other leaders and student leaders at for one of these two ‘Mandate for Ambition’ events we will hold:

23rd November Coffee Morning 11.15am onwards

2nd December Evening Refreshments 6pm onwards

There, we will share strengths, progress already made in terms of where we are giving our attention, and how your children and you can make a difference and stay even more involved consistently as we work together to turn every amber to green! We know we will do this because of the excellence we have in so many parts of our rich, expansive curriculum and enrichment offer: our best is now our benchmark for everything.

To conclude, we are proud of what has been recognised in this report: ours is a school where inclusion is at the heart of everything, where students know they belong, where leaders are noted by inspectors for integrity and compassion, and where relationships are a genuine strength. At the same time, we are ambitious for our future. The inspection itself and the report card provides us with a clear mandate for the next stage of our improvement journey: entirely correctly more rigorous, more ambitious for every single child, and we are excited about what comes next for Noadswood and ALL the young people we serve.

All our very best,

Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team

#OurBestIsOurBenchmark #ProudToBelong #Inclusion #MandateForAmbition #SchoolFamily #SchoolConsistency #AllGreenIsTheGoal #LeadWithIntegrity

To read the full report, please click on this link: Noadswood School - Open - Find an Inspection Report - Ofsted