Lancaster Royal Grammar School drops from Outstanding to Good after latest Ofsted inspection

Lancaster Royal Grammar School was inspected on October 19 2021, and was classed as ‘good’ for the quality of education and leadership and management, and remained outstanding for behaviour and attitudes, personal development and sixth-form provision. This led to an overall classification of ‘good’.

The school was rated ‘outstanding’ in its last full inspection in 2007.

LRGS has been listed among hundreds of previously ‘outstanding’ English schools to have been downgraded by Ofsted after their first inspection in many years.

Schools judged outstanding had been exempt from routine inspection, but this rule was lifted in 2020.

Since then, Ofsted has inspected 371 of the schools, with more than 80% losing their outstanding status.

Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman said: “Regular inspection gives parents confidence in the quality of their child’s school. Exempting outstanding schools deprived parents of up-to-date information. It also left a lot of schools without the constructive challenge that regular inspection provides.

“The exemption was a policy founded on the hope that high standards, once achieved, would never drop, and that freedom from inspection might drive them even higher. These outcomes show that removing a school from scrutiny does not make it better.”

What did Ofsted say was particularly good about LRGS?

Leaders, including governors, are ambitious for all pupils at the school. They value and foster pupils’ talents and abilities. Leaders ensure that all pupils leave the school as well-rounded individuals.

Pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. Leaders have thought about the overarching topics that they want pupils to learn, and the order in which they should learn those topics. Across the school, pupils benefit from teachers’ expert subject knowledge. Teachers typically deliver the curriculum skilfully.

This enables all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to learn well.

In the sixth form, the range of courses is also ambitious. Leaders tailor the curriculum to meet students’ needs exceptionally well. High levels of subject expertise from staff allow students to gain a deep knowledge and understanding of the subjects that they study.

As a result, students’ progress through their subject curriculums extremely well.

Pupils’ attendance is exceptionally high. They are punctual to their lessons. Pupils are considerate, well-behaved, polite and respectful. They build strong relationships with staff.

What does LRGS need to improve on?

On occasions, the assessments that leaders design do not link precisely enough to the core knowledge that teachers want pupils to know and remember. Consequently, teachers do not always have a full enough understanding of how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum.

Leaders must ensure that their assessment activities routinely help teachers to pinpoint the exact misconceptions and deficits in knowledge that pupils may have.

Currently, some of the monitoring processes linked to the curriculum do not provide leaders with enough information about how well aspects of the curriculum are planned and delivered to pupils. Consequently, there are times when some pupils do not learn elements of subject knowledge as deeply as they should.

As necessary, leaders should fine tune their systems for checking the quality of education that pupils receive, so that they gain a clearer insight into any small adjustments that they need to make to curriculum plans.

What does the school say?

Headteacher Dr Chris Pyle said: “LRGS is inspected more often than most schools, because we receive regular boarding inspections as well as more occasional whole school inspections. We welcome visitors and feedback because our mission is to provide the highest possible standard of care and education to every single pupil.

We are graded ‘Outstanding’ for boarding, and for the whole school we are graded as Outstanding in three categories - Behaviour and attitudes, Personal development and Sixth form provision - within an overall rating of Good.

A single word can't capture the quality of a school, so my advice is always to read beyond the headlines. We are pleased that recent inspectors' comments recognised many of the very special qualities of LRGS.

“On pastoral care: ‘Pupils, including students in the sixth form, flourish at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. Without exception, pupils said that they enjoy school. They feel safe and happy.’

“They also noted our exceptional extracurricular programme: ‘Pupils enjoy a first-class range of enrichment activities. Rich opportunities cultivate pupils’ leadership skills and contribute to their character development.’

“Academic provision is the core of our school's reputation, and Ofsted wrote: ‘Leaders tailor the curriculum to meet students’ needs exceptionally well. High levels of subject expertise from staff allow students to gain a deep knowledge and understanding of the subjects that they study. As a result, students’ progress through their subject curriculums extremely well. They develop a deep body of subject expertise’."