Ofsted Report July 2023

Ridgewood High School in Stourbridge shared its delight in receiving their Ofsted report this week. The school was graded Good in every category having made significant improvements in its quality of education since the last inspection in November 2019.

Inspectors visited Ridgewood in July and described the school as “caring and inclusive” with “strong support systems” so that children “feel safe” and “happy.” Relationships between staff and students were “warm and respectful” with “leaders having high expectations for what they want pupils to achieve”.

The school has been on a journey of rapid improvement since February 2018 when the school was rated inadequate in every category. In November 2019, although the school was Requires Improvement overall, Ridgewood was given three Good grades for Behaviour and attitudes, Leadership and management as well as Personal Development. Because of Covid delays to the inspection regime, Ridgewood have had to wait for an inspection but the wait was worth it to get that ‘Good’ overall ready for the new school year. The new report states that “staff are proud of their school and it’s easy to see why when the changes they have implemented have had such a positive impact in the school.

Headteacher, Rae Cope, said, “It’s fantastic for the school community to finally have the Ofsted grade that the students and staff deserve. Ridgewood has been a very exciting place to be in recent years as we have totally transformed nearly every aspect of the school’s provision. We have very high expectations of what staff and students can achieve; every day we try to be the best school we can possibly be and this ambition is clearly paying off. Everyone who visits the school is bowled over by the calm and happy atmosphere along with the friendly and articulate manner of our students. Our parents form very supportive partnerships with us. This journey of improvement has been an incredible team effort. We are looking forward to what we can achieve in the coming years with plenty more plans in the pipeline!”