In recent years, several changes in senior leadership at this school have had an unsettling effect. The current headteacher, together with the trust and newly formed local governing body, has brought much-needed stability to the school. Most pupils feel happy and safe at Alsop High School. Relationships between most staff and pupils are positive. Pupils feel well cared for. When they report bullying, leaders address it effectively. Leaders have high expectations for pupils’ academic achievement, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils, including students in the sixth form, are beginning to benefit from an ambitious curriculum that has been well designed in most subjects. However, across key stages 3, 4 and 5, these curriculums are not consistently delivered well by teachers. This prevents some pupils, especially those with SEND, from achieving as well as they should. Pupils understand how they should behave. Most pupils meet leaders’ high expectations. In lessons, pupils are mostly settled and attentive to their learning. However, a small minority of pupils regularly truant from lessons. This can, at times, disrupt the learning of others. Some staff do not deal with this effectively and pupils who go missing from lessons sometimes go unchallenged. Too many pupils are regularly absent from school. This means that they miss lessons and fall behind in their learning. Leaders, together with governors, increasingly work with pupils and their families to support them in attending school more regularly. Leaders have designed a personal development programme that helps pupils, and students in the sixth form, learn about important life lessons and growing up in modern Britain. However, some teachers do not deliver these activities well. This means that some pupils are less informed than they should be about topics that prepare them for life in modern Britain.