This school is smaller than the average secondary. It is part of a federation of schools delivering sixth form education. Most of the courses are provided by the school. Only a very small number of students take courses in a few other schools within the federation. Just under half of the students are from White British backgrounds. Other students come from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds; the largest groups are of African and Indian backgrounds. Over a third of students speak English as an additional language and around 5% are at an early stage of learning English. Around 39% of students are known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which gives the school additional funding for children in local authority care and students known to be eligible for free school meals. This proportion is high compared to the national average. The proportion of students supported through school action, and the proportion supported through school action plus or a statement of special educational needs are well above average. The school has a specially resourced provision for students with special educational needs - a designated speech and language unit. This currently supports 10 students. The proportion of students who join or leave the school during the year is well above average. The school meets the government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress. Inspectors were aware during this inspection that a serious allegation of a child protection nature had been investigated by the appropriate authorities and is now closed. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the school in response to the incident were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements. The headteacher’s and the school governors’ response to the incident was swift and decisive.