58. Results in the sixth form are above average. Despite an increase of a third in the number of candidates and entries at A-level over the last five years, both the pass rate and of quality the grades achieved have risen at a rate faster than the national average. The quality of results is shown by the fact that, on leaving the sixth form, a high and stable proportion of students - seventy per cent in each of the last three years - goes into higher education. A further ten per cent take up employment with training, and most of the remainder take a gap year. Results have matched the targets the school has set (in terms of points per student) in all recent years, but the process by which individual, subject and whole-sixth form targets are set needs improvement; this has been recognised by the school and improvements are under way. More detail may be found in paras. 57, 90 and 100 .

59. Although the pass rate dipped to the national average in 2000, when a weaker cohort passed through, the 2001 results restore the improvement curve of previous years, and are above the (provisional) national average. With the exception of 2000, results since the last inspection have remained above, and in 1998 and 1999 well above, that average. Results in the first year of the new AS-level examination are very good, with a pass rate of well over ninety per cent - again above the provisional national average. For the last five years, all students following vocational courses have passed, compared with a national average pass rate for intermediate-level courses of around seventy-five per cent; the school also achieves a higher-than-average proportion of merits and distinctions in these courses.

60. Apart from the 2000 dip, results in art, English, French, geography and theatre studies have been consistently above average for the last five years. They have been very high in art and English, both of which are studied by large numbers of students; in both, pass rates have been very high and a high proportion of students have achieved top grades, including one student who gained 100% in art at A-level in 2000. Results in history, music and religious studies have varied from year to year but are generally above average, while those in computer science, technology (including fashion and textiles) and PE have been around the national average and are improving. Results in mathematics and business studies have been generally below the national average until 2001, when there was a sharp improvement in both pass rates and the quality of grades. Results in the sciences (chemistry, physics and biology), when averaged over the five years, are close to the national average; each of the subjects has achieved well-above-average results in at least one year, there has been recent improvement and the 2001 results are good. Retention and completion rates on AS/A-level courses are very high: for the last three years, over ninety-six per cent of students have completed their course.

61. The school has run the intermediate vocational course in leisure and tourism for five years, and those in health and social care and business studies for most of that time. Completion rates have been good throughout the period and results have been well above average - all candidates have passed, and the proportion of merits and distinctions (forty per cent) is again above average.

62. Students of all abilities achieve well in the sixth form. Students of modest ability, and some with SEN, join the leisure and tourism course and achieve considerable success; in last year’s group, course members joined with low GCSE results and yet seventy-five per cent went on to achieve a merit grade on their vocational course. The present group contains students with SEN who are achieving well, showing a commitment to inclusion within the sixth form. A number of students achieve outstanding A-level results each year. Gifted and talented students achieve excellence in academic results, in regional and national sporting honours, artistic performances, design awards and in competitions in fields such as public speaking and business enterprise. Students from Theale Green have reached national finals in the Young Enterprise, Mock Court Trials and Food and Farming competitions in the last year.

63. Students’ standards in most key skills are high. They write well, assembling well-reasoned arguments in good English. They speak very well: they discuss readily in lessons, and in many subjects they regularly deliver mini-lessons (presentations) to other members of their class. Not only does making presentations benefit their subject knowledge, their oral fluency and their confidence, it also helps them collaborate and promotes their ICT skills, since they often use ICT to enhance the quality of their presentation. Although sixth form students have good basic skills in ICT, the use made of computers in AS/A-level lessons is generally insufficient to enable these skills to be extended to benefit students’ learning of the subjects. The ICT skills of those on vocational courses are good, and good use is made of computers in these courses and on the vocationally-orientated AS/A-level business studies courses. Students’ numeracy skills are generally good, and are developed in many subjects, especially sciences, geography and technology; students’ good skills with number and graphs enabled them to understand quickly and thoroughly in a geography lesson on hydrographs. The numeracy skills of those on vocational courses are insecure and need attention. Students at all levels respond well to assignments which require them to work in a group to solve a problem; they collaborate well to organise their resources, research widely including use of the Internet, and present their findings in well-argued, well-presented ways. Key skills constitute an area of undoubted improvement over recent years.

64. Students’ work seen during the inspection was generally in line with the examination results achieved, and in several subjects it is notably better. Current work in mathematics, biology and physics is average, while that in art, geography and English confirms the very good standards achieved in those subjects. In business studies, French, PE, history and music, current work is good and confirms the improvement in those departments. The inspection took place within three weeks of the start of Year 12 courses and so the volume of work produced to date was small; already a good start has been made to AS courses and the leisure and tourism vocational course. Only in the Year 13 advanced level health and social care group did current work fall below the required standard, because of problems with staffing and timetabling last year; teachers and students are making good progress with putting standards back on track, and the work of students who have just begun the course in Year 12 is of a good standard. In some subjects - sciences and business studies for example - there are some students for whom the AS-level course is proving too difficult, adding weight to the argument for a larger number of intermediate-level courses.

65. The progress made from GCSE by students on vocational courses is good; that made by AS/A-level students is at least satisfactory, but the school has only recently begun to develop solid analyses of the value it adds from GCSE to AS/A-level.

66. This whole area is a great strength of the sixth form.

67. Students’ attitudes to school are particularly positive; they appreciate the range of subjects offered and teaching provided, and display considerable pride in the school and its reputation, and in their sixth form. They make a major contribution to the life of the school, helping maintain good order around the site, acting as the school’s ambassadors (both by representing it at meetings and competitions and by welcoming visitors), chairing the council and other committees, leading sports and other teams, running a great variety of clubs and activities for younger students and for the community, and supporting younger and more vulnerable students.

68. Attitudes to work are equally positive. Throughout the inspection visit, sixth form students displayed a conscientious approach to learning, both independently and in groups. In the lessons observed, attitudes were never less than satisfactory, and in nearly two-thirds of lessons they were very good or excellent. As a result, students learn well and make good progress. There is no doubt that students at Theale Green Community School are very well prepared for work and further study after they leave school: not only are they well qualified, but they also have good study skills and habits, and excellent attitudes to work and to working with others. The heads of sixth form and other staff run an "after-care" service to check that students proceeding to higher education, who form the large majority, are prospering, and use any information gleaned to plan improvements.

69. The school’s very strong ethos of valuing all students equally, and the focus on personal development and relationships and support for others, have had excellent results: students reflect these values in their work and interactions with each other and with adults.

70. Attendance levels in the sixth form are satisfactory and students are punctual to lessons. Some casualness crept in last year; staff and students worked together to write a new set of clear and firm guidelines, and sixth form attendance has returned to a satisfactory level.

71. During the inspection, sixth form students were a delight to talk with; the school’s aim to help produce responsible young adults has been well achieved. Both students and parents identified students’ confidence, and staff’s efforts to build it, as great strengths of the school.

72. Teaching in the sixth form is very good, a view supported by students and parents. It is never less than satisfactory and in four out of five lessons it is good, very good or excellent. Teaching is good or better in all subjects inspected except mathematics, where it is satisfactory, and it is very good in several of the subjects inspected in detail - art, English, music, leisure and tourism, and physical education - and also in geography, where the sample of lessons was small.

73. High-quality teaching enables the students to learn very well and make good progress. Their knowledge and understanding are very good and they work very hard to improve their skills. Their interest and enthusiasm were shown on some occasions by their disappointment that the lesson had to end, and on other occasions they voluntarily worked through their breaks. Students use their private study time well because of their good work attitudes and because they have been trained to do so.

74. The subject knowledge of teachers in the sixth form is excellent. For example, in a physics lesson, the teacher’s plan had anticipated students’ difficulties and their questions, so that the students developed a very good understanding of Young’s modulus. Not only do teachers know their subjects well, but they also know the requirements of the examination and of the assessment systems used, and they use their knowledge to focus students’ attention on key learning points, thus helping their students achieve their best. Teachers’ knowledge of assessment criteria in GNVQ helps raise standards of achievement in the health and social care and leisure and tourism courses. The best teaching showed real passion for the subject; such teaching was found in almost all subjects observed, and students invariably responded by learning thoroughly and with enjoyment.

75. Teachers’ planning is also excellent, such as in an English lesson where cleverly-differentiated tasks required different groups of students to explore the issues regarding the structure and staging of ‘Othello’, while at the same time other students investigated the themes and characters.

76. The effects of high-quality subject knowledge and planning upon students’ achievements were demonstrated particularly well in a very good history lesson. The students were able to analyse and synthesise their knowledge of Richard III, Henry Tudor and the Battle of Bosworth to make perceptive historical judgements. Such lessons have a genuinely scholarly atmosphere, with students developing ideas and hypotheses and taking a critical view of the teacher’s, and each other’s, opinions. The careful planning of a well-briefed, motivating assignment helped the Year 12 leisure and tourism group to surprise themselves with the quality of the presentations they put together. Lessons in the sixth form are very well paced and make very good use of the time available. In an art lesson in which photography was the topic, the teacher’s urgent approach ensured that the students accomplished a considerable amount of work in the time.

77. Teaching methods are good, and teachers demand a lot of students. In a very good geography lesson, the techniques used enabled students to make very good gains in their ability to understand and interpret hydrographs, while in another, the use of presentations by students encouraged debate and comparison. Teachers choose methods which will be enjoyable and motivating: in an excellent Year 13 sports psychology lesson on personality, the teacher skilfully set up an enjoyable task to identify individual characteristics, and used it to establish the major theories of personality and their influence in sport. As a result, the students developed both their analytical skills and the confidence to express their opinions, demonstrating excellent learning. In a few lessons, students have too few opportunities to develop their capacity to respond in depth because the type of questioning does not enable or require them to produce considered or detailed answers.

78. The quality and use of marking are variable. In most subjects marking is satisfactory or good; it is regular and teachers’ comments clarify the strengths and need for improvement in the work. In art, marking is excellent, frequently promoting a dialogue about quality between teacher and student, and in the health and social care course tutorials are used well to provide feedback to the students. In mathematics both the regularity of marking and the addition of helpful comments on students’ work are inconsistent.

79. Good use is made of homework to extend students’ knowledge and understanding. Some imaginative use of homework was seen: in history, students are set homework which requires them to prepare for the next lesson, which proceeds rapidly and with a good level of student participation as a result. Homework tasks that require groups to prepare presentations and notes for the rest of the class, as used, for example, in geography and biology, stimulate lively debate in the lessons that follow.

80. With the support of skilled learning assistants, students with SEN, including those with a statement, are taught well; the school ensures that its policy of inclusion is given the same priority in the sixth form as in the main school.

81. The school has taken the teaching of key skills seriously and has generally been successful, both through specialist, timetabled lessons on ICT and the use of number, and through the schemes of work for individual subjects. Good ICT teaching and learning were observed in a block of time devoted to improving sixth form students’ ICT skills. Teachers of vocational courses invariably plan well for the development of all key skills, both the "hard" skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT, and the "softer" skills of problem-solving and working in groups; they need to give further attention to numeracy, since many students’ standards are weak. Most AS/A-level subjects address the key skills of communication, problem-solving and group and independent work well, encouraging oral as well as written literacy, and taking many opportunities to develop numeracy. However, the use of ICT is patchy: it is good in vocational courses and in the vocationally-orientated AS/A-level business studies course, but inadequate in most other AS/A-level courses - many opportunities offered to enhance learning through the use of ICT are missed. The school should consider the formal inclusion of ICT into schemes of work and lesson planning to ensure a more systematic approach across the sixth form.

82. The school provides a very wide range of AS/A-level courses and a small range of vocational courses at advanced and intermediate levels. Since the school’s GCSE results are above, and in many years well above, average, this curriculum meets the needs of a very high proportion of students, who are pleased with the range they are offered. The curriculum is enriched by an outstanding range of extended- and extra-curricular activities, delivered both by the school and by community provision. Students follow a course of complementary studies (including general studies and key skills courses) that contributes very well to their personal development.

83. The school meets the legal requirement to provide religious education in the sixth form by providing day conferences twice in each year of the sixth form. The conference themes are developed from the units outlined in the locally-agreed Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. The requirement for a daily act of collective worship is not met in the sixth form.

84. The school’s aims strongly state the principle of equal value for the educational needs of each student, and the sixth form curriculum upholds this aim for more-able students; the curriculum is inclusive and ensures equality of access and opportunity. The school is as flexible as possible, when setting up courses, to suit individual needs. For those of more modest ability, although they enjoy the same breadth of extra-curricular and enrichment opportunity, the choice of course is narrow. The only intermediate-level vocational course currently running is in leisure and tourism; as a result, the number of students joining this good course, some of whom did not want to study it but had no alternative, has soared. At the same time, there is at the lower end of the ability range in some AS-level groups - such as business studies and the sciences - a number of students who would be better placed on an intermediate level course, moving on to an advanced-level course in the following year if they make sufficient progress. The school is aware of the problem, but has been hampered by the difficulty of predicting demand for intermediate-level vocational courses, and an inability to recruit staff to run such a course in business studies. Students are well informed about courses at other schools and colleges in the area but many wish to remain at Theale.

85. The curriculum is very thoroughly planned. For example, the school introduced the Curriculum 2000 changes carefully, with thorough planning and training for the introduction of key skills. The school was sensitive to the demands of the new courses on students and monitored the effects carefully. Although the cohort did very well, in the light of the experience of year one, adjustments have been made to the number of courses taken by the majority of students.

86. Students receive satisfactory guidance about routes beyond school. While guidance is good for those students aspiring to follow higher education courses, for those unsure or considering other options, it is patchy. The school is reviewing arrangements for these students, including the contribution made by external agencies.

87. In line with the school ethos, provision for social and moral development is excellent. Opportunities are well planned and thoughtfully used throughout the curriculum, especially in art, drama, music, and history. The teaching methods used, with their strong emphasis on team work and supporting each other, make a major contribution to students’ tolerance and their ability to work with others. The wide range of opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities, and the leadership roles provided by the sixth form, develop such characteristics as reliability, leadership and sensitivity to others.

88. Provision for students’ cultural and spiritual development is very good: the excellent range of opportunities to participate in arts events not only enhances students’ understanding of a range of cultures, but also promotes reflection and the sense of wonder which lies at the heart of spiritual development. Whole-school community objectives and the sixth form community service team ensure that the quality of community links is very strong.

89. The arrangements to ensure the academic and social welfare and guidance of students in the sixth form are set in the context of a very strong, whole-school ethos of safety, security and support. There is a well-established focus on each individual student, pastoral care is excellent and sixth form students speak in glowing terms of the provision the school makes for their welfare.

90. Students’ work is generally marked rapidly and thoroughly, and marking makes clear to the student what s/he should do to improve. Written comments are sometimes accompanied by discussion with students, so that they have a clear indication of how well they are doing, what their target grade is, and how they should improve their work. These tutorials are a particularly helpful feature of assessment in health and social care courses, and promote students’ achievement. In mathematics both the regularity of marking and the addition of helpful comments on students’ work are inconsistent. Target grades are agreed with students in most subjects and students generally, but not always, know those grades; the school is developing a more rigorous system of setting target grades based on better-quality data.

91. Teachers also use the results of assessment to improve their courses. In business studies, for example, careful evaluation of the weaknesses in students’ test papers led to teachers giving greater emphasis, in both their teaching and their marking, to how principles learned in theory can be applied in case studies.

92. Guidance into the sixth form is good, except that the shortage of intermediate-level courses limits choice (see para.84). Full information is provided to students about the courses and opportunities available at all other schools, colleges and other local providers of post-16 education and training. Induction arrangements for entry into the sixth form are very good, and were much praised by students and their parents. Induction takes place at the end of the summer term, enabling the teaching of Year 12 courses to begin work quickly in September.

93. Academic support and guidance for students are good and are still improving. The guidance to students on the standards they are achieving and the progress they are making, provided by subject teachers, is good, and the recent introduction of an academic tutoring programme is beginning to enable students to understand their strengths and weaknesses better, and to set targets for improvement across their work. Information and guidance for those going through the UCAS procedure to enter higher education are good, whereas broader careers advice provided for the sixth form from outside the school is less reliable in its quality and accessibility. Several students criticised the quantity and quality of careers advice.

94. Parents and carers are very positive about the quality of education and care given to students and many are deeply impressed with aspects such as attainment and progress, guidance and support, and very notably the encouragement given to build students’ confidence. The small number of concerns that do exist centre mainly around the information they receive about students’ progress; the school has acknowledged parents’ concern, has sought their views and has made recent improvements to systems.

95. There is a very evident sense of pride amongst the sixth form about their school and how it provides for them. The majority of praise focuses on the quality of teaching and guidance, the choice of courses, the accessibility of teachers and the help they provide and, most appreciated, the way the school treats them as responsible young adults. There are some frustrations with the facilities available to them for both work and leisure. Students understand that the new academic tutoring system is designed to help provide them with more authoritative and comprehensive targets. There is some dissatisfaction among students about their access to specialist careers advice from outside the school.

96. Leadership and management of the sixth form by the headteacher and governors, and by the heads of sixth form who lead it on a day-to-day basis, are excellent. The whole-school values of equality, inclusion, care and ambition are reflected throughout the life and work of the sixth form. Students speak with great warmth of the heads of sixth form and their efforts to improve the sixth form and to involve students in making decisions. As in the main school, there are areas for improvement in the focus on raising achievement through data analysis, but these are more than outweighed by the effects of leadership by senior managers, especially the headteacher and heads of sixth form, and governors on such aspects as:

students’ confidence and their attitudes to work and school;

the breadth and richness of the advanced-level curriculum and its enrichment by a very wide range of extra-curricular opportunities;

the vision for the community and the contribution of community-based activity to students’ achievements of all kinds;

the contribution made by sixth form students to the life of the school, the welfare of students throughout the school, and the community;

a sixth form that cares for individuals - staff as well as students; the building of morale and an ethos of respect and consideration for others;

high-quality development planning matched with the professional development of staff;

exceptional financial management to realise the sixth form’s ambitions;

the way all of these have been sustained over time, and the focus kept sharp.

97. Governors maintain careful oversight of the life and work of the sixth form through their committees and through a sixth form link governor who liaises regularly with the heads of sixth form and acts as a conduit between them and the governing body, ensuring that the sixth form’s successes, areas for development and plans for improvement are well known to governors and gain their approval. This strategy is effective in discharging the governing body’s roles to support the sixth form, acting as its critical friend and ensuring its accountability. The governing body is very well informed about the curriculum changes of the last two years and how they have affected the sixth form.

98. There is a very clear and widely-shared vision for the development of the sixth form; its aims and direction are clear to staff, students and governors alike, and the sixth form features appropriately in the school development plan. Vision, aims and plan are in line: while maintaining the stress on participation, community involvement and care for the individual, the plan commits managers of the sixth form to improve their use of student performance data to continue to raise achievement, and to broaden the curriculum still further and include an even higher proportion of the school population.

99. The school bases its plans for change on good evaluation of the present situation: for example, analysis of the impact of AS-level examinations and key skills on students’ workloads and their other activities in 2000/2001 has led to a reduction in the recommended number of AS-level courses studied for the cohort beginning Year 12 in 2001.

100. The judgement of teachers is used well at subject level to evaluate performance and plan for its improvement, but the use of data to analyse performance, assess value added and thereby set authoritative targets and raise attainment is unevenly developed across the sixth form and is generally at an early stage of development.

101. The sixth form receives its fair share of the school’s resources, neither subsidising the main school nor being subsidised by it, and these resources are deployed to best effect. Sensible decisions are made to combine two small groups, such as in physics, or to break over-sized ones into two, such as in leisure and tourism. Exceptional financial management and planning, embracing the principles of equal value and best value, enable the sixth form to operate on a very sound, cost-effective basis.

102. The quality and quantity of learning resources are good. Students are taught by teachers who are experienced and well qualified. Teaching quality is very good. Students benefit from a wide choice of advanced courses and from the excellent range of opportunities provided by the school. Students have access to extensive central ICT facilities, but some subjects are short of ICT equipment; in the latter, such as modern languages and PE, new equipment is currently being provided by the school’s rolling programme of computer purchase. Library facilities are currently inadequate for independent learning and research by students; there are plans to enhance study facilities in a new community library. Accommodation is good and has been recently refurbished in many subject areas, presenting a very pleasant learning environment.

103. Students are critical of the social and learning resources available to them in the sixth form centre; although average for a school of this size, sixth form facilities should be improved.

104. The sixth form is therefore highly cost-effective.