HMI INSPECTION (29 APRIL 2015)
On Wednesday, 29 April 2015 we were inspected by Mr Charalambos Loisou (HMI). During the course of his rigorous inspection he met with the Senior Leadership Team and senior teaching staff, toured lessons, completed work and assessment scrutinies.
As a result of the triangulation process with government data, such as Raise OnLine, he found that "pupils were engaged and there was a positive and productive climate for learning in all the classes seen". He noted that progress was good due to "Leaders and teachers taking effective action" and acknowledged the school's receipt of a national award from SSAT, as the school was in the top 20% of schools nationally for the value they add to pupils' progress. As a result he felt that the school is ready for a full inspection.
The process was very informative and has re-inforced our mission to develop further the attainment of the 'most able' and those who face 'disadvantage', both of which are national priorities. (Full details are available from the link below)
Mrs G Finney, Deputy Headteacher
OFSTED REPORT JANUARY 2015
We were extremely proud of the students and staff for the commitment they showed to the school during the two-day inspection and grateful to governors and parents for all their support.
Although we are disappointed with aspects of the report, we are delighted that the report has recognised our many strengths. I have taken the opportunity to highlight some of the key findings below, but would urge you to read the report in full.
Behaviour and safety in classrooms and around school is judged to be good.
Our 5A*-C with English & Maths is above the national average and our 5A*-G, Average Capped Point Score and Average Total Point Score are all significantly above the national average. Our value added for 2014, which is a measure of how much progress our pupils make based on the “Best 8” subjects, is the highest it has ever been at 1024, ranking us fourth in the county out of 114 primary and secondary schools. However, the Ofsted goal posts have moved. Their focus was on individual subjects and whilst in all our subjects the vast majority of pupils make expected progress, they are now more interested in subjects making more than expected progress. Even though we are similar to national average for more than expected progress, we know we have some work to do there.
As for teaching and learning, the senior leadership team jointly observed five lessons during the two days. Ofsted said “during joint observations with inspectors, there was full agreement about the strengths in teaching and areas for improvement”. This means that all our internal observations are validated. Throughout this year and last year, 87% of lessons observed were good or better.
Indeed, 80% of the lessons which were jointly observed during the inspection were good or better. Ofsted said “teaching is improving and having an increasingly positive impact on students’ learning and progress over time”.
Ofsted have said that we have to focus on challenge and stretching the more able, which we will continue to do, but it is worthy of note that the percentage of pupils achieving 3A*-A grades placed us 10th out of 56 secondary schools in the Local Authority.
We have done a lot of work to improve assessment and marking and Ofsted said “staff do a good job in providing helpful information about what students know well and what they need to do next”. This year our focus has been on developing peer and self-assessment and Ofsted noted “students are building up their critical skills in assessing accurately their own work and that of their classmates”. We plan to progress by increasing our focus on grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors.
Ofsted have made it clear that Leadership and Management at all levels is good and they have confidence that the actions we have taken are addressing the areas identified for improvement.
For more information, please contact the Headteacher, Mr S Clarke, on tel : 01782 551200.
To view these downloads please download Adobe Reader
Further information can be found on the Ofsted website