Bosworth Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that teaching in computing science is consistently effective.
• Ensure that students in the sixth form make exceptional progress in a greater number of individual subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The executive headteacher and the head of school have been highly effective in improving the quality of education at the school. At the heart of leaders’ work has been a drive to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Leaders encourage all teachers to improve further. This applies even to those whose practice is already outstanding. Professional improvement is a routine expectation of all teachers.
• Leaders have been particularly successful in motivating and inspiring teachers. This means that teaching staff want to excel. Teachers trust their leaders and are prepared to ‘go the extra mile’ to improve pupils’ life chances. Leaders invest heavily in high-quality teacher training. Teachers use a range of approaches to meet pupils’ needs. Leaders use performance management to support improvement in teaching in individual subjects. They do so sensitively and understand the value of encouragement.
• Leaders have a deep understanding of what it is like to be a pupil in this school. They talk regularly to pupils about their experiences. Leaders and governors use the information they gather from these discussions to help plan improvements.
• Leaders are highly ambitious for pupils and set high targets for pupils’ achievement. Pupils relish the challenges that leaders set them and many pupils achieve their targets. The school’s rewards system is very effective. In many lessons, inspectors saw pupils in fierce competition to receive school rewards. Pupils said that house points, postcards home and the chance to have lunch with the head of school are all highly desirable incentives to do well.
• The curriculum supports the academic and personal development of pupils very well. Pupils who wish to can now take GCSE examinations in two languages and three sciences. They must also take practical and/or artistic subjects to ensure that they have a well-rounded education. Leaders have very carefully designed the curriculum in key stage 3. It is innovative and provides pupils with rich opportunities to develop the skills they need for future success. Leaders have effectively woven into the curriculum valuable experiences to help pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. Leaders ensure that all pupils understand the importance of British values and learn about democracy.
• Staff provide a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities for pupils. Pupils joining Bosworth Academy from other secondary schools told inspectors that they appreciated the better extra-curricular options they had here. Pupils benefit from activities as diverse as ‘Henrichment’, where they have the chance to rear poultry, and the debating society. Parents told inspectors how important extra-curricular activities had been in developing their children’s confidence and social skills.
• Leaders make highly effective use of the extra funding they receive to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They give well-targeted support to pupils in lessons and buy essential equipment. Effective leadership means that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do well at school.
• The school has some pupils who start their secondary education with attainment below the national average for their age. Leaders use the extra literacy and numeracy catch-up funding well. As a result, pupils make rapid progress in English and mathematics. Similarly, leaders have made excellent use of the pupil premium. This has led to notable improvements in the learning and progress of disadvantaged pupils in recent years.
• Leaders encourage parents to become involved in their children’s education. This approach has been particularly successful in engaging the parents of the ‘Laureates’ (pupils at key stage 3) in school life. The overwhelming majority of parents believe that the school responds well to their questions or concerns. Leaders’ records show they are meticulous in handling the few complaints received. Leaders have established a parents’ forum, where parents can have a say in the school’s development.

Governance of the school

• Governance is exceptionally effective. School governors have the wide range of skills necessary to support and challenge the school successfully. Governors work tirelessly to improve the quality of pupils’ education. The trustees of the multi-academy trust, which oversees governance, are equally effective.
• Governors follow up individual areas of interest by undertaking focused visits. They produce high-quality reports based on their findings. Governors now have a greater understanding of the experience of the most able pupils at the school. They also understand better how pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities learn. Governors consider pupils’ views about school life when they plan improvements.
• School governors and the trustees of the multi-academy trust oversee spending carefully. They make sure leaders use funding well.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have created a school which is safe and supportive. Staff value the development of the whole child. Leaders have ensured that comprehensive risk assessments are in place. They cover the whole school site, including the current building work.
• Leaders ensure that all staff have high-quality training to help them protect children. Staff are very knowledgeable about many of the dangers pupils face locally and nationally. They know what to do if they have a safeguarding concern about a pupil. Staff act quickly to share any concerns they may have with the school’s child protection team. Leaders keep detailed child protection records. They show that staff take proper and comprehensive action to protect pupils. Leaders work well with external agencies to ensure that pupils receive any extra support they need. Leaders make and record thorough checks on the adults who work or volunteer at the school.
• Pupils say that they feel safe at school. They feel cared for and confident that they have someone to talk to if they have a problem. Leaders ensure that pupils learn about the possible risks they face through the curriculum. Teachers cover online bullying well.
• Staff carefully check pupils’ use of the tablet computers issued by the school. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe when they use their tablets to connect to the internet.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching, learning and assessment have improved since the last inspection. Teachers have very high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Staff set pupils bronze, silver and gold challenges in lessons. This motivates pupils, who want to try the more complex tasks. ‘Who wants bronze, when you might get gold,’ a pupil told an inspector. Staff use this method consistently well to encourage pupils to be ambitious in lessons.
• Teachers use technology very well to support pupils’ learning. In science, for example, tablets allow pupils to work with scientific apparatus and record the findings of experiments. Pupils then manipulate the experimental data they have collected in a sophisticated way. Pupils also use tablets well for research, filming and giving class presentations. Teachers are expert in the use of technology and accurately model the use of equipment for pupils. The school’s effective work with information technology has been externally accredited.
• There are excellent relationships between pupils and teachers. Teachers and pupils are mutually respectful. High-quality discussions help pupils to learn well. Teachers consistently reinforce their high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. This means that learning takes place without interruption.
• Teachers plan carefully to meet the needs of pupils. This includes pupils who have a wide range of special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teaching assistants support pupils well. They help pupils with specific learning difficulties to take part in lessons.
• Teachers have excellent subject knowledge which helps them to ask questions in a highly skilled way. Teachers are particularly effective in asking questions that deepen the thinking of the most able pupils. Teachers’ enthusiasm for their subjects is infectious, and inspires pupils to learn.
• Pupils complete a wide range of exciting tasks to help them learn. Teachers also ensure that pupils have time to practise and review what they have learned, particularly in mathematics and science. Teachers often set challenging and creative homework.
• Most parents are very pleased with the quality of teaching at the school. This positive view is reflected in responses on Parent View and to the school’s own systems for gathering parents’ views.
• School leaders give high priority to pupils’ ability to speak and listen well. ‘No pens day’, charity days, and teaching debating skills in the enrichment programme for Year 7 all help pupils to improve their key communication skills.
• Staff promote reading for students of all abilities. They encourage the most able to try increasingly challenging texts. The library is exceptionally well used and the atmosphere there celebrates the joy of reading.
• Inspectors saw excellent examples of teaching which promotes equality and deepens thinking. Pupils have a good understanding of topics such as global wealth inequality and the implications of the refugee crisis in Syria.
• The school’s roll is rising rapidly and many teachers have joined the school recently. Leaders make sure that new teaching staff are well supported, so that the quality of teaching remains high.
• The school has had difficulty in recruiting and retaining suitably qualified teachers of computing science. The school’s records and this inspection show that teaching in computing science is less effective than in other subjects. Teaching in the related area of information technology, however, is strong.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are courteous, self-confident and welcoming to visitors. They work together well as they learn. Pupils are self-assured, particularly in conversation and debate. Leaders make sure that pupils learn how to study successfully and most use this knowledge well.
• Leaders cater well for pupils’ physical and emotional well-being. Most parents are very positive about the pastoral care their children receive. Several parents and carers told inspectors about the excellent support staff had given pupils and the impact of this on pupils’ lives.
• Leaders’ communications with the parents and carers of pupils experiencing difficulties are good. The pastoral team and the school counsellor work closely together to support pupils in times of difficulty.
• Staff support children looked after by the local authority effectively. They make a positive difference to their emotional well-being.
• Pupils know how to keep safe and understand that there are many different forms of bullying. Pupils told us, however, that bullying of any kind is extremely rare at this school. The school is a safe and welcoming place for pupils of all backgrounds.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ transition to secondary school is sensitively managed. Leaders have created an area they describe as ‘a school within a school’ for younger pupils. This helps new arrivals have a chance to develop their confidence as they adjust to a much bigger school. This greatly supports the welfare of the school’s youngest pupils.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ conduct around the school and in lessons is exemplary. Pupils are courteous towards staff and each other. They respond quickly to instructions from teachers and disruption to learning is rare. Around the school site, pupils behave well, even where there is no direct supervision. Leaders exclude very few pupils and long or repeated exclusions are now exceptionally rare.
• Pupils who learn at off-site training placements are well supported. School staff supervise these placements well.
• Pupils very much enjoy coming to school and show the highest levels of enthusiasm for their learning.
• Attendance has improved since the last inspection and is now above the national average. The proportion of pupils who are absent regularly from school has reduced significantly. It is now well below the national average. A small number of disadvantaged pupils in key stage 4 attend school less often than other pupils. Staff are working closely with parents to improve the attendance of these pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils are making consistently good or better progress across virtually all subjects, including English and mathematics. The school’s own records of pupils’ progress and recent examination results support these findings.
• Additional teaching in English and mathematics, funded through the pupil premium, is helping disadvantaged pupils to achieve their potential. Teachers monitor their progress very carefully. Pupils at risk of falling behind receive high-quality support. This effective help means that disadvantaged pupils make progress which matches the progress of other pupils nationally. In some subjects, they make faster progress than this.
• Teachers challenge and support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to achieve their potential. They provide these pupils with a broad and demanding curriculum. Because of this, the pupils learn well and make good progress.
• Pupils of all abilities now make better progress than pupils of similar abilities nationally. Middle-ability pupils, and those who start secondary school behind their peers, make very good progress in a most subjects, including English and mathematics. The most able pupils now also make very strong progress across the curriculum.
• Pupils’ attainment in English, mathematics and science continues to be higher than the national averages for these subjects. Pupils’ examination results in history, geography and French improved in 2017 and attainment in these subjects is now also above national averages.
• The proportion of pupils who attained the English Baccalaureate group of qualifications is below the national average. This is because, in the past, small numbers of pupils chose to study a modern foreign language when they joined the school in Year 10. Since September 2014, the school has taken pupils in from Year 7 and teachers are now able to develop the language skills necessary for GCSE examinations. Consequently, the proportion of current pupils taking languages in Year 10 is now very high.
• Leaders and governors take a principled view of the courses pupils should take. They will not, for example, enter pupils for qualifications which might artificially inflate their examination results. Pupils of all abilities take exceptionally challenging GCSE courses, which prepare them well for the next stage in their lives.
• Pupils receive high-quality impartial careers advice which helps them make good choices about what to do after key stage 4. Almost all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, go on to worthwhile destinations at the age of 16.
• Leaders make effective use of alternative off-site training placements. These help pupils who are struggling to make good progress in school. Staff ensure that external training placements closely match pupils’ ambitions. Pupils thrive as a result.

16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

• The leadership of the sixth form is highly effective. Leaders have secured significant improvements in students’ examination results since 2016. Previously, for example, students made stronger progress on A-level courses than on applied learning courses. Students’ progress on both types of courses is now equally strong. Most-able students at the school make excellent progress. They attain high grades at A level.
• Sixth form leaders are successful in removing barriers to learning among students. This applies particularly to disadvantaged students and students who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Both groups of students are making rapid progress.
• Safeguarding is effective in the sixth form. Leaders manage safety in sixth-form areas very well. Teachers use tutor periods to ensure that students fully understand the dangers they face, including those posed by extremist views. Support for students’ personal development and welfare is strong.
• Students are highly positive about their experience in the sixth form. Their behaviour is impeccable and their attendance and punctuality are very good. Sixth-form students are an integral part of the school community. They support younger students in and out of lessons.
• Careers advice and guidance are highly effective. Because of this, exceptionally high numbers of students complete the courses they start in the sixth form. Retention on applied general courses has improved and is now high.
• Work-related learning makes a strong contribution to students’ study programmes. All students have the opportunity of work experience in Year 12 and take up is high. Leaders understand the importance of this element in the study programmes and are working to improve the uptake further. Employers regularly engage with students, for example in the Year 12 engineering course. This enriches the quality of students’ learning.
• Students have a full programme of extra-curricular opportunities. This supports their personal development and employment prospects well. The school runs a highly successful programme of higher education preparation. The proportion of students who go on to university or employment is well above average.
• Students who enter the sixth form without reaching grade 4 in English and/or mathematics learn effectively and make very good progress. Teachers provide a wide range of other opportunities for students to develop their skills in mathematics and English.
• Teaching, learning and assessment are effective in the sixth form. Currently, the teaching on almost all courses is very good. It is excellent in English, theatre studies and chemistry. The number of courses where students’ progress is exceptional is not as high as it is in key stage 4. Leaders are working collaboratively with other schools to further improve teaching in the sixth form. They aim to ensure that students’ progress is excellent in every course offered.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 137969 Leicestershire 10036060 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 11 to 19 Gender of pupils Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Number of pupils on the school roll Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Mixed Mixed 1353 350 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Executive headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Iain Kinnis Chris Parkinson 01455 822841 www.bosworthacademy.org.uk office@bosworthacademy.org.uk Date of previous inspection 4–5 February 2014

Information about this school

• Bosworth Academy is part of the LiFE Multi-Academy Trust, alongside The Winstanley School.
• There is a small nursery on site, Bosworth Academy Day Nursery, catering for 20 children.
• The school previously took pupils at key stage 4 and the sixth form. In September 2014, the school accepted its first intake to Year 7. It now has pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 (key stage 3), in addition to pupils in key stage 4 and the sixth form.
• The school uses Carisbrooke Specialist Learning Centre and TECK (Teaching Educationally Creative Kids) Coalville for alternative education provision.
• The school is a larger than the average-sized secondary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average, but this proportion is increasing.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is below the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which sets the minimum expectations for the attainment and progress of pupils.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 57 lessons, in all key stages and across a range of subjects. School leaders joined inspectors in some lessons.
• Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, senior and middle leaders, governors and trustees of the multi-academy trust. An inspector also spoke with staff at the units which offer off-site training for a small number of pupils from the school.
• Inspectors considered 92 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire (Parent View) and 92 free-text responses from parents.
• The inspection team listened to the views of pupils in key stage 3, key stage 4 and in the sixth form during structured discussions. We also gained pupils’ views informally as we walked around the school.
• Inspectors considered 88 responses to a staff questionnaire and talked with staff after lesson observations to seek their views.
• The inspection team analysed a wide range of school documentation, including that relating to safeguarding, pupils’ behaviour and attendance, and pupils’ achievement. Inspectors considered leaders’ evaluations of the school’s performance, the school’s improvement planning, minutes of meetings of the governing body, and school policies and procedures.

Inspection team

Ellenor Beighton, lead inspector Claire Shepherd Alastair Ogle Chris Stevens Ian Colling Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector