Caistor Yarborough Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Quickly ensure that the school’s written child protection policy includes the detail necessary to support the school’s otherwise strong child protection arrangements.
• Strengthen the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • sharing among staff more widely the strong practice in the school in devising lessons which enthuse all groups of pupils and equip them with the resilience and confidence to take on challenging tasks
  • improving teachers’ use of questioning so that pupils are routinely challenged to think hard and improve the quality of their spoken and written answers
  • developing strategies to promote the highest standards of literacy across the school
  • ensuring that all teachers insist that pupils present their work carefully and that they equip pupils with the skills to do this, where necessary.
• Ensure that senior staff and governors monitor more carefully the impact of funding provided through the Year 7 catch-up premium to check that it is being spent carefully and effectively.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Inspirational leadership by the new principal has brought about very rapid improvements to the school in a short period of time. The quality of education provided by the school is being transformed. The changes made are recognised and highly appreciated by staff, pupils and parents.
• These changes have not come quickly enough, however, to make up for the time that was wasted in tackling the school’s weaknesses before the principal’s appointment. This is why the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes for pupils continue to require improvement.
• The principal combines his exceptional personal leadership skills with a determination to bring out the best in staff and pupils alike. They have risen to the challenge.
• Middle and senior leaders have been empowered to help drive the improvements needed at the school. They are relishing the greater trust and responsibility they have been given. They are developing their skills very quickly as a result of strong guidance and support from the principal. Many are working towards accreditation in senior leadership through nationally recognised qualifications.
• The change in staff morale is palpable. Many commented on the school’s recent transformation in their discussions with inspectors or through the anonymous written feedback they provided on the Ofsted questionnaire. One member of staff, typifying the views of many others, wrote: ‘The ethos of being part of a team with a huge desire to be successful for our pupils is tangible now, despite there having been a tremendous amount to do in the last six months. People have thrown themselves into it willingly because we are clear of where we’re going and how we’ll get there.’
• The leadership of teaching is now strong, having previously been weak. Much more rigour has been brought to the school’s performance management arrangements. Staff welcome the increased challenge. Rapid and robust action has been taken to tackle the weakest teaching. Staff who have been unwilling or unable to rise to the principal’s high expectations have left the school.
• The monitoring of teaching is now very rigorous. Leaders know where teaching is strong and where it requires further improvement. They make good use of assessment information, scrutiny of pupils’ work as well as pupils’ views about teaching, to inform their judgements about the quality of teaching overall. As a result, their assessment of the quality of current teaching is accurate.
• Leaders and governors now closely monitor the impact of pupil premium funding to make sure it is making the difference intended. They ensure that spending decisions are informed by close scrutiny of performance information. For example, work is currently focused on raising the achievement of middle-attaining disadvantaged pupils, because last year this group did not achieve well enough.
• Checks are not rigorous enough, however, on the impact of the funding provided through the Year 7 numeracy and literacy catch-up premium. Leaders, including governors, do not have a clear enough understanding of the difference this funding has made.
• Provision to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has, until recently, not been good enough. The new principal quickly recognised that far too many pupils had been placed incorrectly on the special needs register when their only need was for consistently good teaching. As a result, the number of pupils on the register has been much reduced. This means that the pupils who need additional support the most are now beginning to receive it. Governors are now better placed to assess the impact of the support and the spending which funds it.
• Key weaknesses to the curriculum have contributed to pupils’ past underachievement. For example, pupils have embarked on GCSEs in modern foreign languages without having received sustained teaching in their chosen language during key stage 3. Some pupils have been entered for qualifications that they have found too difficult or too easy or which have made little contribution to their future prospects. These weaknesses are quickly being tackled and action has been taken this year to ensure that the curriculum properly meets the needs of all groups of pupils.
• Actions have also been taken to ensure that the curriculum contributes to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Teachers identify in their planning how their lessons will contribute to this aspect of learning. Pupils recently enjoyed, for example, learning about Egyptian culture and learning to write words in Arabic. A well-coordinated programme of assemblies and teaching is in place to deepen pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values and to ensure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• This year, links with primary schools have been strengthened considerably from a very low base. Staff are now working closely with colleagues from local primary schools to strengthen the quality of transition arrangements for pupils joining Year 7.
• The school has also provided support for local schools, for example in teaching physical education (PE) and science. Correspondence from local headteachers shows that they greatly value the improved links with the school.

Governance of the school

• Changes to the governing body have led to it becoming much more effective. Governors know that the previous arrangements for the governance of the school were not effective in holding school leaders properly to account. Poor performance was tolerated for too long. This is no longer the case.
• Governance has been strengthened through the recruitment of governors with considerable expertise in education, including senior leaders from other schools. The regular visits that these and other governors now make to the school mean that they have a good understanding of how well the school is performing across most areas of provision.
• The minutes from meetings of the governing body show that current governors continually challenge school leaders about the information they are given. They also test the information they are given by drawing on expertise from other schools in and beyond the local area. They have, for example, commissioned a wide range of external evaluations of the school’s work, including safeguarding. The recent evaluation of safeguarding, however, did not identify that improvements are needed to ensure that the school’s child protection policy is of sufficiently good quality.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• School leaders know which pupils are most vulnerable to harm and provide comprehensive support to protect them. They work very effectively with external agencies to ensure that children in need of help and protection get the support they need. Record-keeping is secure and shows how the staff responsible are tenacious in challenging colleagues in social care to provide more rapid or effective support where necessary.
• The safeguarding leaders ensure that staff receive appropriate and regular training to make them aware of any emerging safeguarding risks. They also work well with pupils to help identify how best to help them stay safe. Recently, for example, a group of pupils participated in a conference to help identify how best to teach pupils about how to manage anxiety. Records show that staff and pupils alike are quick to come forward to report any concerns they have about any pupils’ well-being.
• All necessary checks are carried out on staff to ensure that they can be trusted to work with children. Leaders also ensure that staff are fully trained in the school’s safeguarding arrangements on joining the school and that they are up to date with the most recent legislation.
• On joining the school, the principal identified some important weaknesses in the school’s safeguarding arrangements. As a result, site security has been improved and procedures to ensure that only authorised staff are on site have been strengthened. The pupils spoke positively and knowledgeably about these changes.
• The school’s written child protection policy does not currently reflect the good safeguarding practice seen in the school, however. The policy is not detailed enough and requires staff to cross-reference against other documents to find out all the information they need.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching has not improved quickly enough to equip pupils with the depth of knowledge, skills and understanding needed for them to achieve consistently well. This explains why outcomes in 2016 were not good enough and achievement remains variable.
• Until this year, not all teachers used information about pupils’ starting points, capabilities or needs to inform their teaching. Expectations about the quality of teaching were too low and resulted in teaching that was too variable, with little done to tackle the weakest teaching. Provision for teachers’ professional development was exceptionally limited. As one member of staff put it, ‘we were working in isolation, as if we were on an island.’
• Teaching is now improving quickly though there remains room for further improvement so that it is consistently good. For example, in some lessons, pupils are set work that is too easy and does not challenge their thinking sufficiently.
• Teachers’ questioning is sometimes insufficiently challenging and leads to superficial answers. Pupils, in turn, then receive praise for answering questions rather than being challenged about the quality of their answers. This is a result of staff using questioning to ensure that pupils are paying attention rather than to develop their thinking. The improvements secured in pupils’ behaviour show that this approach is no longer necessary.
• Not all teachers insist on the highest standards of presentation, including, occasionally, in mathematics. Strategies to promote pupils’ skills in literacy across the curriculum are underdeveloped.
• Despite the remaining weaknesses, the quality of teaching is improving quickly. Some teaching is of exceptionally good quality. For example, in a Year 7 English lesson, pupils worked fantastically well together as they analysed Shakespeare’s sonnet number 130. Together, they were able to describe how the sonnet compared to other forms of verse they had studied and how Shakespeare used a range of linguistic devices to convey meaning.
• In PE, Year 9 pupils worked extremely well and effectively together as they developed their skills in the discus or shot-put. In the boys’ group, the teacher used the most able pupils to provide support and coaching for their peers. In the girls’ group, skilful teaching highlighted to the class the importance of utilising leg muscles to generate power. Teachers made use of iPads so that pupils could see what they were doing well and what needed to improve.
• The common characteristics of these and the other highly effective lessons seen were the way in which the teachers had clearly, and over time, equipped pupils with the confidence, knowledge and skills required to learn purposefully and effectively. The pupils demonstrated considerable application, determination and resilience in raising their attainment.
• Where teachers’ use of questioning and their assessment is strong, it enables them to identify and then correct weaknesses in pupils’ conceptual understanding. For example, in a Year 7 mathematics lesson, the teacher quickly saw how and why pupils were making mistakes as they compared the value of products advertised through ‘3 for 2’ supermarket offers. She used this information to adapt her teaching and reformulate her explanations to help pupils to understand. Where pupils still needed help, she worked with them individually, teasing out their understanding and giving them time to try again, rather than simply supplying the answers.
• The learning support assistants are now making a much better contribution to pupils’ learning than before. Their recent deployment to subject faculties has improved the way in which they work with teachers to support pupils’ learning. In discussions with inspectors, the pupils described how additional staff are now making a real difference to their learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are increasingly self-confident and proud of their school. This is because of the self-belief being instilled in them by the principal and other staff and their own observations of how their school is quickly improving.
• The pupils know that they are valued and cared for and taught by staff who are determined to help them secure the best chances in life they can.
• Pupils told inspectors that they now feel very safe at school as a result of the changes made by the new principal.
• Pupils appreciate the much-improved site security at the school and the high levels of staff supervision provided to help keep them safe. They can find staff easily if they have any concerns at break or lunchtime because of the high-visibility jackets that the teachers wear when they are on duty.
• Pupils are also very confident that the school has the right procedures in place to tackle any incidents of bullying that occur. They know that they can approach staff or the well-trained peer mentors to get help should they need it.
• Pupils are well informed about the consequences of bullying and know that it is their duty to report any incidents they see to ensure that everyone in the school feels safe and well cared for. At the last inspection, younger pupils reported that there were some areas of the school where they felt unsafe due to the unpleasant behaviour of older pupils. All pupils that met with inspectors during this inspection reported that this is no longer the case and that they feel safe throughout the school.
• Pupils who experience emotional difficulties receive good-quality support at the school, including through access to counselling should they need it.
• The school’s effective personal, social and health education curriculum equips pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to stay safe from a wide range of risks, including those associated with the internet and social media.
• Teaching also ensures that pupils understand the importance of being tolerant and respectful towards those who are different from themselves, including those with different faiths or cultural backgrounds.
• Pupils’ commitment to supporting others is reflected in the large sums of money they raise for charitable causes through an annual school walk.
• Pupils receive appropriate careers information, advice and guidance, including through visits from local employers. The school ensures that pupils receive good-quality information before choosing the subjects they wish to pursue in key stage 4, including from providers of further education. Year 10 pupils benefit from work experience and college taster days to help inform their choices about future education, training and employment.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Staff and pupils all agree that behaviour has improved very considerably this year. The revised behaviour policy has clarified expectations of how pupils should behave and the improving quality of teaching has helped strengthen pupils’ attitudes to learning.
• Heightened expectations regarding pupils’ behaviour led, initially, to a spike in the autumn term in the proportions of pupils excluded from the school on a temporary basis. Since then, however, the proportion of pupils subject to fixed-term exclusions has reduced quickly. Far fewer pupils are also being sent to the internal isolation room than before.
• Pupils conduct themselves politely and maturely at break and lunchtimes and as they move between lessons. They queue patiently and calmly as they wait to buy food from the canteen. Pupils spoke confidently and courteously to inspectors during breaktime and were keen to report how their school has improved.
• Occasionally, a small and decreasing minority of pupils struggle to manage their own behaviour. The large majority of staff quickly take action to reinforce the school’s high expectations and to good effect. Where teaching is less effective, teachers do not act quickly or effectively enough to ensure that silly behaviour is nipped in the bud.
• The improving quality of education that pupils receive, together with strong management of their attendance, means that attendance has risen to be above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school has reduced dramatically during the current academic year and is now lower than average.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• While pupils are making much better progress than before, the improvements have not been in place long enough to ensure that outcomes are consistently good across the school.
• In the last two years, the examination outcomes for Year 11 pupils have not been good enough. For example, last year, pupils’ achievement in mathematics was equivalent to the bottom 10% of schools in the country. This resulted in the proportions of pupils achieving at least a grade C in both English and mathematics being exceptionally low.
• Disadvantaged pupils have not achieved well enough either. Last year, the middle-attaining disadvantaged pupils achieved particularly poorly across their best eight subjects and especially in mathematics.
• While published performance information indicates that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities achieved relatively well, this information cannot be relied upon, because some pupils had previously been incorrectly identified as in need of additional support when they had fallen behind due to poor teaching rather than any additional need.
• Pupils’ achievement overall improved in some areas last year, however, and pupils’ achievement by the end of Year 11 in their best eight subjects combined was in line with the national average.
• Pupils’ achievement in English and science is consistently strong.
• This year, concerted action has been taken to remedy past underachievement, including for the Year 11 pupils who recently completed their public examinations.
• The school’s assessment information indicates strongly that Year 11 pupils were much better prepared for their examinations than in previous years. Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ attainment in the run-up to the GCSE examinations were checked by staff from other schools to ensure that they were more accurate than in the past.
• The rapidly improving quality of teaching, together with much improved use of assessment information across the school, is beginning to help the large majority of pupils in all years catch up in subjects where they have fallen behind.
• Teachers now use the good-quality information they are given about pupils’ starting points and any additional needs they may have to plan learning which meets the needs of most pupils well.
• The reduced size of the register of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities means that additional support is now focused where it is most needed. Teachers are working more effectively with the learning support assistants to ensure that the pupils learn well. Additional teaching is matched more sharply to these pupils’ needs than before to help overcome specific gaps in their knowledge and understanding. As a result, these pupils are beginning to make better progress.
• The improvements being made to the quality of teaching, together with the much sharper use of the pupil premium funding, are enabling disadvantaged pupils to make better progress than before in subjects across the curriculum, including in mathematics.
• The careful checks made on the progress of disadvantaged pupils with different starting points, including the most able and the middle-attaining disadvantaged pupils, are enabling staff to take further action where necessary to ensure that these pupils are doing as well as others.
• As a result of these improvements, although outcomes require improvement, they are improving quickly.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 136958 Lincolnshire 10023104 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary comprehensive School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 11 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 313 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Trevor Wray Mark Midgley 01472 851383 www.caistoryarboroughacademy.org.uk head@cyac.org.uk Date of previous inspection 28 January 2015

Information about this school

• Caistor Yarborough Academy is much smaller than the average-sized secondary school.
• The very large majority of pupils are White British.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is broadly average, as is the proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The school no longer uses any alternative providers.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 4.
• The current principal was appointed in January 2017, following a two-month period in which he supported the school as a consultant.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information on its website. Insufficient detail is provided about the Year 7 catch-up funding and the content of the curriculum.
• The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish about the Year 7 catch-up funding or the curriculum on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching in a wide range of subjects across Years 7 to 10 and saw most of the teachers teach. Some of these observations were carried out with the principal. There were no Year 11 pupils at the school at the time of the inspection.
• Inspectors held formal meetings with different groups of pupils and spoke to pupils informally in lessons and during lunchtimes.
• Discussions were held with senior and middle leaders, other teachers and members of the governing body, including the chair.
• Inspectors took account of the 69 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as the 18 responses from parents made through the Ofsted free-text service. They also considered the 28 responses to the Ofsted questionnaire for staff and the four pupil responses to the questionnaire for pupils.
• Inspectors looked at a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans, records regarding attendance, behaviour and safety and the school’s analysis of pupils’ attainment and progress. They also scrutinised the school’s records of checks made on the quality of teaching and records of training for staff. They considered the minutes of meetings of the local governing body.
• Inspectors scrutinised the school’s website.

Inspection team

Daniel Burton, lead inspector Peter Monk Judith Gooding

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector