Kempston Challenger Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that all leaders, including those new to their roles, fully evaluate their actions and precisely measure their impact on school improvement priorities.
• Improve attendance and behaviour by:
  • reducing the number of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, who are persistently absent from school so that levels of absence and persistent absence are at least in line with those of all pupils nationally
  • reducing the incidents of misbehaviour by the small number of pupils that lead to exclusion from school, and eliminate the remaining low-level disruption to lessons.
• Increase pupils’ progress and raise attainment by ensuring that:
  • teachers of science provide activities that appropriately challenge pupils of all abilities and allow pupils to deepen their knowledge, skills and understanding
  • a greater proportion of pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in reading at the end of key stage 2 catch up with their peers by the end of Year 7
  • all teachers routinely provide opportunities for pupils to use and develop their skills in reading, writing and communication across the curriculum.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since taking up their roles, the executive headteacher and senior leaders have worked hard to raise the expectations and aspirations of both pupils and teachers. They have successfully established a culture that reflects the school’s values of ‘know you can, commitment to care and always aim higher’. Almost all pupils have positive attitudes to learning and want to do well in all that they do. Good relationships between adults and pupils support pupils’ learning and personal development.
• Leaders have relentlessly focused on improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They use their regular checks on the quality of teaching to identify and provide support to any teachers who need it. However, leaders have not shied away from tackling weak teaching when improvement has not occurred or been sustained. Consequently, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has improved rapidly and is good. This has resulted in significant improvements in pupils’ achievement in most subjects.
• Teachers, including those new to the profession, appreciate the training and development opportunities that leaders provide. These meet individuals’ development needs while addressing whole-school priorities. Leaders provide regular opportunities for teachers to share ideas and examples of what works well, for example through the ‘Monday motivator’ and ‘Friday take-away’. These have also contributed to improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and pupils’ outcomes.
• Middle leaders are enthusiastic and clear about their roles and responsibilities. They have a clear understanding of whole-school priorities and can explain how their work contributes to achieving these. Middle leaders say that they are well supported by senior leaders. They are given freedom as to how they achieve objectives, but are held to account by senior leaders.
• Leaders have ensured that provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is effective. The special needs coordinator (SENCo) leads this area well and ensures that pupils receive the help that they need from teachers and through targeted support and interventions. As a result, progress for this group of pupils has increased and pupils currently in the school are making good progress.
• The carefully considered curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to study a range of academic and vocational subjects. It provides well for pupils’ personal and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through citizenship lessons, the form-tutor programme and opportunities threaded through different subjects. Consequently, pupils respect and understand the beliefs, values and cultures of others and are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders have refined how they use additional funding for disadvantaged pupils. They have worked with external specialists to identify accurately the barriers to learning for this group of pupils and put in place strategies to overcome them. Actions to improve achievement and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment have had a positive impact on improving progress for this group.
• Leaders have put in place systems to monitor attendance closely and revised the behaviour and rewards system. These actions have secured improvements in behaviour and attendance over the time that the school has been an academy. Leaders have ensured that expectations regarding attendance and behaviour are high. However, they acknowledge that there is a small core of pupils, which includes some disadvantaged pupils, that still have high rates of absence and whose behaviour results in them being excluded from school.
• Leaders have accurately identified the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. They have credible and appropriate improvement plans in place. Leaders regularly check on the progress being made towards achieving their priorities for improvement. However, some of these checks lack the detail needed to identify precisely what is working well and which actions are having less impact on improving behaviour or achievement. As a result, some leaders have missed opportunities to adapt their plans so that they bring about improvements more quickly.
• Strategies are in place to develop pupils’ reading, writing and communication skills. However, leaders have identified that a small minority of teachers do not consistently use these strategies. As a result, promotion of pupils’ literacy across all subjects is variable. Leaders also recognise that they need to strengthen the progress made by those pupils who did not achieve the standard expected in reading at the end of key stage 2 to raise achievement and support pupils to read more widely.

Governance of the school

• The Challenger Multi-Academy Trust provides an appropriate balance of support and challenge to senior leaders. The trust has ensured that it has used its central staff and external consultants to provide support to develop leaders’ skills and improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. For example, external consultants have validated assessments and provided helpful advice for teachers of English, mathematics and science. The trust has used an external consultant to provide support for the LGB, enabling it to be increasingly effective in its role.
• The recently appointed chair of the trust board brings a wealth of relevant experience to the role. He has quickly gained an accurate view of the improvements made by the school, the challenges that it still faces, and the support needed to maintain the rate of improvement. The CEO of the trust visits the school regularly to check on senior leaders’ progress towards achieving their priorities and the targets set by the trust. He has also supported new senior leaders as they have grown into their roles.
• Leaders, the LGB and staff share the trust’s vision and ambition for the school. Leaders and the chair of the LGB are clear about how their improvement plans will achieve the trust’s aims.
• The LGB knows the school well. The LGB has a good understanding of how leaders’ actions have contributed to improvements in achievement, the quality of teaching, and behaviour.
• The LGB has ensured that additional funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils has resulted in better provision and improved outcomes for these groups. Similarly, the LGB ensured that when in receipt of primary physical education and sport funding, leaders used this to provide additional equipment and opportunities for sporting activities. This resulted in over 50% of pupils representing the school in a sports activity. The LGB has not monitored the use of the Year 7 catch-up funding as closely. Governors have not ensured that this funding has had the maximum impact on improving the progress of lower-attaining pupils, particularly in reading.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that keeping pupils safe from harm is given the highest priority. Staff are provided with regular training and updates to ensure that they can recognise the signs of abuse and are aware of the risks that pupils in the school face, including the risks of extremism and radicalisation. Staff are clear as to when they should refer any concerns and are confident to do so.
• The designated safeguarding lead and wider safeguarding team are clear about their roles and responsibilities in keeping pupils safe. Records of concerns and referrals are accurately maintained, with actions taken clearly recorded. Referrals to external agencies, when needed, are made in a timely fashion so that pupils and their families quickly get access to the help that they need.
• Checks on the suitability of adults to work with children and young people are thorough. Records of these checks are accurately maintained. Members of the LGB take their responsibility for safeguarding seriously. They regularly check that arrangements are secure. The LGB commissioned an external audit to evaluate the processes and procedures in place and checked that school leaders responded to the recommendations that were made. Policies reflect the most recent statutory guidance.
• Pupils learn about a variety of risks through a programme of assemblies, the form-tutor programme, and citizenship and personal, social and health education lessons. This includes the risks of working online, awareness of extremist views and child sexual exploitation.
• Pupils show a good understanding of all forms of bullying and the harm that it can cause. Pupils say that they have someone whom they can go to if they have any concerns and are confident that teachers deal with incidents of bullying effectively.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers have established positive relationships in their classrooms. As a result, the large majority of lessons flow well and support pupils’ learning. Pupils engage well with learning activities and respond to teachers’ directions.
• Well-established routines and carefully planned sequences of activities ensure that the very large majority of teaching is effective in developing pupils’ understanding, knowledge and skills. In mathematics, for example, activities at the start of lessons are used to develop pupils’ ability to use key mathematical knowledge and skills confidently and fluently. Many teachers make effective use of guidance that helps pupils structure their work and models a high-quality response to a task. Consequently, teaching over time is helping pupils to make increasingly strong progress in most subjects.
• Teachers have very secure subject knowledge. They give clear explanations, provide high-quality resources and give helpful guidance to pupils on how to improve their work. Many teachers use questioning effectively to check and probe pupils’ understanding. This is particularly, but not exclusively, the case in English, history and the performing arts.
• Leaders have identified opportunities to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development across the curriculum. Teachers make good use of these opportunities as they arise. In history, for example, pupils were asked to reflect on how they would have felt as Jewish citizens in Germany in the 1930s. Teachers in English used letter writing and preparing speeches to provide pupils with opportunities to reflect upon the issues of homophobia and sexism.
• Teachers make good use of the information and strategies provided to support the learning of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Teaching assistants know the pupils that they support well and are effective in helping them to overcome their individual barriers to learning. As a result of this effective support, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making increasingly strong progress from their starting points.
• Teachers are using their better understanding of the barriers to learning faced by disadvantaged pupils to inform the teaching strategies that they use. They are held closely to account for achieving improved outcomes for this group, which is contributing to stronger progress across the school for disadvantaged pupils.
• The very large majority of teachers provide opportunities for pupils to apply and develop their skills in reading, writing and communication. Many teachers routinely identify errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar and provide opportunities for pupils to complete longer pieces of written work independently. However, a small minority of teachers do not do this on a regular basis and so do not consistently support pupils in developing these key communication skills.
• Most teachers plan activities that provide appropriately challenging activities for pupils of different abilities. This is contributing to raising the attainment and progress of pupils in the school, including the most able pupils. However, teachers of science often use activities that require a limited response from pupils. These activities do not allow pupils to demonstrate deep understanding and apply their knowledge. As a result, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and pupils’ achievement in science have not improved as much as in other subjects.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils say that they are well cared for and feel safe in school. The very large majority of parents and carers who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, agree with this view. Several free-text responses submitted by parents referred to the school’s positive ethos. One parent said, ‘My child clearly has a very good sense of belonging and responsibility within the school and is keen to go every day.’ Another said, ‘My child has a fabulous relationship with most of the teaching staff and feels able to talk to them at any time about any concerns.’
• Pupils are respectful of difference and demonstrate tolerance. They were very clear that being different in any way is not a problem for pupils at Kempston Challenger Academy. There are very few instances of racist or homophobic language and pupils know that this is unacceptable. Pupils learn about a range of religions and beliefs and understand that this prepares them for life in modern Britain’s diverse society.
• Pupils are provided with access to good-quality, independent careers education and advice. Leaders provided over 30 careers-focused events in the previous academic year, involving 29 local companies and employers. Year 10 pupils participate in work experience, as do Year 12 students. This well-considered programme ensures that pupils make the link between education and employment and helps to raise pupils’ aspirations. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities receive additional careers advice arranged by the SENCo.
• The ethos of the trust is to develop ‘learning outside the classroom’. Leaders have ensured that the ‘Challenger Diploma’ provides pupils with structured opportunities for activities that support the development of challenge, motivation, achievement and teamwork. Pupils have opportunities to pursue and develop their personal interests through a range of overseas trips, sports activities, musical and drama performances and cultural visits.
• Pupils in key stage 3 and key stage 4 are positive about the school council. They are aware that this models the democratic process and say that leaders listen to their views.
• The Aspen Centre provides pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs with high-quality support. Pupils’ personal development and welfare are well supported, for example through specialist support from a counsellor. Teachers from the main school, including the executive headteacher, teach the curriculum content. This helps to prepare pupils for integration into the main school community when the time is right. Leaders have established links with a local further education college to support pupils with the next steps in their education, employment and training.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are confident and polite. Their conduct around the school site at break- and lunchtime and at the start and end of the school day is good. Movement is calm and orderly. Pupils respect their environment; social areas are tidy and there is very little litter.
• Pupils typically arrive at lessons punctually, properly equipped and ready to learn. They take pride in their work and their appearance. Leaders’ efforts to improve these aspects of behaviour have borne fruit.
• Pupils spoken to during the inspection were clear that behaviour has improved over the time since the school became an academy. Teachers also agree that behaviour has improved and feel well supported by leaders in managing pupils’ behaviour.
• Leaders have made great efforts to improve attendance. They celebrate high and improved attendance, closely monitor individuals’ attendance and follow up absences rigorously. This hard work has resulted in reductions in absence and the proportion of pupils who are persistent absentees, though both figures remain above national averages. Leaders have had some notable successes in improving the attendance of individual pupils who have previously had high rates of absence. However, a small core of pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, are still absent from school too frequently.
• The number of pupils who are permanently excluded from school has reduced. Revised procedures for managing behaviour have helped to reduce the number of incidents where pupils are removed from lessons, which supports the picture of improving behaviour. However, although reducing, there are still incidents of low-level disruption to learning caused by a small number of pupils.
• Despite leaders’ best efforts, the number of fixed-term exclusions has not reduced over the last year. This is, in part, due to the willingness of leaders to admit pupils who have had poor records of behaviour and/or attendance at their previous schools. However, leaders do not use this as an excuse. They accept that there is a small number of pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, whose behaviour is not good enough.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• As a result of effective and rapidly improving teaching, learning and assessment, achievement in the school is improving strongly in a range of subjects, including English and mathematics.
• Pupils join the school with standards of attainment that are lower than the national average. In 2017, because of previously weak teaching, pupils made progress well below the national average in a range of subjects at key stage 4. This was also the case in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils at the end of key stage 2. This was true for all groups of pupils, except for those who speak English as an additional language. Consequently, pupils’ attainment at the end of both key stages was low compared with the national averages.
• Unvalidated examination results for 2018 indicate improved attainment and significant improvements in progress across the curriculum at the end of key stage 4. Leaders’ own analysis of results indicates that disadvantaged pupils’ progress has moved closer to that made by other pupils nationally. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities also made stronger progress than in the previous year.
• Inspectors’ scrutiny of pupils’ work, observations of learning and analysis of school assessment data indicate that pupils currently in the school are making strong progress in a range of subjects. This is because teachers typically provide activities that are well matched to pupils’ abilities. There has been a specific focus on providing all pupils, including the most able pupils, with activities that require them to think and stretch them to achieve higher standards.
• Differences in the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others with similar starting points are closing noticeably. This is because interventions to support this group are more effectively targeted and teachers are being held closely to account for improving their outcomes.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities currently in the school are making strong progress. This is because teachers are using available information carefully to plan how to meet their needs more effectively, including through the use of teaching assistants.
• Leaders have ensured that they provide pupils in the Aspen Centre with an academic curriculum. Systems are in place to track and monitor pupils’ progress from when they join the provision. Inspection evidence indicates that these pupils make strong progress from when they join the school.
• Pupils who did not attain the standard expected in reading at the end of key stage 2 are not consistently making progress that enables them to catch up with their classmates.
• Although improving, achievement in science is not as strong as in other curriculum areas. This is because teachers of science do not routinely provide activities that are appropriately challenging and help all pupils to deepen their understanding, knowledge and skills.

16 to 19 study programmes Good

• Leadership of the sixth form is effective. The head of sixth form has accurately identified areas that require development and has set appropriate actions to address these. Previous actions have been effectively evaluated to ensure that they made the difference intended.
• Although student numbers are small, leaders have ensured that students can choose a variety of academic or vocational courses. Students typically follow a mixed programme that meets their needs and aspirations. The very large majority of students progress to higher education or apprenticeships. A small number of students complete a range of level 2 courses before moving to further study or taking up employment or training.
• Leaders provide a range of activities that support students’ personal development and welfare. These include guidance regarding future study, careers information, and opportunities for work experience in Year 12. Students considering a career in teaching have opportunities for additional work experience in Year 13. Students receive guidance regarding staying safe and maintaining their well-being, including information about healthy relationships and avoiding sexual exploitation. Students have opportunities to take on positions of responsibility such as those of head boy and head girl and through acting as mentors for younger pupils.
• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the sixth form is strong. Regular checks ensure that teachers are meeting the standards that leaders expect of them. Teachers use their strong subject knowledge and knowledge of examination specifications to plan activities that are well matched to students’ needs. Students are positive about the quality of teaching that they receive and how this contributes to their learning and progress. They say that teachers are willing to provide them with any extra help and guidance that they may need.
• There is good support for those students who did not attain at least a grade 4 (formerly grade C) in GCSE English or mathematics when in Year 11. This helps students to improve their grades, and progress is in line with or above the average progress made by similar students nationally.
• Students who complete A-level courses typically make progress in line with the national average, but their attainment is lower than that of students nationally. Students who complete vocational courses typically make above-average progress from their starting points and attain in line with all students nationally.
• Behaviour in the sixth form is positive. Students say that expectations regarding behaviour, punctuality and attendance are high. However, absence is not significantly better than in the rest of the school.

School details

Unique reference number 142387 Local authority Bedford Inspection number 10052619 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary comprehensive School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 11 to 18 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 548 Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes 79 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Frank Green Executive headteacher Ian Evason Telephone number 01234 290900 Website www.kempstonchallengeracademy.org Email address office@kempstonchallengeracademy.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Kempston Challenger Academy is smaller than the average-sized secondary school. It became a sponsored academy in November 2015, when the Hastingsbury Business and Enterprise College was sponsored by the Challenger Multi-Academy Trust. In September 2016, the school amalgamated with Robert Bruce Middle School and provided education for pupils from nine to 18 years of age. In September 2018, the school became a secondary school catering for pupils aged 11 to 18 as part of a transition from a three-tier to two-tier model of primary and secondary education.
• The current executive headteacher was appointed in September 2016 and there were significant changes at senior and middle leadership level and in staffing during 2016/17. Staffing was more stable during the 2017/18 academic year.
• The board of trustees of the Challenger Multi-Academy Trust is responsible for the governance of the school but has delegated some responsibilities to a small local governing body (LGB). The LGB is responsible for holding the executive headteacher and senior leaders to account for the standards of education in the school, and for setting the vision for the school.
• The trust has provided support for senior and middle leaders, support for teaching, learning and assessment and support for science through a specialist leader of education. External consultants have provided support for teachers of English, mathematics and science and the LGB. The trust has also commissioned external reviews of the school and of safeguarding procedures.
• Just over half of the pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is about twice the national average. The proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is lower than the national average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is above the national average.
• The school runs a specialist support unit, the Aspen Centre, for pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs. The local authority manages admissions to the centre for pupils who meet its criteria for admissions. The centre currently has 14 pupils on roll from Year 7 to Year 10.
• There are currently no pupils attending alternative provision.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors made visits to classes to observe learning in all key stages. Inspectors also visited form periods and observed learning in the school’s specialist centre for pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs. Some of these visits were made jointly with school leaders. Inspectors also scrutinised pupils’ work in a range of subjects, listened to a group of key stage 3 pupils read and reviewed the school’s assessment information.
• Meetings were held with leaders, the chair of the LGB, the CEO and trust’s director of teaching and the chair of the trust board. The lead inspector also had a telephone conversation with an external consultant. Inspectors considered the 57 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.
• Inspectors reviewed a range of school documents and policies, including behaviour and attendance information, records of monitoring brokered by the trust, minutes of LGB meetings and documentation relating to the safeguarding of pupils.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils in lessons, met with groups of pupils from each key stage and spoke to pupils when observing them at informal times, such as breaktime and lunchtime, to gather their views on the school. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online pupil survey, but inspectors considered pupils’ responses to a survey conducted by the school.
• Inspectors considered the 29 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey, Parent View, and the 26 free-text comments submitted by parents. In addition, inspectors also considered a survey of parents that the school had conducted.

Inspection team

Paul Wilson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Jane Crow Ofsted Inspector Phillip Barr Ofsted Inspector