Turing House School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Leaders should develop the quality of teaching so that pupils’ overall outcomes rise, by:
  • ensuring that, in mathematics, teachers of lower-ability pupils and/or those who have SEN and/or disabilities use resources and strategies that are better suited to their needs and abilities
  • giving pupils more opportunities to work on the guidance that teachers give them so they can deepen their subject knowledge and continue to improve their skills such as spelling, grammar and punctuation
  • continuing their work to ensure that the training on offer to staff further improves their teaching skills to ensure consistently high-quality teaching across the curriculum, including in modern foreign languages.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders and governors have taken their ambition and passion and turned it into a reality. They have established a good school where pupils receive a well-rounded education. Leaders and staff have been particularly successful in improving pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare. These are outstanding.
• The school has many strengths. Leaders have established an open culture at the school where there is a clear sense of teamwork and community across staff and pupils alike. Everyone takes pride in the school. It is a welcoming and vibrant place. There are high-quality displays in classrooms and corridors. High expectations across the school have secured high standards of behaviour.
• Middle leaders are small in number but full of confidence. They take responsibility for many aspects of their own subject areas and are ably supported by senior leaders or specialist advisers from the trust where needed. As a result, there is a great deal of consistency across the school.
• Pupils revel in the sense of community at the school, they feel adults know them well and are there to support them. Staff, including those new to the profession, are well supported by senior leaders and feel involved in the way that the school is run. Morale is high and staff enjoy working at the school.
• Parents and carers who responded to Parent View, Ofsted’s questionnaire, and the school’s own surveys, are full of praise for the school. One parent’s comment echoed that of others when they said: ‘We had high expectations of this school, having followed the school’s journey from an idea to a reality, and have not been disappointed.’
• Leaders know their school really well because they have robust systems for checking on the quality of their work. This is seen in numerous ways, for example how they review pupils’ progress and monitor their behaviour. Overall, this has helped school leaders to establish a detailed self-evaluation of the school’s work.
• Leaders have planned the curriculum particularly well. As the school currently only has pupils up to Year 9, they have worked with them to help decide what subjects should be offered at key stage 4. This approach, alongside carefully targeted careers advice and guidance, has enabled leaders to build a curriculum that is meeting pupils’ aspirations and interests.
• There is a full commitment to out-of-classroom learning. A wide range of sporting and extra-curricular clubs and access to interesting visits combine to help pupils explore their other interests and boost their personal development. For example, the new Year 7 have time to get to know each other and bond at an event at the Thames Young Mariners, Years 8 and 9 visited the Excel centre to explore being a ‘young scientist’ and there have been other events such as learning to ice-skate and experiencing Spanish food.
• Leaders plan and evaluate the impact of additional funding that they receive, including the Year 7 catch-up funding. Leaders track pupils’ progress closely. As a result, support for pupils in developing, for example, their reading skills is paying dividends, particularly for more reluctant readers.
• The school receives strong support from the trust in many different ways. For example, in helping to share curriculum expertise and in moderating the assessment of pupils’ work. There has also been focused support from a trust adviser to assist school leaders in developing its provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Leaders know that there are some aspects of the school’s provision that they need to continue to improve in order for outcomes and teaching to be outstanding overall. Some teaching, either in different subjects or for different groups of pupils, is not of consistently high-quality across the school. In some cases this relates to staff changes that have taken place and/or where new staff are still settling in.

Governance of the school

• The local governing body has delegated responsibility from the trust board for setting and monitoring school standards. Governors have a detailed understanding of the school’s work. They speak confidently about the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They are passionate and ambitious about making the school the very best it can be.
• The governing body chooses to visit the school regularly to hear from staff, pupils and parents; for example, in evaluating the school’s careers provision. The governors provide clear challenge as well as support to school leaders. They ask for additional information to help them better understand the impact of what leaders are doing at the school.
• Governors have a very strong range of skills and expertise. For example, the chair of governors has a detailed knowledge of safeguarding. She uses this expertise to check on the school’s systems and processes for ensuring that pupils are kept safe.
• The trust board also provides effective challenge and support to the school. This is seen through, for example, regular visits to the school, observations of learning and comparing assessment information to other schools in the trust.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders are tenacious when it comes to looking after pupils’ welfare. This seen in several ways:
  • knowing and dealing with the risks that could affect pupils, ranging from knife crime and road safety through to drugs and alcohol misuse
  • dealing with any child protection concerns quickly and effectively, including ‘chasing’ external agencies when leaders do not feel that the response that they have received has been good enough
  • carefully considering the age-appropriateness of the personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme, including how pupils learn about relationships and diversity.
• Staff have regular training on safeguarding and how to protect pupils. The training includes face-to-face as well as online training. Staff are confident on how to respond to concerns. Pupils feel this too as they told inspectors that staff were approachable and helped them if they had any worries or concerns.
• The school keeps accurate records in relation to managing pupils’ welfare and all checks to ensure that adults are suitable to work with children are undertaken prior to adults starting work at the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers have secure subject knowledge and most use it well to help them plan and deliver their subject. Teachers are highly enthusiastic about teaching and they have a warm and encouraging attitude towards their pupils.
• Most-able pupils receive lots of challenge and are taught demanding subject content. This is seen in a number of subjects across the curriculum such as English, mathematics, science and religious education. Pupils produce some excellent work and some are learning above age-related expectations. For example, in religious studies the teacher regularly chooses to use strategies that encourage pupils to debate and explore ideas in relation to topics such as sexual orientation and same-sex marriage. Pupils’ written work shows deep and meaningful engagement with the subject content.
• Where teaching is more effective, teachers use questioning well and match their resources to pupils’ different needs and abilities. For example, in art pupils were learning pointillism. The teacher skilfully used information technology and resources to support pupils, including the most able, in deepening their understanding of blending and patterns. Pupils’ sketchbooks and the displays of their work show that they are producing high-quality work and learning strong subject-specific skills over time.
• Teachers, in line with the school policy, give detailed guidance to pupils about how well they are doing and what they have to do to improve their work. Pupils find this useful and many respond to it. However, there is variability as to how teachers help pupils, including lower-ability pupils, to tackle the next steps that have been set for them. This includes in deepening their subject-specific knowledge and further developing their wider skills such as spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• In some cases, such as for lower-ability pupils in mathematics, teaching is not meeting pupils’ needs effectively enough. Leaders have identified this and trust advisers are also providing support and guidance.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Leaders and governors focus on educating the ‘whole child’. Their approach has paid dividends. It can be best summed up by a parent who commented: ‘Our child has grown in stature and confidence during their three years at the school. From a shy child at transfer, they now wish to represent the student body.’ These views were shared by a high proportion of parents who strongly agree that their children are happy at the school and well looked after. Pupils also feel that the school helps them to learn about how to look after their mental and physical well-being. They gave lots of examples such as learning about the dangers of knife crime and the effects of drug misuse.
• Pupils have a clear and articulate understanding of the different forms of bullying. The school’s work in this area has been highly effective. Overall, school records and the views of parents, pupils and staff all suggest that bullying is rare. Due to the community spirit of the school and staff alertness to any pupil concerns, issues are picked up and dealt with extremely quickly.
• Pupils have a strong sense of what is right and wrong. The school’s strategies to develop SMSC and PSHE combine to make sure pupils have opportunities to explore a wide range of topical issues such as different religious beliefs, the concept of terrorism, stereotypes and how to stay safe. Pupils show through their actions and how they behave towards each other that they have a deep understanding of modern British values.
• The school has placed an emphasis on the development of its careers programme. Careers is integrated into the life of the school in many ways, for example visits to university, interacting with guest speakers, as well as in PSHE and assemblies. Pupils who responded to the Ofsted survey were very positive about the help and support that they receive to help them think about their future choices.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils typically want to learn and to get stuck into their work. When teachers ask questions, pupils are keen to answer. They respond quickly to requests from teachers. Low-level disruption is rare.
• Pupils are respectful towards each other and they are polite and friendly. They wear their uniform with pride and look smart at all times. They also take pride in the school environment, for example in tidying up after themselves in the canteen and in their respect for the school building.
• The vast majority of pupils take pride in the work and have a mature approach to learning. Fixed-term exclusions are well below the national average. Attendance is high and there are no significant differences between different groups of pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Overall, pupils are making good progress over time. Some pupils, such as the most able, are making more substantial progress across the curriculum. The school has also put in place a range of effective experiences for most-able pupils to help stimulate and deepen their understanding; for example, participation in events such as the robotics challenge and outside visits.
• Leaders quickly identify those pupils who join the school and need support in improving their reading and spelling skills. Their initiatives and plans have helped pupils make strong gains in these skills. Leaders carefully track pupils’ progress and have appropriate interventions in place to improve pupils’ skills still further.
• Reviews of work in English and science suggests that most groups of pupils are making more substantial progress from their different starting points. For example, in science pupils engage in practical work and enjoy applying their scientific knowledge. In English, pupils are developing the writing and reading skills that they need to engage with the challenging content that they are learning. Over time, pupils are confident in learning to use and apply subject-specific terminology.
• A review of the school’s assessment information shows that across a wide range of subjects, disadvantaged pupils are making good progress overall when compared to their peers. However, there are some notable differences in the progress that this group of pupils makes compared to their peers in mathematics in Years 8 and 9.
• Support from the trust (one day per week) helps school leaders to develop their provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Teachers and supporting adults are aware of the needs of pupils. Overall, this group of pupils make good progress. However, in mathematics not enough of the teaching is meeting their needs. This includes for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and who also have a lower-ability starting point.
• Overall, pupils are being well prepared for the next steps of their education. Year 9 pupils have also been effectively supported in preparing for the demands of key stage 4 and their GCSE courses.

School details

Unique reference number 141963 Local authority Richmond upon Thames Inspection number 10047364 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 free school 11 to 19 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 326 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Janet Hilton Colin Mackinlay 0208 0696100 www.turinghouseschool.org.uk info@turinghouseschool.org.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school because it currently has pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9. There are more boys than girls.
• The school is a member of the Russell Education Trust (RET). The school has a local governing body which has delegated responsibilities as outlined in the RET scheme of delegation.
• The school is currently oversubscribed.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is slightly above the national average. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below the national average.
• The school opened as a free school in September 2015.
• The school is currently based on one site. An additional site will open in September 2018, where Year 7 will be based. The school is expected to move to its permanent site in September 2020.
• No pupils are currently attending any off-site alternative provision.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited lessons in a range of subjects across the school. Some of these were undertaken jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors considered a wide range of pupils’ work alongside the school’s assessment information to evaluate the quality of pupils’ learning over time.
• Inspectors held a range of meetings with school and/or trust staff to evaluate the impact of their work. There were also separate meetings with the governing body and the chief executive officer of RET.
• Inspectors reviewed the school’s surveys of pupils, parents and staff. There were 132 replies to Parent View, Ofsted’s questionnaire for parents, which were also considered. Inspectors also evaluated a large number of replies to Ofsted’s surveys for staff and pupils. The lead inspector had a telephone conversation with a parent.
• Inspectors scrutinised a variety of documentation provided by leaders, including: internal assessment information for pupils in all year groups; leaders’ self-evaluation; minutes of governing body and committee meetings; attendance and behaviour information; a variety of school policies; case studies; the single central record of recruitment checks; and a wide range of other information relating to the safeguarding of pupils.

Inspection team

Sam Hainey, lead inspector David Booth Gerard Strong

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector