Wallington County Grammar School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further develop teachers’ skills and confidence in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those in the sixth form, to ensure that they make excellent progress.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders are a highly committed, skilled and cohesive group who are well led by the executive headteacher and head of school. Their evaluation of the school’s performance is accurate and drives continuous improvements. Staff buy into leaders’ vision for learning, which is then reflected in pupils’ very positive attitudes.
• Leaders’ work starts with their detailed analysis of all available information and by listening to the views of parents, pupils and staff. Leaders invite scrutiny and welcome feedback. They use annual reviews by the Sutton Secondary Teaching School Alliance to inform their thinking and are unwilling to accept anything less than outstanding standards for their pupils. As a result, leaders have a wealth of information that they use to plan the school’s next steps.
• The school’s staff development and appraisal systems are well developed and tailored to individuals’ career goals and development needs. Staff enjoy their work and take opportunities to share their experiences with their peers, including those new to teaching. Teachers can develop their skills safe in the knowledge that leaders will nurture potential and help them secure the best possible outcomes for pupils.
• Leaders regularly review the academic curriculum so that pupils have a range of choices that cater to their abilities. The ‘co-curriculum’ is so called because leaders recognise the significant role that enrichment plays in pupils’ development. The co-curriculum is broad and recognises that the highly able pupils at this school have the capacity and desire to succeed beyond the classroom. It equips them with the skills and values required to contribute effectively towards life in modern Britain.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding effectively to remove barriers to learning and enable disadvantaged pupils to succeed. Governors pay careful attention to how this additional funding is spent so that it has the intended impact. Disadvantaged pupils’ outstanding progress, participation in enrichment activities and very high attendance reflect this work.
• Relatively few pupils attending the school have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders are, however, far from complacent about their responsibility to ensure that those pupils’ needs are met and they are able to excel. Leaders accurately monitor this group’s performance through careful monitoring and prompt interventions. Leaders also recognise that further work remains to be done to secure teachers’ skills so that they consistently meet pupils’ individual needs.

Governance of the school

• Governors have the delegated responsibility of scrutinising leaders’ work and holding them to account for pupils’ progress. Governors, known as local advisers, now report their committee’s findings to the Folio Education Trust. Local advisers leave no stone unturned when they visit the school or meet with leaders. Governors and the executive headteacher have very high expectations for the school and its pupils. This has underpinned the improvements in teaching, learning and assessment that now result in outstanding progress at GCSE and A level.
• The local advisers have developed their skills through successful recruitment and effective training. Local advisers know the school very well and, as a result, their evaluation of leaders’ work is precise.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have ensured that the school’s practice and policies pay due regard to the latest guidance and are sensitive to the changes occurring both within school and more widely. This is particularly evident in the work that the school has done to address e-safety, female genital mutilation and honour-based violence. Pupils apply to become ambassadors, receive training and then lead the school community in raising awareness about these issues. The school’s work in performing its ‘Prevent’ duty is excellent. Staff and pupils are highly aware of the risks and know what to do if they are at all concerned.
• Staff place pupils’ welfare at the forefront of their work. They are knowledgeable about what to do and who to speak to if concerns arise and the school works well with external agencies when needed. The school’s culture of safeguarding is supported by pupils looking out for one another and celebrating the diversity that exists within the school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school and know how to keep themselves safe beyond the physical and virtual school gates. Parents agree that this is a safe place for their children to learn.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching and learning is outstanding because teachers’ knowledge of pupils’ starting points and how to push pupils on quickly is excellent. Teachers plan activities that motivate pupils, making the most of pupils’ desire to learn. There is a high level of challenge in lessons and homework, reflecting staff’s expectations for pupils’ progress.
• Teachers refuse to accept mediocrity. Pupils know that teachers expect much of them when coming into a lesson and get to work quickly. They pay attention to teachers’ instructions and seek to extend their knowledge and understanding.
• Questioning is used consistently well by teachers who know that to probe pupils’ preconceptions and test their prior knowledge is part of what motivates pupils. Pupils accept nothing less than a teacher who challenges them and teachers duly oblige. Pupils relish the chance to debate ideas and challenge one another.
• Teachers use the system of assessment and feedback very well across subjects and year groups. Consequently, pupils know how to improve their work and teachers have accurate information from which to plan and inform parents about how their children are doing. Pupils reported to inspectors that they enjoy receiving feedback on their work.
• The culture of reading in the school is nurtured throughout the curriculum. Pupils enjoy reading for fun, immersing themselves in fictional worlds and also taking opportunities to enhance their subject knowledge. Some pupils in key stage 3 are given additional support in timetabled sessions that develop the skills being taught in their English lessons.
• Leaders closely monitor teachers’ training and development so that the few who require support make quick gains. This has resulted in consistent high-quality teaching and assessment so that subject areas that have previously performed less well are now doing much better, particularly languages and geography.
• Teachers are well informed about any additional needs that pupils may have. As such, teachers typically plan well to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, they sometimes lack the confidence and precision to help some in this group excel consistently, including those on 16 to 19 study programmes.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding because pupils’ all-round development is at the heart of leaders’ plans. Leaders and governors ensure that the curriculum serves pupils extremely well in preparing them for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils are self-assured learners who enjoy learning. They have lofty ambitions that they achieve through the combination of outstanding teaching and learning and bespoke advice and guidance. As a result, pupils make decisions about their subsequent education, training and employment with confidence.
• Pupils have contributed to writing the school’s anti-bullying and drugs policies and play leading roles in securing the well-being of their peers. Mentors and ambassadors for e-safety and female genital mutilation support teachers’ work to raise awareness, respond to concerns and support pupils’ personal development. The school council provides a conduit for pupils to make positive changes to the school, for example in improving the school café’s menu and environment.
• The co-curricular opportunities on offer, alongside the academic curriculum, develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural and social skills well. Pupils have well-informed, respectful and rounded views of themselves and others. They keep themselves healthy through sports activities and have a good understanding of nutritious diets.
• Pupils like coming to school. Some reported to inspectors that ‘there’s a feeling of trust, especially for younger ones’ and those joining the school. Girls joining the sixth form quickly feel a part of this community.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding because they meet leaders’ and staff’s shared high expectations consistently. The culture of respect and tolerance builds upon pupils’ desire to learn. As a result, there is very little that gets in the way of pupils’ progress.
• Pupils demonstrate their enjoyment of school through their consistently strong attendance. Very few exclusions reflect pupils’ consistently strong behaviour. Teachers use the school’s recently updated behaviour and rewards policy well to encourage and motivate pupils’ learning, resulting in little, if any, disruption in lessons.
• At break and lunchtimes pupils participate in clubs, socialise and conduct themselves well. Pupils are courteous to one another and to staff. Pupils’ outstanding behaviour underpins the strong relationships that exist between them and staff in lessons.
• Leaders closely monitor any instances where behaviour dips below their high expectations. Leaders’ work rapidly minimises the likelihood of a repeat of weaker behaviour and this has led to an environment where bullying is extremely rare.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Outcomes are outstanding because pupils make consistently strong progress from their starting points across the curriculum. There are few subjects where pupils’ progress is only that which is expected, demonstrating the strong teaching that pupils benefit from.
• Attainment is very high at GCSE and A level, reflecting not only the selective nature and high entry requirements of the school and sixth form, but also the exceptional progress that pupils make at this school. In mathematics, English, science and humanities subjects, pupils make particularly rapid progress at GCSE.
• Disadvantaged pupils also make much more progress than their peers nationally and mirror that made by others in the school. All groups of pupils do well at this school from Year 7 and upwards because potential barriers to their success are spotted early and minimised by skilled teachers and middle leaders.
• Pupils can articulate their knowledge and understanding very well. They take advantage of knowledge gained in other subjects to bolster their understanding more broadly and their work demonstrates the rapid pace of progress being made.
• Leaders rightly identified that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities performed less well last year, particularly at A level. The quick response and effective leadership of the sixth form team has minimised this difference now.
• Relatively underperforming subjects, including languages last year, have received targeted support that has now ensured that pupils receive quality teaching and learning across the school. Pupils’ progress in languages lessons now reflects that made elsewhere.
• Leaders measure pupils’ outcomes through their wider personal development. This includes participation in clubs and societies as well as their academic success. As a result, pupils leave the school with the skills and attributes required for them to make best use of the qualifications they gain. Careers advice and guidance help pupils to make informed decisions, with most staying on into the sixth form and from there moving on to university courses.

16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

• Students hit the ground running when they join the sixth form, making rapid progress from their high starting points. Their academic study programmes are supplemented by relevant and useful enrichment activities including talks from external speakers about apprenticeship routes, university applications and the world of work. Students are role models to younger pupils and grasp the chance to lead on charity work, including links with other schools internationally. This experience prepares them well for the careers that most intend to pursue.
• Teaching, learning and assessment are outstanding in the sixth form. Teachers’ expert subject knowledge pushes students on and builds upon the skills they have developed prior to starting their study programmes. Teachers expect students to arrive at lessons having reflected upon their prior learning and then shape lessons around students’ progress accordingly.
• Leaders have ensured that the learning environment and vision for learning encourages high ambition. Leaders have worked to raise students’ attendance and punctuality, which have rapidly improved in the last year. Leaders and teachers closely monitor students’ study habits to make the best use of time and to stretch students so that they achieve their ambitions.
• This is a popular sixth form of choice for the school’s Year 11 pupils in addition to boys and girls from other schools. Students reported that this is because of the school’s welcoming and safe community feel and the success that students experience when here. Inspectors were told that students are made to feel part of the school community quickly and all groups of pupils are given the chance to succeed.
• Students’ progress last year was well above average overall. Subjects where students have made only expected progress are rapidly matching the rates of progress found in other subjects.
• Students who have special educational needs and/or disabilities generally feel well supported in their study programmes. Teachers are developing the skills to further help this group excel through the training provided by the special educational needs coordinator and head of sixth form.
• The vast majority of students go on to study degree courses at university. Those who pursue work-related courses and employment routes are well supported when planning for those moves through the school’s advice and guidance programme and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education sessions.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 136798 Sutton 10023683 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Grammar (selective) School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Academy 11 to 18 Boys Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 1,056 Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes 353 Appropriate authority Chair Academy trust Paul Huitson Executive headteacher Jonathan Wilden Telephone number 020 86472235 Website Email address www.wcgs-sutton.co.uk enquiries@wcgs.org.uk Date of previous inspection 14–15 November 2012

Information about this school

• 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.
• Since the last inspection the school has joined the Folio Education Trust. Wallington County Grammar School is currently the only school within the trust.
• The school is part of the Sutton Secondary Teaching Schools Alliance which includes school centred initial teacher training (SCITT). The school also delivers the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership on behalf of the National College of Teaching and Leadership.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is lower than average. No pupils have education, health and care plans.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above the national average as is the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language.
• The school does not currently use any alternative provision.
• The school meets the government’s minimum expectations for the performance of secondary schools.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited 46 lessons to observe teaching and learning. On many of these visits inspectors were accompanied by members of the leadership team. Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work during these observations and discussed pupils’ learning with them. Inspectors also examined pupils’ work outside of lessons. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and at social times.
• Inspectors considered the views of parents through the 93 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View survey. Inspectors also held formal and informal conversations with staff and pupils in order to evaluate their views. Inspectors held meetings with leaders and governors to evaluate the impact of their work.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation including: assessment and behaviour information; policies and procedures; the single central record and procedures for safeguarding; leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance and plans for further improvements; reports from internal and external reviews of aspects of the school’s performance; risk assessments including for trips and off-site sports fixtures; minutes of local advisory board meetings and reports presented at those meetings.

Inspection team

Matt Tiplin, lead inspector Stephen Hall Beverley Johnston Avnee Morjaria

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector