London Enterprise Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that leaders at all levels, including governors:
  • look closely at the progress being made by different groups of pupils from their different starting points to sharpen their decisions about teaching and learning
  • use the information about pupils’ starting points more effectively in order to evaluate the impact of intervention strategies on improving pupils’ progress
  • strengthen the curriculum to ensure that it meets the needs, abilities and aspirations of all pupils
  • use the checks on the quality of teaching to evaluate pupils’ learning rather than focusing on the actions of the teacher
  • use accurate and reliable assessments to judge pupils’ progress.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that:
  • pupils, particularly boys, are routinely challenged by teachers in their learning and are set work that is carefully matched to their different abilities
  • teachers give pupils sufficient opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of what they are learning so that they become more confident in their knowledge, skills and understanding.
• Improve pupils’ outcomes by ensuring that:
  • boys, those pupils who have lower-ability starting points and those who have special educational needs and/or abilities make the same progress as their peers, particularly in English and mathematics
  • pupils make consistently good or better progress across the range of subjects that they study.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders have not ensured that the quality of teaching has been sufficiently effective to enable all pupils, including those from different groups, to make good or better progress in a wide range of subjects.
• Leaders and governors have not ensured that they understand the importance of using pupils’ different starting points when reviewing pupils’ progress. As a result, leaders are not gaining an accurate and deep understanding of the quality of teaching over time.
• When leaders check on the quality of teaching they typically focus on what the teacher is doing. This means that they are not evaluating what pupils are learning or the amount of progress pupils are making from their different starting points.
• Leaders have not ensured that teachers’ checks on pupils’ work are accurate. Leaders have sought support from outside the school to help them with this. However, it is still very much a ‘work in progress’. As a result, information on pupils’ progress is unreliable, for example in Year 9 English.
• Leaders have not ensured that the progress of pupils who are eligible for support from the pupil premium funding is measured from their different starting points. This means that leaders, including governors, are not evaluating the impact of additional government funding with sufficient rigour. Leaders do not regularly evaluate the impact of intervention strategies to improve pupils’ progress.
• The curriculum is not meeting the needs, interests and aspirations of all pupils. For example, leaders have decided that most-able pupils in Year 9 will study up to 12 GCSE or work-related courses. Leaders believe that gaining an additional qualification will be useful for pupils. Leaders were unable to explain how some of the courses will help pupils in preparation for the next steps in their education or how it provides effective continuity from what they learned in Years 7 and 8. The curriculum in design and technology is not enabling pupils to achieve well, particularly those in Year 9. Leaders are not developing pupils’ numeracy skills across the curriculum effectively.
• Leaders can account for the funding for special educational needs. The additional adults employed are well qualified and they have strong literacy and numeracy skills. In some cases, adults effectively help pupils, for example in questioning them to develop their understanding. The strong focus on supporting pupils in English has meant that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make less progress than their peers in mathematics.
• Leaders share a strong sense of ambition of what they want to achieve for pupils. Leaders have dealt admirably with many of the challenges in opening and staffing a new school.
• Pupils enjoy participating in the enrichment sessions that take place after school. There are over 60 different activities that include: German language; girls’ self-defence; ‘mad science’, and a range of sports and physical fitness activities. The enrichment sessions help pupils to develop their social skills through working with pupils from different ages and backgrounds.
• A small group of parents who met with an inspector were not happy with some aspects of the school’s work. However, most parents who replied to Parent View, Ofsted’s survey for parents, agree that their child is safe at the school and well cared for. Leaders use a wide range of opportunities to engage with parents and to help them understand the work of the school. Groups of pupils from different ages and backgrounds told inspectors that they felt safe in school and that staff treated pupils equally in all aspects of school life. However, leaders do not deal with complaints from parents in line with the school’s policy.
• Leaders ensure that pupils receive an effective spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. Pupils ‘give back’ to the community, for example recently helping to improve their local environment through the school’s work as part of the ‘Eco Schools’ initiative. The range of enrichment activities and opportunities for pupils to visit cities like Barcelona help pupils to develop their understanding of different cultures. As a result, pupils interact with each other well and treat each other equally. Pupils show that they have a secure understanding of modern British values, showing tolerance for different beliefs and attitudes.
• Leaders regularly survey staff to gain their views and they take action in response to the feedback received. As a result, in a relatively short period of time leaders have created a happy working environment. Staff who replied to the Ofsted questionnaire and those who spoke with inspectors all enjoy working at the school and value the training and development they receive. Teachers new to the profession feel well supported. They receive personalised, quality advice and guidance as they begin their careers.
• Leaders have ensured that ambitious targets are in place to manage the performance of teachers and leaders. Targets are linked effectively to pupil progress and whole-school priorities.

Governance of the school

• The governing body share the ambition of the leadership team and care deeply about the school. They challenge and support leaders to improve pupils’ outcomes.
• Governors visit the school regularly to see the school in action. This includes visiting classrooms and talking to both staff and pupils. They know the day-to-day life of the school well.
• Governors engage well in a variety of training opportunities including safeguarding, but they have not secured a detailed enough understanding of the progress pupils make from their different starting points. This means that while they have an understanding of pupils’ progress overall, they are not routinely challenging leaders on pupils’ progress from their different starting points. Consequently, they are not setting clear action points for leaders in order to secure further improvement. Although governors commissioned an external review of safeguarding, the clear checking of actions highlighted by the review has not been carried out.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Checks on the suitability of staff to work with pupils meet statutory requirements.
• Pupils have learned about a wide range of risks that may affect them. This includes female genital mutilation, extremism, domestic violence, child sexual exploitation and self-harm. Pupils who spoke to inspectors, and those who completed Ofsted’s questionnaire, feel safe and secure at the school. Pupils report that bullying is rare. Leaders carefully record any incidents that relate to bullying or discrimination, including racism and homophobia. The range and regularity of staff training, including on spotting signs of radicalisation, is impressive. Most parents who responded to Parent View feel that the school helps keep their child safe. Regular surveys of parents’ views by school leaders show that almost all parents agree that the school helps to keep their children safe and well cared for.
• However, although pupils are kept safe on a day-to-day basis, information that leaders hold on vulnerable pupils and actions they have taken are not collated in an organised way. This means that the ability to locate paperwork and to use it to help with making decisions about pupils’ welfare is slowed down. Leaders updated case files during the inspection to improve their organisation.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is too variable. Teachers do not typically give pupils work that is challenging and well suited to their different levels of ability. The lack of challenge is preventing pupils from developing a deep understanding of what they are learning. As a result, pupils are not making the rapid progress they are capable of.
• Some teachers have strong subject knowledge and use this to help plan engaging activities or to question pupils effectively. However, not all teachers ensure that teachers use activities that engage their interests. Pupils told inspectors that some of the strategies used by their teachers were not engaging enough.
• Teachers and additional adults who support pupils are not routinely insisting that pupils use accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation in their work. Boys are not confident in their writing. Some teachers do not notice when pupils make mistakes in their work or when pupils show weak understanding. Consequently, pupils are not securing sufficient depth to their knowledge, skills and understanding in different subject areas.
• Assessment is not effectively measuring what pupils can and cannot do relative to the age and stage of their education in all subjects. For example, in Year 9 English, assessment information is not accurate. As a result, leaders and teachers are not able to adapt their teaching precisely to help pupils develop their knowledge, skills and understanding.
• Staff have positive working relationships with pupils. Pupils have confidence to ask and answer questions. In a mathematics lesson pupils were working on corresponding and alternate angles; the methods used by the teacher helped pupils to thinking carefully and deeply about the concepts they were learning.
• Pupils value the regular advice they receive from their teachers to help them improve their work.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Boys’ attitudes to learning are not as positive as those of the girls. This is seen in the quality of their work as well as their engagement in day-to-day activities in lessons. Boys have not reached the level of personal development where they fully value their learning.
• Leaders have ensured that pupils have access to interesting guest speakers, visits to industry and career activities. This is helping them to learn effectively from and be inspired by people from the world of business. However, leaders have not planned a structured careers curriculum for pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9.
• Pupils are safe on day-to-day basis at the school. Leaders use a range of age-appropriate ways to ensure pupils know how to stay safe. This includes the range of speakers they ask to work with pupils. Pupils also know how to look after their physical and emotional well-being.
• Bullying is rare and any that does occur is dealt with effectively by adults. Leaders ensure that pupils from different backgrounds work well together. Pupils develop a secure understanding of different beliefs and cultures; for example, pupils from different backgrounds told inspectors how they have the opportunity to celebrate the independence day of different countries. In the words of one pupil, ‘we have the same opportunities as everyone’.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Boys’ behaviour is not as good as that of girls. Boys do not demonstrate sufficiently positive attitudes to learning. The quality and presentation of their work is not as good as that of the girls.
• Behaviour in the stairwells as pupils move from one floor to the next can be boisterous, particularly for boys.
• Leaders showed evidence that behaviour is improving. For example, governor minutes showed that the number of pupils removed from lessons during the autumn term was higher than previously. The number of removals from lessons fell sharply in the spring term. Pupils who spoke to inspectors and some of those who completed the Ofsted survey did not agree that behaviour was consistently good.
• The proportion of fixed-term exclusions has fallen over the last two years. From September 2016, only boys have received a fixed-term exclusion. The number of internal exclusions has fallen rapidly.
• Attendance is above the national average, both overall and for all groups of pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Pupils are typically polite and friendly. Inspectors were made to feel welcome; pupils opened doors and were keen to engage with the inspection team. Pupils wear their uniform with pride and present themselves well.
• The school uses the services of the local authority pupil referral unit when needed to deal with pupils exhibiting challenging behaviours. Leaders effectively monitor the pupil’s attendance and educational welfare of any pupil who attends it.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Progress across different subject areas and within subjects varies too widely. Assessment information shows that overall progress in English, mathematics and science is better than it is in other subjects such as languages, art and drama.
• Inspectors evaluated a wide range of learning from pupils’ books in a range of subjects. Evaluation of this work shows variability in the depth of knowledge, skills and understanding gained by pupils. For example, in English, girls’ writing and analytical skills are stronger than those of boys. In science, there is too much variability in the accuracy and depth of pupils’ knowledge. In design and technology, standards are too low.
• Assessment information for mathematics has been externally checked and is more accurate than in English. Leaders were able to generate information during the inspection on the progress made by pupils from their different starting points. For example, information on pupils’ progress in mathematics and scrutiny of work in books showed that lower-ability pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are making less progress than their peers. Middle- and higher-ability pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are making more rapid progress.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make less progress than their peers in English and mathematics, noticeably in Years 8 and 9. Teaching, including support from additional adults, is not ensuring that pupils become more confident in developing their writing and numeracy skills.
• Girls typically make stronger progress than boys in English.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language make progress in English and mathematics that is in line with their peers in the school. In mathematics, differences in their progress are small in Years 8 and 9, and in line with their peers in Year 7.
• Leaders have placed more emphasis on developing pupils’ literacy skills. Leaders acknowledge that the numeracy strategy is at a basic stage of development. Inspectors observed pupils completing numeracy activities in tutor time that were well below age-related expectations. As a result, pupils were not making the progress that they were capable of.
• Leaders have put in place a reading scheme to improve reading skills. Inspectors listened to pupils reading. Pupils are becoming more confident readers. Pupils’ oracy skills are more secure than their writing skills. Pupils, notably boys, are not securely confident in using accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141133 Tower Hamlets 10031675 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 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 302 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Dr Muzzammil Hussain Ashid Ali 020 7426 0746 http://www.londonenterpriseacademy.org/ info@londonenterpriseacadmey.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the impact of Year 7 catch-up funding from the previous year, the special educational needs information report and accessibility plan.
• The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish about its anti-bullying strategy and how the school is annually updating its public sector equality duty.
• All missing information other than the annual public equality duty update was placed on the school’s website during the inspection.
• The school opened as a free school in September 2014.
• The school is smaller than the average secondary school. The school has pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9. There are more boys than girls.
• The proportion of pupils who join and leave the school at different times of the year is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils having free school meals is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is in line with the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above the national average. Most pupils are of a Bangladeshi or Somalian background.
• Leaders make use of the off-site training at the Tower Hamlets Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), as required.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited lessons in a range of subjects. Some of these were undertaken jointly with school leaders. Inspectors also scrutinised a wide range of books, both during their visits to classrooms and in looking at pupils’ learning over time.
• Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders to evaluate the impact of their work. Meetings were also held with governors, newly qualified teachers, a small group of parents and different groups of pupils.
• Inspectors evaluated the results from Parent View, and from Ofsted’s pupil and staff surveys.
• Inspectors considered a variety of documentation provided by leaders, including: internal assessment information for pupils in all year groups; external reviews of the school’s work; leaders’ self-evaluation; the school improvement plan; minutes of governing body meetings; attendance and behaviour information; case studies; school surveys of pupils, staff and parents; 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 Vikram Gukhool Gerard Strong

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector