Heaton Manor School Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Urgently improve leadership and management in both the main school and sixth form, by:
  • reviewing senior leadership roles and responsibilities so that they align tightly to the school’s priorities
  • providing consistent support and challenge for faculty leaders so that they are held to account for the quality of teaching in their areas of responsibility
  • providing better training for teachers, particularly with regard to improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils
  • strengthening the management of teachers’ performance
  • more frequently monitoring the quality of teaching and learning and its impact on
  • the progress of different groups of pupils, including learners in the sixth form thoroughly evaluating the impact of the pupil premium and catch-up funding for literacy and numeracy
  • ensuring governors more systematically track the school’s performance against agreed performance indicators.
• Urgently improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in order to secure more rapid progress, by:
  • matching learning activities more precisely to pupils’ starting points
  • ensuring teachers consistently challenge errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar
  • ensuring assessment information is sufficiently reliable and accurate so that good-quality additional support can be quickly provided to pupils that fall behind.
• Improve pupils’ behaviour and attendance by:
  • ensuring all members of staff apply the behaviour management policy consistently
  • providing better support to develop effective behaviour management strategies for
  • those teachers that need it focusing efforts more sharply on improving attendance for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken, in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Since the previous inspection, senior leaders have been unable to prevent a decline in standards. The poor outcomes in 2015 confirmed the concerns of governors, who had begun to challenge the effectiveness of leaders more robustly. Since then, a number of senior and middle leaders have left the school. While some good appointments have been made, further re-modelling and restructuring is required in order to create the capacity to lead and manage improvements. In the interim, some key aspects of leadership are ineffective.
• The leadership of teaching, learning and assessment is weak. Faculty leaders, of which several are new to the school, lack clear strategic guidance from senior leaders and are unsure how to support colleagues. The management of teachers’ performance and the training provided for them has been weak. Furthermore, leaders have not made frequent enough checks on the quality of teaching and learning. As a result, too much variability in the quality of teaching has been allowed to persist. The governors and headteacher are increasingly reliant on the support and challenge of external consultants to review and improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.
• Leaders have made ineffective use of the pupil premium. Over time, the impact of this additional funding has not been evaluated sufficiently and leaders are not clear why outcomes for disadvantaged pupils continue to be significantly below those of other pupils in the school and nationally. The guidance they have provided to teachers has been weak and, consequently, classroom strategies to narrow gaps in attainment are underdeveloped. Governors have stepped up their challenge and a new pupil premium plan is in the process of being prepared. Although inspectors observed some engaging teaching for pupils that need to catch up in English and mathematics, leaders do not sharply evaluate the impact of additional literacy and numeracy catch-up funding.
• The turbulence at senior leadership level has caused individual roles to become unclear and responsibilities are being carried disproportionately. The line management of middle leaders has chopped and changed too regularly to become established and effective. Currently, the headteacher herself is trying to line manage several faculties where outcomes need to improve the most. However, faculty leaders feel somewhat detached from senior leadership and are not receiving enough strategic direction to guide their work.
• Newly qualified teachers should not be appointed.
• Leaders and governors demonstrate a strong commitment to inclusion and diversity. The increasing numbers of pupils who speak English as a second language integrate into the life of the school quickly. Pupils are helped to understand the risk of radicalisation and positive attitudes of respect and tolerance are modelled well by members of staff. The promotion of pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is a relative strength of the school.
• The curriculum offers breadth, balance and the opportunity for many to follow the English baccalaureate at key stage 4. There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities that match pupils’ interests well. However, the curriculum does not meet the academic needs of pupils well enough, as too few attain good GCSE qualifications in English and mathematics. Around a third of pupils in last year’s GCSE cohort entered the school with levels of attainment above the expected standard, but few went on to attain GCSE A* to A grades in English, mathematics, languages or humanities. New programmes of work are now being delivered, but the impact of these on pupils’ progress is yet to be seen.
• Special educational needs funding is used more effectively and work to support pupils through the pastoral system and school’s well-being centre is well coordinated.

Governance of the school

• The governing body has not acted decisively enough to stem a decline in outcomes. Although there was evidence as early as 2014 that pupils were not making enough progress in some subjects, it was not until the Easter of 2015 that action started to be taken. Governors accept that they still have a number of crucial appointments to make before leadership and management has the capacity to rapidly address pressing priorities.
• Although governors have challenged, they have not always got the answers they have sought. A lack of tight performance indicators has meant they have not been able to hold leaders robustly to account. For example, the headteacher’s performance management objectives have not been rigorous enough in the past.
• Governors are frustrated by the lack of impact from the pupil premium. They have required senior leaders to look again at how it is spent. Governors need to put in place more regular checks on the impact the funding is having on the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and governors have recently reviewed safeguarding provision to ensure that statutory requirements are met. Policies and procedures have been updated in line with the most recent guidance and members of staff are well trained. There are good systems in place to protect pupils, and safeguarding leaders and pastoral staff actively involve parents and external agencies in their decisions. Leaders act swiftly to safeguard pupils when concerns arise, demonstrating the expertise and vigilance that is typical within the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

• Over time, the quality of teaching in a broad range of subjects including English and mathematics has not supported strong enough learning and progress.
• A considerable number of changes to senior and middle leadership roles has meant teachers have not been provided with effective guidance or training. This, together with ineffective systems to check on the quality of teaching, has allowed a culture of low expectations to develop. For example, many pupils are provided with tasks that fail to challenge them and only sporadically receive homework.
• Leaders are using a number of external consultants to review and support the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, which is having a positive impact in some faculties. However, the lack of regular and rigorous checks on teaching has allowed considerable variability to develop both within and across subjects. Some teachers make good use of assessment information to inform their planning, but others do not. This results in too much repetition and recapping of learning which fails to build on what pupils already know, understand and can do.
• Although most teachers are trying hard to make lessons interesting and engaging, some teachers do not expect enough of pupils. They allow incomplete work and errors in pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar to go unchallenged. Inspectors visited many lessons where the work provided was the same for pupils of different abilities, meaning it was too easy for some and too difficult for others.
• The low level of challenge in some lessons results in some pupils becoming uninterested and a distraction to others. Most teachers use the school’s behaviour system of rewards and sanctions to manage this effectively, but some teachers do not and told inspectors they feel they need better support to manage behaviour in the classroom.
• The quality of additional teaching for pupils that need to catch up in English and mathematics is more effective. In these lessons, often delivered to smaller groups of pupils, the teaching is more sharply focused on addressing the gaps in their knowledge, skills and understanding. As a result, pupils participate enthusiastically and enjoy the lessons.
• A new assessment system in line with new qualifications was introduced in September. The methodology used in English and science is out of step with that being used elsewhere across the school, which some parents have found confusing. Faculty leaders are taking steps to ensure assessment information gathered under the new system is reliable; however, the most recent assessment information shows considerable variation across subjects. Consequently, some pupils that fall behind are not being helped to catch up. Securing accurate assessment information which provides the basis for targeting additional support is a key priority for the school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• When teaching is interesting and engaging many pupils are keen to participate in lessons. They respond well when lessons provide opportunities to discuss and debate new ideas.
• The citizenship programme is well planned and delivered. Across years 7 to 11 all pupils receive teaching that helps them to understand risk and keep themselves safe. Sensitive subjects, such as sexting, female genital mutilation and prejudiced-based bullying, are tackled head-on.
• Pupils say there is little bullying in the school and they have confidence that teachers and pastoral leaders will deal with it decisively when it does occur.
• The flexi-school approach provides good support and counselling for pupils with mental health concerns. The parents of more vulnerable pupils are pleased with the tailored and caring nature of support provided to help their children cope at school.
• Pupils receive good and impartial careers guidance. Regular discussion about possible routes at the end of key stage 4 and the sixth form has helped to reduce the number of pupils that drop out of education, employment or training. All pupils in key stage 4 are offered work experience and stringent efforts are made to ensure this is meaningful and relevant.
• Work to facilitate a smooth transition from feeder primary schools is well developed. The development of the Ouseburn trust, a partnership between Heaton Manor School and other local primary schools, has strengthened transition work and is beginning to bring greater continuity of learning between the different phases of education.
• The school makes appropriate checks on the attendance and personal development of pupils that attend alternative provision.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Over time, behaviour has been variable and there continues to be some negative attitudes and disruption to learning, when teaching fails to motivate and challenge pupils sufficiently. Some younger pupils told inspectors that too many of their lessons are disrupted by poor behaviour.
• Most teachers apply the school’s behaviour management system consistently, although some members of staff lack confidence in the policy, feeling it does not do enough to tackle the small minority of pupils that present more challenging behaviour.
• On the whole, most pupils are punctual at the start of the day and move promptly to lessons. There is some occasional boisterous behaviour in corridors but staff provide good supervision and ensure it is quickly challenged.
• Levels of overall attendance in the school have improved to be slightly above the national average because of some well-targeted work by attendance leaders. However, this picture masks the poorer attendance of particular groups, especially disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The attendance of these groups has not improved in line with that of other pupils and is well below that of other pupils nationally. In addition, these pupils are much more likely to be regularly absent from school.

Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

• Outcomes at the end of key stage 4 have declined since the school was last inspected.
• Pupils enter the school with levels of attainment that are in line with the national average. In recent years they have made significantly less progress than should be expected across a broad range of subjects, including English and mathematics. Although there was some improvement in English outcomes in 2016, the progress pupils made overall continued to be significantly below expectation. Consequently, levels of attainment at the end of key stage 4 were below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils that attained a GCSE grade C or above in both English and mathematics was well below the national average. In particular, only around half of the pupils that attained the expected standard in English and mathematics at the end of primary school went on to attain a GCSE grade C or better in both English and mathematics by the end of key stage 4.
• The progress being made by pupils currently in the school shows few signs of improvement because the expectations of teachers are too low and too much teaching fails to meet pupils’ needs.
• The progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils, who make up over a third of the school’s population, is a particular concern. The progress they made has been significantly below expectations since the school was last inspected and has become progressively worse over time. The progress made by disadvantaged pupils that enter the school with higher levels of attainment was in the bottom 10% of schools nationally for English in 2016. Children looked after by the local authority, who are also in receipt of pupil premium funding, also make poor progress.
• The most able pupils are not stretched or challenged sufficiently and consequently do not make the progress they should. Teachers’ planning does not take sufficient account of pupils’ differing starting points.
• Many pupils take pride in their work but continue to make errors with spelling, punctuation and grammar because it is not consistently identified and corrected when work is marked. More rigorous guidance is helping to improve the quality of written work produced during English lessons, but not enough is done to develop good-quality writing in other subjects.
• Outcomes for pupils that attend alternative provision have been poor in the past. Pupils currently in alternative provision are making better progress because the school makes regular checks to ensure they receive an appropriate curriculum and attend well.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make the progress expected of them because they receive good support and teaching which is carefully tailored to meet their particular needs.
• Pupils with hearing impairments receive good support which allows most of them to access mainstream lessons fully.
• Although far too many pupils finish key stage 4 without a good GCSE qualification in English and mathematics, good careers guidance and pastoral support has helped an increasing proportion to secure a suitable destination. In 2016, all pupils that left year 11 found a place in the sixth form or other further education provider, or entered employment or training.

16 to 19 study programmes Require improvement

• Outcomes in the sixth form require improvement because they are no better than average. Over time, some groups of learners have made significantly less progress on academic courses than they should. For example, in 2015 the progress made by girls and disadvantaged learners was significantly less than it should have been. Some effective work by sixth form leaders has reduced the variability between subjects and, in the most recent examinations, all subjects delivered rates of progress that were in line with those seen nationally.
• Sharper leadership of the sixth form is required to ensure that inequalities in outcomes between different groups of learners do not re-occur. Currently, the progress made by different groups is not evaluated systematically enough.
• Leaders have monitored the quality of teaching on 16–19 study programmes more rigorously. As a result, they have provided clearer guidance and feedback on strategies to improve the quality of teaching and learning. In most lessons visited by inspectors, teaching was engaging and learners participated with interest.
• Leaders have ensured that the sixth form complies with the requirements of 16–19 study programmes. All learners have individual study plans and the progress is reviewed regularly. Although not all learners on academic courses undertake work experience, there are some innovative approaches being used to introduce learners to work-related learning. Learners’ personal development and welfare is promoted effectively and information, advice and guidance about their next steps is highly valued.
• Relatively few learners fail to progress from Year 12 into Year 13, although leaders do not track tightly enough which groups of learners are more likely to drop out from their study programme.
• Learners in the sixth form who did not secure a GCSE grade C or higher in English or mathematics receive further teaching which addresses the gaps in their knowledge effectively. A high proportion of them successfully re-sit the examination and improve their grade, with many attaining a GCSE grade C or better.

School details

Unique reference number 108531 Local authority Newcastle-upon-Tyne Inspection number 10019381 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 Secondary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Number of pupils on the school roll Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Foundation 11 to 18 Mixed Mixed 1920 450 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Shirley Mills Lynne Ackland 0191 281 8486 http://www.heatonmanor.net/ lackland@heatonmanor.net Date of previous inspection 15–16 October 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Heaton Manor School is much larger than the average secondary school.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as a second language is also above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor targets, which are the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of key stage 4.
• The school has specially resourced provision for up to 12 pupils with hearing impairments. Currently, there are 11 pupils placed in the provision.
• Fifteen pupils attend alternative provision at the Newcastle Bridges Hospital School. In addition, two pupils attend Nacro, a registered vocational education provider, on a part-time basis.
• The on-site provision for childcare, Heaton Manor Pre-School, is subject to a separate inspection and the report is posted on the Ofsted website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited lessons across all year groups and the sixth form. A number of observations were undertaken jointly with senior leaders. During observations, inspectors sampled pupils’ books and talked to pupils in order to evaluate the quality of their current work. In addition inspectors scrutinised in detail a sample of work from pupils in both key stages 3 and 4.
• Inspectors visited the school’s provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those pupils that attend the local authority provision for pupils with hearing impairments.
• Inspectors also observed the general climate around the school at social times.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, other senior leaders, a group of teachers, a group of faculty leaders and groups of pupils from key stages 3 and 4. Further meetings were held with the chair of the governing body and three other governors, the school’s challenge partner and a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents including the school’s self-evaluation and raising achievement plans, policies, assessment information and records of checks on the quality of teaching. Inspectors looked at records of attendance and behaviour, minutes of governing body meetings and safeguarding information.
• Inspectors took account of the 77 responses to the online survey, Parent View, the 67 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and the 19 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

Inspection team

Chris Smith, lead inspector John Downs Tudor Griffiths Lee Elliott Paul Welford Joanne Suddes Kate Lounds Joan Hewitt Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector