Burnside Business and Enterprise College Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve rates of attendance for all, especially disadvantaged pupils, by working with and challenging parents and families of those pupils at risk of not attending.
• Improve the quality of teaching and learning so that pupils’ progress improves rapidly by:
  • making sure that all teachers make regular checks on pupils’ progress
  • ensuring that teachers are effective in helping pupils to understand exactly what they are doing well and precisely how they can improve their work
  • raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve
  • ensuring that teachers’ questioning skills are of a consistently high quality.
• Improve the quality of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that leaders at all levels measure the impact of their work against national expectations and standards
  • ensuring that all middle leaders are equipped with the skills to effectively monitor their departments and hold teachers more effectively to account for the performance of their pupils
  • providing more effective interventions and support for underperforming staff
  • ensuring that the pupil premium funding is used effectively to improve the progress and behaviour of disadvantaged pupils.
• Improve pupils’, especially boys’, attitudes to learning by monitoring the use of the rewards and sanctions system and its impact on improved behaviour and learning more rigorously.
• Improve the quality of the work of the governing body further by sharpening their level of challenge and building on the support they currently offer to the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Over time, leaders have not ensured that all groups of pupils achieve well, that the quality of teaching is consistently good across the school and that personal development, behaviour and welfare are good.
• Until recently, senior leaders and middle leaders have not been thorough in checking the quality of teaching and pupils’ work. Over time, they have not ensured that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has enabled pupils to make good progress.
• Extra funding for disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium is not effectively used, nor the quality of impact robustly monitored. Some leaders are unaware of this funding and how it is deployed.
• The recently appointed headteacher has a strong strategic overview of the needs of the school. He has taken swift and decisive action to implement new policies which have higher expectations of his teachers and fellow leaders.
• The headteacher has restructured the school’s senior leadership team, which mainly comprises newly appointed members of staff who share his vision for the school. There is evidence that leaders are beginning to strengthen teaching in a number of subjects, such as English, history and geography. This requires further improvement because the quality of teaching and learning is still variable in these subjects and across the curriculum.
• Leaders have worked with representatives of the local authority to jointly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of a number of departments and to provide support in addressing the areas for improvement identified. There is some evidence of the impact of these interventions in the early signs of improvement in the quality of teaching and learning in some subjects and pupils making improved progress.
• Leaders’ increased ambition for pupils is demonstrated by their recent revisions to the curriculum. This now caters more effectively for the majority of pupils, who join the school with levels of achievement placing them as most-able and of middle ability in relation to their peers nationally. More pupils now follow academic courses at GCSE level, such as single sciences (which were not previously available), humanities and languages, increasing their options for further study.
• There is effective provision to support pupils’ understanding of democracy, tolerance and respect, and extremism, which is part of the personal, social and health education curriculum. This incorporates a range of external speakers and links to other organisations, including a school in Kenya recently visited by sixth-form students from the school.
• Careers guidance is comprehensive and provided to pupils throughout the school. It includes links with businesses across a range of sectors and prepares pupils well for the world of work.
• Year 7 catch-up funding for those pupils entering secondary school with below-average standards in English and mathematics is used well and is effectively monitored. The reading ages of targeted pupils have increased, along with levels of numeracy.
• Leaders are spending the additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities effectively. Support for these pupils is well planned and improving their attendance, behaviour and progress.

Governance of the school

• Governors know the strengths and areas for development of the school well. They have been involved in the recruitment of all new staff to the school since the appointment of the current headteacher.
• Governors have not been sharp enough in holding leaders fully to account and challenging them about the performance and attendance of key groups of pupils, especially those who are disadvantaged. Recent actions have helped them to strengthen this element of their work.
• Governors are now clear about the quality of teaching and learning in the school and those subjects which require improvement. They understand and support the measures implemented by the headteacher and are clear about the improvements made and what needs to be done to improve further.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and governors ensure that all staff are appropriately trained and that effective systems are in place to take any action required. All adults on-site are appropriately checked and suitable to work with children.
• The school works effectively with external agencies and parents to ensure that it keeps children safe. The school’s record-keeping is extremely thorough and diligently maintained.
• Leaders respond to any concerns raised in a timely and effective manner. This contributes to a clear ethos across the school that the safety of pupils is a high priority. Pupils are safe and feel safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is not consistently good across the school. In different departments, and within them, teaching is variable and requires improvement.
• Teachers’ expectations of what their pupils are capable of are too low and they do not always provide work that challenges them to learn effectively, especially middle-ability pupils and the most able. As a result, pupils’ progress is not consistently good. There are examples of strong teaching with high expectations which lead to good progress, such as in English, geography and German, but this is not typical.
• Some teachers use assessment accurately and effectively to identify pupils’ mistakes and challenge any misconceptions. However, this is not consistent across the school and this has slowed pupils’ progress.
• Some teachers use the recently introduced assessment system well and use the targets set for pupils to focus their teaching and ensure that their pupils make appropriate progress. However, this strong practice is variable and, in some subjects, pupils do not know or understand their targets and how to improve their work in order to achieve them.
• Some teachers use the behaviour and rewards system well to promote effective learning in lessons but this is variable across the school. The poor behaviour of some pupils disrupts their own learning and that of others and limits the progress made.
• Pupils’ work shows that some make good progress over time but this is a variable picture across all subjects. Overall, pupils’ short written responses often lack depth of understanding. Leaders are aware of this and teachers are beginning to raise their expectations, especially when preparing their pupils for examinations which require longer, more-detailed answers.
• Some teachers use skilful questioning to promote deeper thought and elicit answers that are used to move the learning of the class forward. However, other teachers do not use questioning well and accept short answers. As a result, some pupils do not make good progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Pupils often lack self-confidence when tackling their learning. They do not focus on their work and persist with challenging tasks. Some pupils, particularly boys, do not contribute fully to their learning and behave in ways that limit their own progress and that of others.
• Some of those pupils spoken to report that they feel safe in school but some do not enjoy school or their learning.
• Leaders have implemented a comprehensive personal, social, community and health education curriculum (PSCHE), which is effectively monitored and evaluated and is valued by pupils. Recently, some pupils expressed concerns over mental health issues and these were addressed by leaders by incorporating learning about this in the PSCHE curriculum.
• Most pupils are punctual to school. However, a significant minority arrive late to school and this does not prepare them well for the day’s learning.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• An above-average proportion of disadvantaged pupils are regularly absent from school. Persistent absenteeism for this group is slightly improving in Years 7 and 8, with improvements in rates of attendance for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Leaders realise that further work has to be done to improve attendance for these and all groups, especially in Years 10 and 11.
• The behaviour policy has a clear system of rewards and sanctions but teachers across the school do not use this consistently. Some pupils said that teachers used the system in different ways and inspectors also observed this in the lessons visited.
• Pupils’ behaviour around the site is generally well ordered but a small number of pupils, mainly boys, can show a lack of respect towards their peers and adults.
• Pupils’ behaviour varies in response to the quality of teaching which they experience. Sometimes pupils, when not effectively challenged to learn, do not pay attention in class and can disrupt others’ learning.
• Over time, there has been a reduction in the number of exclusions from the school but they have remained proportionally high for certain groups of pupils. Recently, fewer pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities have been excluded but disadvantaged pupils are still excluded more than their peers.
• The school checks the attendance, behaviour and progress of those pupils attending off-site provision for part of their education. Regular feedback on these pupils feeds into the school’s monitoring of progress and reports to parents.
• Pupils know how to stay safe and to report any form of bullying, including any experienced online.
• Some parents and staff indicated some concerns regarding how consistently leaders manage behaviour. Leaders are beginning to monitor and evaluate information about behaviour but this is an area for further development.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils are not making good progress across the school because they are not being challenged consistently and effectively by the work set for them by their teachers.
• Over time, the results for pupils leaving the school at the end of Year 11 show pupils’ outcomes to be weak across a wide range of subjects, in particular for middle-ability and most-able pupils. Some teaching in some subjects has recently improved but this is not the case for all subjects and all teachers.
• Overall, middle-ability and most-able pupils are not sufficiently challenged by the work set for them. However, this is an improving picture in a number of subjects.
• Inspectors evaluated a significant amount of pupils’ work in lessons and through a comprehensive work sample. They found that there are clear signs of improvement in some subjects, such as English, mathematics and humanities in key stage 3.
• The headteacher has implemented a new system to track the progress of all pupils in all subjects and set targets for them. It is too early to evaluate the impact of this on pupils’ progress.
• Over time, outcomes for disadvantaged pupils have been well below those achieved by their peers nationally. The school’s assessment information indicates some improvement in key stage 3 and key stage 4 but it is still below that of their peers within the school and nationally, based on the latest published figures.
• The SEN and/or disabilities coordinator has introduced a number of initiatives to target the needs of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. These are beginning to bear fruit, with some improvements in the progress of this group.
• Pupils eligible for Year 7 catch-up funding are well supported and are making better progress in English and mathematics.
• Those pupils attending educational provision at another provider are making slower rates of progress than their peers.

16 to 19 study programmes Good

• The provision in the sixth form is stronger than in the rest of the school. Students are well motivated and ambitious and they work hard individually and in small groups. Teachers support students’ progress by asking suitably challenging questions.
• Nationally published information indicates that students make at least as much progress as their peers nationally. Students’ progress is equally clear in the work scrutinised by inspectors and in the lessons observed.
• Over time, progress has been especially strong in vocational subjects and progress in academic subjects has improved recently, particularly in psychology, physics and history. Disadvantaged students achieved as well as their peers nationally in vocational subjects. Outcomes for the sixth form are strong.
• Those students spoken to were positive about joining the sixth form and spoke positively about the support that they receive and the culture of high expectation and challenge that they experience.
• The vast majority of students continue their studies to the end of Year 13. Careers information and guidance are strong and lead to an increasing number of students entering higher education, including some of the top-performing universities. Over time, nearly all leavers go on to appropriate further education, training or employment.
• The sixth-form leader monitors the effectiveness of teaching, learning and students’ progress effectively. He has established a culture of high expectations which has led to students’ good progress in most vocational and academic subjects.
• A strong programme of personal, social and health education prepares students well for life in modern Britain. Students have a positive approach to study and their behaviour and relationships with adults and each other are good.

School details

Unique reference number 108640 Local authority North Tyneside Inspection number 10037746 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary comprehensive School category Maintained 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 1,103 Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes 132 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair George Mitchell Headteacher Daniel Jamieson Telephone number 0191 259 8500 Website www.burnsidecollege.org.uk Email address office@burnsidecollege.org.uk Date of previous inspection 23–24 October 2013

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about a detailed review of the pupil premium strategy and its impact on improving the attendance and progress of disadvantaged pupils. It does not include an evaluation of the impact of Year 7 catch-up funding on improving outcomes in English and mathematics for those pupils entering the school with abilities below national expectations in those subjects.
• Eight pupils attend alternative provision at Moorbridge, a pupil referral unit run by the local authority for pupils in key stage 3. Four pupils attend PALS, a pupil referral unit run by the local authority for pupils in key stage 4.
• Very few pupils are from minority ethnic groups and even fewer speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above the national average by more than 10%.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, who have a support plan, is below the national average. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, who have an education, health and care plan, is above the national average.
• There has been a change of headteacher since the last inspection.
• The school met the current floor standards in 2016. These are the minimum expectations of pupils’ achievement in English and mathematics set by the government.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited parts of 37 lessons across most subject areas. Many of these visits took place with school leaders.
• Inspectors discussed what it is like to be a young person at the school. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour around the school, including between lessons, at breaktime and at lunchtime.
• Discussions took place with the headteacher, other senior leaders, subject leaders and newly qualified teachers. Discussions took place with the chair of governors, three other governors and two representatives from the local authority.
• Inspectors took into account 40 responses to the parent online survey, Parent View, 58 responses to the staff survey and five responses to the pupil questionnaire.
• Inspectors examined documents, including development plans, governing body minutes, performance management information and information about pupils’ achievement.
• Records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding were scrutinised.

Inspection team

Mike Tull, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Sara Roe Ofsted Inspector Tim Johnson Ofsted Inspector Mary Lanovy-Taylor Ofsted Inspector Malcolm Kirtley Her Majesty’s Inspector Angela White Ofsted Inspector