Eden Boys' School Bolton Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further enhance the curriculum in mathematics so that all pupils, but particularly the least able pupils in Years 7 and 8, develop fluency and have more opportunities to solve problems.
• Continue to monitor teaching, learning and assessment closely as the school grows and the number of teachers increase so that teaching is consistently effective and good practice becomes embedded.
• Continue to support subject and other middle leaders, especially those who are new to their role, through providing opportunity for them to develop their leadership skills and to learn from the best.
• Quickly implement leaders’ plans to introduce further opportunities for pupils to develop creatively, including in art and music, and to learn skills for independent living, such as food preparation.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders have built a learning community in which everyone strives for, and delivers, excellence. As a result, pupils experience the best standard of education and care possible.
• Pupils’ achievements are outstanding. All staff, teaching and non-teaching, understand the importance of their role in ensuring that pupils feel safe and happy, ready and willing to tackle the challenges expertly provided by their teachers.
• Consistent and coherent standard operating procedures, used across all schools in the trust, are skilfully adapted by leaders to meet the needs of pupils in this school. Leaders know these procedures work because they see the impact in other trust schools, for example the use of aspirational targets to motivate pupils and to raise attainment.
• Leaders know the strengths of the school very well and are accurate in their views on where there is further work to do. Self-evaluation is quality assured through independent external evaluations of the school’s work and used well to inform priorities for improvement.
• Personalised support for all is a key strength and feature of this school. Every pupil matters to leaders, irrespective of their background. All pupils are very carefully monitored and well planned, bespoke help is provided as soon as pupils need it. As a result, very few pupils make less than the exceptional progress that is expected of them.
• Pupil premium funding is used to good effect. The largest proportion of the funding is spent on providing personalised support for disadvantaged pupils in literacy and numeracy. This is delivered through after-school classes which are well attended by pupils. Funding is also used to pay for enrichment activities, reward trips and mentoring for these pupils. As a result of this well-targeted additional help, pupils achieve at least as well as others in the school, and they have good attendance and behaviour.
• Very few pupils are eligible for the Year 7 catch-up funding because pupils’ attainment is typically high on entry. Funding is used to buy additional resources to improve pupils’ reading and to fill gaps in their learning of mathematics. Pupils particularly enjoy using the reading programme and their reading ages improve rapidly as a result.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are cared for exceptionally well. They enjoy school and feel very safe here, reflected in their good attendance, which is above that of their classmates. Leaders use the additional funding for these pupils well to ensure that teaching assistants have a very good understanding of pupils’ needs and know how to remove potential barriers to their learning. As a result, pupils make similarly strong progress to that of their classmates in all subjects.
• Leaders include all staff in performance management, including newly qualified teachers and non-teaching staff, so that all staff are monitored with equal rigour. Leaders set challenging targets for individuals to support the achievement of whole-school targets. Consequently, staff understand their role in contributing towards the school’s success. Some staff find the school’s high aspirations too challenging and choose to leave.
• Teachers benefit from high-quality support, provided through the family of schools in the trust, valued by teachers and largely tailored to their individual needs. Teachers work alongside more-experienced colleagues from other schools as they hone their teaching skills. Aspiring leaders work towards leadership qualifications and well-qualified teaching assistants train to become teachers. This is in addition to other training, including in safeguarding, assessment and improving questioning skills.
• Parents have overwhelmingly positive views of the school. They told inspectors how quickly their children had settled into the school and were very pleased with the progress made since they started. Parents greatly appreciate seeing the headteacher and other senior leaders outside the school, at the start and end of the school day, ‘whatever the weather’. Parents are confident that their children are well cared for here.
• Pupils settle into the school quickly because leaders plan and deliver an effective transition programme. This includes a summer school for all pupils starting in Year 7 and a separate day for pupils joining the school in other year groups. Parents attend with their children, which establishes strong relationships from the outset.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural opportunities and learning about fundamental British values are well planned across the curriculum. Subject leaders include these aspects within their teaching plans which help pupils to understand the purpose of learning. For example, Year 7 pupils learn about people in different societies, cultural diversity and tolerance in their geography lessons.
• The academic curriculum, with a focus on the English Baccalaureate, meets the needs of these typically high-attaining pupils exceptionally well. However, there are few opportunities for pupils to learn about creativity such as through art and music. Leaders are aware of this gap and have recently appointed an art teacher to provide additional breadth to pupils’ artistic experiences.
• Pupils are taught about financial planning and business and enterprise but are unable to learn about food studies, a concern expressed by a parent. Independent living skills need further development and leaders have plans to fill this gap with support from local colleges and restaurants.
• Subject leaders and other middle leaders talk passionately about their area of responsibility. They are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about checks on pupils’ learning and they demonstrate excellent subject and curriculum knowledge. A few subject leaders have only recently been appointed and therefore their leadership skills do not yet match the excellent standard typically seen of other middle leaders in the school.
• The few cases of variability in the quality of teaching are typically linked to teachers at the very early stage of their career. Leaders are aware of the challenges ahead to ensure consistency in the quality of teaching as the number of teachers gradually increases, within subject areas and across the school.

Governance of the school

• Governors are knowledgeable, skilled and have the necessary experience to rigorously hold leaders to account. They demonstrate passion and an unwavering commitment to their mission to create a school where pupils become exemplary citizens through a curriculum based on faith, educational excellence and community service.
• Governors are ‘outward-looking’, readily seeking, and acting on, the views of independent external advisers. Such highly effective practice ensures that where provision does not meet leaders’ high expectations, these concerns are quickly brought to their attention and are tackled swiftly.
• Governors’ records of meetings show clear evidence of where governors have challenged leaders to justify their evaluations and to provide further evidence to support their views, followed up, where necessary, at subsequent meetings.
• Governors check that they receive value for money from additional funding provided to the school. Their priority is to ensure that no pupil misses out on further help if it is needed. They use the budget carefully to target additional support for individuals, if needed.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pre-employment checks, carried out on all staff, are rigorous and information held in staff files is sufficiently detailed and held securely. Leaders are committed to the safe protection of information they hold on staff and pupils. They work well with parents and other stakeholders to make sure that all pupils are well supported and kept safe.
• Staff receive regular training to make sure that everyone understands their responsibility to keep pupils safe. Regular ‘refreshers’ or training updates are provided and repeat sessions are organised immediately after any new staff join the school.
• Staff are trained in safeguarding to an appropriate level according to their role in school, with the designated leader of safeguarding trained to the highest level. All staff are confident in knowing what to do if they have any concerns about a pupil, including signs of extremist or radical views.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching, learning and assessment are outstanding so pupils make exceptional progress in all their subjects. Teachers have a deep understanding of the subjects they teach. As a result, they teach the knowledge and skills pupils need to reach the aspirational targets set for them.
• Teachers plan work for pupils which is interesting as well as challenging. As a result, pupils are highly engaged and attentive. They are keen to improve their understanding and reach their targets, encouraged through teachers’ use of ‘STAR’ and achievement points, which pupils appreciate.
• Leaders use the feedback available on key stage 2 tests to identify gaps in learning before pupils start in the school. Teachers are ready to provide further support or explanation to fill these gaps. They skilfully use assessment to check on pupils’ understanding as work continues.
• Inspectors saw the impact of recent training for staff on improving questioning. This was evidenced through teachers’ confident use of open questions to challenge pupils to think harder about their work and to explain their thinking. Teachers support pupils’ development of oracy skills (the ability to express oneself fluently and grammatically in speech) well through their questioning, which in turn helps to improve pupils’ reasoning skills in mathematics, for example.
• Teachers listen carefully to pupils’ responses in lessons and they provide accurate and helpful guidance on how to improve the quality of pupils’ answers further. This culture of learning is evident in pupils’ written work, where they readily respond to the additional challenges provided by teachers in their marking.
• Pupils have many opportunities to write extended pieces of work across all subjects, not just in their English lessons. Checks on the small number of least-able pupils’ work in Year 8 found that pupils are regularly asked to write essays in science with clear explanations of scientific processes.
• Teachers are determined for pupils to do well. They identify when pupils slip behind their aspirational targets and provide additional support to help pupils to catch up. Intervention lessons are provided every day after school, which are well attended by pupils who want to improve their work.
• Teaching assistants work exceptionally well with pupils. They have a good understanding of pupils’ difficulties and provide precise and effective help for pupils. This includes for those who are new arrivals to the country and for those who speak very little English. As a result, all pupils are fully included in lessons.
• Pupils are proud of their work, evident in the excellent presentation of work in books. Diagrams are drawn neatly in pencil, using a ruler where necessary. Pupils try their best to improve their spelling, punctuation and grammar through consistently strong support from all teachers. The weekly literacy focus provides a useful area for pupils to tackle each week, which serves as a constant reminder to consolidate their skills.
• Pupils are confident in using and applying their mathematics skills to other subjects, for example in science, where pupils correctly use formula triangles to calculate and solve equations. Opportunities are few for the least able pupils in Years 7 and 8 to take accurate measurements, present tables, draw graphs and make scientific connections, but these skills are developed well in Years 9 and 10.
• Pupils demonstrate resilience and commitment towards their studies. In mathematics, for example, pupils diligently work through the large number of questions set by teachers. This consolidates learning well for many pupils, but sometimes others are ready to move to deeper understanding sooner than teachers have planned.
• Problem-solving in mathematics requires further refinement to help pupils to develop the skills they need for the new GCSE in this subject. On occasions, and especially for the least able pupils in Years 7 and 8, a few teachers focus problem-solving on questions written in words or applied to everyday life rather than extending to challenge pupils to think harder about the best way to start a question or alternative strategies they could use.
• Some teachers are still developing their teaching skills because they are at the early stages of their teaching career. Their practice is developing through the highly effective support they receive from teachers in the school and other schools in the trust.

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 consistently demonstrate the school’s ‘STAR’ values: Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect.
• Pupils demonstrate empathy with those less fortunate than themselves through the many opportunities available for community service and helping others. Pupils run a weekly foodbank to provide food parcels to the local community. They have raised money for many charities including Children in Need, the Cumbria Floods Appeal, Sport Relief, Shelter and the Poppy Appeal.
• Pupils’ leadership development is given a high priority and this ensures that pupils develop effective leadership skills such as good communication and teamwork. Pupils are very proud of the many opportunities for them to become STAR envoys, prefects, peer mentors, sports leaders and ‘student shura’ (school council) representatives.
• Pupils’ personal development is exceptionally well planned through enrichment opportunities, which are numerous and varied. They include the ‘Cryptography club’, ‘F1 maths club’, visits to the ‘Big Bang science fair’, rugby in partnership with Sale Sharks and football tournaments.
• Pupils from Year 7 are taught employability skills to enable them to be successful in the next stage of their education, training or in employment. They know about enterprise and managing a business. In addition, they have many opportunities to develop their skills in teamwork, communication, presentation and writing a curriculum vitae. Pupils in Year 10 are starting to find out about other colleges and choices available to them for sixth-form study.
• Pupils know about other faiths and cultures from their religious education lessons, which follow the Bolton Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education. Faith leaders often speak to pupils in assembly. This has included presentations from a rabbi, an imam, the dean of the local churches, a representative of the Hindu temple and a practising Buddhist.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe from risks, including using the internet and extremist and radical views. Pupils know about anorexia, alcohol and drugs misuse, gambling, forced marriage and sexting, for example, from personal, social, health and citizenship education. Leaders work with parents in planning the approaches used to tell pupils about relationships and sexual health. Pupils demonstrate respect for one another and their teachers and are tolerant of views that differ from their own. As a result, pupils are exceptionally well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils work hard to gain ‘STAR’ points for their good behaviour and their kind actions towards others.
• Pupils’ conduct around school is impeccable. Pupils calmly line up for lunch and wait their turn, chatting sociably to others as they wait. Pupils are very polite and helpful, and were keen to share with inspectors their views on the school. They know their school is not perfect and articulate their ideas for improvement in a considered and mature way.
• Attendance is consistently well above average and very few pupils are persistently absent. A small number of disadvantaged pupils attend school less regularly than others. Pastoral leaders have regular discussions with pupils and their families and bespoke support is put into place to help these pupils to improve their attendance.
• Lateness to school is rare and punctuality is checked regularly by pastoral leaders. Leaders arrange transport for pupils, to help support particular personal difficulties at home, so that they do not miss out on their education. Pupils move quickly between lessons, which get off to a good start, and no learning time is wasted.
• Pupils told inspectors that they feel very safe and happy at school. They know whom to go to if they have any worries. Pupils say that bullying does not happen, including homophobic bullying.
• Teachers consistently use ‘behaviour points’ to give sanctions for the few occasions in lessons where pupils do not live up to the high expectations for standards of behaviour. Occasionally, it is necessary for teachers to escalate sanctions to detentions. Leaders rigorously monitor the use of behaviour points to identify any patterns and provide additional support to pupils to help them to manage their behaviour, if necessary.
• Pupils are very rarely excluded because poor behaviour is hardly ever serious enough to warrant this and pupils quickly respond to sanctions given by teachers. Two pupils have been excluded this year, reducing from five in the previous year.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils make exceptional progress from their starting points when they joined the school, not just in English and mathematics, but in all subjects. This is because teachers build on prior learning, acknowledging strengths and filling gaps in learning. As a result, no learning time is wasted in repeating what pupils have already learned.
• Leaders and teachers use their rigorous analysis of baseline assessments to set challenging targets for pupils which are moved up as soon as pupils reach them. A culture of high aspiration and challenge prevails, which pupils readily ‘buy into’.
• Teachers’ assessments are accurate because teachers use tests which are uniform across the family of schools in the trust. Internal moderation takes place and assessments are further validated externally through teachers in other schools. Leaders regularly carry out further checks on the quality of pupils’ work in books.
• Leaders therefore have confidence in the use of teachers’ assessments to plan extra help for pupils and to give an accurate overview on the progress made by all pupils in all subjects. This includes checks to make sure that no groups of pupils are underachieving.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as their classmates. They make the same strong progress in all subjects as a result of the personalised intervention and support they receive.
• Pupils receive effective support to help them to improve their reading. For the weakest readers by the end of Year 7, over half of these pupils, who are now in Year 8, had caught up with their classmates, with the remainder catching up by the end of the autumn term in Year 8. Pupils like the extra help they receive, they know their reading age and know their target is to be better than their actual age.
• Pupils choose new books for the library to gradually improve the range and quantity of books available. Pupils are rewarded for reading, which provides a good incentive to pupils to read more often and to tackle more-challenging reading materials.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are typically challenged by their work equally as well as others. Their progress is exceptionally strong in most subjects, with slight variability for some Year 9 pupils in English literature and some Year 7 pupils in science, where, although pupils make strong progress, this progress is slower than their classmates. Leaders monitor this carefully and the most recent assessment information shows that progress is improving for these particular groups.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140959 Bolton 10022802 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 Number of pupils on the school roll Academy free school 11 to 18 Boys 381 Appropriate authority Academy trust Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Salim Natha Shabir Fazal 01204 849240 www.edenboysbolton.com info@edenboysbolton.tetrust.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school opened in September 2014 and moved into a new purpose-built building in January 2016. The school is sponsored through Tauheedul Education Trust and has a local governing body. The Tauheedul board of trustees oversee the school.
• The school is open to boys from the Muslim faith, but this is not exclusive, and boys from other faiths and no faith can be admitted.
• The school is smaller than average and currently has pupils on roll from Years 7 to 10. There are just over 100 pupils in each of Years 7, 8 and 9 and approximately 50 in Year 10. In time the school will grow to the full secondary age range, with a sixth form due to open in September 2018. Pupils in Years 7 and 8 are designated as being at key stage 3 as pupils start key stage 4 in Year 9.
• Most pupils are from Indian or Pakistani heritages, with an above-average proportion of pupils of Black African background. Almost two-thirds of pupils speak English as an additional language, which is well above average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is average, as is the proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. There is a small number of pupils who have a statement for special educational needs and/or disabilities or an education, health and care plan.
• The school does not make use of any alternative or off-site provision and no pupils take part in work experience.
• There is no published performance information for this school as no pupils have completed key stage 4.
• 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.

Information about this inspection

• During this inspection, inspectors observed teaching and learning in almost all classes in the school. Some observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders.
• A detailed check of pupils’ work in science and mathematics was carried out for a selection of pupils from Years 7 and 8. Further checks of pupils’ work were done during lessons visited by inspectors.
• Meetings were held with senior and other leaders, and a group of teaching and non-teaching staff.
• An inspector met with two governors, including the chair of the local governing body. She also met with two representatives from Tauheedul Education Trust, including the chief executive officer.
• Behaviour of pupils was observed during lessons and also during break and lunchtime. An inspector met formally with pupils in Year 10 to find out their views of the school, and with a group of pupils from Years 7 and 8 who receive support to help them to improve their literacy and reading skills.
• Inspectors took account of the 53 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and one response completed on paper, including 16 written comments from parents.
• Inspectors scrutinised the 43 responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.
• A wide range of other documentation was reviewed, including information available on the school’s website and information on pupils’ attainment, progress, attendance and behaviour. The school’s self-evaluation summary and the annual operating statement for this academic year were examined, along with external reports and the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe.

Inspection team

Denah Jones, lead inspector Lynda Mitchell David Hampson

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector