Dean Trust Ardwick Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching and learning, by:
  • ensuring that all staff consistently follow the new behaviour management policy in order to eliminate low-level disruption
  • supporting staff’s confidence to develop more flexible and responsive approaches to learning.
• Develop and enhance provision for careers information and guidance, including post-16 options.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The school is exceptionally well led by the headteacher and senior leadership team. They have high expectations and are relentless in their pursuit of excellence. They have worked very hard since the school opened to raise achievement and develop a positive, vibrant school ethos. They are very well supported by all staff.
• The leadership of teaching is uncompromising and focused on providing support and improving practice across the school. Regular checks on teaching, supported by targeted training, have led to an increase in the proportion of high-quality teaching.
• Middle leaders are highly effective in managing their faculties and in contributing to pupils making at least good progress. All staff understand and use the progress data published every term to challenge any underperformance.
• Performance management of staff is closely linked to the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. There is strong support for staff who need help. Staff morale is very high. Staff feel challenged but also strongly supported and consulted. For example, all staff have contributed to the new marking and assessment policy.
• Pastoral leaders monitor closely the emotional and social progress of pupils, as well as their academic work. Recently, in response to growing numbers of pupils, senior leaders have improved and developed the rewards, sanctions and behaviour management policy to make it more effective. Leaders are proactive in addressing matters before they become problematic.
• Leadership of provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is highly effective. As a result, these pupils make equally good progress from their starting points as other pupils.
• The range of courses offered is wide and well-suited to the needs of different ability pupils, from highly academic to practical and vocational pathways. Leaders have built revisiting, resilience and flexibility into the curriculum. A key aim is to broaden horizons and raise aspirations. Visits, such as those to the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Whitworth gallery, have become a regular part of the school calendar.
• Pupils have many opportunities to take on responsibilities, such as serving on the school council, becoming librarians and helping with charity fundraising. Careers information and guidance is well-organised but is still at an early stage of development. Pupils are encouraged to gain experience and extra qualifications through the ‘passport to excellence’ strategy.
• The school’s approach to personal development is exemplary. Strong emphasis is put on promoting British values and pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school has a very diverse population. Respect is fostered by setting high expectations for pupils’ manners, speech, uniform and attendance.
• The school makes sure that all pupils have equality of access and equal opportunities. It uses additional funding to provide extra teaching and support for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils in Year 7 who enter the school attaining below average standards in English and mathematics, and to make sure that all pupils have equal access to uniform, clubs and educational trips. These pupils make the same good progress as others in school. Leaders monitor closely their progress and achievements.
• The school is developing excellent links with parents and carers, some of whom regularly come into school for coffee mornings to learn more about the school’s work and to ask questions. The school provides regular workshops for parents to understand more about the curriculum and how to support their children’s education.

Governance of the school

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding is the concern of everyone who works in the school. Training is up to date and extensive. Staff know how to ensure that pupils are safe and how to respond if they have concerns. Senior leaders, governors and the trust ensure that all statutory child protection policies and procedures are in place, and regularly revisited to keep abreast of national changes. School leaders engage with parents and other members of the community to make sure pupils are supported and safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have ensured that there is a consistency of approach in lessons. Classroom routines are embedded and effective in promoting a prompt start to learning. Time is used productively, with orderly starts as pupils instantly settle to ‘do it now’ tasks.
• Positive relationships between pupils and staff reflect the mutual respect which exists across the school. Teachers are interested in pupils’ views and often use their comments as a starting point for learning. This means that activities are based on pupils’ personal knowledge.
• Effective questioning helps pupils to form and express their views, consolidate understanding and to be precise in their answers. All pupils know that they must phrase their comments carefully and accurately. This helps to build self-confidence and improve communication skills.
• Teachers ensure that there is challenge for the most able in most lessons. They often give pupils tasks that promote their deeper thinking. For example, in mathematics Year 8 pupils derived their own formula for the area of a sector. They aptly used their prior learning and did not give up when their first attempts were inaccurate.
• Staff in all faculties put a very strong focus on reading and supporting literacy development. The school has a ‘literacy-for-life’ strategy. All subjects set the same high standards for both written work and pupils’ communication skills. Teachers systematically promote reading for pleasure. The library is well stocked and frequently used. Partly because of this emphasis, pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress in all subjects.
• Regular scheduled development lessons give pupils time to improve, review and refine their work. Teachers place strong emphasis on pupils knowing what good answers look like. Pupils assess accurately their own work and that of their peers.
• Leaders and staff have developed a new whole-school marking policy which is intelligent and rational and has been very well received by staff. It is still not fully embedded, but the early signs are positive that it will effectively promote learning.
• In a small number of lessons, teachers do not apply effectively the school’s behaviour management policy in response to occasional low-level disruption from a very small minority of pupils. This can hinder learning.
• Teaching is clear and knowledgeable but sometimes lacks inspiration. This means that sometimes pupils’ progress is not as rapid as it might be.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The school is a highly inclusive community. Pupils recognise that their school is a culturally diverse community, with pupils from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. They say that everyone gets on well with each other and that pupils are accepting of each other’s differences, be they religious, ethnic, cultural or sexual preferences. Of the 242 pupils who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire, over 90% said that the school encouraged them to respect other backgrounds. Pupils know and explain fundamental British values.
• The vast majority of pupils have positive attitudes to learning and enjoy school. They value their education. They are respectful of teachers, are articulate, and discuss and answer questions thoughtfully in standard English.
• Pupils of all ages can explain the teaching they have had on how to keep safe in different situations. They have access to programmes on topics, such as knife crime, gang culture, mental health, keeping safe online and keeping safe travelling to and from school.
• Pupils report there is little bullying. They know what to do if they witness bullying or experience it themselves.
• There are many opportunities for pupils to take on responsibilities, such as serving on the school council, becoming librarians, speaking in debates and working on transition with feeder primary schools. Pupils value the rewards they can earn through the merit system. A high proportion of pupils in Year 9 are taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. All pupils work to complete a ‘passport to excellence’, which celebrates and records academic, social and community achievements. Pupils genuinely live up the motto ‘proud to belong’.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils move around the school with purpose, keen to get to lessons on time. In just a few instances, boisterous behaviour on corridors means some pupils arrive to lessons less ready to focus on learning.
• A small minority of pupils occasionally disrupt the learning of others. This is usually, but not always, dealt with effectively by teachers using the new ‘chance, choice, consequences’ policy. Internal suspensions are used as a last resort if behaviour is unacceptable. Repeat offenders are dealt with by the pastoral team. Case studies show the behaviour and attitude to learning of these individuals has improved over time.
• Attendance has been consistently above the national average since the school opened. It is now high.
• The safety, progress, attendance and behaviour of the few pupils who attend alternative provision are monitored closely by school leaders. These pupils make good progress.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• As yet, the school has no GCSE results to compare with all schools nationally.
• The school establishes a baseline from outcomes at primary schools and other tests when pupils enter Year 7. From these, leaders set challenging and ambitious targets.
• A high proportion of pupils in all three year groups are currently on track to achieve their targets. The school compares their progress data with all schools nationally, and this shows that pupils are making strong progress across all subjects. This is supported by a scrutiny of the work in pupils’ books.
• Disadvantaged pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 are achieving the same rate of good progress as other pupils nationally. This is because of the tailored support they receive.
• Catch-up funding is used effectively for Year 7 pupils who are not yet fully prepared for the secondary curriculum. School information shows there is a good improvement for these pupils in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The most able pupils are making very good progress because most teachers provide the necessary challenge to stretch their understanding and make them think. Pupils can eloquently articulate their learning.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are well supported by their subject teachers and teaching assistants. Their overall progress is overseen by the coordinator for the provision for those pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, who ensures they receive specific, targeted support. Currently the great majority of these pupils are set to achieve their end-of-year targets in Years 7, 8 and 9, indicating good progress.
• The whole-school focus on promoting literacy contributes significantly to pupils who speak English as an additional language making very good progress from their starting points.
• Pupils in Year 9 have received useful guidance before making their option choices for GCSE subjects. However, many pupils feel that they need much more information about future careers and what opportunities there are beyond Year 11.
• The focus on promoting pupils’ personal development and resilience, alongside their academic work, prepares them well to become useful and productive citizens, and stands them in good stead for their future education, training or employment.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141884 Manchester 10046081 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 sponsor-led 11 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 650 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Neill Harris Suzanne Finlay 0161 9722988 deantrustardwick.co.uk enquiries@thedeantrust.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school opened in 2015 and currently has three year groups on roll in Years 7, 8 and 9. It is one of a group of five secondary schools and four primary schools in the Dean Trust, which is a multi-academy trust.
• The school has a higher proportion of boys than most schools.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is very high. Forty-four different languages are spoken by pupils in school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is high and includes more than half of all pupils.
• A very small proportion of pupils are educated off-site in alternative provision. The school uses the Manchester Secondary Pupil Referral Unit.
• The government’s current floor standards have yet to apply to this school.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning across a range of subjects and in different year groups. They scrutinised work to evaluate pupils’ progress over time. They spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences, work and progress, in formal meetings and informally at lunch and breaktimes. They observed assembly and tutor times at the start of the school day.
• They met with senior leaders, the chief executive of the Dean Trust, the chair of the governing body and other governors, middle leaders and pastoral leaders. Meetings were also held with teachers and those responsible for safeguarding and the provision for those pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Inspectors evaluated the school’s assessments, its information about the progress of pupils currently in the school, development plans and school self-evaluation. Records about behaviour, sanctions and attendance were also scrutinised.
• Sixty responses to the online staff questionnaire, 246 responses to the online pupil questionnaire and the 56 responses to Parent View were also considered.

Inspection team

Judith Straw, lead inspector David Roberts Christine Veitch David Woodhouse

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector