The Petersfield School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue the very effective work to improve teaching and learning in science so that pupils’ outcomes match or exceed outcomes in the other subjects in the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The principal and school leaders have rapidly improved the school. They prioritise their work to improve teaching and learning very effectively. As a result, current pupils are achieving more highly than previous cohorts. Recent outcomes at the end of key stage 4 are the best the school has achieved.
• School leaders accurately evaluate the strengths of the school. They use skilled middle leaders to great effect to support the school in developing further. Consequently, pupils are consistently receiving outstanding teaching and learning experiences.
• Middle leaders’ work to improve their areas of responsibility is highly successful. For example, subject leaders’ work in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning is highly developed. They provide quick and effective help to teachers when required. This contributes well to improving teaching and learning, which is inspirational across subject areas.
• School leaders coordinate an excellent professional development programme for staff. The joint training sessions between teaching staff and pupils are very useful in allowing teachers to hear at first hand pupils’ views about learning. As a result, teachers are quick to adapt their teaching to pupils’ individual needs.
• School leaders use the additional funding they receive very well. Many pupils who are disadvantaged or who have SEND are now making the same or better progress than pupils with similar starting points, in all year groups.
• Pupils study a broad and balanced curriculum. Leaders have high expectations for all pupils. As a result, pupils are studying appropriately challenging subjects and are achieving even better than pupils in previous years.
• Pupils confidently understand British values. They contribute willingly and purposefully to school leadership decisions through several pupil councils. In addition, some pupils participate in wider debate through local and national youth parliaments.
• Pupils learn extremely well about an extensive range of spiritual, moral, social and cultural topics. They take part in school drama, dance and music shows, attend stimulating visits, and benefit from interesting and thought-provoking assemblies and well thought-out topics. As a result, pupils are very well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils regularly engage in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. The school day has been organised to allow all pupils to take part in classes such as Mandarin and Latin, alongside additional subject support and sports clubs. Consequently, pupils’ learning goes beyond the specific subjects they are taught.
• Subject leadership is focused on continuing to improve teaching and learning in science. This means that pupils currently in the school are now learning and achieving much better in science. Leaders recognise that more work is needed to embed the positive changes introduced.
• School leaders work well with the trust to continue improving the school. Opportunities available to work with a network of other leaders within the trust are helping develop leadership skills. Consequently, leaders’ work to develop teachers’ subject-knowledge and skills has been very successful.
• School leaders, including governors, use feedback from staff, parents and pupils thoughtfully to develop the school further. Their work with pupil leaders to support young people with mental-health problems is impressive. For example, pupil mental-health ambassadors appropriately support other pupils if they need it.

Governance of the school

• Governors communicate well with trustees about their delegated responsibilities. The trust holds governors to account very effectively and ensures that trustees’ statutory requirements are fulfilled. Regular meetings between all the trust’s chairs of governors and principals help the school improve further.
• Governors know this school very well. They visit the school regularly and report back to the trust board about key areas of responsibility, for example safeguarding. As a result, they carry out their legal responsibilities very effectively.
• Governors see no limit to the further success of the school. They robustly challenge school leaders to continue the school’s improvement journey. They rightly believe that the school can continuously develop, and their expectations continue to rise.
• Governors are passionate about staff well-being. They have worked with school leaders to develop support programmes for staff. As a result, staff feel valued and listened to, and staff retention is high.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. School leaders respond quickly and appropriately to any concerns raised about pupils’ safety and welfare.
• Staff are trained well and know their safeguarding responsibilities very well. Pupils feel safe at the school and feel that they can talk to adults if they have any concerns.
• The majority of parents and carers believe that their children are safe at the school. School leaders’ regular communication with parents about issues that might affect pupils’ safety in the local community helps keep them well informed.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers’ use of the school’s policy for assessing pupils’ work and providing feedback so they know how to improve is excellent. Pupils engage fully with this across all subjects, value the advice they receive and make excellent progress as a result.
• Teachers use questioning skilfully. In English, teachers challenge pupils to think deeply and to understand how to use complex language effectively. These language skills are developed routinely, and as a result pupils’ responses often use the same vocabulary or more complex language correctly, because they understand these well.
• Teaching is adapted to pupils’ needs very effectively. For example, this was evident in the use of a wide range of resources to challenge Year 11 pupils in English and to engage Year 7 pupils at the start of mathematics lessons. As a result, pupils make exceptional progress across these as well as a wide range of other subjects.
• Teachers have very strong subject knowledge. They use this well to enthuse pupils to learn in their subjects. Across the arts, humanities and technology, teachers’ subject knowledge is shared well, and pupils quickly become curious, creative, independent learners. Stunning artwork on display reflects the impact of this successful teaching.
• Pupils regularly refresh their learning in lessons, embedding specific knowledge and skills deeply across subjects. Teachers quickly move pupils on to more challenging work once they are certain that pupils are secure in their understanding.
• Teaching allows pupils excellent opportunities to reflect on their learning. Pupils self-identify gaps in their knowledge and seek independently to grasp the knowledge more fully.
• Pupils who have SEND are taught very well. Their learning is supported by highly effective extra support in the classroom. As a result, these pupils make the same, or sometimes better, progress as other pupils in the school.
• Teaching assistants are used well to support learning. They offer appropriate support, enabling and encouraging pupils to attempt their learning independently where appropriate. Consequently, most pupils supported by adults become confident and resilient learners.
• Teachers make use of online homework systems effectively to help pupils further extend their learning.
• Teachers have become more consistent in their approach to teaching science and have successfully embedded the changes to the science curriculum. Consequently, current pupils are making stronger progress in science, and leaders have high expectations for this to improve even further.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils are happy and confident learners. They feel they can talk to adults at the school if they need any help.
• Pupils support each other well. The school council has an active mental-health committee to assist pupils who ask for help. School prefects act as very effective role-models to the younger pupils in the school. As a result, pupils treat each other with high levels of respect.
• Pupils are very responsible. They are proud of their school. They are caring of the school site and buildings. For example, there is very little litter and no graffiti.
• Pupils are taught well about keeping themselves and others safe. They learn how to use technology safely and appropriately. For example, pupils engaged in highly thought -provoking discussions about how technology can be used for the benefit of those fleeing countries at war.
• Pupils quickly become very successful learners. They engage maturely in opportunities to be independent and reflective. For example, pupils think hard how to improve their learning in the school as part of their very comprehensive tutorial and assembly programmes.
• Pupils say that bullying is very rare at the school. Helpful support is in place for the few incidents that occur.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils’ conduct in and around the school is excellent. They have very positive relationships with each other and the staff. As a result, there are very few incidents where learning is affected by poor pupil behaviour.
• Pupils are punctual to class. They arrive to lessons ready to learn and are quick to settle into established classroom routines. As a result, learning time is maximised.
• Fixed-term exclusions are below national averages. The school works well to support the behaviour of the very few pupils who are excluded on their return. As a result, the number of repeat exclusions has reduced.
• Pupils attend school regularly. Their attendance is above national averages and no groups of pupils are affected by persistent absence.
• The few pupils who attend alternative provision are supported very well. Purposeful communication between the school and the providers ensures that these pupils are attending regularly and achieving well.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Recent end-of-key-stage-4 results show rapid improvements compared to previous cohorts. Improvements in teaching and learning are contributing to even stronger progress among current pupils in key stages 3 and 4.
• Pupils have historically achieved very strong outcomes in English and the humanities. In other subject areas, such as languages, students’ progress has rapidly improved to match these successful subject areas.
• The very effective checking systems across the trust ensure that the school’s assessment of pupils’ outcomes is accurate.
• Pupils who are disadvantaged or who have SEND are achieving very strong outcomes. The improvements in teaching and learning mean that pupils in these vulnerable groups are very well supported, and their outcomes across the curriculum are now in line with, or better than, those of other pupils.
• Additional funding is used very effectively. Pupils who receive additional support to improve their literacy and numeracy are quickly catching up with other pupils. Well-planned support is helping many pupils significantly improve their reading ages.
• Most-able pupils are very well supported. A comprehensive series of visits by employers and university-style lectures are helping more pupils achieve higher grades in their GCSEs than in previous years.
• Provisional performance information for 2018 shows that attainment in science at the end of key stage 4 has rapidly improved. A new and more consistent approach to the teaching of science is securing this impressive improvement.
• An increasing number of pupils are now studying a more aspirational and challenging range of subjects. Many pupils now study three sciences, geography and history and a modern foreign language. Current pupils’ outcomes are much stronger across these subjects than they have been in the past.
• Pupils are very well prepared for the next stages of their education. Year 11 pupils receive a comprehensive package of support, including information about the new sixth form for pupils who attend schools in the trust, to guide them in their future choices. As a result, the number of pupils who move on to further education and/or employment is higher than the national average.
• Year 8 pupils are supported well to consider their GCSE subjects. A trained school-based advisor provides useful one-to-one advice to help pupils make informed decisions. Consequently, these pupils are well prepared for the start of the next stage of their education.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 136903 Hampshire 10054147 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 converter 11 to 16 Mixed 1371 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Ben Francombe Mark Marande 01730 263 119 http://www.petersfieldschool.com school@petersfieldschool.com Date of previous inspection 6–7 November 2014

Information about this school

• The Petersfield School is larger than the average-sized 11 to 16 secondary school.
• It converted to become an academy in July 2011. It became a member of the Bohunt Education Trust in September 2016.
• The trustees of Bohunt Education Trust delegate some governance activities to a local governing body. However, they remain accountable for the educational standards of the school.
• Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND supported through the school is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is below the national average.
• The school sends some pupils to the following alternative providers for key stage 4 pupils: Highbury College, Staunton Country Park, Basingstoke College of Technology, and Havant and South Downs College. It sends key stage 3 pupils to The Sustainability Centre. The school also works with the following two education centres: Woodlands Education Centre and Rowhill School.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited 62 lessons or parts of lessons to observe pupils’ learning, in many cases jointly with senior leaders.
• The lead inspector met with the chair of governors, a trustee and a parent governor.
• The lead inspector met with the chief executive officer and the director of education of the Bohunt Education Trust.
• Inspectors met with senior and middle leaders, as well as teaching staff, including newly qualified teachers.
• An inspector met formally with a group of pupils from key stages 3 and 4. An inspector heard Year 7 pupils read. All inspectors talked to pupils informally during breaktimes and lessons.
• The inspection team considered 85 responses to the staff survey, 159 responses to the pupil survey, and 266 responses to the parent survey, including 246 accompanying free-text messages. The lead inspector considered a parental email received during the inspection.
• An inspector checked the single central record and other safeguarding policies and documentation.
• The inspection team considered information provided by the school, including the self-evaluation and development plans, as well as plans and evaluations for the use of additional funding, and external reports written by advisers to the school.
• Inspectors carried out a book scrutiny with senior leaders and looked at pupils’ work during their visits to lessons.
• Inspectors considered the school’s published performance information and its internal progress and attainment information.

Inspection team

Dylan Davies, lead inspector Karen Roche Debbie Godfrey-Phaure Peter Rodin Keith Pailthorpe

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector