Al-Hijrah 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?

• As a matter of urgency, improve safeguarding so that pupils are safe in all key stages, including in the early years, by:
  • clarifying the procedures for supporting pupils with medical needs and for dealing with emergencies and ensuring that all staff in all parts of the school, including lunchtime supervisors, are completely clear about all aspects of these procedures
  • ensuring that paediatric first aid training for staff in the early years is kept up to date and checked regularly
  • completing the necessary checks on all staff and ensuring that the single central record is compliant
  • ensuring that the number of staff on duty outside at breaktimes and lunchtimes is sufficient for the age and number of pupils, takes place as planned, and that staff on duty actively supervise the pupils
  • making sure that all staff, particularly the lunchtime supervisors, fully understand the safeguarding training they have received and put this into practice
  • looking into pupils’ current concerns about bullying and ensuring that bullying concerns are always taken seriously, recorded and acted upon
  • reviewing the use of the outside areas used at breaktimes and lunchtimes so that all pupils’ needs and interests are catered for, especially in the playground where boys play football.
• Improve behaviour and the management of behaviour by:
  • ensuring that senior leaders and governors gain an accurate picture of behaviour in the school, both in lessons and at informal times, taking into account the views of staff and pupils, and that leaders then take action accordingly
  • making sure that, in lessons and around the school, expectations of behaviour are high and consistently upheld
  • ensuring that pupils learn to respect adults in the school, their peers and the school environment
  • working with pupils to improve their ability to manage their own behaviour better at informal and social times, including providing them with more activities to do at these times
  • improving the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Ensure that teaching is consistently good, including in the early years, by:
  • making sure that pupils have the necessary skills to apply their English and mathematical understanding and knowledge in a range of contexts
  • making sure that teachers use the ongoing assessment of pupils’ understanding and not just test results to plan and teach lessons
  • picking up on and addressing pupils’ errors and misconceptions more quickly
  • making sure that the assessment of children’s progress in the early years is accurate.
• Improve leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that leaders gain an accurate picture of the quality of teaching across the school, identify where it is weak, and support and challenge staff accordingly
  • supporting teachers to eliminate both serious and low-level disruption in lessons
  • making sure that governors receive full and accurate information about the school’s work so that they can support and challenge effectively
  • providing leaders at all levels with the support they need to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the areas for which they are responsible and to enable them to become effective, including by forging links with other schools. An external review of governance, including the school’s use of the special educational needs and/or disabilities funding, should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Safeguarding is inadequate. As a result, pupils are not as safe as they should be when they are in school. Aspects of the school’s work are disorderly to the point of being chaotic.
• The headteacher and senior leaders do not have an accurate understanding of what goes on in the school on a day-to-day basis. They do not know enough about the weaknesses that exist in the school. Leaders’ lack of knowledge and understanding means that they are unable to support and challenge staff effectively.
• Leaders do not know enough about behaviour in the school, including at informal times. The headteacher and deputy headteacher did not recognise inspectors’ descriptions of the poor behaviour that they had seen throughout the two days, and that many pupils and staff said were typical.
• Leaders do not monitor or evaluate teaching properly. They have not accurately identified weaker teaching and consequently they have not tackled it.
• Senior leaders collect and record information about various aspects of the school’s work, but they do not analyse this so that they can see trends and patterns and target their actions accordingly. Leaders do not, for example, analyse the attendance of different groups of pupils, yet there are discrepancies between the attendance of different groups that need to be addressed.
• Several senior leaders are fairly new to their role, are quite inexperienced and have limited experience outside the school. Although they are beginning to look at practice in other schools to develop their work, they have had insufficient training.
• Staff’s views of the school vary. While some said that they receive sufficient training and support to do their jobs, others said the opposite and expressed concern about the general disorderly nature of the school.
• Pupils’ views are equally divided. Some pupils of all ages thought that the school met their needs really well; they approved of being taught separately when they were older and they liked their lessons. Others, also of all ages, talked negatively about their experiences. Particular concerns were that they were bullied, that staff did not listen to them and that behaviour in the school was not good enough. Some expressed concern that they did not learn enough about how to socialise and work with the opposite gender in preparation for life after school.
• A small number of pupils attend off-site provision at a local college for two to three days a week, but are at home for the rest of the time. This means that they are not receiving their entitlement to a full-time education. The school did not provide evidence of how they check that pupils are safe when they are not at school.
• The curriculum is suitably broad and balanced and meets most pupils’ needs well. Over time, the school has developed the teaching of music, working effectively with families to challenge any opposition to the subject and to demonstrate the value of music for the pupils. Art is valued by pupils and some good-quality work was seen during the inspection.
• All options subjects at key stage 4 are available to both boys and girls. However, occasionally an option subject does not take place for one group or another because there is not enough interest. This can disadvantage one gender. Currently, for example, there is no food technology running for boys in Year 11 this academic year because only a small number wanted to take it, whereas it is running for girls.
• Pupils in key stage 4 study for a varying number of qualifications in science, depending on their prior attainment. Pupils limited to one science qualification spend a disproportionate amount of time on this subject compared to the time allocated to other subjects.
• Extra-curricular activities allow pupils to put in extra study time on different subjects, play competitive sport and try activities such as climbing. Curriculum enrichment takes place through visits, such as to places of worship, the Natural History Museum in London and the Houses of Parliament.
• The personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum, including sex and relationships education (SRE), has been carefully thought through and has improved since September. It contains a broad range of subjects. British law and fundamental British values are woven through the topics covered, including in SRE.
• Radicalisation and extremism are subjects that are openly tackled in school. Leaders do not shy away from addressing issues such as suicide bombing and recruitment to terrorist organisations, through PSHE lessons and assemblies as well as at any time they arise in discussion with pupils. Leaders monitor the use of the internet and could give examples of where they had picked up and tackled any concerns.
• Pupils receive appropriate careers information, advice and guidance from Years 8 to 11. Speakers come into school to talk about career options, including parents of pupils at the school and local professionals and business people, many of whom are Muslim women and men. The vast majority of pupils go on to education, employment or training post-16. Pupils do not have the opportunity to do work experience in key stage 4 except if they organise this for themselves.
• Additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is not used effectively. Teachers are informed of ways to support individual pupils, and leaders regularly consider how well these pupils are doing. Despite this, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make poor progress. There are now more pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in the primary phase who are working below age-related expectations in reading, writing and mathematics than at the start of the year. Similarly, in the secondary phase, the proportion of these pupils working below target in mathematics has increased. However, there have been improvements in English.
• Leaders target the Year 7 catch-up premium appropriately to support pupils when they start key stage 3. Interventions planned to support pupils include additional teachers so that pupils can be taught in smaller groups and additional sessions with specialist literacy tutors. Leaders regularly monitor pupils’ progress. They have identified more rapid progress in literacy than numeracy. In the longer term, pupils benefit from these strategies and catch up with their peers by the end of key stage 3.
• Sports premium funding is focused on diversifying the range of sports pupils experience in the primary phase. Teachers’ skills are developed through training opportunities and shared teaching with a sports coach. As a result, pupils experience a wider range of sports, including gymnastics and netball, through the curriculum and by participating in after-school clubs and inter-school competitions.
• Pupil premium funding is used effectively to provide eligible pupils who are underperforming with targeted support. Staff regularly mentor these pupils and agree and monitor progress towards specific targets. These strategies are successful because disadvantaged pupils regularly make more progress than other pupils nationally, although slightly less progress than other pupils at the school.
• The local authority has worked appropriately with the school to improve its recording of child protection and other safeguarding incidents once these weaknesses were identified in the summer term last year. A full review of the books in the library and those used for religious education was undertaken by the school, supported by specialists in the local authority. Recently, the Birmingham Education Partnership (BEP) has been commissioned by the local authority to work with senior leaders to improve the school. The local authority has not been aware of the inadequate behaviour that was evident during the inspection.
• Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed because pupils’ behaviour is inadequate.

Governance of the school

• The interim executive board (IEB) has not been effective in stemming the decline in important aspects of the school’s work since the previous inspection.
• The IEB has not received realistic information from leaders about some of the school’s work. Bullying, for example, is discussed appropriately at meetings, but leaders do not have a good enough understanding about bullying in the school, so it is under-reported. Inconsistencies in the quality of teaching have not been highlighted. The picture of behaviour that has been presented has not reflected the day-to-day reality.
• Most of the IEB members are new since September. The chair successfully sought new members with an appropriate range of skills and knowledge.
• The chair of the IEB has worked effectively to reduce the school’s current in-year budget deficit and has given careful thought to the next steps that the IEB needs to take in this regard.
• Some IEB members have been asking appropriately challenging questions of leaders in the IEB meetings.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. The culture of safeguarding in the school is poor.
• The single central record of checks on staff’s suitability to work with children is not compliant. The headteacher was unaware of this. He does not have a proper overview of the single central record and the checks that are completed.
• There is a lack of clarity about the actions required to support pupils who have medical needs. Staff do not have enough understanding of what to do in an emergency. They are not clear about where emergency medication is located. The school has worked in recent weeks to try to improve these processes. However, some considerable confusion and uncertainty remains across the school.
• While rotas exist for supervision at breaktimes and lunchtimes, there is insufficient checking of whether these are happening or whether staff are actively supervising pupils. Breaktimes and lunchtimes seen during both days of the inspection were chaotic and unsafe. A significant number of staff and pupils said that this was typical.
• The school has improved its recording of child protection incidents. These are now clear, with a reasonable level of detail about the incident and the actions taken.
• Staff receive a suitable range of training about different aspects of safeguarding. Records are kept of who has completed training, and the designated safeguarding leads provide training at a later date if anyone has missed it. This works well for most teachers, who are well informed about what to be aware of and what to do if they have a concern. However, for the lunchtime supervisors, many of whom do not speak fluent English, the training is not as effective. Leaders do not do enough to check that these staff have understood what they have been taught.
• Good work is taking place to help to protect pupils from female genital mutilation. Links have been built with the Islamic Women’s Network to provide support for this teaching.
• Some good work has taken place with families about aspects of safeguarding, including around e-safety.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• In each key stage, teaching is inconsistent. There is some good teaching that enables some pupils of all ages to make good progress over time. Conversely, there is teaching that, at best, requires improvement, and is sometimes inadequate.
• In lessons, some teachers do not set high enough expectations for what pupils should achieve and the way in which they should behave. Pupils respond very differently to different members of staff in terms of their behaviour, attitudes and work rate. This was observed during the inspection and was evident in pupils’ books.
• Much of the information that staff have about pupils’ achievement comes from tests rather than from their day-to-day learning. Pupils’ understanding of what they are learning in each lesson is not assessed well by some teachers. This means that teachers do not notice or address misconceptions and errors quickly enough. Where ongoing assessment does take place, it is not always accurate, particularly in the primary age group.
• In English and mathematics, there is a strong focus on giving pupils ‘tricks and tips’ to pass tests and examinations, sometimes to the detriment of developing their broader knowledge and deeper understanding to enable them to apply their skills properly.
• In mathematics across the school, too often staff do not pick up on misconceptions in pupils’ day-to-day learning. Work is sometimes marked inaccurately. At key stage 3, the teaching of mathematics is variable. Overall, there is too much focus on developing computation and not enough development of reasoning.
• Generally, spelling, punctuation and grammar skills are taught well in key stages 1 and 2 and pupils do well in formal tests, but these skills are not always applied properly in pupils’ daily work. High-frequency words are often misspelled over and over again. For example, some younger children spelled the word ‘February’ wrongly at the top of their work each day for the whole month. Pupils do not have enough opportunity to write at length.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities often go on to repeat errors, or work remains incomplete from one lesson to the next because they cannot do it. Sometimes, feedback given to these pupils through written comments is demoralising and unhelpful. For example, in books for pupils with severe literacy difficulties, staff had written, ‘Improve your spelling.’ Staff have received some training on how to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, but this has not been effective.
• Some pupils in Year 4 expressed concern that they frequently do not understand their work, and when they ask for help, this is not forthcoming.
• Some teachers’ planning is highly tailored to the needs of the pupils; the teaching meets their needs particularly well and pupils achieve accordingly. These teachers use highly effective questioning, they identify misconceptions quickly and accurately and they enthuse their pupils. A good example of this was seen in a Year 5 lesson during the inspection, where highly effective questioning was used to deepen pupils’ thinking. Pupils were challenged to explore in detail an author’s choice of language in a text to support their learning of how to write a book review.
• Many teachers have good subject knowledge. As a result, these teachers deliver lesson content confidently, accurately and in an engaging manner. They use pupils’ questions as a way of deepening their understanding effectively.
• The teaching of early reading is effective and has a very positive impact on pupils’ progress and attainment. The library is well stocked, and pupils enjoy reading both in school and for pleasure.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.
• The school’s disorderly nature does not keep pupils safe enough. Accidents such as bumps and scrapes occur because of this. On one lunchtime during the inspection, some girls spent their time running up concrete steps and leaping off a low wall, again unchecked. A group of boys were in the playground with no staff around. There was some dangerous behaviour when pupils were leaving the school site at the end of the day, which went unnoticed by staff.
• Pupils do not develop the skills they need to take responsibility for their own behaviour. Routines are not good enough lower down the school, and some staff’s expectations of pupils’ behaviour are too low. Younger pupils, therefore, do not learn how to conduct themselves from an early age, for example when in the playground or when lining up after lunch.
• Pupils do not look after their school or each other well enough. After breaktimes and lunchtimes, there was a great deal of litter around the school, which was then tidied up by site staff. Pupils drop litter on the floor in the dining room and are often not challenged about this. Coats and bags are heaped untidily outside classrooms.
• Pupils are quietly confident in their Islamic beliefs and know how these shape their lives and sit alongside British values.
• Some older pupils were able to describe how they might know if a friend was becoming drawn into radical or extreme organisations and what they would do about this, reflecting their learning in PSHE and assemblies.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.
• Behaviour in lessons is not good enough. While in some lessons pupils’ behaviour is pleasant, engaged and productive, in others it is chatty, distracted, unresponsive or downright rude.
• Some pupils, both younger and older, show little regard for their peers or for adults when moving around the school.
• Pupils frequently ignore staff’s instructions around the school. One staff member, for example, asked a boy to stop running in the corridor. As the staff member went out of sight the boy’s friends urged him to ‘run’ and gave him a push towards the top of the stairs to speed him up.
• Although pupils learn about bullying in lessons and can describe why bullying is wrong and should not happen, pupils experience bullying in school. Younger pupils told inspectors that older pupils are unkind to them and sometimes push them. Older pupils expressed concern about the amount of bullying that takes place, and said that although some staff would act quickly and effectively, generally their concerns were not taken seriously.
• Attendance is in line with national averages. However, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is not as good as that of their peers, and the attendance of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is very low.
• A large number of pupils are frequently late to school.
• The school has little information about the behaviour or attendance of the few pupils who attend alternative provision. Leaders are not aware of what the pupils are doing when they are at home and not at college.
• Many pupils do behave well in class and around the school and show pride in their work and their other achievements.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The inconsistencies in teaching within the school mean that pupils do not make sustained and strong progress across all year groups from their starting points.
• There are marked variations in the outcomes of current pupils across the school. Pupils in many classes and subjects make good progress and attain standards that are at least in line with national expectations. However, as a result of the less effective teaching, outcomes for too many pupils across all key stages are adversely affected and they do not attain as highly as they could.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do not make good enough progress as they move through the school. For example, Year 11 pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities made considerably less progress than other pupils at the school in 2016. Leaders identify that this trend continues for current pupils across key stages 3 and 4. The work in current pupils’ books shows that this group of pupils do not do well.
• In 2016, the proportions of pupils in Year 2 who achieved the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics were broadly in line with national averages. However, the proportion of pupils who were working at greater depth in these subjects was below the national average. The proportion of pupils in Year 6 who were working at the higher level in writing was also significantly lower than that seen nationally.
• Pupils’ attainment overall in English and mathematics and across a range of subjects by the end of Year 11 is high. However, this attainment is not consistent for all groups of pupils. For example, in 2016 attainment was almost one grade below the national for high prior attaining disadvantaged Year 11 pupils in mathematics. The proportion of pupils who achieve the English Baccalaureate has been higher than the national figure.
• In mathematics, there is a strong focus across the primary phase on teaching pupils core skills in computation. However, many pupils are not able to apply these skills in problem solving using reasoning. The majority of pupils do not deepen their understanding and are unable to apply logic. As a result, outcomes in mathematics, especially for the most able pupils in key stages 1 and 2, are not high enough.
• Primary outcomes in writing are similarly affected by pupils’ inability to apply the skills that they have learned in grammar and punctuation lessons to their own extended independent work. As a result, writing often lacks depth and, again, the most able pupils are not achieving as well as they could.
• Outcomes in reading are generally good. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check has been above the national average for the past three years. There is a whole-school approach to the teaching of phonics and as a result pupils make good progress in acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to recognise the sounds that can be joined together to read words. The focus on encouraging pupils to read for both pleasure and understanding continues throughout the school. Pupils get great pleasure from reading the wide range of books that are available to them in the well-stocked library.
• In the secondary phase, pupils make less progress in geography and graphics than in other subjects, including English, science and religious education. Slower rates of progress for some groups of key stage 3 pupils in mathematics at the start of the year are being addressed effectively.
• Leaders do not know how well the pupils who attend college are progressing with their studies.
• Leaders are able to demonstrate that disadvantaged pupils make better rates of progress than other pupils nationally. In the majority of year groups and classes these pupils are provided with additional support that is appropriate to their individual needs. The differences that previously existed have disappeared. For example, in 2016, Year 11 disadvantaged pupils made on average one-third of a grade more progress than other pupils nationally. This trend looks set to continue.
• Pupils’ progress and attainment across the primary curriculum is in line with that in the core subjects. Where the teaching is particularly effective, pupils make rapid progress and achieve good outcomes. An example of this is in music, where a specialist teacher uses strong subject knowledge to enthuse pupils and allows them to develop a good appreciation of a range of musical styles and genres.
• Recently, pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of key stage 4 have been better than those of other pupils nationally. For example, in 2016, pupils made over half a grade more progress across a range of subjects than the national average. The school’s assessment information about current pupils suggests that similar rates of progress are expected this coming year.

Early years provision Inadequate

• Overall, provision in the early years is inadequate because safeguarding is ineffective. The lack of adequate safeguarding procedures means that children’s safety is compromised. In addition to the weaknesses evident in whole-school safeguarding procedures, until very recently no staff working in the early years provision had undertaken the necessary paediatric first aid training.
• The school’s assessment information indicates that the majority of children enter the early years with skills and knowledge that are broadly typical for their age. In 2016, the school’s information shows that the proportion of children achieving the expected standard at the end of the Reception Year was in line with the national average. This indicates that children make expected progress over the year. However, the work in children’s books and evidence in their learning journeys indicate that a considerable number of children are making better than expected progress and are well prepared for Year 1. Leaders are not tracking pupils’ progress carefully enough, and therefore the school’s information about children’s progress is unreliable.
• Teaching in the early years is good. Staff have a deep understanding of children’s needs and carefully plan stimulating and exciting learning activities to meet those needs. For example, during the inspection, a range of activities linked to the story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ developed children’s language, mathematical and creative skills very effectively. The outdoor learning environment has been redeveloped and is used well to further support children’s learning.
• There are well-established routines in the early years classrooms. The majority of staff have high expectations of behaviour. However, these high expectations of behaviour are not consistently applied by all staff, which leads to some children misbehaving. This is particularly evident at the end of breaktimes and lunchtimes, where children do not line up properly or walk into school sensibly. There is a high focus on developing children’s personal, social and emotional skills in the classroom, but children are not helped enough to put these skills into practice at unstructured times.
• Staff usually identify the needs of disadvantaged children, seek additional resources to support their needs and carefully track their progress. However, leaders have not identified current disadvantaged pupils in early years on their assessment information and, therefore, do not have a clear overview of their progress. Leaders are therefore unable to evaluate how well the funding to support disadvantaged pupils is being used. Published assessment information from 2016 shows that outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are improving, but are below national averages.
• Staff provide effective support for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in early years. Staff work with external agencies, including special educational needs services, to understand the needs of the children and plan carefully to ensure that they are fully included in the learning.
• Children settle quickly into school. Teachers and other staff ensure that they find out as much as they can about the children from parents and nurseries to make the start of school as smooth as possible. Throughout the early years, ‘learning journeys’ record children’s achievements and progress in detail and staff share these with parents at the termly parents’ evenings. Staff provide opportunities for parents to learn about how to help their children at home. For example, a phonics workshop was held this year to show parents how phonics is taught.
• Staff receive professional development, support and training relevant to the education of young children. Opportunities are provided for teachers to share best practice, which ensures a consistent approach to teaching across the early years. Staff reflect on how the early years provision can be developed and take effective actions to improve it, such as developing the outdoor learning environment. However, no formal analysis of the early years provision is carried out by leaders, and no improvement planning is in place.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 133306 Birmingham 10034235 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 All through School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary aided 4 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 767 Appropriate authority Interim executive board Chair Headteacher David Willey Arshad Mohammed Telephone number 0121 773 7979 Website Email address http://alhijrahschool.co.uk/ enquiry@al-hijrah.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 2–3 December 2015

Information about this school

• This school is smaller than the average-sized all-through school. It is an Islamic voluntary-aided school.
• The vast majority of pupils are from minority ethnic groups and most are of Asian or Asian British heritage, with others from a range of backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is much higher than the national average.
• About two-fifths of pupils are supported by pupil premium funding, which is higher than average.
• There are small numbers of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• From Year 5, girls and boys are taught separately and are separate at social times.
• A very small number of pupils in key stage 4 attend Solihull College for several days a week.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards. These are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of key stage 2 and key stage 4.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information on its website about: how the pupil premium funding made a difference to the attainment of disadvantaged pupils; the early years pupil premium; how the Year 7 catch-up premium made a difference to Year 7 pupils’ progress; all of the subjects that pupils follow in each year group; the names of any phonics or reading schemes used at key stage 1; and details about the governing body.

Information about this inspection

• 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. It was carried out with no notice. The inspection was scheduled because Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector had concerns about safeguarding at the school, and leadership and management of the school.
• Inspectors evaluated how well the school safeguards pupils by carrying out a range of activities, including scrutinising documents, talking to staff and pupils, visiting lessons, observing breaktimes and lunchtimes, and observing the start and end of the school day.
• Inspectors visited lessons for pupils of all ages. They observed learning, looked at pupils’ work and talked to pupils about their learning. Inspectors scrutinised the school’s information about pupils’ achievement and discussed this information with leaders and staff.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, staff, pupils, representatives of the local authority, and the chair of the interim executive board.
• Inspectors considered the 46 responses available on Ofsted’s Parent View site.
• Inspectors were aware during this inspection that a serious incident that occurred at the school since the previous inspection is under investigation by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the school in response to the incident were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

Inspection team

Sue Morris-King, lead inspector Rob Hackfath Peter Humphries Adam Hewett Ann Pritchard Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector