Harris Church of England Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 13(5) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires significant improvement.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and strengthen pupils’ progress, particularly in mathematics and key stage 3, by ensuring that teachers:
  • make better use of assessment information
  • have high expectations and plan lessons that are matched to pupils’ abilities and prior attainment, particularly for the most able and disadvantaged pupils
  • make sure that lessons interest pupils and engage them in their learning, particularly boys
  • make sure schemes of learning are closely linked to the knowledge and skills pupils need to develop.
• Improve the impact of leadership and management on school improvement by:
  • ensuring that leaders at all levels have the confidence and skills to raise standards in their areas of responsibility
  • checking carefully that actions taken to improve the school’s effectiveness are having the intended impact
  • making sure that the recording system when pupils leave the school is fit for purpose and captures the information leaders need
  • improving members of the multi-academy trust (MAT) and governors’ understanding of what the school needs to do to improve, so that they can effectively hold leaders to account. An external review of the school’s governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders’ actions to tackle the areas for improvement following the previous section 5 inspection have not been fully effective. Consequently, while academic standards and pupils’ behaviour have improved, aspects of teaching and pupils’ progress are still less than good.
• Leaders identify accurately what they need to do to improve the school. However, they do not always check carefully whether their actions have led to the improvements they intended. Consequently, improvements are not consistent or rapid enough, for example in the quality of teaching.
• Although leaders check the progress of specific groups, such as disadvantaged pupils, they are not always clear if pupils have made appropriate progress from their starting points. When they do identify concerns about how pupils are progressing, leaders do not take sufficiently effective action to help teachers ensure that pupils catch up. Leaders have reflected on this and are introducing a different approach in September 2018.
• Leadership of special educational needs (SEN) provision is effective. Leaders identify appropriate additional support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. This support is carefully planned and checked to ensure that pupils’ learning is improving. Parents and carers are generally positive about the additional help that their children receive. However, not all teachers use the good-quality information shared by leaders to plan effectively for the needs of individual pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities in their classes.
• The actions taken by leaders to improve behaviour have resulted in a calmer climate for learning. The number of fixed-term exclusions has declined and there are fewer incidents requiring the use of sanctions. Actions to improve the attendance of specific groups have resulted in reduced absences for those who have SEN and/or disabilities. Attendance is improving for disadvantaged pupils, although it is still behind that of their peers.
• Leaders have a suitable system for staff appraisal that is closely linked to the training that teachers receive. Staff, including new teachers, are very positive about this system and clear about how it is helping them to develop as teachers. Leaders, too, can demonstrate how they are using appraisal and training to support staff to improve the quality of their work.
• Personal, social and health education is well developed through the curriculum. Pupils are studying sports studies to help embed a healthy attitude to fitness. Through assemblies and tutor time, pupils learn about community and have time for personal reflection. Pupils are respectful of one another and show a high level of respect for other people’s faiths and cultures. Leaders are preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders are now spending the Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up funding effectively. Pupils are assessed accurately and support is focused and timely. Consequently, the reading and numeracy skills of pupils who had not reached the expected standards by the end of primary school have improved.
• The capacity that the MAT has brought to the school to help support finance and personnel issues has allowed leaders more time to concentrate on other aspects of school leadership.

Governance of the school

• Governors and the MAT representatives have a detailed and accurate picture of the areas of the school that have improved since the last inspection. However, they lack clarity and detail about what still needs to be done to secure further improvements, as they are heavily reliant on the headteacher and senior leaders to steer their thinking. As a result, they are not clear about how they will hold leaders to account to make further developments happen or what targeted support is appropriate at this time.
• Governors are starting to analyse effectively the spending and impact of additional money from the pupil premium, special educational needs, and Year 7 catch-up funding. Strategies to raise the achievement of disadvantaged pupils with this funding were ineffective over the past two years. However, it is now evident that these groups of pupils currently in the school are starting to benefit from this additional funding. Their outcomes are improving in certain parts of the curriculum. Similarly, the programmes to help pupils who arrive at the school with low literacy and numeracy skills are increasingly effective.
• Members of the trust, local governors and senior leaders are united in their common vision for a strong, caring school community committed to improving pupils’ life chances.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders systematically monitor the procedures for checking the suitability of adults working with pupils and ensure that safer recruitment practices are followed. Their commitment and actions to improve the effectiveness of safeguarding procedures have ensured that it is a strong feature of the school.
• Through regular training, leaders ensure that staff are vigilant and react appropriately to safeguarding concerns. Staff are also given training on how to cover aspects of the curriculum; for example, staff have recently been trained on how to encourage discussion about lesbian, gay and transgender matters.
• Pupils are taught well about how to keep themselves and others safe; for example, they have been taught about child sexual exploitation and keeping safe online. Leaders have identified these risks as key priorities for young people in the local area. Pupils are clear and confident about how school staff would support them if they were at risk from harm. They can describe how they would help a friend for whom they had a concern.
• There are effective policies and procedures in place to protect and support vulnerable pupils. In many areas, the school works closely with families and liaises effectively with external agencies and is prepared to challenge agencies when necessary. The documentation completed when pupils leave the school during the course of the academic year is not as clear and systematic as the rest of the school’s safeguarding records.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Although improving, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is not consistently good. There is too much variation in the effectiveness of teaching across subjects. Consequently, in some subjects, including mathematics, sports science and computer science, pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• The most common weakness, seen both in pupils’ books and in lessons, is a lack of high expectations for pupils. This includes a lack of challenge for the most able. Pupils do not get enough opportunities to extend their learning, think creatively or solve complex problems.
• Leaders’ approach to planning requires teachers to consider the needs of different groups of pupils, including the disadvantaged, the most able and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Some teachers’ planning for these groups of pupils is superficial and does not address pupils’ learning needs with sufficient care. This limits progress.
• In some lessons, pupils lose interest because teachers do not plan learning which engages them; this is especially the case for boys. Typically, when teaching is not pitched at the right level, pupils are easily distracted and do not concentrate for long.
• Leaders have developed a comprehensive system for assessment that ensures assessment information is accurate. They have worked collaboratively with other schools to create an extensive moderation process in order to benchmark standards. However, at a classroom level, teachers are not making the most of this information. Consequently, some teaching is not pitched at the right level and, in several cases, teachers and leaders are unsure about the progress pupils are making.
• The quality of mathematics teaching is too variable. Teachers do not plan interesting lessons consistently at the right standard for pupils’ abilities. They do not check pupils’ understanding well enough. Too often, activities lack challenge and are needlessly repetitive.
• Teaching has improved in English. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, make secure progress in this subject because teachers plan at the right level to meet pupils’ learning needs and provide clear explanations.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• A dedicated pastoral team supports pupils well in their personal development and emotional health. The staff focus on all elements of pupils’ well-being and provide essential care and support, ensuring that pupils are safe.
• The personal, social and health education programme is detailed and well designed. As a result of a comprehensive programme of learning, pupils know about protected characteristics and their role as active members of their local community. Pupils are proud of the ‘family feel’ that their school community has, which is complemented by the school’s Christian ethos.
• Bullying is rare. When it occurs, staff respond quickly to make sure that it does not happen again. Pupil leaders undertake prefect roles to ensure that pupils treat one another with respect. Teachers do not tolerate the use of derogatory language. They have successfully tackled misunderstandings between groups of pupils from different cultures. Pupils said that teachers deal swiftly with any instances when inappropriate language is used.
• The careers advice, guidance and support the school offers are highly personalised and enable pupils to make informed choices about their futures. The vast majority of pupils remain in education, employment or training after leaving school.
• Pupils make a number of visits, including to universities, to encourage them to continue their education. They also take part in events in school to promote learning; for example, during the inspection, the whole school and pupils from local primary schools were taking part in the ‘Big Bang’ event, which promotes skills and future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
• Staff liaise closely with alternative providers to monitor the progress, attendance, behaviour and welfare of the few pupils who access courses away from the school. These opportunities are having a positive impact on the attitudes of these pupils.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Leaders’ raised expectations of acceptable behaviour led to an increase in fixed-term exclusions. The rate is now starting to fall, as is the number of repeat exclusions. Pupils in all year groups told inspectors that there has been an improvement in behaviour in lessons, although a small minority still experience some disruption, usually when teaching is less effective.
• Because behaviour is improving, fewer pupils are now sent out of class or given detention. During the inspection, inspectors observed very little low-level disruption to lessons.
• Pupils who have identified behavioural difficulties are supported to improve their behaviour through mentoring.
• Pupils are proud of their school, which is calm and orderly at all times. Pupils treat their environment respectfully and keep it free of litter. They are punctual to school and well prepared for lessons.
• Pupils’ relationships with one another and staff are positive and respectful.
• Leaders actively promote the fundamental British values of respect and community. They place a strong emphasis on participation and personal responsibility, which contributes successfully to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Consequently, pupils from different backgrounds mix together well and treat others respectfully.
• Pupils’ attendance has improved over time and is broadly in line with national levels. The school works well with families and has been successful in reducing persistent absenteeism. .

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils enter the school with lower attainment than that that seen in most other schools. They also leave at the end of Year 11 with below average attainment.
• In 2017, the attainment of pupils in Year 11 was below average and equivalent to pupils achieving a third of a grade below the national average.
• In 2016, outcomes for Year 11 were poor. In 2017, overall outcomes improved significantly for Year 11 in almost all subjects and, overall, pupils made progress similar to pupils nationally. However, the progress made by disadvantaged pupils, the most able and boys remained a concern.
• Currently, the progress pupils make across a range of subjects is improving but is too variable, especially in mathematics. This is because the quality of teaching is mixed, both across and within subjects. The exception to this is English, where in-school assessment records show that progress is consistent across year groups and for pupils of different abilities.
• Inspection evidence and the school’s in-year assessment information show that, in many year groups, the most able pupils, boys and some groups of disadvantaged pupils are not making strong progress. This is because the teaching in many subjects is not well matched to their needs.
• The proportion of pupils moving on to further education, employment or training at the end of the Year 11 is increasing. In 2017, nearly all pupils secured positive destinations and the proportion of disadvantaged pupils with successful destinations also improved significantly.
• Outcomes for pupils in alternative provision are variable. Leaders work hard to ensure that these pupils are able to take their next steps confidently when they leave the school.

School details

Unique reference number 140371 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 10048309 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 11 to 16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 506 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Hilary Lower Headteacher Michael Stoppard Telephone number 01788 812549 Website www.harriscofeacademy.co.uk Email address office@harriscofeacademy.co.uk Date of previous inspection 29–30 November 2016

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.
• It is part of the Diocese of Coventry Multi-Academy Trust and became an academy in 2014. The current headteacher joined the school at this time.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• The school has an average proportion of disadvantaged pupils.
• Most pupils are from a White British background.
• A small number of pupils in Years 8, 9 and 10 attend an alternative provider for part or all of their education. These providers are Warwickshire College and Unique Learning.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in lessons, and some of these observations were conducted jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors talked to pupils about their learning and their attitudes to school. They met with five groups of pupils. Inspectors observed pupils at morning breaktime, at lunchtime and as they moved around the school.
• Inspectors considered the 45 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also considered the 54 responses to an online staff questionnaire and the seven responses to an online pupil questionnaire.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, other leaders, newly qualified teachers, the chair of governors and both the chief executive officer and the education director for the Diocese of Coventry Multi-Academy Trust.
• Inspectors scrutinised several documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, its improvement plan, minutes of governing body meetings and the school’s records about pupils’ behaviour, attendance, attainment and safety.

Inspection team

Lois Kelly, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Jacqueline Newsome Ofsted Inspector Graeme Rudland Ofsted Inspector Michael Onyon Ofsted Inspector