Moseley Park Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Give pupils in key stage 4 clearer and more explicit advice and guidance about the broad range of pathways they can take in later life.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The executive headteacher and head of school provide exceptionally strong leadership for Moseley Park. They have, together with the senior leadership team, created an inclusive learning environment where all do equally well. Leaders have made sure that pupils aspire to achieve strongly and to develop as well-rounded young people. As one parent commented, ‘I am impressed with every aspect of this school.’
• Leaders demonstrate uncompromising ambition for all pupils in the school. They are meticulous in checking how well pupils are doing in every subject and in every year group, and they hold teachers rigorously to account for pupils’ progress. They are relentless in ensuring that every pupil makes exceptional progress, in particular the most able, the disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The executive headteacher acknowledges that the recruitment and retention of teachers in some subjects have been challenging in recent years. In collaboration with Heath Park Academy, and the department for education recruitment programme, the school has ‘cast its net wide’ and recruited candidates from across Europe, including Spain. The executive headteacher has also made some astute appointments, particularly in subject leadership positions. These leaders now play a strong role in helping to drive the school’s ambitious improvement plan.
• Staff are highly supportive of the school and proud to be a part of it. The executive headteacher has encouraged the development of a coaching culture in the school, in which the most effective practitioners across the trust share their skills with others. Teachers feel well supported and say that leaders provide them with excellent opportunities to improve their skills and develop their careers. They also confirm that leaders provide effective support for their well-being. A newly qualified teacher told inspectors, ‘The atmosphere in the school is very positive; there is always someone to go to for support.’
• Subject leaders have a deep understanding of how to ensure that pupils make excellent progress and achieve highly. As the school grows, they are increasingly involved in assuring the quality of teaching and learning so that it is first-rate. Leaders monitor teachers’ work especially well. They check that teachers’ skills are constantly being improved, by providing expert training and advice, with focused, extra support for any teachers who need help to meet the school’s high expectations.
• Leaders are profoundly committed to improving pupils’ life chances. The bespoke curriculum is carefully designed so that pupils develop a deep knowledge and understanding of the subjects they study. The growing number of subjects, for example modern foreign languages, is ensuring that pupils can take an even broader range of subjects so they can progress on to their next stage of education, employment or training successfully.
• Threaded through all the work of the school is the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of the pupils. Pupils appreciate the breadth of extra-curricular opportunities, particularly in sport, drama and mathematics. Pupils demonstrate considerable knowledge and understanding of tolerance and democracy. Pupils are exceptionally well prepared for the challenges of life in modern Britain.
• Leaders make effective use of additional funding, including for special educational needs, the pupil premium and the Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium, to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils and enable those who enter the school with below-average achievement to catch up. As a result, current pupils who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities demonstrate rates of progress similar to all other pupils across a range of subjects, including in English and mathematics.
• Pupils in the sixth form receive highly effective and impartial careers advice. For the rest of the school, careers is taught through the school’s personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum. However, some key stage 4 pupils would like even more opportunities to consider prospective career.

Governance of the school

• Governance is first-rate. Governors and trust members are highly committed to ensuring that Moseley Park provides the very best education and welfare support for local children. They use their expertise highly effectively to be confident that the school’s evaluation of its work and identified areas for development are sharply focused and help the school to be successful.
• Governors hold a broad range of skills, which help them to carry out their roles exceptionally well. They fully immerse themselves in the life of the school, challenging leaders rigorously to check that pupils’ needs are met well and that they achieve highly.
• Governors make sure that additional funding for disadvantaged pupils, Year 7 pupils needing to improve their literacy and numeracy and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used very effectively. They monitor spending precisely, adapting how money is used depending on the differing needs of individual pupils, so that all of them make strong progress.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pupils’ welfare has the highest priority. All staff receive regular, helpful training about safeguarding. This makes sure that staff know exactly what to do if they are worried about a child. Leaders respond promptly to concerns raised, including making sure that help from outside agencies is accessed for pupils who need it.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including online. They know who to talk to if they have any concerns. Parents confirm that their children feel both happy and safe at school.
• Leaders and governors ensure that statutory requirements are met well. They also make sure that safer recruitment procedures are followed effectively. Employment checks are suitably thorough and the single central record is accurate and up to date. Governors make helpful and regular checks on the school’s policies and procedures, following up any points for improvement rigorously.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers have very high expectations of their pupils and provide them with sustained levels of stretch and challenge. Teachers’ excellent subject knowledge, clear explanations and skilful use of questioning enable pupils to master difficult concepts and new subject matter successfully. Pupils relish the opportunities they are given to explore and explain their thinking. As a result, they make exceptionally strong progress across the curriculum.
• Well-established routines enable teachers to make the most effective use of learning time. Lessons are brisk and purposeful, characterised by mutual respect between staff and pupils. Not a minute is wasted. This is because pupils are inspired and motivated by teachers’ enthusiasm for their subject. For example, in a Year 11 mathematics lesson, pupils were gripped with intellectual curiosity when their teacher introduced the idea of planning elevations.
• Teachers’ planning is highly effective in meeting the needs of all pupils, including the most able, those who are disadvantaged, and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teachers ensure that pupils have frequent opportunities to develop their literacy skills across the curriculum, including through extended writing. Teachers are alert to any misconceptions pupils may have and are quick to correct them. They check pupils’ progress meticulously and give them incisive feedback on their next steps. Pupils know what they have to do and make effective use of the time teachers give them to improve their work.
• Pupils are immensely proud of their work and talk with genuine passion about their learning. Pupils’ presentation of their work is invariably of a high standard and often impeccable. They willingly accept responsibility for their own learning and progress, and constantly seek to improve, both in their lessons and in the extra-curricular activities they undertake.
• Teachers and learning support assistants work especially well together to support disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that their progress is accelerated. In a Year 11 English lesson, adults skilfully supported a group of pupils to understand how to identify language used in formal letter writing, adapting tasks to meet these pupils’ needs well.
• Teachers pay careful attention to developing pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills across the whole curriculum. For example, in science, work seen in pupils’ books demonstrated pupils using mathematical skills to measure chemicals. In history, teachers ensure that pupils’ writing is well structured to demonstrate evaluation and synthesis.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The pastoral system is a real strength of the school. Adults are highly sensitive to pupils’ emotional and welfare needs. Pupils especially praised form tutors and pastoral leaders, who are always ready to listen to and support any pupil who needs help.
• The school encourages a confident and positive attitude towards learning and life. Several parents commented that Moseley Park has been a very positive experience for their children, particularly for vulnerable pupils and those with previous low self-esteem. One parent described how his daughter joined midway through the academic year and is now ‘always happy to go to school and enjoys learning’.
• Pupils understand the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle. Alongside traditional team sports, such as football and hockey, pupils participate in a wide range of sporting activities, including rugby, basketball, netball, cricket, rounders, kickboxing, trampolining, gymnastics, rock climbing, hockey, table-tennis, fitness, athletics, cross-country, volleyball, cheerleading, badminton and snooker, and take part in the Sports Leaders Award.
• Pupils report that they feel safe in school, and that bullying is rare and tackled firmly. Pupils are confident that they know to whom any concerns should be reported and that action by staff will be swift. Parents are in agreement that staff consistently ‘go the extra mile’ to support the pupils. Pupils are very aware of how to keep themselves safe online and when out in their local community. For example, at the time of the inspection, the school was conducting a ‘Knife Crime Awareness’ initiative, highlighting the pressures faced by many young people and offering advice on how to help children avoid the dangers of carrying knives.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ conduct throughout the school is excellent and their behaviour is impeccable. Disruption to lessons is rare, because pupils have high levels of respect for their teachers and love learning; as one said, ‘The school wants you to fulfil your potential.’
• Pupils are proud to be part of the harmonious community that is Moseley Park Academy. Pupils from a wide range of backgrounds integrate with each other extremely well. They value learning about each other’s differences and similarities and are quick to challenge stereotypes should they arise. Several pupils commented on how well they settled into the school when they joined, one Year 8 pupil saying that when he joined the school last year he was made to feel welcome from the first day.
• Attendance is above average and improving, because pupils enjoy school. Leaders use support from outside agencies very well to help those pupils who struggle to attend more regularly.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils join the school with prior attainment that is typically below that seen nationally. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make outstanding progress and attain very well across all curriculum areas during their time at Moseley Park. The school’s impressive method of calculating pupils’ progress provides pupil-level information about their achievement on a regular basis. Leaders use this information well to give extra help to any pupil who appears to be falling behind. Consequently, pupils gain knowledge and skills at a prodigious rate.
• Published outcomes for 2016 show that progress and attainment for all pupils in English and mathematics were well above national averages overall. Across the curriculum, for example in humanities, pupils’ outcomes were also above those achieved by their peers nationally. Unvalidated outcomes for 2017 indicate continued success in English and mathematics.
• Current assessment information shows that pupils in all years are making outstanding progress. During the inspection, pupils were able to articulate their knowledge and understanding with clarity and confidence. Challenge in classes is a constant, evident both in pupils’ work and in class discussion.
• The progress of disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged and children looked after, is similar to and often better than that made by other pupils. This is because teachers have high expectations for what pupils can achieve. In addition, leaders’ precise and judicious use of additional funding also ensures that these pupils make excellent progress and are cared for exceptionally well.
• The small number of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make excellent progress because they are particularly well supported. Skilful teaching and targeted extra sessions, delivered by well-trained adults, mean that these pupils make better progress than pupils nationally.
• Pupils’ writing in all subjects is of a very high standard, reflecting their strong literacy skills. In history, pupils quickly acquire the ability to reason, synthesise and evaluate complex and divergent opinions.
• Pupils make rapid progress in mathematics because their skills are developed well and used in other subjects. Pupils’ approach to problem solving is especially strong. For example, in chemistry, pupils explained how to use mathematical calculations to work out chemical formulae.
• Outcomes for the sixth form have rapidly improved over time. Poorer results, prior to 2016, led to swift action by leaders to address variation in performance between subjects. The impact of this resulted in greatly improved outcomes last year and, for current students, this rapid improvement continues to be clear in their work and is reflected in current data.

16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

• The 16 to 19 study programmes offered by the school meet all statutory requirements.
• Sixth-form leaders play a prominent day-to-day role in students’ education. They regularly monitor the quality of teaching and learning in the sixth form, as well as overseeing students’ independent study habits. Teaching is outstanding, students’ attitudes to learning are excellent and achievement is very strong and continuing to improve.
• Published outcomes for 2016 show that Moseley Park students made substantial and sustained progress from their starting points overall and in almost all subjects. The small number of disadvantaged students achieved rates of progress in line with all students nationally. The most able disadvantaged students made strong progress.
• Well over half of the students go to university when they leave the sixth form. Careers guidance in the sixth form provides excellent support for students to realise their aspirations. Well-focused work experience, visits to universities and help with university applications mean that students are very well prepared for their next steps. Students who do not intend to go to university are equally well supported as they pursue employment or other options.
• Sixth-form students’ conduct is exemplary and they provide excellent role models for younger pupils. Attendance is high, punctuality is excellent and students’ work ethic is first-class.
• Retention rates are very high. Leaders’ concerted focus on improving students’ learning habits has proved effective. Almost all students who start the sixth form now successfully complete their courses for both academic and vocational qualifications.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority 138098 Wolverhampton Inspection number 10037139 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 Secondary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Number of pupils on the school roll Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Academy sponsor-led 11 to 18 Mixed Mixed 915 32 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Sue Constable Executive headteacher Georgetta Holloway Telephone number 01902 553901 Website Email address www.moseleypark.org info@moseleypark.org Date of previous inspection 25–26 June 2014

Information about this school

• The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish regarding an evaluation of Year 7 catch-up funding.
• Moseley Park is a smaller-than-average-sized comprehensive school.
• Around 60% of the pupils are of White British heritage, while the remaining 40% represent a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is also higher than the national average.
• The school does not use any alternative provision.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The sixth form is shared with Heath Park Academy with lessons on both sites.
• Since the previous inspection, the school appointed the deputy headteacher to head of school in 2015.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning across a range of subjects in all year groups and were accompanied by members of the senior leadership team.
• Pupils’ work from a range of subjects was looked at.
• Inspectors listened to pupils from Years 7 and 8 read.
• Inspectors observed behaviour at breaktime and lunchtime and spoke with pupils informally.
• Discussions were held with pupils, senior leaders, including governors, subject leaders, heads of year, new staff, and representatives of the Central Learning Partnership Trust.
• A range of documentation and policies were scrutinised, including the school’s self-evaluation, development plan, records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance, minutes of meetings of the governing body, and assessment information.
• Records, policies and procedures relating to safeguarding were reviewed.
• Inspectors took account of 27 parent responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the school’s staff survey.

Inspection team

Steven Cartlidge, lead inspector David Buckle Graeme Rudland Elaine Haskins Mark Feldman Gwendoline Onyon Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector