Tenbury High Ormiston Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve pupils’ outcomes by:
  • ensuring that middle leaders have a positive impact on teaching and learning across the school
  • consistently planning activities that challenge pupils with different starting points effectively, particularly the most-able pupils.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders, governors and staff are ambitious for the school and aim to achieve the best possible outcomes for pupils. They have established a culture of excellent relationships and respect between members of the school community. The school is welcoming and inclusive.
• Leaders make good use of the effective support offered by the school’s sponsor, Ormiston Academies Trust. Middle leaders value highly the subject networks within the trust. Middle leaders benefit from the opportunity to share their practice with colleagues in other trust schools. A consultant from the trust provides regular external validation of leaders’ work to improve the effectiveness of the school. The trust ensures the quality of the learning environment, for example through the refurbishment of classrooms. This contributes well to the very positive learning culture around the school.
• The curriculum is broad and pupils study a good range of subjects. Leaders make sure that the curriculum is flexible and can provide additional support to meet the needs of specific pupils. These changes successfully enhance pupils’ progress. The school’s options process responds to pupils’ interests and aspirations and ensures that pupils study a balanced range of qualifications.
• The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including sports, outdoor pursuits and arts. There are strong and well-established links with activities in the local community, which contribute well to the school’s extra-curricular provision. Almost all pupils say that they are involved in extra-curricular activities and they value these opportunities highly. Extra-curricular activities contribute successfully to pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural education.
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain through the successful promotion of British values within the curriculum. Through experiences in school, during enrichment activities and from the example set by adults, pupils develop positive attitudes and values.
• Leaders set challenging targets for teachers. There are high levels of accountability, balanced by high-quality constructive support. School systems to monitor teachers’ performance are comprehensive, and success is rewarded.
• Leaders plan carefully how the pupil premium is used. The barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils are identified and tackled effectively. For example, an academic mentor meets frequently with these pupils to support them. Differences in the rates of progress between disadvantaged pupils and their peers have diminished over time.
• Leaders make sure that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are given sharply focused and appropriate support to address their specific learning needs. The school’s special educational needs coordinator monitors the effectiveness of this support and alters it as appropriate. Additional funding is used effectively because pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make similar rates of progress to their peers. Such pupils also demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning.
• Leaders use the Year 7 catch-up funding well to support pupils who enter the school with below-average attainment in English and/or mathematics. For example, additional staffing results in support which is bespoke for these pupils. Pupils successfully catch up with their peers as a result of how this additional funding is used.
• Teachers benefit from professional development that is well planned and linked to school improvement priorities. There is an outward-facing culture within the school, created through strong links with colleagues in other schools. Teachers new to the profession receive appropriate additional development opportunities.
• Leaders collect a wealth of information about pupils’ performance and use this to understand every aspect of achievement. Tracking and monitoring of pupils’ progress informs additional intervention programmes. These have not yet successfully addressed differences in progress in some subjects and for some groups of pupils. Parents state that they receive good information from the school about how well their children are doing.
• Leaders share with teachers their clear expectations of how to approach teaching, learning and assessment. Middle leaders regularly check on the quality of teaching and learning but there is variation in the implementation of these policies. Middle leaders do not successfully hold staff within their areas to account for these differences. This results in inconsistencies in the effectiveness of teaching, which is reflected in differences in pupils’ progress. Middle leaders have the capacity to support senior leaders’ work to improve the school.

Governance of the school

• Governors bring a wide range of experiences to the governing body, and are highly skilled. They are able to check that the information leaders provide them with is valid, and use this to challenge and support leaders effectively.
• Governors successfully hold leaders to account for their actions. Governors regularly evaluate how well leaders’ work reflects the school’s action plan. They make sure that the additional funding that the school receives is used appropriately, and routinely evaluate its impact on pupils’ progress. For example, the governing body receives reports about how the pupil premium funding is used, and its impact on how well disadvantaged pupils are doing.
• Governors know the school well as a result of their regular visits to the school, and the valuable information they receive from leaders. Individual governors also have oversight of specific areas of the school, including safeguarding. Governors know the school’s strengths and accurately identify the next steps that the school needs to take to improve further.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders make sure that staff are fully aware of the school’s policies and practice to ensure that pupils are safe. Leaders have a thorough knowledge of, and high level of experience in, using safeguarding legislation and guidance. Leaders ensure that regular training and updates about safeguarding are effective through checking how well staff know their responsibilities. As a result, there is a culture of vigilance within the school. Staff say that they feel pupils are safe when they are at school.
• Leaders make sure that when pupils are working away from school, for example at alternative provision, or on work experience placements, their safety remains the utmost priority.
• Leaders have created strong and very effective links with external organisations that provide additional specialist support to pupils when required. Regular communication between leaders and these organisations ensures that there is timely response to pupils’ specific needs.
• Staff make sure that pupils are extremely well prepared to manage any risks or hazards they encounter through comprehensive provision within the curriculum. Pupils state that they feel safe and well cared for at school, and there are adults they would talk to if they have any problems.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers are knowledgeable about their subjects. They teach in an enlightening and enlivening manner. Teachers make good use of the positive relationships that exist with pupils. They create an atmosphere in lessons that supports pupils to make good academic progress and outstanding personal development.
• Teaching assistants are effectively deployed in classrooms to target additional support for specific pupils. Teaching assistants make sure that these pupils can access work easily and benefit from working alongside their peers.
• Teachers set homework in accordance with the school’s policy. Homework helps to reinforce and consolidate learning from lessons. A very high proportion of parents feel that the homework their child receives is appropriate.
• Teachers mostly identify and use well opportunities to develop pupils’ written and verbal skills across the curriculum. For example, in English, teachers make sure that pupils understand the modern equivalent of Shakespearian English. This expands pupils’ vocabulary and develops their confidence in using technical language when responding to questions.
• Teachers often model answers to pupils. These models raise pupils’ aspiration to achieve at the highest level, and provide an understanding of how work will be assessed. Teachers often include pupils’ explanations in developing their model answers. For example in mathematics, pupils provide reasons and justification for the answers they give. Pupils’ learning benefits from these opportunities to address any misconceptions they have. Sometimes teachers do not make the expected outcome of a task sufficiently clear to pupils, so pupils are less sure about how to succeed.
• Many teachers use questioning skills successfully to promote discussion and thinking among pupils. Teachers expect thoughtful and well-justified answers and target their questions to make sure that this happens. Sometimes, teachers are too ready to accept brief answers from pupils rather than encouraging more-detailed verbal contributions.
• Teachers carry out regular assessments of how pupils are doing. They know their pupils well. In some lessons, teachers do not consistently use this information effectively. Activities are not consistently planned at appropriate starting points for pupils, or pupils spend too long on tasks which are not sufficiently challenging. This is particularly the case for pupils with high levels of prior attainment. As a result, some tasks are not sufficiently challenging. This limits progress, particularly for most-able pupils. Pupils say that they are challenged more in some lessons than others.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils’ personal qualities make a significant contribution to their academic achievement and progression into further education or employment.
• Pupils are extremely well informed about how to keep themselves safe and healthy at school and beyond because of a well-planned programme of relevant personal, social, health and economic education. This programme is delivered in a variety of ways, including special focus days, and ensures that topics are dealt with in age-appropriate ways. Leaders ensure that the programme is effective through evaluating pupil response and a range of other available information.
• Bullying is very rare at the school, and when incidents do occur they are dealt with robustly. Pupils have confidence in the school’s systems to tackle such behaviour. Pupils understand the impact that derogatory language can have, and incidents are very rare.
• The school successfully challenges stereotypes and this encourages pupils to value diversity. Pupils show very high levels of respect for others, including respect for views that might differ from their own. Pupils value highly opportunities they have to experience contexts and cultures different from their own, and have the skills and confidence to respond positively in such situations.
• The school has a very well planned and highly successful programme of careers advice and guidance that begins in Year 7. Overseen by a well-qualified member of staff, pupils also have access to independent and impartial careers advice to make informed decisions about their next steps. Pupils have the opportunity to participate in work-related learning placements, which are well matched to their interests and aspirations. Pupils develop their independence, leadership and employability skills through opportunities such as this. Pupils very successfully secure appropriate further education, employment or training when they leave Year 11.
• The school makes highly effective use of internal and external resources to ensure that pupils whose circumstances might make them vulnerable are well looked after. The school’s inclusive ethos means that it receives more pupils with challenging personal circumstances than other schools locally. Leaders ensure that the additional attention provided for these pupils on transfer and throughout their time at the school supports them to settle in quickly and feel welcomed and valued members of the school community.
• Pupils who attend alternative provision are well looked after and attend regularly. As a result, they enjoy and benefit from the opportunities this aspect of the curriculum provides them.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ conduct around the school site is excellent. Pupils move in a calm and orderly fashion between lessons and they typically greet adults and each other politely. Pupils demonstrate their pride in the school through keeping the site tidy and free from litter, and by wearing their uniforms well. The overwhelming majority of pupils would recommend their school to others.
• Teachers model respectful behaviour through their everyday interactions with pupils. This is reflected by pupils’ attitudes and behaviours. Pupils behave very well in lessons and disruptions to learning are exceptionally rare.
• Pupils understand the consequences of not behaving well, and teachers apply common systems effectively. The use of fixed-term exclusions are rare, and below the national average for all pupils. Pupils and parents have confidence that behaviour is excellent.
• Overall rates of attendance at the school are very high, and are much better than the national average. Leaders track the attendance of different groups of pupils. Additional support for pupils in receipt of free school meals and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities that are supported by the school has been effective. The rates of attendance of these groups of pupils continues to improve over time.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• GCSE results in 2016 show that pupils’ overall rates of progress were in line with all pupils nationally. Overall rates of progress in some subjects including science and humanities were much higher than the national average. Rates of progress in English and mathematics were similar to those seen nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who achieve at least a grade C in English and mathematics has improved over time and is now higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils who are entered for, and achieve, the English Baccalaureate is also higher than the national average. As a result of their outcomes, pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment.
• The small number of pupils who complete some of their education away from the school achieve well and make the progress leaders expect of them.
• The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is improving. Current pupils are making rates of progress are good as a result of the effective support these pupils receive.
• In the past, there have been small differences in how well disadvantaged pupils do, compared to other pupils nationally. Disadvantaged pupils’ progress has been lower than that of other pupils, particularly for those who also had high prior attainment. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who achieved the English Baccalaureate has been lower than for other pupils. The impact of the pupil premium funding has improved, so that the progress of current disadvantaged pupils across a range of subjects and in different year groups is much better. Differences appear to have almost disappeared.
• Pupils’ progress varies between subjects. For example, leaders’ analysis of school assessment information identifies that current Year 11 pupils are making slower progress in subjects including technology, computer science and foreign languages than they are in other subjects.
• Pupils with different starting points currently make inconsistent progress. For example, leaders’ analysis shows that in most year groups, pupils with average or low starting points make more progress in a range of subjects than pupils with similar starting points nationally. In contrast, school monitoring information shows that the progress of high prior-attaining pupils currently at the school is less than similar pupils nationally across a range of subjects.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141169 Worcestershire 10032565 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 344 Appropriate authority Ormiston Academies Trust Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Mr James Miller Mr Adrian Price 01584 810304 www.tenburyhighormistonacademy.co.uk aprice@tenburyhigh.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• Ormiston Academies Trust sponsors the school.
• The school is smaller than an average secondary school.
• Pupils enter the school with levels of prior attainment which are broadly in line with the national average.
• A below-average proportion of pupils are supported by the pupil premium.
• There is a very small proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. A very small proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• There is a relatively high proportion of pupils who are looked after on roll at the school.
• An above-average proportion of pupils have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health or care plan. There is a below-average proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• A very small number of pupils attend alternative provision at The Aspire Centre, Burford for part of the week.
• The school met the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 11, in 2016.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching in 21 lessons, four of which were carried out with members of the school’s senior leadership team. Lessons covered a wide range of subjects and year groups. Inspectors evaluated pupils’ work in lessons. An inspector visited an assembly.
• Inspectors held meetings with senior and middle leaders, including those with responsibility for safeguarding, members of the governing body and a representative from Ormiston Academies Trust, the school’s sponsor.
• Inspectors evaluated pupils’ conduct and behaviour in lessons, between lessons and at social times.
• Inspectors evaluated 36 responses from parents to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View and through additional comments provided during the inspection. Inspectors took into account the views of members of staff through 16 responses to the inspection questionnaire and through formal meetings and other discussions with staff.
• Pupils met formally with inspectors on two separate occasions. Inspectors also conducted many informal discussions with pupils during lessons and at social times. Inspectors evaluated 230 responses to an inspection questionnaire, which was distributed to pupils at the start of the inspection.
• Inspectors reviewed a variety of documentation, including school policies, self-evaluation and action plan documents and information about attendance, behaviour outcomes, teaching and learning and the school’s website.

Inspection team

Rob Hackfath, lead inspector John Parr Robert Bourdon-Pierre

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector