Caedmon College Whitby Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management by:
  • embracing further opportunities for external support to sharpen up procedures to ensure rigour, robustness and high quality recording, especially for safeguarding and communication with parents
  • implementing further strategies to improve attendance at a more rapid pace, particularly for key groups of pupils and students in the sixth form
  • ensuring the successful approach to teaching the key stage 3 curriculum is embedded into key stage 4 and the sixth form to ensure even more rapid progress for all groups of pupils.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have effectively overhauled the key stage 3 curriculum, ensuring that it is exciting, comprehensive and leads to good progress for all groups of pupils, particularly boys. Pupils are enthusiastic about the way they are learning. At key stage 4, leaders have increased the opportunities for pupils to study EBacc subjects when it is the right choice for the pupil. The number of pupils choosing to study these subjects is increasing.
• Leaders have improved behaviour for learning by improving the behaviour policy and raising expectations of how pupils should behave and what they can achieve. In the short term this is resulting in a higher number of removals from lessons, but pupils agree that, overall, there is less low-level disruption, which means that pupils are more focused on their learning and as a result making good progress.
• Leaders are effectively spending additional funding for disadvantaged pupils, those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils who need to catch up. This is leading to bespoke curriculum provision for those pupils who need it, particularly in the ‘outreach centre’. In addition to this, the school uses pupil premium funding to employ a number of mentors who provide effective support across the curriculum and ensure that individuals supported by the pupil premium are making good progress.
• Through effective analysis of performance information, leaders identify areas they need to improve. For example, leaders have quite rightly identified some underperformance among the most able pupils. Leaders implemented a clear and comprehensive action plan. The impact of this on improving progress for this group, particularly the disadvantaged most able, is clearly seen in current progress information.
• Senior leaders rigorously hold middle leaders to account for performance in their subject areas, through regular meetings and the recent introduction of departmental reviews. This means that all staff have a greater awareness of pupils’ performance and teachers carry out interventions sooner to ensure that all pupils make good progress.
• Leaders carry out effective monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning. They gather information in a variety of ways and where they identify that teaching needs to improve, support is given. This leads to better outcomes for pupils.
• Good provision for educating pupils about life in modern Britain is ensuring that pupils have knowledge of how to contribute to society, keep safe and manage risk. Teachers teach personal, social, health and economic education during dedicated tutorial periods, tutorial time and through enrichment days.
• Leaders are not always effective in their communications with parents, which leads to some dissatisfaction from some parents, particularly around how the school deals with bullying.
• The local authority provides advice and support for school leaders. However, not all support is fully embraced, which has led to some procedures in school not being reviewed recently and therefore not being improved, for example the recording of safeguarding referrals.

Governance of the school

• Governors know their school well. They are aware of how school leaders are spending additional funding and talk confidently about the impact this has on the progress of key groups of pupils.
• Governors are well trained, particularly about safeguarding, safer recruitment and new government accountability measures. Governors have the skills to challenge school leaders.
• Governors ensure that performance management arrangements are effective and contribute to whole-school improvement. Governors review salary progressions, ensuring that a rigorous approach leads to high standards and progression only when merited.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that the school is compliant with statutory safeguarding requirements; however, the sharpness and robustness of recording could be more effective.
• Teachers have a strong knowledge of safeguarding and are up to date with the latest government guidance. They are confident in reporting concerns and know the warning signs to be alert to. Staff pass on all concerns, no matter how small. They are consistently encouraged by school leaders to do so.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school. Pupils are, overall, confident that if bullying is reported, staff will deal with it quickly.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• In lessons, time is used well to maximise the opportunities for learning. Teachers provide pupils with work that challenges them and helps them to make good progress.
• Teachers ensure that boys and girls are interested in the work they do. At key stage 3, one method is to incorporate the use of digital media. Pupils are confident in using electronic devices for research, recording notes and presenting their work. Pupils are also able to select individual work that challenges them to think hard from tasks prepared by their teachers.
• Learning mentors work effectively alongside teachers. Through their careful deployment, they ensure that pupils who need support receive it and so make the same progress as their peers from similar starting points.
• Teachers’ strong subject knowledge ensures that they challenge pupils appropriately in their learning. Teachers ensure that they use information about pupils when preparing their lessons so that they are able to achieve well.
• In key stage 3, pupils spend time on a one-to-one basis with their ‘learning coach’. This allows dedicated time for pupils to review their own learning and reflect on what they are doing well and what they can do better. This system is also in place to support pupils in key stage 4 who are underachieving. Pupils say that this helps them to succeed.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good
• The majority of pupils are confident learners who take an active role in developing their knowledge. In key stage 3, there are class ambassadors of all abilities, who explain their learning well.
• Pupils are educated well about risks and keeping themselves safe. Through a multitude of approaches, including working with the local police community support officer, pupils learn about child sexual exploitation, online safety, the dangers of drugs and alcohol and managing risks.
• Leaders have ensured that the personal, social and health education programme incorporates fundamental British values as well as ensuring that opportunities are present across the curriculum for social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. In Year 7, pupils work on a number of aspects of what it means to be British. They choose their own style to produce a report and share their findings with the class. This develops both their understanding and confidence.
• Through the effective use of a mentoring scheme and of their own alternative provision, leaders ensure that the well-being of vulnerable pupils is a priority. The impact of this is that pupils receive support, develop skills for life and achieve well.
• The majority of parents and pupils say that leaders deal with bullying well. Some parents, however, do not agree that the schools deals with bullying well. The school has work to do to improve communication with parents.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good
• Pupils conduct themselves well around the school site and in lessons. They move from lesson to lesson calmly and are punctual. Pupil have a positive attitude to their learning, including homework, which they hand in regularly.
• Leaders have taken action to improve attendance. While attendance remains below the national average for some groups of pupils, the impact of leaders’ actions is resulting in an improving picture, despite a high number of holidays taken in the first term of the academic year. Leaders need to do further work to ensure that the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities improves more rapidly.
• Pupils attending the outreach centre have improved their attendance and their behaviour. Through this they achieve more than if they had remained in school.
• In lessons, pupils focus well. This is because they are interested in and enthusiastic about their learning. This is particularly evident when pupils use digital technology to enhance and personalise their own learning experience.
• Pupils say that behaviour is good and has improved further after the recent introduction of a new behaviour system in December 2016. Higher expectations have led to an increased number of pupils being removed from lessons, but this is beginning to settle down and is resulting in fewer incidents of low-level disruption. Pupils say that behaviour on the way to and from school is good.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• School leaders analyse pupil progress information regularly to identify underachievement. Through this, effective intervention targets pupils so that they receive support to achieve well. Progress from starting points fell slightly for some pupil groups in the last academic year, but following swift action, school information shows that current pupils are on track to make good and better progress.
• Leaders have ensured that the spending of additional funding has an impact on pupil outcomes. Pupils who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs receive effective mentoring and support. Current pupils in these groups are making similar progress to other pupils nationally with the same starting points.
• Leaders are improving progress for key groups of pupils, for example those who are the most able and those who are disadvantaged. Through a bespoke programme of intervention, these pupils are making better progress.
• Pupils who attend the outreach centre are on target to achieve better outcomes. They are making clear progress from their starting points towards gaining a range of GCSE qualifications including English and mathematics. Alongside this, they are clear about how they wish to progress to further education, employment or training. This is because they receive strong advice and guidance.
• Pupils read regularly and select reading material from the school library that challenges them. Those who struggle with their reading receive extra help and they say this helps them to improve. The most able pupils read with confidence and have appropriate strategies for decoding unfamiliar words.
• Leaders ensure that pupils receive strong advice and guidance to prepare them for their next stage. Through a varied programme of assemblies with external speakers, personal, social, health and economic education and tutorial time, pupils have a good awareness of the options available to them. Pupils say they value the information about a wide range of careers as this helps them decide what they would like to be.

16 to 19 study programmes Good

• Through effective leadership in the sixth form, students have high aspirations, know where they are aiming and feel well supported on their journey to get there.
• Teaching in the sixth form is good. Teachers know their students well and plan their lessons to challenge and support learning. Teachers and students have excellent relationships, which leads to a good atmosphere for learning.
• Leaders have ensured that a strong programme of careers advice and guidance prepare students for their next steps into education, employment or training. Students are aware of a number of different routes, including university, employment and apprenticeships. Through this effective support, the number of students not in sustained education, employment or training after they leave the sixth form is very low.
• Leaders are improving the provision for students who enter the sixth form without a grade C in GCSE English and mathematics. They have rightly recognised that the previous provision did not lead to good outcomes and have increased the taught time for these students. Students are now making better progress towards securing a grade C in these two subjects.
• Students in the sixth form appreciate the programme of personal, social, health and economic education that is in place. They say that it covers topics relevant to them and helps them to consider risks, for example the topic ‘Drive Alive’, which was introduced following a number of incidents on roads in the area involving young drivers.
• Leaders monitor student progress in the sixth form closely. This means that leaders identify issues quickly and students receive support to make good progress. Students make good progress on both academic and the small number of vocational courses on offer.
• Students in the sixth form who are undertaking level 1 qualifications make good progress. This is because the curriculum caters for their needs and teachers support them to achieve well.
• Students’ behaviour in the sixth form is exemplary. They use their non-curricular time effectively to study and some students volunteer their time to support younger pupils with their learning. Most pupils undertake work experience and leaders have recently introduced the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme for all students in Year 12 to support them in developing wider skills for life and employment.
• Leaders of the sixth form have taken steps to improve rates of attendance in the sixth form; for example, leaders no longer accept self-certification. This has improved the rates of attendance, but there are still further improvements needed.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 121667 North Yorkshire 10019766 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 Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Maintained 11 to 19 Mixed Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 1,054 Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes 260 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Pen Cruz Keith Prytherch 01947 602406 www.ccwhitby.co.uk post@ccwhitby.org Date of previous inspection 23–24 October 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Caedmon College Whitby is a larger than average-sized secondary school.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds or who speak English as an additional language is well below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for special educational needs support and those who have an education, health and care plan is slightly below the national average.
• The school has a small number of pupils who are currently accessing bespoke alternative provision at school’s outreach centre.
• The school has a large sixth-form provision.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed 33 part-lessons across a range of subjects, in all year groups, including one jointly with the principal. Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work in detail alongside school leaders. Inspectors listened to a sample of pupils read, including some of the most able pupils.
• Meetings and discussions were held with pupils, middle leaders, senior leaders, teaching staff, the police community support officer, a representative from the local authority, the principal and governors, including the chair of the governing body.
• Inspectors took account of 131 responses to the Ofsted online parent questionnaire, Parent View, including 104 free-text responses and a number of emails and telephone calls from parents. There were no responses to the pupil questionnaire or staff questionnaire.
• The inspection team scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including: the school’s website; the school’s self-evaluation and development plans; records from external reviews; pupil and parent surveys; records relating to pupils’ behaviour and attendance; the school’s own information and data relating to pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching and minutes from governors’ meetings and meetings with the local authority.
• Inspectors reviewed the single central record, safeguarding records and associated policies and procedures, including checks on the suitability of staff.

Inspection team

Debbie Redshaw, lead inspector David Pridding Steve Rogers Karen Gammack Dan Murray

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