Thrybergh Academy and Sports College Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• In the secondary phase, raise achievement and improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • improving pupils’ literacy skills across all subjects
  • raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils can do and achieve
  • ensuring that pupils’ basic mathematics skills improve at a faster rate.
• Strengthen the curriculum so that:
  • subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics are given a higher profile in the primary phase
  • in the secondary phase, pupils develop a deeper understanding of careers, staying safe online and sex and relationships education.
• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders at all levels fully evaluate the impact of their actions on teaching and learning
  • governors have a more accurate view of the school’s weaknesses and how they might be addressed
  • attendance rates across both phases improve so that they are at least in line with national averages for different groups of pupils. An external review of 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

• Systems and procedures have been introduced by senior leaders to improve teaching. Some of these are too new to have made a positive difference to the quality of teaching and learning. Moreover, procedures are not followed through rigorously by school leaders. For example, leaders identify rightly where there are weaknesses within departments and set targets for improvement. However, the weaknesses persist and are then not followed up robustly.
• The curriculum in the primary phase does not develop pupils’ skills well enough in subjects other than reading, writing and mathematics. There are missed opportunities to develop pupils’ investigative skills in science and to develop pupils’ skills in history and geography.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is weaker in the secondary phase than it is in the primary phase. Pupils have gaps in their understanding of online safety, of sex and relationships and of careers. Through assemblies and special ‘immersion’ days, they have developed a reasonable understanding of British values, particularly the importance of respect and the understanding of different cultures. Many pupils take part in the rich extra-curricular programme on offer, particularly the many opportunities to participate in sports.
• The school receives support from two external consultants. They make regular visits and have identified strengths and weaknesses correctly. Targets and priorities are then given to school leaders. However, improvements are not always quickly put into place. This means that some weaknesses persist.
• The pupil premium is being used well to raise achievement in the primary phase. However, senior leaders are not ensuring that absence and persistent absence rates for disadvantaged pupils are reducing in the secondary phase.
• In the secondary phase, the curriculum has improved so that more pupils study science than before. Pupils in key stage 4 now follow a broader curriculum to better prepare them for the next stage in their education. However, school leaders were slow to address these weaknesses, which means that the current Year 11 pupils continue to follow a weaker curriculum.
• The impact of leadership in the primary phase has resulted in improved teaching that has led to rising achievement.
• In the primary phase, changes made to the curriculum have resulted in significant improvements to outcomes in reading and writing. The curriculum is monitored regularly to ensure that it is having the necessary impact on raising achievement. For example, leaders’ work to raise standards in reading have paid dividends and good plans are in place to further build on these improvements.
• Additional funding for physical education and sport in the primary phase is used well to ensure that staff gain appropriate skills and that the range of sporting experiences for pupils is increased.
• Year 7 catch-up funding is used effectively to support small-group work and to provide additional staff to support pupils in class and to develop their reading skills. It is also used well to work with pupils in the local primary schools.
• Additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has been used successfully in the primary phase, although more work is needed to further raise achievement in reading. Across the school, systems and processes to track the progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are effective. As a result, pupils are identified quickly when they require additional support, and appropriate action is taken.

Governance of the school

• Governors do not have a good understanding of all of the school’s weaknesses, particularly in the secondary phase. While they understand that work still needs to be done to improve the effectiveness of middle leadership, their view of the school is still too positive. Governors do have a good understanding of the improvements that have taken place since the school opened.
• Recruitment of staff has been problematic, especially in key areas such as science. This problem has not been resolved by governors.
• Governors are committed and have good complementary skills. Some are new to post and so they are still learning how to hold leaders robustly to account.
• Governors have successfully implemented a new, more rigorous performance management system. It now supports staff to improve their work and holds them closely to account.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school makes appropriate checks on new staff to check their suitability for employment.
• Training for all staff on matters relating to child protection, recognising the signs and symptoms of abuse and how to refer concerns is regular and thorough.
• The two sites are safe and secure.
• Any concerns are reported promptly to designated safeguarding leaders who, in turn, take immediate action with appropriate outside agencies if necessary.
• A half-termly meeting is convened where key staff and outside agencies meet to discuss ongoing child protection cases, to review safeguarding procedures and to consider new cases. This ensures that staff are kept fully abreast of safeguarding concerns in the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• In the secondary phase, the quality of teaching and learning varies widely. Assessments are made of pupils’ learning but this assessment information is not used effectively to ensure that the work that is set for them is sufficiently difficult. In a number of lessons and pupils’ books seen by the inspection team, the work set for pupils was too easy. Teaching in science is weak because the work pupils are asked to do is often too simple.
• In mathematics in the secondary phase, teaching is inconsistent in quality. Pupils’ skills in using numbers, such as times tables, are sometimes poor, which holds them back when tackling difficult problems. Moreover, in some classes, there are limited opportunities for pupils to solve problems using their mathematical knowledge and skills.
• Outside of English lessons in the secondary phase, literacy is not promoted strongly. Teachers do not insist on correct spelling, precise sentence writing, accurate speech and good punctuation and grammar across subjects. Moreover, assessments do not focus on literacy, despite some assessment tasks containing considerable narrative text. As a result, weaknesses in pupils’ literacy skills persist.
• Teaching in the primary phase develops pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding well. Changes to the ways reading is taught are leading to improvements, although work remains to be done to strengthen this further. In the primary phase, pupils develop mathematical fluency well. Teachers give ample opportunities for pupils to use and apply their mathematical skills to solve problems.
• Across the school, English is taught well as a subject. The work pupils do is sufficiently demanding. Those who struggle with reading are well supported. Assessment information is used effectively to ensure that pupils’ next steps in learning are identified accurately.
• In the primary phase, teachers question pupils well to elicit longer, better answers from them. This enables pupils, particularly the most able, to make good progress as they use more complex vocabulary to justify their answers. In the secondary phase, this is more variable, because one-word or simplistic answers are sometimes accepted by teachers.
• Teaching assistants provide good support where it is needed in class, while also helping pupils to become independent and prepared for the next stage in their education.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• The school works well to help pupils become self-confident but it is only partly successful in helping pupils to understand how to be successful learners because teaching in the secondary phase is variable in quality. Additionally, in the secondary phase, there are gaps in pupils’ understanding of sex and relationships, of online safety and of careers.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe from different forms of bullying. They say that they have confidence in staff to deal with incidents of bullying. The school’s records indicate that bullying in the school is rare.
• The personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils who are educated off the site are good. Suitable arrangements are made to follow up any absences. School leaders regularly check on the safety, the safeguarding arrangements and the quality of education provided at both sites.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• In the secondary phase, behaviour is not consistently good as pupils spend time waiting for others to catch up or chat quietly with each other as they complete undemanding tasks. In the primary phase, behaviour in class is good because teaching is of a higher quality and challenges pupils well.
• Levels of absence and persistent absence remain high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. In the primary phase, absence rates are falling but remain above average compared to primary schools nationally. Fixed-term exclusions are high but are now reducing as the school is making better use of other school-based sanctions.
• A number of girls wear excessive make-up, which is against the school rules. In the playground and around corridors, pupils across the school conduct themselves well. The sites are fairly free of litter. Pupils relate well to each other and to adults and inspectors heard no bad language. The majority of pupils wear their uniforms as required.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes for pupils are variable. In 2016, at the end of key stage 2, pupils’ progress in reading was in the lowest 10% nationally. In contrast, key stage 2 pupils made strong progress in mathematics. In writing, their progress was similar to other pupils nationally. Pupils’ progress in science across the primary phase was weaker than in other subjects. At the end of key stage 1, pupils made strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics from their starting points at the end of Reception.
• The proportion of pupils who reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has risen quickly and, in 2016, was at the national average. This is a result of effective training for staff and a consistent approach to teaching phonics, which is regularly checked for quality by leaders.
• In the primary phase, current pupils’ work indicates that the school is building on its strengths and that outcomes in reading are rising in key stage 2. However, inspection evidence indicates that there are continued weaknesses in pupils’ achievement in science.
• In 2016, in English and mathematics at the end of key stage 4, pupils made similar progress to other pupils nationally. The most able made stronger progress than other ability groups in mathematics. The relatively few pupils who took two science subjects made progress which was similar to other pupils nationally.
• Inspection evidence indicates that, for pupils currently in the school, outcomes vary widely between subjects. In mathematics, pupils have not developed the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to cope well with the increased demands of the new examinations to be introduced in summer 2017.
• Pupils’ weak literacy skills are holding back their progress in various subjects. However, there are strengths in some subject areas where pupils’ skills are being developed well, such as in physical education and English.
• The pupil premium is, on the whole, used variably to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. For example, it is used well for the most able disadvantaged pupils, who make better progress in the primary phase. This is because their progress is monitored meticulously through regular meetings with teachers and immediate action is taken to put the pupils back on track if they start to underachieve. In the secondary phase, systems are not so robust, which means that disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make less progress than others nationally.
• Outcomes for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities were similar to other pupils in 2016. In the primary phase, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making faster progress in reading because of the additional support they receive.
• In the secondary phase, the most able do not make as much progress as they should because the work they are set does not challenge them as well as it should. The most able in the primary phase make strong progress overall.

Early years provision Good

• Overall, outcomes in the early years have been rising and, in 2016, were similar to those in schools nationally.
• In 2016, the proportion of pupils reaching nationally expected standards in writing improved significantly as a result of the increased opportunities for children to write across different areas of learning and improvements to linking phonics with writing skills.
• Children, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress across all areas of learning. Literacy is taught well, with pupils quickly grasping the basics of writing their name, letters and simple sentences. Consequently, pupils are well prepared for the demands of Year 1.
• The development of phonics skills and reading is centre stage. Adults place an emphasis on helping children to use good speech through asking questions, which enables them to explain themselves in sentences. This improves their confidence and their vocabulary.
• The Reception and Nursery rooms are safe and secure. Children quickly learn the routines to help them behave well. They play together and cooperate with each other well. Children tidy up willingly after play sessions and show good hygiene when using the bathroom.
• Assessments are frequent and thorough but the next steps in children’s learning are not always clear. Priorities for development are clear and precise, for example in outlining the provision for the newly designed outdoor area.
• The early years has good partnerships with a range of outside agencies and childcare providers. Parents are involved well in their children’s education and contribute to children’s assessments.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140254 Rotherham 10031919 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school All-through School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 3 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 657 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Acting Principal Telephone number Website Email address Violet Chapman Steven Rhodes 01709 850 471 www.thrybergh.com/ head@thrybergh.com Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school opened as an all-through academy in October 2013. This was its first inspection since opening.
• The school is located on two sites. Some staff travel between sites to teach.
• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum, the pupil premium, special educational needs and/or disabilities, equality objectives and the school’s values and ethos on its website.
• The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish about the curriculum, the pupil premium, special educational needs and/or disabilities, equality objectives and the school’s values and ethos.
• Support is being provided to the leadership team by two consultants.
• The school works with Rotherham College of Arts and Technology and Wingfield Academy who provide off-site provision for 13 pupils.
• The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than in other schools around the country.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage and so the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language or who are from minority ethnic groups is below the national average.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

Information about this inspection

• At the time of the inspection, the acting headteacher had been in post for one day.
• Inspectors visited lessons across the primary and secondary sites, some alongside senior leaders. They listened to pupils reading and looked at the work in pupils’ books to evaluate their progress over time. Inspectors spoke to pupils, staff, governors, the former headteacher and both external consultants working with the school. The 15 responses to Parent View, including 13 written comments, were considered by inspectors, alongside 23 online staff questionnaires and 25 online pupil questionnaires.
• Inspectors scrutinised various documents, including the summary of self-evaluation, school development plans, governance documents, documents relating to pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and safeguarding documents.

Inspection team

Robert Jones, lead inspector Sue Birch Judith Gooding Malcolm Kirtley

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector