Wingfield Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve teaching to ensure that pupils make more progress by reducing the remaining inconsistencies in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment to ensure that it is as good in all subjects as it is in the best.
• Increase the impact of leadership and management further by ensuring that the difference in attendance between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is reduced.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The school has improved significantly since the last inspection. The executive headteacher and the headteacher have been relentless in their determination and ambition to improve the quality of education and pupils’ experience of learning. This vision is clear and shared across the whole-school community. They have set high expectations for teaching and they support teachers well to meet them. Leaders consider the effectiveness of teaching and ensure that teaching supports good pupil progress. This attention to detail has led to better quality teaching and pupils’ achievement has improved.
• Overall outcomes for pupils at the end of Year 11 have improved considerably since the last inspection. Information shared by school leaders and work seen in pupils’ books demonstrate that results are on course to remain positive.
• Good teaching has been secured by leaders’ rigorous monitoring of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Where weaknesses were identified, swift action was taken to support staff through bespoke training and coaching. Staff at the school are keen to improve their teaching and value the quality of training and support they receive.
• Systems for the performance management of teachers are effective and robust. Close monitoring of teaching by middle leaders has led to improvements and resulted in teaching that is consistently good with positive outcomes for pupils. Well-researched training for teachers on raising the achievement of most-able pupils has resulted in these pupils making good progress.
• Leaders and governors demonstrate a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. Priorities for improvement are shared well with staff and they actively support the culture of high aspiration and expectation. Pupils feel that they are treated as an individual. The school provides a culture of ambition and high aspiration for pupils. The school supports pupils’ emotional needs well, and the vast majority believe that they can succeed. Consequently, everyone feels valued and contributes fully to the life of the school.
• Pupils follow a broad and balanced curriculum. Leaders have made improvements to the curriculum to challenge pupils of all abilities. The curriculum offers many rich opportunities for pupils to think about equality and fairness. Pupils’ experiences are enhanced by a wide range of extra-curricular enrichment activities, such as sports and performing arts clubs, and subject-focused interventions including mathematics and English. This helps pupils to deepen their learning and make faster progress.
• Independent careers advice and guidance is a strength of the school. The high-quality careers advice helps pupils to understand why they need to work hard in school and do well. There is an excellent programme of university trips and cultural visits that pupils value highly.
• Additional funding, including the pupil premium and the Year 7 catch-up premium, is used effectively to support pupils in the classroom, support pupils’ progress and enable pupils to participate in additional activities. As a result, disadvantaged pupils typically make strong progress. Funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used appropriately and the school engages well with external agencies and specialist services.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is supported very well. In lessons and assemblies, pupils develop a good understanding of British values, such as democracy, tolerance, respect and justice. They value the opportunities to take on responsibility and contribute to the further improvement of their school through meetings with leaders and governors. Pupils take their responsibilities seriously.
• School leaders are vigilant and support pupils who are at risk of poor attendance. However, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils still lags behind that of their peers.
• Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the way the school is led and would recommend the school to others. Staff at the school also fully support what senior leaders and governors are doing. They are proud to work at the school and feel respected and trusted.

Governance of the school

• Governance is a strength of the school. Governors have a clear understanding of their roles. They have taken positive actions to ensure that the governing body has expertise across the range of areas required.
• The governing body is dedicated to improving standards and provides good support and challenge to school leaders. Governors set high expectations of leaders and are proactive in seeking out further opportunities to ensure that the school is well placed to take advantage of partnership working with other schools.
• Governors know the school’s context well. They are determined to ensure that all pupils are supported in becoming confident, self-assured young people who have a clear sense of their rights and responsibilities towards others as well as achieving well academically.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are highly effective. The number of concerns raised by staff indicates that they have a thorough understanding of their responsibilities and fulfil them, so that the correct action is taken to keep pupils safe. Leaders involve outside agencies appropriately and rapid action is taken.
• School leaders have established a safeguarding culture in which all staff play an important role in keeping pupils safe. Pupils also have a good understanding of what safeguarding means to them. School staff give high-quality care to vulnerable pupils. Many parents told inspectors that they appreciate this part of the school’s work.
• Pupils say that they feel safe and well cared for. Instances of bullying are rare, and when they do occur, the staff deal with them swiftly.
• Parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, said overwhelmingly that their children are safe at school. The school provides detailed information for parents on how to keep their children safe through the school’s website. In school, there are high-quality displays that inform pupils of how to keep safe and who to report concerns to.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers follow the school’s policies for achieving high-quality teaching, learning and assessment. Inspection activities and the school’s own quality assurance activities show that the quality of most teaching is consistently good or better. This consistency has a positive impact on pupils’ learning.
• Relationships are strong. Teachers know their pupils and, in turn, pupils trust their teachers. Pupils support each other in lessons and they are keen to do well. They engage well with activities where teachers have provided graduated tasks which are carefully planned to enable pupils’ learning needs to be fully met. This results in good progress being made.
• Teaching in English and mathematics is effective. Teachers are clear about what they want pupils to learn and provide activities which support and challenge pupils’ learning.
• In lessons, most teachers are effective in checking the progress that their pupils are making and they accurately identify what pupils need to do next to improve. School- based training has been beneficial and has led to the increased use of questioning by teachers in lessons to promote good learning and progress for pupils. In a key stage 4 science lesson observed, the teacher skilfully probed a class of most-able pupils with questions that developed their knowledge and understanding of what is needed to reach high grades in their GCSE examinations.
• Teachers support the development of reading skills for pupils of all ages and abilities well. The most able pupils talk with real interest about the impact that the ‘gentlemen’s club’ for boys and the ‘ladies who lunch’ club for girls has had on their interest in reading. At these clubs, pupils explore a range of reading texts and discuss them with their teachers and peers. This helps the most able pupils to deepen their learning and knowledge.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported effectively by school leaders and external specialists. The progress of these pupils is regularly monitored and further support for learning is put in place as required. As a result of effective teaching, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress.
• In most lessons, teachers use questioning skilfully to help pupils think about their learning and deepen their understanding. Some teachers have not sufficiently developed their use of probing questions and a few pupils do not extend their answers or share and discuss their ideas with their class. Often pupils’ verbal answers to questions are not loud enough for the whole class to hear.
• Teachers generally follow the school’s feedback and assessment policy closely. As a result, most teachers provide pupils with accurate feedback on the strengths of their work and clear areas for improvement. Almost all pupils make the necessary corrections to their work as a result of teachers’ assessment. Pupils are very clear about what they are expected to do when they are provided with feedback from their teachers.
• Teachers set regular and appropriate homework across a broad range of subjects and this contributes well to pupils’ learning. The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to Parent View were positive about the homework set and also about the information they receive about their child’s progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are very well mannered and overwhelmingly keen to do well. They are smartly dressed and proud of their school. Pupils were keen to talk to inspectors and talk about the school’s many strengths and the wide range of opportunities that it provides.
• Staff are well trained and vigilant in identifying pupils who are experiencing difficulties. School staff always act swiftly to ensure that pupils receive the help that they need. Strong partnership work between the school and external agencies supports pupils and families having difficulties effectively.
• Pupils are given many opportunities to be involved in aspects of school management and responsibility and they meet regularly with senior leaders to discuss how they can support further school improvement. They take on responsibility posts such as sports leaders, pupil ambassadors and peer mentors. These pupils provide positive role models to other pupils and represent the school well.
• Pupils learn about how to keep safe and about different types of bullying. The school’s anti-bullying approach is effective. Pupils told inspectors that they were confident that staff would resolve bullying concerns if they had any. Pupils learn to keep themselves safe from bullying and other risks through the curriculum and in assemblies. Pupils have absolute trust in their teachers and say they are safe and well looked after in school.
• Leaders have taken care to ensure that the placements arranged with alternative providers of education are right for the pupils attending these courses. Staff make daily checks to monitor the attendance of pupils at off-site placements. These pupils are kept safe and are making good progress.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is a strength of the school. Pupils’ cultural development is particularly strong and pupils have access to a range of high-quality cultural experiences and extra-curricular activities including residential experiences to Edinburgh to visit universities and the theatre.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are confident and polite. Behaviour around the school and during breaks is good. Pupils are punctual to lessons. Relationships between pupils, teachers and other adults are very positive. Parents, pupils and staff are overwhelmingly positive about the behaviour of pupils at the school.
• There is a high staff presence around the school which helps pupils to make good behaviour choices and ensures that pupils’ movement around the school is orderly. Pupils’ behaviour during the inspection was exemplary.
• Pupils are proud of their school and they are keen to talk about their learning and the opportunities provided by the school. Pupils have a good understanding of the importance of good behaviour and what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. They understand that there are consequences to poor behaviour and that they will be rewarded for behaving well.
• Leaders recognise that good attendance and punctuality are important in preparing pupils for life beyond school. This is promoted well. However, persistent absence is higher than in other schools nationally and, whilst leaders have taken action to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils, there is still more to do.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Inspectors’ scrutiny of pupils’ work showed that pupils are making consistently good progress across nearly all subjects, including in English and mathematics, from their different starting points. The school’s own records of pupils’ progress confirm this. Pupils currently in the school are benefiting from stronger teaching than was the case previously.
• In 2016, by the end of key stage 4, pupils with low and middle starting points had made better progress than other pupils nationally. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils also made strong progress. The school carefully monitors the individual progress of all pupils and uses progress information well to ensure all pupils make good and better progress.
• Support programmes funded through the pupil premium are helping to improve disadvantaged pupils’ achievement. Outcomes for Year 11 pupils in 2016 improved dramatically and were well above national figures. This is because leaders use pupil premium funding well to support disadvantaged pupils’ progress across all year groups. Pupils told inspectors that if they are at risk of falling behind they receive high-quality support both in and out of lessons.
• Actions taken to improve teaching have led to improvements in mathematics since the time of the previous inspection. Outcomes in mathematics are good in all year groups. Work seen in pupils’ books indicates that the most able pupils are supported with more challenging work and the least able pupils receive support that enables them to make good progress overtime.
• Leaders and teachers accurately predict how well pupils will perform in examinations because assessment methods are systematic and precise. Assessment information is checked within school and with teachers from local schools.
• Pupils read well. Inspectors listened to pupils reading both in lessons and in pupil meetings. The most able readers read with accuracy, fluency and expression. Leaders and teachers encourage pupils to read widely and the school has a ‘Wingfield Pledge’ that is aimed to ensure that all pupils experience a variety of cultural learning experiences to prepare them for life in modern Britain.
• Outcomes for the most able disadvantaged pupils in 2016 improved significantly and were well above national figures. The most able pupils do well, but leaders and teachers rightly recognise that some of them could do even better. Leaders and teachers are ambitious for what can be achieved and higher aspirations are beginning to raise the standards of most-able pupils’ work.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139992 Rotherham 10032003 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 11 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 733 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Sue Gladwin Russell Heritage (Executive Headteacher) Phillip Davis (Headteacher) Telephone number 01709 513 002 Website Email address www.wingfield.rotherham.sch.uk office@wingfield.org Date of previous inspection 25–26 March 2015

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. The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.
• Pupils enter the school with starting points significantly below the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium is higher than the national average.
• The vast majority of pupils are White British. Almost all pupils speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities supported by the school is well above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is just above the national average.
• A small number of pupils attend Rawmarsh Comprehensive School, Swinton Lock and Morthyng Training for part of their education.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for the attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 11.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed 39 lessons across a broad range of subjects. These included seven lessons observed jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors also carried out a scrutiny of pupils’ work.
• Inspectors met with several groups of pupils and spoke to pupils in lessons and informally around the school. Inspectors listened to a number of pupils read. Inspectors considered the 17 responses to the pupil questionnaire.
• Inspectors held discussions with staff, including senior and middle leaders, teachers and newly qualified teachers. A meeting was held with six members of the governing body, including the chair.
• Inspectors took account of the 91 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 63 questionnaires completed by staff.
• Inspectors looked at the school’s website and a range of documentation provided by the school. This included information on pupils’ achievement, attendance and behaviour, school policies, the school’s self-evaluation of its work, school improvement plans and information about attendance and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Tudor Griffiths, lead inspector Melanie Williams Barbara O’Brien Andrew Cummings

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector