Alderman Blaxill School Paxman Avenue, Colchester, CO2 9DQ

School report

Inspection dates 6–7 February 2013

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 Overall effectiveness This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because  The proportion of students achieving five A*  Students do not always act upon teachers’ to C grades including English and guidance on marked work. mathematics is below the national average.  Teachers and subject leaders rarely have the  Although students are now making more opportunity to share good practice. rapid progress in English, progress in  The associate and executive headteachers mathematics, while improving, is slower. have correctly identified those areas requiring  Teaching is not consistently good or better. improvement but the impact of their careful Work is not demanding enough in some planning is not yet fully apparent across the lessons. school.  Some teachers do not use data on students’  The quality of subject leadership is progress quickly enough to tackle inconsistent. underachievement.

The school has the following strengths  Pastoral systems are well developed and  Well-developed support systems ensure that ensure that students feel safe, valued and students who are disabled or who have special able to share any problems with adults. educational needs make good progress.  Behaviour is mostly good. Students value  Governance is improving because governors opportunities to accept responsibility. have wide experience of work with other local schools. Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 2 of 10

Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed 16 lessons taught by 16 teachers.  Inspectors held meetings with the associate headteacher and the executive headteacher, governors, staff, a representative from the local authority and groups of students.  Inspectors looked at the online questionnaire (Parent View) but there were too few responses to generate an analysis. Inspectors also looked at the independent survey of parent and carer opinions carried out for the school in April 2012.  Inspectors observed the school’s work. They also looked at the school’s improvement plan, data on students’ attainment and progress, monitoring and self-evaluation procedures, a range of policies and the arrangements for the safeguarding of students.  Students’ books were examined in lessons and in a separate work sample with senior staff.  Inspectors listened to students reading.

Inspection team

Michael Sutherland-Harper, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

June Cannie Additional Inspector

Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 3 of 10

Full report

Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  Numbers on roll are falling as the school is scheduled for closure in 2014. There is no Year 7 this year. Students currently attending are in Years 8 to 11.  The very large majority of the students are White British.  The proportion of students supported through school action is below the national average. The proportion of those supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is well above average.  The proportion of students for whom the school receives the pupil premium is above average. This is additional government funding for children in the care of the local authority, students known to be eligible for free school meals and children from forces families.  Alternative part-time education is currently in place for a few students who follow practical courses at the local Colchester Institute.  A number of students join the school at times other than the usual starting point each year.  The school runs a breakfast club.  The school shares an executive headteacher with two other local schools. The three schools are in a loose federation.  The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that all teaching is good or better by: providing appropriate challenge in all lessons so that students make more rapid progress refining marking so that it is consistently good in showing students how to improve their work, and ensuring that they act upon the comments made providing teachers with opportunities for sharing classroom skills to promote improvements in teaching across the school.

 Raise attainment and accelerate progress by using student performance data more quickly to identify underachievement and address it promptly.

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by making sure that senior leaders add clear timescales and review dates to all planned actions developing the role of subject leaders to support professional development and improvements in teaching providing governors with training in the use and analysis of data so that they can fully evaluate the rate of the school’s improvement.

Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 4 of 10

Inspection judgements

The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment on entry to the school is well below national averages and is amongst the lowest in the county. Although the percentage of students achieving five A* to C grades, including English and mathematics, remains below national expectations, the gap is closing. Robust assessment data and inspection evidence suggests that current Year 11 students are on track to reach better standards than last year, with nearly half of the cohort expected to achieve five A* to C grades on the basis of current performance.

 Students’ progress is more rapid in English than in mathematics, although it is improving in both subjects. Classwork on how to analyse texts and illustrate points made, with precise examples, has improved results in English so that more students are now on track to reach the top grades. This more focused approach is also being applied to mathematics and meant that all Year 11 students achieved five or more A* to G grades last year.

 Some students are entered early for GCSE examinations in mathematics and in English. Data show that their attainment is above that of students as a whole in the summer examinations.

 Students’ progress is more variable in other subjects, with design and technology a particular strength. In general, progress is now more rapid because of work now underway to raise levels of challenge across the school, but data are not always used quickly enough to identify and address underachievement and to monitor rates of improvement.

 Progress in Key Stage 3 is improving, with an increasing number of students in Years 8 and 9 on target to meet their predicted grades. The school’s close focus on these year groups ensures that students are being well prepared for transition to larger schools elsewhere when the school closes in 2014.

 Students who attend courses at the Colchester Institute attain good results in their examinations.

 Disabled students and those who have special educational needs often make better progress overall than other students because support is quickly put in place, students are well known as individuals and they are well served by a clear special needs strategy.

 Carefully targeted pupil premium funding supports eligible students through breakfast and homework clubs to assist them with their work on site during the school day. Additional pastoral support is provided through regular opportunities to discuss problems with adults and by careful withdrawal work, such as reading catch-ups. As a consequence, gaps have closed in English while further work in mathematics is helping to ensure that progress continues to rise and to instil greater self-confidence in students. The attainment of eligible students at GCSE is in line with their classmates.

 Throughout the school, students are confident readers who benefit from regular access to books. A ‘good reader’ scheme accelerates reading in Year 8 and ensures increasing engagement with reading and writing.

 There were insufficient responses to the online survey to gauge current parent and carer views but the 2012 independent survey of parents and carers shows that the majority feel the school has improved recently and is increasingly focused on progress and teaching.

Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 5 of 10

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although some good teaching was observed during the inspection, too much teaching requires improvement and a very small proportion is inadequate. No outstanding teaching was seen.

 In lessons where teaching requires improvement, although lessons were adequate in some respects, the pace of learning was too slow to ensure rapid progress. Expectations were not high enough and activities were not demanding enough. Students were too reliant on their teachers so that opportunities for high-quality independent work were limited.

 In the best lessons, the match of work to students’ abilities is carefully considered, but in other lessons, it is more general and does not always meet specific needs or provide enough opportunities for students to work on their own.

 Assessment procedures are improving. Books are regularly marked but guidance to students on how to improve their work is inconsistent, being better developed in English and science than in most other subjects. Targets are not always adjusted quickly once students reach them. Students do not always act upon comments made by teachers to improve their work so that errors recur.

 Teachers generally have good subject knowledge and make confident use of information and communication technology, including interactive whiteboards. In some lessons, questioning is used well to assess students’ understanding and lead them into deeper reflection about what is being studied, as in a Year 9 English lesson where students were asked to consider where Shakespeare’s audience would have placed one of his villains on an ’evilometer’.

 Teachers are using a range of strategies to help students as they approach examinations. Additional practical sessions on aspects like examination technique or how to analyse poetry are now successfully engaging students with learning. Progress rates are also improving because of the quality of extra support, especially at Key Stage 4, such as Saturday revision days and intensive booster classes.

 All teachers are now focusing on reinforcing the teaching of English and mathematics and on teaching to deepen students’ understanding. However, there are currently too few opportunities for sharing of teachers’ best classroom skills across the school or by contact with schools elsewhere to improve the quality of teaching

 Support staff are effective in helping students who are disabled or who have special educational needs to make at least similar progress to other students.

The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Students are usually well behaved in classes and around the school, and they are punctual to lessons.

 Students have a clear understanding of right and wrong and get on well with each other. They have good relationships with adults and each other. They are courteous and happy to talk about their school. They particularly appreciate the strong pastoral systems and supportive activities like the well-attended breakfast club. Students’ involvement in their community is demonstrated by the school council, which has clear plans for further development of its role.

 The school is a community where individuals are known and valued. Students say they feel safe, Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 6 of 10

and parents and carers agree. Students affirm that there is always an adult available to help them sort out any issues. The very few episodes of challenging behaviour are well managed, and extremist behaviour or attitudes are not tolerated. There were no permanent exclusions last year and fixed-term exclusion rates are falling.

 Students say that bullying is rare. They are familiar with the different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying and homophobic behaviour, know what actions to take and are confident that issues will be addressed.

 Attendance is in line with national averages and shows an improving trend across the vast majority of groups. Attendance in the current Year 11 has been historically low for this cohort, despite the school’s on-going work in this area. Attendance has also been affected by the lower attendance rates of some students admitted mid-term from other schools. The school has robust strategies which are influencing attendance positively. The school carefully monitors the attendance of those students who attend courses elsewhere.

 In the few lessons where students are not fully engaged, low-level poor behaviour sometimes occurs. While this is usually quickly addressed, teachers’ responses are very occasionally inconsistent.

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has worked steadily with the executive headteacher and senior leaders, including as part of a loose federation of local schools, to accurately identify areas requiring improvement and to implement well considered action plans. However, not all of these plans have target dates for review and so they have not been refined in the light of action taken.

 The role of subject leaders is inconsistent and, for some, is at an early stage of development. The school has begun training programmes intended for subject leaders in assessing and reviewing progress. However, opportunities for subject leaders to work together are infrequent, especially for those who are the sole subject specialist in the school.

 Procedures for evaluating how well teachers perform their duties are effective and are carried out with reference to the national Teachers’ Standards. Teachers are accountable for the performance of students in their classes and promotion up the pay scales is dependent on successful results.

 The range of subjects and courses is good and carefully tailored to meet individual needs. Visits and visitors are used at regular intervals to develop students’ understanding of the world around them. Good links with another school in this country enhance students’ perspectives, including their understanding of the diversity of the United Kingdom.

 The breadth of the range of Key Stage 4 courses is enhanced by part-time placements on complementary and alternative courses at the Colchester Institute, which provide students with good access to additional vocational courses not available in the school.

 The school has good links with the local authority, which has provided a good level of regular support to ensure further improvement. This has included collaborative work with advanced skills teachers from other schools. This work is supplemented by shared professional development sessions within the loose federation.

 Safeguarding procedures are comprehensive, with a high level of care for individual students. Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 7 of 10

Staff are regularly trained in child protection issues.

 The governance of the school: Governors support the school’s work through regular visits to meet with the headteacher and staff, and involvement with the loose federation, including as joint governors. They attend meetings regularly and are able to challenge and hold the school to account because they have accurately identified areas requiring further improvement. Further training in the analysis and application of data is planned for the near future. Governors know how the pupil premium is spent and with what impact. They apply current standards effectively in assessing teachers’ performance and progression on the pay scale.

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What inspection judgements mean

School Grade Judgement Description Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it improvement is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

Inspection report: Alderman Blaxill School, 6–7 February 2013 9 of 10

School details

Unique reference number 115380 Local authority Essex Inspection number 405580

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

Type of school Secondary School category Foundation Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 170 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair B Williamson Headteacher Phil Jones Date of previous school inspection 24 January 2011 Telephone number 01206 216500 Fax number 01206 549391 Email address [email protected]

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