Stalham High School Brumstead Road, Stalham, Norwich, Norfolk NR12 9DG
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School report Stalham High School Brumstead Road, Stalham, Norwich, Norfolk NR12 9DG Inspection dates 13–14 September 2017 Overall effectiveness Good Effectiveness of leadership and management Good Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good Outcomes for pupils Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected Summary of key findings for parents and pupils This is a good school The school now has strong, stable leadership The curriculum provides a good and varied after a period of turbulence. The head of range of experiences and offers opportunities school, new in post last year, has for pupils to learn both academic and demonstrated unwavering commitment to vocational subjects. ensuring that the school provides a good Pupils enjoy school. The majority attend standard of education for its pupils. regularly. Procedures are in place to improve The trust has provided well-judged support for attendance. However, leaders do not analyse the school, which has led to improved this in detail to evaluate fully the impact of this standards. The executive headteacher and the work. trustees have effectively challenged the Results in 2016 show pupils’ progress was at leadership of the school to drive further least in line with national averages in English, improvements this year. mathematics, and science. Results in 2017 in Senior leaders and the trust have high mathematics and English indicate that pupils aspirations for pupils. Staff share this aim and have performed at least as well as in 2016, there is a common purpose in the school. with some improvements made in English. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders ensure that Disadvantaged pupils make good progress appropriate arrangements are in place to keep across a wide range of subjects. Pupil premium pupils safe. and Year 7 catch-up funding is used effectively. However, leaders do not evaluate fully the Leaders have raised expectations for pupils’ impact of these activities to judge how behaviour. This has resulted in good conduct effective they are. both in lessons and around the school. The leadership of teaching is very effective and Pupils who have special educational needs as a result, teaching is typically good. and/or disabilities make good progress. The use of additional funding is carefully targeted A new policy for providing feedback to pupils is to meet their individual needs. in place but is not applied consistently. The school knows its pupils well. The care given to pupils, especially the more vulnerable, is a strength of the school. Full report What does the school need to do to improve further? Use information more effectively to monitor and improve pupils’ attendance. Monitor and evaluate the use of additional funding thoroughly, so that leaders can identify what has the biggest impact on raising the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, and those in Year 7 who need to catch up with others. Ensure that the school’s feedback policy is consistently applied and teachers ask more searching questions. Inspection report: Stalham High School, 13–14 September 2017 Page 2 of 11 Inspection judgements Effectiveness of leadership and management Good The new head of school leads the school very well. With the support of the trust, and the executive headteacher, he has stabilised the school after a period of uncertainty and change. Leaders have an accurate and realistic understanding of the quality of education that the school provides. They have identified the right priorities for improvement. Frequent and systematic monitoring of the quality of teaching ensures that leaders are clear where less effective provision exists, and challenge this where necessary. The trust has provided significant support by sharing expertise and best practice, for example through the cross moderation of coursework and other assessments. Joint in- service training has also increased professional development opportunities for staff. A common system of key stage 3 assessment across the trust has brought both consistency and a collective understanding of how staff can support pupils’ progress. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress broadly in line with others from similar starting points across all year groups. They are well supported through additional funding, which school leaders monitor for impact. Parental communication and excellent knowledge of each individual pupil is central to the school’s approach to support. This ensures these pupils receive extra help when they need it. Middle leaders and those in charge of subjects are clear about their responsibilities and are passionate about the role they play in ensuring that pupils have the very best chance of achieving well. The trust’s model of managing the work of teachers is now well established. The head monitors school targets, identified in the school development plan, to ensure that they drive improvements. Regular meetings to manage the performance of staff ensure that they progress towards reaching their personal targets and help to pinpoint any support they need. Leaders’ actions to improve behaviour have been effective. The majority of parents, staff and pupils agree that behaviour has improved both around the school and in lessons. The curriculum provides a good range of academic and vocational subjects. A small minority of pupils attend alternative provision to study for qualifications in engineering, mechanics and childcare. All pupils study philosophy and ethics. This contributes well to their understanding and tolerance of different cultures and faiths. Opportunities to extend their understanding of the lives of others, for example through creative writing about ‘living on a landfill site in Nigeria’, promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school uses whole-day events such as ‘no crime days’ to address aspects of well- being and personal safety. Pupils say they understand fully the need to keep themselves safe online. They know how to stay healthy, including through the way they eat. Inspection report: Stalham High School, 13–14 September 2017 Page 3 of 11 Leaders have identified a small number Year 7 pupils who need to catch up with their reading and allocate funds to meet these needs. Consequently, many make accelerated progress. However, the impact of this work is not monitored with sufficient precision to identify which aspects of this additional support have the most impact on pupils’ progress. Governance of the school The trust provides strong support for the school. The executive headteacher, who is also the chief executive of the trust, provides ‘hands-on’ support and challenge for the leaders. Systematic monitoring confirms that all staff are aware of the high expectations that the trust has for improving the outcomes of pupils in the school. Trustees ensure that arrangements to monitor the performance of all staff, including the head of school, are carried out consistently and effectively. Senior leaders report to the trust on a regular basis. The minutes of these meetings are published on the school website to ensure complete transparency for staff and parents. The trust scrutinises safeguarding practices and carries out checks to assure itself that the school keeps pupils safe. Safeguarding The arrangements for safeguarding are effective and pupils say they feel safe. The school is a small and caring community. Staff are clear about the importance of ‘early-help’ and use the ‘nagging-doubt’ form if they need to pass concerns to the designated safeguarding leader. School records of this work are clear and well organised as are the records of work with outside agencies. There is regular contact with the alternative provider that a small number of pupils attend, including visits made by the school and the sharing of attendance information. The single central record is accurate, up to date and meets statutory requirements for ensuring that staff are suitable to work in school. Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good The quality of teaching and learning has improved due to the determination of senior leaders to make this an area of continuous improvement. Leadership of teaching and learning is strong and established routines of lesson observations and book reviews have increased expectations of both leaders of subjects and teachers. There is a strong ethos of mutual support among the staff in the school and best practice is shared as a matter of course. This has resulted in pupils making better progress as teachers use ‘what works best’ to improve classroom practice. Shared professional development with the trust and the school’s own professional development has helped middle leaders and teachers through a time of change in GCSE examinations. This has enabled teachers to deliver new courses with confidence. Early analysis of 2017 results indicates the positive impact of this work in mathematics and English. Inspection report: Stalham High School, 13–14 September 2017 Page 4 of 11 Teachers have strong subject knowledge and use this to plan learning activities to engage pupils’ interest. For example, asking pupils to devise a virtual tourist attraction in the Thar Desert, which the teacher had studied and visited. Teachers use assessment information to plan their lessons and this ensures that almost all pupils make good progress. Teachers’ questioning consolidates knowledge and picks up misconceptions. However, not enough teaching challenges pupils to go beyond their own expectations, so that they make deep gains in their knowledge, skills and understanding. Teachers provide feedback to pupils in line with the trust’s marking policy, which allows for appropriate subject variation. Where feedback works best, pupils respond by improving their work and so make good gains in their learning. However, this is not yet consistent across the school. Support for less confident readers, including using phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) to sound out letters and sounds helps their confidence and enables them to read more fluently. Pupils are eager and willing to learn. They enjoy supportive, positive relationships with staff.