Lammas School and Sports College

Proposal to add a Sixth Form to Lammas from September 2015

Consultation 2nd September – 30th September 2014

Headteacher: Shona Ramsay Chair of Governors: Ted Cooke

Consultation on a Proposal to add a Sixth Form to Lammas School and Sports College

Contents Page

3. The Process

4. Context: Lammas School and Sports College

6. Why a Sixth Form and how will it benefit our Students?

8. Lammas Sixth Form: What will it look like?

9. Our Building

10. Appendix : Consultation List

11. Appendix: Consultation Response Form

The Process

The Governing Body are seeking views on a proposal to add a Sixth Form to Lammas School. This is your opportunity to let us know what you think about this proposal.

This paper contains: 1. an explanation of the proposal. 2. a response form for you to complete and return to us, letting us know your views.

Key Dates:

Event Date Start of Consultation Tuesday 2nd September Meeting for Parents/Carers and Thursday 11th September, Lammas community School (6pm) Meeting with Staff Week beginning 15th September

Close of information gathering Tuesday 30th September Report Presented to Governors Thursday 2nd October

Next steps The Governing Body of Lammas School and Sports College welcomes views from all stakeholders on the proposal set out in this paper. All views expressed during this consultation will be reported to and considered by the Governing Body at their meeting on 2nd October 2014.

If the Governing Body decide that a formal proposal to add a Sixth Form to Lammas School is the best way forward, a statutory notice will be published providing further opportunity for views to be registered. Following the conclusion of the notice period Waltham Forest Local Authority will make a decision on the proposal to add a Sixth Form to the school.

Please send your completed questionnaire to: Sixth Form Proposal Mrs Ahmet Lammas School and Sports College 150 Seymour Road London E10 7LX

Or e-mail to: [email protected]

If you have specific questions about the proposal please contact the Headteacher, Ms Ramsay, through Mrs Ahmet on 0208 988 5860 or by the above e-mail address.

Context: Lammas School and Sports College

Lammas is a strong and rapidly improving comprehensive school operating in the south of Waltham Forest, in Leyton, and on the border with Walthamstow and Hackney. This is an area of significant deprivation and over a number of years, Lammas has had significant success at ensuring its students overcome barriers to learning and make excellent progress.

Lammas was recognised as a ‘Good’ school by Ofsted in May 2013.

Students make “better than expected progress”. “The school community is harmonious … Good relationships between students and staff are a key feature of the school … (and) students say they feel safe.” “Teachers use their good subject knowledge and detailed information about the students in their classes to plan interesting activities which engage and challenge students.” “Students are very enthusiastic about their learning and tackle activities with gusto.” “Students enjoy their lessons and think that teaching is good.” “Students’ attitudes to learning are very positive” and behaviour across the school is “very good”. “There are excellent opportunities for the development of students’ spiritual, moral, cultural and spiritual development.” By the time students get to the end of Year 11, they are “well equipped for the next stages in their education or employment”. Ofsted Sept 2013 – School recognised as ‘Good’

Lammas is committed to providing an excellent and inspiring educational experience for all our students so that we are the outstanding local community school.

To support this vision:

Lammas will raise aspirations, expectations and achievement for all students.

We will ensure students acquire the knowledge, skills and qualifications relevant to adult life and employment.

We will encourage students to think for themselves, to develop enquiring minds and become disciplined learners.

We will help students to understand the world in which they live and their own responsibilities as members of our community and society.

We will broaden our students’ horizons through a range of academic, creative, sporting and musical activities within and beyond the classroom.

We believe kindness, care, respect and support for others are important and we create an environment with students in which we are all safe, happy and enjoy working together.

The Values that underpin all that we do are: Friendship, Respect, Excellence, Determination, Responsibility, Inspiration, Courage and Equality. And our school motto is “Getting Better Never Stops”.

In 2013-14 Lammas became a member of the Mayor of London’s “Gold Club” of “exceptional schools” in recognition for achieving excellence, especially for disadvantaged pupils. As a result of this we are recognised as a leader in challenging low aspiration and under-achievement.

We also received national recognition in 2014 for the value we add to students’ achievements - the SSAT Educational Outcomes Award; we are in the top 20% of schools for progress made by pupils between their key stage 2 results at primary and their GCSE results at secondary. In addition to this, some key departments in the school demonstrate that they ensure our pupils make progress that is equivalent to the best in the country (the top 1% in Modern Foreign Languages, the top 2% in English and the top 9% in Maths).

The school population is very diverse with the largest groups being of Eastern European, Black Caribbean, Asian, African and White British origins. We take pride in this diversity. FSM is well above the national average with 49% of students entitled to the Pupil Premium. The school has a very high percentage (66%) of students where English is not their first Language. Student mobility is very high and well above the national average. 41% of students have special educational needs (SEN). Contextual indicators for FSM, stability and deprivation highlight the challenging context the school operates in.

The school experienced a fall in admissions in Year 7 in recent years due to the number of students in this part of the borough, expansions of school places in schools in other parts of Waltham Forest and in neighbouring boroughs. The school continues to attract students in-year into all year groups.

After several years of very challenging circumstances when it was a relatively new school, Lammas has made strong and sustained improvements over the last 5 years, emerging with high levels of expertise in school improvement. The school is now able to support other schools facing challenging circumstances. This includes delivering seminars within the Gold Club on school improvement and delivering nationally recognised training courses in teaching and in school leadership. The Headteacher is currently an Ofsted Associate Inspector with a role to monitor and support schools in an Ofsted category and she has previous extensive experience in leadership of a successful school Sixth Form in an 11-18 school.

With this proven track record of academic success, we feel confident in moving forward with the introduction of post-16 provision at Lammas.

Why a Sixth Form and how will it benefit our students?

Under the Education and Skills Act 2008, since June 2013 it is a requirement for young people to stay in education or training for a further year after compulsory age. From June 2015, this requirement will be extended until their 18th birthday. This provides an opportunity for Lammas to extend its provision to include 16 – 18 education. The Governors of Lammas School believe that the addition of a Sixth Form will enhance the character of our school and have a positive impact across the borough of Waltham Forest because it will:

Provide a much needed direct post-16 progression route for students at the school Retain more 16 year old students in the borough for their post-16 education Develop a culture of continuous learning that will successfully raise aspirations for students of all ages Increase the provision and choice for the borough of Waltham Forest as a whole, particularly in the South of the borough where there is no school-based Sixth Form, thus strengthening the borough as an educational provider

Lammas is a ‘young’ school but is building a strong Alumni Community of students who have progressed to post-16 education, onto University and now into the world of professional employment. Our track record of securing appropriate progression for our students is excellent; in 2013 100% of our students moved on into education, employment or training and in recent years the proportion of young people “dropping out” and becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) has fluctuated between 0% and 2%, well below the national average. Many of our ex-students have told us that they wished they could have continued studying at Lammas, and many are active in providing advice and mentoring to our current students and wish to continue this with post-16 Lammas students. Anecdotal evidence also tells us that our 16 year olds find change hard and they would rather stay at school to continue their educational journey, benefiting from the strong pastoral support they get at Lammas where the students have strong attachment and believe their teachers really care about them as individuals.

The proportion of our students continuing in full-time education is high (e.g. 92.4% in 2013) but in 2 of the last 3 years a large majority of the students have done this outside of Waltham Forest (58% in 2011 and 74% in 2013). Also, the majority of students continuing in education enrol on level 3 courses. Our research into the types of courses they select has helped us identify what A levels should be delivered at Lammas.

Significant numbers of our students continue in post-16 education in other boroughs, travelling significant distances to find the right balance of courses for them. Our proposal to open a Sixth Form at Lammas is designed to retain those students within our borough who otherwise do not continue their education locally. In recent years, very significant numbers have moved out of Waltham Forest to continue their education in academic and vocational level 3 courses. Over the last 3 years, of the students for whom we have reliable data, 152 progressed to post-16 education within Waltham Forest and 185 progressed to post-16 education outside of Waltham Forest. The main institutions our students moved on to were City and Islington College and Epping Forest College.

Our analysis shows that this trend has accelerated, with - for example – 88 young people from Lammas going on to study in City and Islington College in 2013.

Our Sixth Form will specifically focus on our areas of strength and offer courses that have been popular in recent years ‘pulling’ or ‘drawing’ Lammas students to provision in other London boroughs. Through the establishment of a Sixth Form focused on delivering outstanding learning opportunities, the school will be well-positioned to recruit talented and committed teaching staff to drive this forward; in turn, this will have a positive effect on all our students.

The establishment of a Sixth Form would also create successful role models for all students to learn from, an opportunity lost to the school when Year 11 leaves every year. The Sixth Form would allow us to extend the highly successful vertical tutoring and peer mentoring systems whereby our younger students learn from the older ones. Younger students will benefit from knowing of the successes and results of both Year 11 and Year 13 students. The extremely strong care, guidance and support provided in our school is the backbone of our positive ethos and strong attachment of students to the school; this would continue into the Sixth Form as we guide our young people in to the world of higher education and employment.

SEN/EAL learners Our support for our EAL and SEN learners is strong. Our outcomes at GCSE indicate that there is little disparity between the performances of student groups across the school. Any new Sixth Form would look to build on the successful structures established in Years 7 – 11 to ensure EAL and SEN students are able to fully access and succeed in a Lammas Sixth Form through targeted support.

Pupil Premium/Free School Meals Lammas has been effective at supporting students who receive funding through the Pupil Premium grant, with the school recently invited to join the Mayor of London’s Gold Club. A Lammas Sixth Form would extend the scope of our support for students from this socially deprived area of Waltham Forest by further enabling us to raise their aspirations and ensure they are fully equipped to access higher education opportunities.

Lammas Sixth Form: What will it look like?

We aim to create a Sixth Form for 70-100 students per cohort beginning September 2015 with a clear aim of increasing progression to Higher Education including Russell Group universities. The Sixth Form will be open to students from Lammas School and other local schools who meet the entrance criteria.

The Sixth Form will provide a focused curriculum route of primarily A-Level subjects built around areas of strength in the school and to meet the needs of students aiming for a wide variety of careers. This includes:

A-Level Subjects

Art and Design Biology Chemistry Computer Science English Literature French Geography Government and Politics History Mathematics Philosophy Physics Psychology Sociology Spanish

BTEC Level 3

Business Studies

GCSE

English & Mathematics GCSE retake

Further subjects are being investigated.

Students will be expected to show they are able to be successful in their chosen courses. Entrance criteria will focus on academic performance at GCSE with an expectation that all students will have achieved an average of 5.5 points (with a C grade being equivalent to 5 points) and at least a B grade in their chosen courses along with achieving 5 A*-C grades including English and Mathematics. Where a student has not achieved an A*-C in English or Mathematics but has met other entrance requirements, an assessment will be made of the student’s suitability to start their chosen courses with a clear expectation that they would successfully complete the GCSE course in Year 12.

All students will be expected to play a full part in Lammas School life. Alongside the academic offer, all students will follow a programme on Leadership Development and ‘Preparing for University’. Training for entrance exams for Oxford/Cambridge will also be provided to support suitable candidates.

To further support students a soft partnership will be established with Norlington School (also currently consulting on opening a Sixth Form) – although both schools will remain separate institutions. This will take the form of delivery of subjects not offered at Lammas (where possible), a joint enrichment offer and a joint approach to staff development.

Lammas has established a highly successful enrichment programme for students through our Super Learning Days, Activities Week and extra-curricular programme. A key component of the Sixth Form offer would be to build on these cultural, artistic and sporting activities and leadership opportunities both as a school and in partnership with Norlington. This would include extending the links with East London Business Alliance, our ‘Business Action Group’ colleagues, a number of universities, City Year and their Lammas sponsor Tullow Oil PLC, and local/regional sporting clubs. Among other developments, our BAG colleagues (HSBC, Citygroup, Mazars LLP, Deutsche Bank and Zurich Insurance Group) are committed to providing a wide range of opportunities to Lammas students such as mentoring, leadership development, business simulation activities, business visits and summer internships.

Our Building

Lammas School is a ‘young’ and relatively new school, having been built in 2000-2001 and opened in 2001 with Year 7 students only. Our physical and learning resources are excellent and continue to be developed year-on-year. Since opening, the building has been adapted and the facilities extended to meet the changing needs of our students and the curriculum. We have recently been successful in tendering to manage the new sports facilities in Jubilee Park.

We will continue to adapt our facilities to the needs of a Sixth Form. Effective timetabling and efficient use of rooms and resources will mean Lammas is able to provide a highly effective learning experience for all its students.

The school will ensure that the following is in place by September 2015 if our proposal is agreed: more effective and efficient timetabling to free up existing spaces in the buildings for the teaching of the Sixth Form, including the use of training rooms, larger meeting rooms, little used office space and the Learning Resources Centre; the designation of a dedicated learning space for private study for Sixth Form students; the development of a Sixth Form area in the school with assigned space for Head of Sixth Form and administrative support.

Appendices Consultation List

We aim to consult with as many people and interested groups as possible including:

Students on roll at Lammas School, Parents and carers of students on roll at Lammas School Staff at Lammas School Governors of Lammas School Headteachers and Chairs of Governors of all Waltham Forest Schools Local FE providers and Sixth Form Colleges Work Based Learning Providers Waltham Forest Councillors Waltham Forest Council Local MPs Local community groups and business partners All other appropriate members of our community

Consultation Response Form Consultation on a Proposal to add a Sixth Form at Lammas School and Sports College

Please submit your completed questionnaire to the address below by 1pm Tuesday 30th September:

6th Form Proposal Mrs Ahmet Lammas School and Sports College 150 Seymour Road London E10 7LX

Or e-mail to: [email protected]

Name of Person Responding:

Interest in Lammas School e.g. student, parent, member of staff, local community.

Please comment on the proposal to add a Sixth Form to Lammas School and Sports College as described in the proposal. Please continue on a separate sheet if required.