INSPECTION REPORT MAYFLOWER SCHOOL Billericay LEA area: Essex Unique reference number: 115232 Headteacher: Linda Bamford Reporting inspector: David M Bain 3258 Dates of inspection: 26–30 March 2001 Inspection number: 187545 Full inspection carried out under Section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 © Crown copyright 2001 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL Type of school: Comprehensive School category: Community Age range of students: 11-18 years Gender of students: Mixed School address: Stock Road Billericay Essex Postcode: CM12 0RT Telephone number: 01277 623171 Fax number: 01277 632256 Appropriate authority: The governing body Name of chair of governors: Mrs. Stephanie Dawkins Date of previous inspection: March 1996 Mayflower School i INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM Team members Subject responsibilities Aspect responsibilities 3258 David M Bain Registere Additional A Level subjects What sort of school is it? d How high are standards? inspector How well are students taught? How well is the school led and managed? What should school do to improve further? 9472 John Edmond Lay Pupils’ attitudes, values and inspector personal development; How well does the school care for its students? How well does the school work in partnership with parents? 1578 Maureen Sinclair Team Business education; inspector Religious education. 30198 Reg Chick Team Physical education; inspector Life skills; Equal opportunities. 20767 Jerry Royle Team Music; inspector Information and communication technology. 20412 Diane Shephard Team Modern foreign languages. inspector 1049 Brian Evans Team Geography; inspector English as an additional language. 1990 Graham Preston Team Design technology; inspector Economics. 30901 Sue Schofield Team Art. inspector 3467 Margaret Rees Team English. inspector 27719 Paul Metcalf Team Mathematics. How good are the curricular and inspector other opportunities offered to students? 20243 David Benstock Team Science. inspector 1085 John Laver Team History; inspector Personal, social and health education. 20457 Brian Fletcher Team Mathematics; inspector Special educational needs; Numeracy. 12844 Mick Saunders Team English; inspector Literacy. Mayflower School ii 11672 Peter Harle Team Special educational needs. inspector The inspection contractor was: Westminster Education Consultants Old Garden House The Lanterns Bridge Lane London SW11 3AD Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to: The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division The Office for Standards in Education Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Mayflower School iii REPORT CONTENTS Page PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 1 Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Students’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school PART B: COMMENTARY HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS? 8 The school’s results and students’ achievements Students’ attitudes, values and personal development HOW WELL ARE STUDENTS TAUGHT? 18 HOW GOOD ARE THE CURRICULAR AND OTHER 23 OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED TO STUDENTS? HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS STUDENTS? 29 HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN 31 PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS? HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED? 33 WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER? 40 THE DYSLEXIA UNIT 40 PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS 42 Mayflower School iv PART D: THE STANDARDS AND QUALITY OF TEACHING IN 47 AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES Mayflower School v PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL Mayflower High School is a large, mixed comprehensive situated on the northern side of Billericay, an advantaged area. There are currently 1466 students on roll, including 250 in the Sixth Form. The school is popular and over-subscribed and takes students from a fairly wide catchment area, including surrounding villages and some from Basildon and Wickford. The intake of the school is fairly balanced, as judged by students’ past attainment and results of cognitive abilities tests. It loses some abler students from its main feeder primary schools to grammar and specialist schools in surrounding towns. However, only 124 students are identified as having special educational needs, mostly with moderate or specific learning or emotional and behavioural difficulties. The proportion of students with special educational needs is well below the national average, whilst the proportion with statements is below average. The latter includes 11 students with places in the school’s Dyslexia Unit, which has places for four students in each year. Almost all students come from a white UK heritage background, with only a few students speaking English as an additional language and none at the early stages of learning English. Six and a half per cent of students are eligible for free school meals, which is below the national average of 18 per cent. Currently just over half of Year 11 progress into the Sixth Form, where all follow AS/A Level courses, although the proportion has been higher in some previous years. Most of the rest continue their education in local colleges, with less than one in ten moving into employment. Over two-thirds of the last Year 13 moved on to higher education. HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS Mayflower is a good school with many very good and some outstanding features. Both staff and students enjoy working in the school. Teaching is generally good, and occasionally inspiring, and leads to good quality learning which ensures that high standards are achieved by students of all abilities, particularly in Key Stage 4 and the Sixth Form. Attainment is above the national average at all Key stages. The leadership and management of the head and other key staff is very good and is correctly focused on improving teaching and learning in order to raise standards. Strategies for performance management, induction of new staff and school development are excellent, as is the contribution of the community to students’ learning. The school gives good value for money. Mayflower School 1 WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL · Enables students to achieve high standards, especially at Key Stage 4 and post-16. · Provides very good leadership and management, with a clear strategic plan for improvement overseen by a very effective governing body. · Provides good quality teaching and learning experiences, especially in English, art, drama, special needs and in the Sixth Form. · Monitors students’ academic performance and personal development and provides very good support and guidance to students, including personal, social, health and careers education. · Provides excellent induction for new staff and has an excellent strategy for performance management, encouraging staff development. · Provides very effective links with parents and excellent community links. WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED · The breadth of the curriculum, especially post-16. · Standards in core subjects and information and communication technology at Key Stage 3, to bring them at least in line with results in similar schools, and in science, French, German and aspects of design technology in Key Stage 4. · Aspects of the accommodation and facilities provided to support students’ learning. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan. HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION Overall, the school has made good improvement since the last inspection in 1996. Significant improvements have been made in the management of the school, which is now a strength. Improvement in the planning and monitoring of budget expenditure has been good. As a consequence, the school has been able to improve significantly the quality of the environment. However, whilst there has been an improvement, litter is still prevalent and there is a wide variation in the quality of display around the school. Good progress has been made in refining assessment strategies and ensuring assessments inform students and teachers. Satisfactory progress has been made towards meeting statutory requirements. There is now some religious education in the Sixth Form, although not enough, and there is a well thought through policy on collective worship which, if implemented, would enable the school to satisfy the law. Mayflower School 2 STANDARDS The table below shows the standards achieved by 16 and 18 year olds based on average point scores in GCSE and A Level /AS Level examinations. Performance in: compared with Key all schools similar well above average A schools above average B 1998 1999 2000 2000 average C GCSE examinations A A A A below average D A Levels/AS Levels C C C well below average E Attainment on entry is broadly average, although above average in some year groups. Achievement in external tests at age 14 is disappointing. Whilst results are above the national average in mathematics and science and in line in English, they are all below average compared to schools with a similar proportion of students entitled to free schools. The trend in the school’s average points score over the last three years has not matched the improvement shown nationally. Standards, therefore, are not high enough at this key stage. In contrast, GCSE results in 2000 were well above average, as they have been in recent years. 62 per cent attained five or more A*-C grades compared to 47 per cent nationally and almost all students attained at least five grades A*-G.