Setting

Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1231 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs H Boardman Headteacher Hailey Hall School Hailey Lane Hertford Hertfordshire SG13 7PB

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education in secondary schools

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of the staff and students, during my visit on 13 July 2011 to look at work in enterprise education.

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education in secondary schools

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text without their consent.

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education in secondary schools

The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with staff and students; scrutiny of relevant documentation; analysis of students’ work; and observation of parts of five lessons and of an assembly.

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education in secondary schools

The overall effectiveness of enterprise education in promoting pupils’ economic and business understanding and enterprise and financial capability is good.

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Achievement in enterprise education

Achievement in enterprise education is good.

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Achievement in enterprise education

 Given their varied starting points, students’ enterprise-related skills, and in particular, leadership, teamworking, problem-solving and communication skills, are developing well as a result of the school’s planned provision. Personal financial capability and basic economic and business understanding are less well developed.  Students are prepared well for the world of work and are able, given their starting points, to talk confidently about their experiences, the skills they have developed and their increasing confidence.  The involvement of students in the School Council and Boarding Council provides them with good opportunities to contribute to decision-making. Students demonstrate a mature and thoughtful approach to their responsibilities in these groups.  Students’ involvement in sports leadership and social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) training and in the peer-mentoring scheme enables them to develop important interpersonal skills that allow them to

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Achievement in enterprise education

work well as group leaders and as team members.  As a result of well-planned provision and valuable support from Connexions, all students at the end of Year 11 go on to further education, employment or training.

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

The quality of teaching in enterprise education is good.

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

 Teachers know students very well, have very good relationships with them and encourage them to behave well and have good attitudes to learning. They are highly committed and understand clearly the importance of providing plenty of opportunities for students to develop enterprise-related skills in order to prepare them well for their future economic well-being.  Lessons are well planned, with a detailed focus on meeting students’ individual needs.  Information and communication technology is used well to engage students and to promote good learning.  While lessons are engaging, teaching does not always challenge all students sufficiently. For example, higher order questioning is not always used effectively because students are not always given time to think or expected to provide extended oral responses. In addition, teachers sometime provide too much help so that students are not given sufficient

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Quality of teaching in enterprise education

opportunity to develop their independent learning skills.

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

The quality of the curriculum in enterprise education is good.

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

 Very good opportunities exist to develop employability and enterprise- related skills, although there is less emphasis on promoting personal financial capability and basic economic and business understanding.  Opportunities to develop employability and enterprise-related skills are provided across the curriculum – in core and vocational subjects and in suspended timetable days, as well as through work experience, college placements and community and SEAL projects. In addition, very good opportunities are provided to develop these skills through formally accredited courses at both Key Stages 3 and 4. Such courses ensure that students receive formal recognition for their considerable achievements in this area.  Good links with businesses and local community organisations are used to enhance the curriculum and students’ experiences in this area. Students have good opportunities to undertake formal work experience that is well

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Quality of the curriculum in enterprise education

tailored to their individual needs and interests.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education

The effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education is good.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management in enterprise education

 There is a very strong commitment from leaders and staff to ensure that students develop the wider enterprise-related skills that will prepare them well for their economic futures.  Coordination of provision is good in this area and plans are in place to extend and enhance this curriculum provision further.  The school is able to audit its provision for promoting enterprise-related skills and to identify where these are taught and where experience is provided. However, as yet, there is no coherent curriculum plan for enterprise education that includes personal financial capability and economic and business understanding.  Differentiated learning outcomes are identified for each student and a rigorous process for monitoring progress ensures that each student has every opportunity to meet their individual academic and wider-skills targets.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 developing a coherent plan for enterprise education that includes personal financial education and basic economic and business understanding  ensuring that all teaching is sufficiently challenging, in particular in relation to how effectively teachers use higher order questioning, their expectations about the quality of students’ oral responses and the extent to which they encourage students to develop independent learning skills.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop enterprise education in the school.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

As I explained previously, a copy of this letter will be published on the Ofsted website. It may be used to inform decisions about any future inspection. Except in the case of academies, a copy of this letter is also being sent to your local authority.

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