Shipston High School

Shipston High School - A Specialist Technology College Darlingscote Road, Shipston-on-Stour, CV36 4DY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Students’ achievement varies too much across year groups and subjects.  Lower-ability students do not make good progress because teachers do not always plan work at the right level for them. Teachers do not always have high enough expectations of what these students are capable of achieving.  The proportion of students who make better progress than expected varies between year groups in English and mathematics.  The academy’s use of additional funding for some students does not help them all to make good progress.  A small but significant proportion of teaching is not good or better and this leads to variations in achievement for some students.  Teachers do not consistently mark students’ work as well as they should.  In some lessons, learning time is lost because teachers take too long providing introductions and explanations.  Leaders have not ensured that all teachers have the skills to teach reading, writing,

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

communication and mathematical skills in all subjects.  The way the academy checks the progress of students in Key Stage 3 is not robust enough.

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The school has the following strengths

 Students’ behaviour is exemplary. Students are respectful and thoughtful. They are polite, well mannered and courteous to others.  The achievement of most groups of students is improving and for many it is good and better.  Leaders have successfully improved teaching, particularly for disabled students and those who have special educational needs. Much teaching is now good.  The headteacher has successfully built a shared sense of ambition among all staff and students.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 38 lessons, of which four were jointly observed with a senior leader. Members of the inspection team also made short visits to lessons as part of themed learning walks.  Meetings were held with three groups of students. Other meetings were held with members of the governing body, senior leaders and staff, including those responsible for subjects.  Inspectors analysed 54 responses to the online parent questionnaire (Parent View) during the inspection, as well as responses to questionnaires from 10 staff.  Inspectors observed the work of the academy and looked at a number of documents, including those relating to the monitoring of teaching and the targets set for teachers to improve their work. They also looked at records relating to attendance, behaviour, bullying and safeguarding, the academy improvement plan, data on students’ progress and samples of students’ work.

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Inspection team

Richard Sutton, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Paul Bartlett Additional Inspector Suha Ahmad Additional Inspector Gillian Walley Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This academy is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion of students supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The majority of students are from White British backgrounds, with around one in six from minority ethnic heritages.  The proportion of students who speak English as an additional language is well below average.  A below-average proportion of students are supported through the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for some students, including those in local authority care and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  Fifteen students are partly educated at Stratford College where they study a range of vocational courses.  The academy meets the government’s current floor standards for secondary schools, which set

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Information about this school

the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress.  Shipston High School converted to become an academy school on 1 September 2012. When its predecessor school, which had the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it is consistently good or better by ensuring that all teachers:  have high expectations of what all students can achieve and plan lessons which are at the right level, particularly for lower-ability students and those who are supported through the pupil premium  consistently mark students’ work, provide regular feedback on how they can improve it and check that students have acted on the feedback  make better use of assessment in lessons to check students’ understanding and adjust the lesson if necessary  provide more time for learning by ensuring that explanations and introductions are not too long.  Improve achievement so that it is consistently good, particularly in English and mathematics, by:  ensuring that consistently high proportions of students make rapid progress in each year group  making sure that students who are supported through pupil premium funding make

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

consistently good progress  providing better support and challenge for lower-ability students so that they make the progress of which they are capable.  Improve leadership and management by:  ensuring that all teachers are fully trained to teach reading, writing, communication and mathematical skills in all subjects  making sure all staff and students are clear about what is good or better progress during and at the end of each year in Key Stage 3.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement is not consistently good across year groups and subjects. The progress that students make varies and this limits their overall achievement. The proportion of students who achieve above-average standards in English and mathematics also varies considerably.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Lower-ability students do not, overall, make good progress in many subjects because the work they are set is often too easy or too hard. These students do not consistently receive the support they need in order to make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The academy spends some of its pupil premium funding on additional staff to provide personalised academic and pastoral support for relevant students. This additional support has not yet brought about consistently better progress in achievement among this group of students. In 2012, for example, these students achieved almost one grade lower than other students in English and almost two grades lower in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Students who speak English as an additional language and those from ethnic minority groups also make inconsistent progress. The progress that disabled students and those who have special educational needs make has improved since the school converted to become an academy. However, inconsistencies remain in some subjects and year groups.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2012 not enough students in Year 11 made good progress in English. However, teaching has now been improved and, although there are still some wide variations in achievement in English in different year groups, students are now making better progress in Year 11.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement is improving and the academy has reliable monitoring information which suggests that achievement in Year 11 will be better than it has been in recent years before the school converted to become an academy school.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The off-site provision at a nearby college is ensuring that achievement is improving for the students in Key Stage 4 who attend. The academy monitors the attendance and achievement of these students closely.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The main reason why teaching requires improvement is because lessons are not always pitched at the right level for all students in the class. This means that work is sometimes too hard or too easy for individual students.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 This is particularly the case for lower-ability students. Teachers do not always provide an appropriate balance of support and challenge for this group of students. This means they do not achieve their full potential all of the time.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The support that disabled students and those who have special educational needs receive has improved this year and a number of parents wrote to inspectors expressing their strong approval with this support. Teachers and teaching assistants are increasingly ensuring that lessons meet the needs of this group of students but this is not always the case for some students in Year 7 and Year 8.  Teaching does not always meet the needs of some students who are supported through the pupil premium. However, this is improving because leaders have, this year, begun to focus much more on the needs of these students. Teachers are much more aware of their needs than they have been previously.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Some marking of students’ work is good. Too much is not as good as it should be, however, because it does not enable students to clearly identify what they need to do to improve their work. Teachers do not always follow up the targets for improvement they set so that they can check if students have acted on the advice given.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not always use assessment information during lessons to check how much students have learned and then adjust and adapt activities. This results in some students making less progress than they should.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Learning time is sometimes lost because some teachers spend too long providing explanations and introductions before students begin to get down to work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Inspectors observed many good lessons and overall the quality of teaching is improving. In the better lessons, teachers had good subject knowledge which enabled them to use questioning effectively and match the work well to the needs of students.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students have outstanding attitudes to learning at all times. They are keen to learn and when opportunities are offered they willingly take full responsibility for their own learning. The vast majority of students are ambitious for themselves and they show excellent determination to succeed in their studies. Students maintain high levels of commitment to their learning, even when teaching is sometimes not as good as it should be.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Behaviour is outstanding and exemplary. Students behave sensibly, courteously and respectfully both in lessons and at break times. Students are helpful and frequently prepared to ‘go the extra mile’. This is well known in the academy as the ‘Shipston Spirit’.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students have many opportunities to work with others of different ages through, for example, the academy council. Older students have the opportunity to act as prefects and they very much value the responsibility that they are given.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Positive relationships permeate the whole academy. Students appreciate the fact that the academy is relatively small and they feel valued and known as individuals by all adults. They also recognise and appreciate the high-quality care and support which they receive from staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students say that bullying hardly ever happens. Academy records confirm this. They say that on the very rare occasions when bullying does occur that teachers deal with matters efficiently and effectively. Students have an excellent understanding of the various forms of bullying.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students feel safe at the academy and they have a strong understanding of safety issues. They are also aware of how to assess risk with respect to safety issues.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students enjoy school and their attendance is above average. Exclusions are rare and significantly below average.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, very well supported by the senior leadership team, has ensured that all members of the academy community have high aspirations for all students.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have demonstrated the ability to sustain improvement by maintaining the very highest of standards with respect to student behaviour and through improvements in the achievement of high-ability students, for example.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders are successfully ensuring that teaching is more frequently good or better. For example, regular opportunities for teachers to engage in professional development are having a positive impact on the quality of teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy’s leaders, including those responsible for subjects, regularly check the quality of teaching. They use the information well to enable teachers to share good practice. They also identify where improvements are required and provide support where it is needed.

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The leadership and management are good

 Academy improvement planning and self-evaluation are well focused on the most important issues relating to teaching and achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 All teachers are set targets to improve their teaching and guide decisions about pay increases. The academy is aware that these require further refinement to support the necessary further improvements in teaching and achievement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The academy does not enter students early for examinations and so it ensures that students have the full amount of time to complete their examination courses.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have used the Year 7 catch-up funding to support students who have not reached the expected attainment in English and mathematics in Year 6. Focused support in the autumn term and on-going one-to-one support for some students have ensured that these students are in a better position to make progress in all subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 The subjects that students study are enhanced by a wide range of well-attended after-school clubs and activities. In addition, the subjects are made more exciting through links with schools abroad. These enable students to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding well.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and managers have not ensured that teachers in all subjects are fully trained to teach reading, writing, communication and mathematical skills within their subjects. This results in students not consistently achieving as much as they are capable of.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders do not have a robust and accurate way of checking students’ progress in Key Stage 3. This is because they have not yet established a shared understanding among all teachers and students about what is good and better progress during the year. In addition, they have not established clear enough expectations of what good and better achievement should be at the end of each year in Key Stage 3.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors are committed to the academy. They have been fully engaged in developing its ethos and vision, and they share the high aspirations of the headteacher. They have an accurate understanding of the main strengths and weaknesses of the academy. The governing body has a clear understanding of the academy’s performance and holds it to account for the quality of teaching and students’ achievement. Governors know how the pupil premium funding is spent. Senior leaders have not yet provided information on the mixed impact that this funding has had on the achievement of supported students. The governing body is aware of how targets are set for teachers and monitors how these targets are linked to pay increases. It makes sure that the academy fulfils its responsibilities regarding safeguarding; all staff have been checked as required and are trained appropriately to keep students safe and

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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 improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it 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

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Grade Judgement Description

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.

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School details

Unique reference number 138767 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 413408

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Academy converter School category Non-maintained Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 438 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Gary Feary Headteacher Jonathan Baker Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01608 661833 Fax number 01608 663459 Email address info@shipstonhigh.co.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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