Lammas School and Sixth Form

Lammas School and Sports College 150 Seymour Road, Leyton, London, E10 7LX

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Inspection dates 30 April 2013 – 1 May 2013

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  The headteacher has successfully conveyed to all staff and students the high ambition that all students, regardless of their starting points, make exceptional progress. Leaders and managers at all levels across the school are empowered to drive improvement.  Teaching is good due to the relentless focus of leaders and managers on improving its quality. As a result, students make good progress and achieve well.  Teachers plan lessons which are interesting and use a variety of approaches to engage students. Questioning is used effectively to develop students’ knowledge and understanding.  The school effectively tracks students’ progress towards meeting challenging targets. A wide range of interventions are carefully targeted to support students who need extra help.  There is very good provision in place to support students who did not achieve the expected Level 4 in English at the end of Key

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

Stage 2. As a result, students quickly develop good literacy skills and become fluent readers.  Students’ attitudes to learning are very positive and behaviour across the school is good. The school community is highly harmonious and presents a very safe environment. Students who join the school after the start of Year 7 are supported well to integrate successfully in to the school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Although there is some outstanding teaching, this is not yet consistently evident across the school.  Sometimes teachers’ planning is not well matched to the needs of all students and does not provide sufficient challenge.  Teachers occasionally do not give students sufficient time to discuss what they have learnt and share their ideas.  Teachers’ feedback is sometimes too brief and does not help them to improve.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 34 lessons, of which five were joint observations with members of the school’s senior leadership team. In addition, inspectors made short visits to tutorial groups, observed an assembly, made short visits to a number of lessons to look at the quality of provision for students who have special educational needs, listened to a group of students read and spoke with students around the school.  The inspectors held meetings with three groups of students, school staff, including senior and middle leaders and the Chair of the Governing Body and other members. A telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority also took place.  The inspectors scrutinised a range of documents relating to the school’s work, including monitoring and planning documentation, information about students’ progress, records relating to students’ behaviour and attendance, as well as documents relating to safeguarding.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors also analysed questionnaires completed by 35 staff and 30 responses to the online Parent View survey. They also considered the school’s own recent parent surveys.

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Inspection team

John Meinke, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Noureddin Khassal Additional Inspector Samuel Ofori-Kyereh Additional Inspector Angela Podmore Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds is much higher than average with all groups being represented, albeit sometimes in small numbers. The largest student groups are from Any other White, Black African and Black Caribbean heritages.  The proportion of students who speak English as an additional language is much higher than average.  About 50% of students are supported by the pupil premium, which in this school provides additional funding for students known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority; this is above the national average. A number of students are also eligible for Year 7 catch-up funding, which is additional funding for those students who did not achieve the expected Level 4 in English at the end of Key Stage 2.  The proportions of students supported at school action, school action plus or who have a

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Information about this school

statement of special educational needs are all above the national average.  An above average proportion of students join the school after the start of Year 7.  The school has held specialist status as a sports college since 2008.  Five students attend full-time provision at Waltham Forest College, three students attend full- time provision at Leyton Orient Football Club, one student attends full-time provision at DV8 Training and one student attends full-time provision at the College of North East London (CONEL).  The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectation for students’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching from good to outstanding and so raise achievement further by:  planning activities to support the needs of all groups of learners which provide sufficient challenge for all students  further developing teachers' skills in questioning  giving students sufficient time to discuss and reflect on their learning and so work more independently during lessons  making sure feedback in marking is sufficiently detailed so that students are clear about the actions they need to take to improve their work  encouraging students to respond to teachers’ comments in their marking in order to promote a dialogue about their learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Students enter the school with prior attainment and skills which are significantly below average. The proportion of students gaining five or more A* to C grades at GCSE is below the national average, although this has risen slightly since the last inspection. This does, however, represent better than expected progress and students’ achievement over time is good given their low starting points.  The monitoring and reporting of students’ progress have been strengthened since the last inspection so that that they are more frequent and more rigorously analysed by school leaders. School leaders use this assessment information to monitor students’ progress towards meeting the aspirational targets set for them, with carefully targeted intervention put in place quickly to support them if they are falling behind. Current assessment information, evidence from students’ work and lesson observations show that attainment levels are continuing to rise, including for

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The achievement of pupils is good

English and mathematics.  Key Stage 4 is delivered over three years. Any early entry for examinations, including for GCSE mathematics, is carefully planned in order to ensure that students achieve high grades.  The achievement of different student groups is carefully monitored by leaders and managers to ensure that any gaps are closed. All students groups, including those of Any other White, Black African and Black Caribbean heritages, make good progress, with many making much better than expected progress. Students who speak English as an additional language are supported well and also make good progress.  The prior attainment and skills of students who enter after Year 7 are generally significantly below average, with a number joining with no assessment information. There are systems to assess these students on entry in order to ensure that they quickly settle and make progress.  Disabled students and those with special educational needs make much better than expected

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The achievement of pupils is good

progress. This is the result of carefully planned support in lessons and individual or small-group teaching.  The average points score for GCSE English for students eligible for the pupil premium is above the national average for this group and in line with other students in the school. The average points score for GCSE mathematics for students eligible for the pupil premium is in line with the national average for this group. The gap between this group and other students in the school, though nearly a whole GCSE grade, is smaller than that nationally. Given their low starting points, this represents good and sometimes exceptional progress.  The support provided for students who enter the school with below expected levels of literacy skills is exceptionally good. Students’ reading ages are very carefully monitored and targeted support, including additional English lessons and reading recovery programmes, put in place

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The achievement of pupils is good

when needed. This, along with effective whole-school strategies to promote literacy, enables these students to make rapid progress and develop well as confident and fluent readers. Year 7 catch-up funding is used well to support this. Similar provision is being developed to support students who enter the school with below expected levels of numeracy skills. A result of these actions is that students leave the school well equipped for the next stages in their education or employment.  The few students who follow courses taught off site make good progress. Leaders and managers regularly monitor the quality of this provision in order to ensure that the quality of teaching is good and appropriate safeguarding measures are in place.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching across the school is good and in some cases outstanding. Discussions with students indicate that they enjoy their lessons and think that teaching is good.  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. Little time is wasted during lessons. In a few lessons observed, tasks and activities were not sufficiently adapted to suit all students and did not provide enough challenge for all.  Most teachers use questioning techniques well to check learning and deepen students’ understanding. However, on occasions, teachers accept simple answers too readily and do not give students enough time to discuss their work and share ideas. This limits opportunities in lesson for students to work independently and deepen their understanding.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Where the quality of teaching is good or outstanding, there is a brisk pace and students are challenged by the teacher to achieve the highest standards. In an outstanding Year 10 GCSE physical education lesson, students worked in pairs to describe key words to each other without using the word itself, thus developing students' understanding of technical vocabulary and enabling them to use it with precision. Students were enthusiastic about the activity and challenged each other to use increasingly complex terms. In an outstanding Year 8 English lesson, students challenged and supported each other to prepare presentations. Students were very aware of what they needed to do to be successful and were supported by the teacher who regularly checked their understanding and prompted them to further improve their work.  Disabled students, those with special educational needs and students who speak English as an

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The quality of teaching is good

additional language are effectively supported by additional adults both in lessons or working in small groups. The deployment of any additional adults is carefully planned both in lessons and across the school in order to ensure that there is a clear focus on how their work promotes learning.  Scrutiny of students’ work shows that it is of good quality. A wide variety of work was seen in books, indicating that it is well matched to the abilities of individual students. Homework is set regularly to extend learning. Students’ work is marked regularly with feedback from their teachers. However, marking is not consistent in quality across the school and the feedback given is sometimes too brief to enable students to know how to take the next steps in their learning. While students are encouraged to write a response to teachers’ comments, this does not often happen and there is a missed opportunity to develop a dialogue about learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school community is harmonious and students from all ages and groups socialise together well, encouraged by the mixed-age tutoring system. Good relationships between students and staff are a key feature of the school and many students comment positively about how helpful staff are and how there is always someone they can talk to about any concerns.  Discussions with students and staff indicate that the very good behaviour seen during the inspection is typical of that over time. Effective systems are in place to manage behaviour and these are used consistently by all staff to promote good behaviour. Students are keen to learn and do well and will increasingly take responsibility for their own and others’ behaviour.  Students say that they feel safe at the school. This is supported by the responses of parents and carers to the online questionnaire and responses to the staff questionnaire. Students have a

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

good understanding of the different forms of bullying, including e-safety and prejudice-based bullying, and how to stay safe, which is promoted through assemblies, tutorial times and other events. Discussions with students and school records indicate that incidences of bullying are rare and dealt with effectively if they do happen.  There are highly effective systems in place to support the above average number of students who enter the school after the start of Year 7. These include learning mentors who help the students to successfully integrate in to school life.  Effective strategies have been used to improve attendance, which is now in line with the national average.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has clearly communicated high ambitions for all students to make exceptional progress and reach the highest standards. There is a clear commitment from school leaders and the governing body to meet the needs of the whole child so that all students thrive and prosper.  Self-evaluation is accurate and identifies strengths and what needs to be done to further improve the school. Improvement plans are appropriate and are regularly reviewed. Since the last inspection there have been significant improvements to the monitoring of students’ progress, including checking the progress of different groups, which is beginning to further raise achievement and ensure greater equality of opportunity. The capacity for further improvement is strong.  Leadership of teaching is strong with regular and accurate monitoring of its quality being undertaken. A wide range of training is used to promote good and outstanding teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

Performance management is robust and reviews of the work of teachers are closely linked to whether or not they move up the salary scale.  The local authority supports the school well. It has an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for development and has provided effective support, for example, by helping the school to establish partnerships with other schools to share good practice.  The curriculum meets students’ needs well. The Key Stage 3 curriculum is broad and balanced and there is a strong focus on developing literacy and numeracy. A wide range of courses with an appropriate balance between the academic and vocational is offered at Key Stage 4 in order to meet students’ needs and aspirations. Careers guidance is of good quality and students are well prepared for the next stage of their education, employment or training, with almost none leaving the school without a known destination.

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The leadership and management are good

 There are excellent opportunities for the development of students’ spiritual, moral, cultural and spiritual development. The mixed-aged tutoring system encourages students from all ages and groups to mix and socialise well. Prejudice-based bullying is actively challenged across the school and is extremely rare. There is a wide range of well-attended, after-school clubs, supported by the school’s specialist status as a sports college, and the curriculum is enriched by many trips and visits. Students are encouraged to make links with both the local and wider communities, for example, through fund raising events for charities. The school has developed a number of international links with schools in Africa, Europe and South America.  The school uses a wide range of strategies to work with parents and carers, for example, through the use of a home-school link worker to promote good attendance. Partnerships have

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The leadership and management are good

been developed with local primary schools in order to improve provision for literacy.  Safeguarding procedures meet requirements. Staff are fully aware of their duties to keep students safe.  The governance of the school:  Governors are supportive of the school and take their duties seriously. The governing body is currently being restructured in order to be better able to support and challenge the school by the establishment of an executive team of governors who can work even more closely with the headteacher and senior leaders on key issues. Governors are knowledgeable about the quality of teaching and performance management and are involved in making decisions about how teachers progress through the pay scale. Governors are well informed about students’ attainment and progress and are able to use this information to challenge the school to improve further. They monitor the use of the pupil premium carefully. Governors ensure that

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The leadership and management are good

resources are deployed well to meet the needs of students and future plans are financially sustainable. Governors attend regular training to ensure that they are well informed about current local and national initiatives.

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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 133287 Local authority Waltham Forest Inspection number 412807

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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 Comprehensive School category Community Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 742 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paul Redcliffe Headteacher Shona Ramsay Date of previous school inspection 30 June 2010 – 1 July 2010 Telephone number 020 8988 5860 Fax number 020 8988 5861 Email address school@thelammas.com 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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