The Deepings School

The Deepings School Park Road, Deeping St James, Peterborough, PE6 8NF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.  Students make excellent progress at the school. Examination results are above the national average and improving.  Outstanding teaching is based on excellent relationships between staff and pupils. Teachers have high expectations and bring fun to the classroom. When students have not understood, it is picked up quickly and extra help is given.  School leaders and governors use the school’s own information very effectively to check how well each student is learning. They identify and reward the teachers that help students most.  The sixth form is outstanding. Standards in the sixth form continue to improve quickly. There is a great deal of choice for students and they are encouraged to take on further responsibilities.  Senior leaders and governors have been reorganising teachers’ roles and responsibilities. They make difficult decisions in order to give pupils the best possible

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

experiences.  Students take on many different responsibilities. What they have to say is taken very seriously and is used to improve the quality of their education and surroundings.  Teachers get excellent training and support which improves the quality of their work. The standard of students’ work is improving.  The range of subjects, after-school clubs and trips give the students a rich mixture of experiences that prepares them well for later life.  The school has its own research programme involving staff and students.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 57 lessons. Many of these were done jointly with members of the school leadership team. They looked at students’ books and listened to them read.  Meetings were held with governors, teachers, school leaders, pupils and a representative of the academy trust.  Inspectors considered the views of 117 parents to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and three parents who contacted the lead inspector.  A range of documents were considered, including minutes of governors’ meetings, the school’s self evaluation, safeguarding documents and policies.

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Inspection team

John Hucker, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Thelma McIntosh-Clark Additional Inspector David Wolfson Additional Inspector Colin Lower Additional Inspector Christine Murrell Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The Deepings School is larger than the average-sized secondary school.  A very large majority of students are White British.  The proportion of students eligible for the pupil premium is less than half the national average. The pupil premium is funding provided to support students known to be eligible for free school meals, children in the care of the local authority and children of members of the armed forces. In this school there are almost no children in the care of the local authority.  The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also lower than average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress.  The Deepings School converted to become an academy on 1 st February 2012. When its

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Information about this school

predecessor, also The Deepings School, was last inspected, it was judged to be outstanding.  Students in need of special provision attend Pilgrim Hospital.  The headteacher is a national leader in education and supports other schools. He and a deputy head are currently supporting a local primary school.  The school is a centre for training new teachers and will be lead school for the ‘school direct’ training scheme from September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching so that more is outstanding by:  giving students of all ages more opportunities to learn by themselves  matching the difficulty of the work to individuals within each class.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by recording how well students, especially in Key Stage 3 are learning, more accurately, so that teachers and school leaders can give the right help quicker.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 GCSE results are consistently high. The proportion of students achieving five GCSEs with grades of ‘C’ and above, including English and mathematics, is much higher than the national average. Deepings’ students consistently do much better than the national average in their best eight GCSEs.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The school’s own information shows that where there were less-good results, these subjects show improvement this year. More-able students are also doing better this year.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students’ results at AS level improved markedly last year and this is set to continue. A-level results also continue to improve. There are some excellent results for students following vocational courses.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 At Key Stages 3 and 4, most groups of students, including those entitled to free school meals, those with a statement of special educational needs and children of members of the armed forces got higher results overall than similar groups nationally. As students at school action and school action plus make enough progress, they are taken out of those groups, so their successes are not reported.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students entitled to free school meals did less well than other students at the school. In English, the gap was about a year and a half. In mathematics, it was about two and a half years. These results are similar to the national averages. This gap is closing quickly for students currently in school.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students who are children of the armed services were a little over a year behind other students and this gap is closing.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students who have Year 7 ‘catchup’ funding are making slightly better progress in mathematics than other students and much better progress in English.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students at school action make slightly less progress than other students in English and less than others in mathematics. Those at school action plus make much less progress in English and less in mathematics than other students. However, students in this group have complex needs which the school has tackled very well. Students with statements make less progress in English and much less in mathematics than other students at the school.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 No students are entered for any GCSE before Year 11.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

Students who attend Pilgrim Hospital have complex needs. The school works very closely with the hospital, the students and their families. This work is outstanding. Most students have some academic success and their prospects as they leave school are much better than might otherwise be expected.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers make learning fun. They are enthusiastic about their subjects and know them well. They bring variety into the lessons. They use powerful resources. In one science lesson on how to put things into the right groups, the teacher used big pictures of spiders. This made most students react. Such methods help students to learn and remember.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers ask questions that challenge students’ thinking. In a history lesson, students were asked, ‘If this is the answer, what is the question?’ In a geography lesson, the teacher used a technique called ‘pose, pause, pounce, bounce,’ where a teacher will ask random students and then bounce a further question on to someone else.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 When teachers mark books, they follow up comments by speaking with students. Sometimes they arrange extra help for the topic. This is effective. The best teachers make sure that this is also written in their books, so that students can revise more effectively. The teachers also check that the student has understood.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 In many lessons, students have the opportunity to learn by themselves. For example, in a science lesson, students were asked to create a mark scheme for questions from a past paper. They had to use all the sources available to decide all the possible answers and how much accuracy would be needed. Other students then test it. Such methods are not consistently used by all teachers.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Literacy and numeracy skills are taught well and supported across subjects. Students often have to read aloud or get information from complicated texts. In a geography lesson, students calculated how much of the 30p for a banana went to the workers. The calculation was called ‘the banana split’!

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Most teachers have excellent relationships with their students. As a result, students are keen to learn and confident to speak out, without fearing that they might make a mistake.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Not all teachers consistently match the difficulty of the work to the abilities of individual students. The best teachers set slightly different tasks and are skilled at asking questions that either support or challenge individuals’ thinking, as appropriate.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students say that they feel safe at the school and are happy. Bullying is rare and is dealt with rapidly. Students appreciate strong staff presence around school and the ability to report problems anonymously on the web site.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students are well cared for and supported. Teachers talk through social and work-related problems with students.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students complete surveys and feed back on all aspects of school life, including the content of lessons, behaviour and how well they are learning. There is also a school council of which many are proud. As one student said, ’my school council developed the one-way system.’ This eases movement around the school hub, ‘Piccadilly’. Students feel they have real responsibility.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students are keen to take on other responsibilities. They become prefects. There is a ‘buddying’ system. The head boy and girl are active members of the governing body. The Deepings has the county’s two ambassadors to Auschwitz following an organised visit there.  The school is very thorough at recording even minor moments of poor behaviour. Such behaviour is dealt with well. The number of exclusions is very low and still dropping.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 In a classroom, if a student’s behaviour is not at the expected standard, the other students ignore it and do not allow their own learning to be disrupted. Because of this, even low level disruption is rare.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Senior managers and governors are leading the school through major changes. Houses and faculties are becoming three colleges with very different structures. A large number of teachers are having to change their extra responsibilities. This has been well-planned to bring benefits to students and parents.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 School leaders regularly observe teachers. They carefully check how well students are learning. They make sure that teachers get the right support and courses to help them improve. Teachers who do not meet the difficult targets do not move up the pay scale, but are helped to do so next time.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Parent View shows that parents are very supportive of the school. Where parents have felt that their concerns have not been fully addressed, the school has responded well. Direct access to senior staff is improving rapidly.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school offers a good range of subjects and choices of examination courses. Students take part in a variety of enrichment days and there is a huge choice of clubs, activities and school visits. Together, these experiences add to the students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Very high numbers of students continue their education at 16 and 18 years of age. Of those that do not, most go into employment or training. All students in Year 10 complete two weeks of work experience.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school has been well supported during its conversion to become an academy. School leaders draw expertise from the local authority and the academy trust.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 School leaders ensure that all staff use the information collected by the school very effectively. They use it to help the students to improve. However, the information presented to the inspectors about how well the students are learning, particularly at Key Stage 3 was not detailed enough. This prevents teachers from making finer judgements and recognising problems even quicker.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  Governors make excellent use of available funding. Major building expansion and improvement are continuing. Teachers, including the headteacher, are rigorously held to account for the success of students. Members of the governing body closely monitor all aspects of school life. They stay fully informed through meeting staff, pupils and parents. They check and fully understand documents and information about how successful the school is compared to schools nationally. Governors track closely how the pupil premium is spent and the impact it has on students’ progress. This spending is detailed on the school’s web site. They ensure that all statutory requirements, including those for safeguarding students, are met. They also keep up to date with their own training. This makes them knowledgeable when they challenge school leaders’ views of how good the school is and how it can improve further.

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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 137873 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 412425

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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 Community Age range of pupils 11–18 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 1451 Of which, number on roll in sixth form 254 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jonathan Theobalds Headteacher Chris Beckett Date of previous school inspection N/A Telephone number 01778 342159 Fax number 01778 380590 Email address office@deepingschool.org.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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