Colton Hills Community School

Colton Hills Community School Jeremy Road, Goldthorn Park, Wolverhampton, WV4 5DG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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

 Achievement requires improvement because students do not make consistently good progress. Students’ attainment by the time they leave at the end of Year 11 is below average.  Too few students make faster than expected progress because of a lack of sufficient challenge in many subjects.  The progress of students supported through the pupil premium funding and of disabled students and those who have special educational needs requires improvement because they are not always given the support they need.  Teaching is not strong enough across all subjects and year groups to ensure that students make faster progress. Teachers’ marking and their use of questions are not always good enough.  Some subject leaders do not check carefully enough how well students are achieving in their respective areas.  Governors have not been as effective as they should have been in the recent past in holding the school to account for students’ progress

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

and the quality of teaching.  The sixth form requires improvement. Too few students make good progress and the quality of teaching and achievement across subjects and courses is too variable.

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The school has the following strengths

 Students behave well and enjoy their learning. They feel very safe and show positive attitudes in lessons and around the school.  Recent action taken by school leaders are leading to improvement in teaching and achievement.  The school does a great deal to help those students who are new to learning English.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 30 lessons or parts of lessons, including 10 that were seen together with senior leaders.  Inspectors listened to students read and visited classrooms with senior staff to look at how well disabled students and those who have special educational needs were learning. Inspectors also visited lessons with senior staff to look at students’ progress in mathematics, English and science, and at learning in a wide range of other subjects.  Discussions were held with senior and subject leaders, staff, the Chair of the Governing Body and one other governor, groups of students and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at its self-evaluation and planning documents, external evaluations of its work and examples of students’ work.  There were insufficient responses from parents on the online questionnaire (Parent View) for inspectors to take note of. Parents’ and students’ responses to the school’s own recent surveys,

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Information about this inspection

and written comments made by parents while attending parents’ evenings, were considered. Inspectors also analysed the 20 questionnaires returned by staff.

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Inspection team

Michael Merchant, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Gwendoline Onyon Additional Inspector Phil Kelly Additional Inspector Peter Lawley Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The very large majority of students come from a wide range of minority ethnic groups, and a high proportion are learning English as an additional language.  The proportion of students that are eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding from the government for groups of students including those known to be eligible for free school meals) is high. There is currently a very small number of students in the care of the local authority.  The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is broadly average, as is the proportion supported through school action plus or a statement of special educational needs.  A very small number of students spend some of their time studying work-related courses at Wolverhampton College and South West Bilston Academy.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum

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Information about this school

expectations for students’ progress and attainment.  The school has been led and managed by two acting headteachers since the retirement of the previous headteacher in December 2012. A new headteacher has been appointed and will take up post in September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is good or better in all subjects to ensure that all groups of students make at least the expected three levels of progress between Years 7 and 11 by:  making sure that teachers set work in lessons that fully matches students’ different capabilities, particularly the more able  always expecting the very best work from all groups of students and ensuring that all are fully involved in the tasks set in lessons  making better use of questions to enable teachers to check students’ understanding and encourage them to think more deeply about the topics they are learning  ensuring that teachers’ marking gives all students a clear idea of precisely what they need to do to improve their work and that all act on the advice given to them by their teachers  rapidly giving support to those students in danger of underachieving, including disabled students and those who have special educational needs and those eligible for the pupil

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

premium.  Strengthen the way in which all leaders improve teaching and ensure consistently good achievement, including in the sixth form, by:  making sure that all leaders responsible for subjects and groups of students keep a close check on the progress of students and the quality of teaching in their respective areas  making sure that governors are more active in monitoring the school and checking that agreed actions are effective in improving the quality of teaching and the achievement of students.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Students join the school in Year 7 with attainment that is below average. GCSE examination results are below average overall and have fallen over the last three years. School information, based on GCSE modules already taken, shows that the current Year 11 are on track to attain more highly than in previous years.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Inspection evidence, supported by robust data provided by the school, indicates that current students are making better progress than those who have recently completed their examinations.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The achievement of disabled students and those who have special educational needs requires improvement. Their progress has not been checked well enough by some school leaders and they do not always receive the precise support in lessons to allow them to make good gains in their learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The achievement of most groups of students, including those whose circumstances make them vulnerable and those from the wide range of different heritages, varies. Too few make good progress, indicating that the school’s commitment to equal opportunities is not completely put into practice.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school enters some students early for GCSE mathematics, with the opportunity to take the examinations again for those not attaining target grades. Higher-attaining students are not held back by this policy and are attaining the grades of which they are capable.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The small number of students following more practical subjects off site are gaining valuable experience in a range of subjects. This is helping them acquire the necessary skills to gain suitable employment or further training.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school makes inadequate use of funding received through the Year 7 catch-up programme (extra money from the government to support those students who attained below expected levels in English and mathematics in Year 6). It has not ensured that, for instance, through additional support, such students make fast enough gains in acquiring number, reading and writing skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 There is a gap between the achievement of students eligible for the pupil premium funding and others in Year 11. Students supported by the pupil premium attain, on average, a grade and a half lower than their classmates in English and in mathematics. This gap is similar to that seen nationally and is getting smaller because the school uses its additional funding to help eligible students through one-to-one tuition and extra staffing on classes.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Students’ achievement in the sixth form requires improvement. In 2012, AS and A-level students attained broadly average grades and made the progress expected of them. Inspection evidence suggests that current students are making better progress but this has yet to be established as a clear pattern over time.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress of most groups of students requires improvement. In 2012, while the proportion of students making the progress they should in English was close to the national picture, the corresponding figure in mathematics was much lower. Few students made progress that exceeded national expectations.  Students learning English as an additional language make good progress because of the very precise and effective support they receive, both in class and in small groups.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because, in too many lessons, it does not help students make good progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In too many lessons, teaching is slow and uninteresting. Some teachers expect too little of their students. Too often, teachers give the same work to everyone. This results in some students, especially the more able, completing tasks quickly and then sitting idly whilst they wait for others to catch up.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In some lessons, students listen to the teacher for long periods without being actively involved. This means that opportunities are lost for students to be more inquisitive and to learn from each other.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although, in many classes, teachers take care to check that students have understood an idea by asking individuals precise and often quite probing questions that encourage them to think deeply, this is not always the case. Many teachers still rely on volunteers putting up their hands rather than targeting questions to individual students. This makes it easy for some students not to participate in question and answer sessions.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ marking across the school lacks consistency. It does not always show students what they need to do to improve their work or follow up to see whether students have acted on the advice they have been given.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The use of additional adults in class and the regular withdrawal of disabled students and those who have special educational needs for extra help are not always effective enough to ensure that these students make the progress they should.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The exception to this is the success the school has had in providing effective support for those students who are new to learning English. Teachers are careful to distinguish English as an additional language from special educational needs, and their approach is flexible to allow students to move to higher-level groups when their progress starts to accelerate.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the sixth form requires improvement when teachers do not use questions well enough to encourage students to think and offer explanations. Nevertheless, there is some highly successful practice. Students made excellent progress in a Year 12 business studies lesson when studying the role of advertising in the media. The teacher’s perceptive use of well- directed questions hit just the right note and prompted students to work eagerly in groups to think creatively and imaginatively about the issues involved.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Most students behave well in lessons and around the school and treat others with appropriate respect and courtesy. Students say that they feel safe and that adults will help them overcome any difficulties they might experience.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Most parents, staff and students consider behaviour to be good. As behaviour has improved, the number of incidents which have resulted in students being excluded from the school has fallen.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Students have a good understanding of the different forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying. They report that the use of racist or homophobic language is extremely rare and, if it does occur, students are confident that it will be challenged and dealt with successfully by staff. The school actively encourages all students to express their individuality and appreciate that people are different.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Students say they feel completely safe in the school. They also say that if they have a problem, they know they can talk to an adult who will help them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Students from different cultural and religious backgrounds get on well together and appreciate the harmonious climate created in the school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school promotes students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. A good range of trips, visits and other enrichment activities helps to build their confidence and self- esteem.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance is below average but is improving for all groups of students. Most students come to school regularly and are punctual.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is not yet outstanding because a small minority of students occasionally misbehave, which spoils the learning and enjoyment of others. This is particularly so when teaching lacks imagination and tasks are dull and repetitive.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Although most students display positive attitudes to learning, a small minority are passive in lessons and depend on prompting from adults to keep them working at the right pace. Consequently, these students do not develop sufficient resilience and independence; skills that are important for their future success.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Until very recently, senior leaders have done too little to redress the decline in students’ achievement or to improve teaching sufficiently. The school has not been active enough in checking on those groups of students who could be doing better, particularly those supported by the pupil premium and those who are disabled or who have special educational needs.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Some subject leaders and those responsible for groups of students, including the sixth form, do not use information on the progress that different groups of students make rigorously enough to identify when they need to step in quickly to organise additional support when any student shows signs of slipping behind.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders have not had a realistic view of how well the school was doing and did not have an accurate view of its performance. This meant that leaders and governors had not clearly identified the most important issues that needed to be addressed to accelerate the school’s improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The new acting headteachers have begun to tackle the school’s weaknesses with energy and passion. They have ensured that all staff, leaders, and governors now have a thorough understanding of how well the school is doing and what needs to be done to improve. As a result, self-evaluation is now accurate and this, together with better teaching and improved progress in some key subjects such as science, shows that the leaders have shown the capacity to improve further.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Effective systems are now in place to monitor the quality of lessons and the overall progress of students. Clear feedback, coupled with appropriate advice and training, is offered to teachers whose performance falls short of the mark.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Systems for setting targets for teachers to improve their work are now being used rigorously to reward good performance and are based on an accurate review of teaching and progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority keeps a close check on the performance of the school and has provided a balance of challenge and support to help the school improve.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum supports students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well and there is a strong emphasis on securing improvements in students’ literacy skills. A range of vocational courses meets the students’ needs well.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governors bring a range of skills to their roles and have undergone some useful training. Until very recently, they have not had a realistic knowledge of how well the school is performing in relation to other schools across the country. They now have greater awareness of the quality of teaching across the school and are becoming more involved in decisions that reward teachers for good performance. Governors understand how pupil premium funding is spent but have had insufficient information to be able to check on its impact on the school’s most vulnerable pupils. In addition, the governing body has not, until recently, had enough information to identify patterns in pupils’ achievement accurately or to make sure that teaching is improving quickly enough.

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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 104395 Local authority Wolverhampton Inspection number 404944

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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 11–18 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 740 Of which, number on roll in sixth form 120 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Duane Williams Headteacher Mark Arnull & Jane Lockley Date of previous school inspection 16 March 2011 Telephone number 01902 558420 Fax number 01902 558421 Email address coltonhillsschool@wolverhamptoncyp.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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