Harris Academy Wickford

The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College Grange Avenue, Wickford, SS12 0LZ

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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 Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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

 Given their starting points, too few students make enough progress in English.  Teaching is not consistently good or better. Work is not demanding enough in some lessons.  Some teachers do not use data on students’ progress to tackle underachievement quickly enough.  Students are not given appropriate advice about how their choices of course affect career options.  Senior leaders and governors have not taken enough steps to ensure that all students make good or better progress.  Attendance is well below the national average. Despite leaders’ efforts, too many students are persistently absent and this slows the progress they make.  The sixth form requires improvement. Students do not make enough progress in some AS-level courses.

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The school has the following strengths

 Students are polite and courteous and value the good opportunities they are provided with to take responsibility. They say they feel safe in the school.  Students’ attainment is average in most subjects.  The school is successfully narrowing the gap in the achievement of those known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are not.  The quality of teaching is improving as a result of teachers being set targets linked to students’ progress and being given support and training.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 42 lessons, of which three were joint observations with senior leaders  Inspectors heard students read in a reading recovery group.  Inspectors observed the school’s work, attended assemblies and scrutinised students’ work, records relating to behaviour and attendance, the impact of professional development on the school’s performance and minutes of governing body meetings.  Meetings were held with the headteacher and senior staff, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Governing Body, a representative from the local authority, staff and students.  Inspectors took account of the 61 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View).  Questionnaire responses from 53 members of staff were analysed  Inspectors scrutinised the arrangements and records kept to safeguard students.  Inspectors looked at the school’s development plan and self-evaluation, as well as assessment data that teachers use to monitor students’ progress.

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Inspection team

Linda Austin, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Stephen Hume Additional Inspector Brenda Watson Additional Inspector Martin Wyard Additional Inspector Jennifer Carpenter Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized secondary school with a sixth form.  Bromfords School converted to become an academy on 1st January 2013. When its predecessor school, The Bromfords School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be satisfactory.  Most students come from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of students who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding provided by the government for groups of students including those known to be eligible for free school meals) is below average.  The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is well below average. The proportion of students supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The school meets the governments’ current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress.

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Information about this school

 Eighteen students are currently studying for a BTEC qualification at South Essex or Prospects College.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better throughout the school by ensuring that:  all teachers have high expectations of students and use probing questions to develop and extend their knowledge, understanding and skills  all teachers regularly monitor the progress students are making throughout the lesson  all teachers provide more opportunities for students to be actively involved in their learning  students are given more chances in all subjects to improve their skills in reading, writing and speaking.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve rates of progress for all groups of students so more of them make good progress by ensuring that:  data systems provide greater detail about students’ starting points and show that all students are expected to make good or better progress in relation to national expectations by the end of Key Stages 3 and 4  work is matched more closely to students’ different abilities, particularly in providing greater challenge for more-able students and consistent support for less-able students  marking in all subjects consistently gives students clear guidance about how they can improve and requires students to act upon teachers’ advice.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve attendance and reduce the numbers of students who are persistently absent by working closely with families to raise awareness of the importance of full attendance and by taking appropriate legal action when necessary.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the advice given to students about their subject choices and future careers, particularly in Key Stage 4 and the sixth form.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Undertake an external review of the governing body to identify what further support and training governors need.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment on entry to the school is below average. The proportion of students expected to attain five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and mathematics is in line with the national average. Attainment at Key Stage 3 is at the national average in English and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Given their starting points, the progress made by students in some subjects including English has been insufficient. Whilst they are now making better progress in English in Years 10 and 11, this is still not the case in Years 7 to 9.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement in the sixth form is uneven between years 12 and 13 and requires improvement. Students make average or better progress in their subjects studied in Year 13, including the vocational courses. However, achievement in some Year 12 AS courses is below average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 School leaders regularly check students’ progress and support for underachieving students has generally been successful. However, the data systems and target-setting process do not yet provide precise enough information about prior attainment or show that students are expected to make good or better progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The attainment of disabled students and those who have special educational needs is in line with that of similar students nationally. The school provides additional lessons for students who need to catch up, for example with reading or spelling. Their progress is checked and measured frequently and all students with specific or complex difficulties are supported well.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Literacy programmes and lessons that provide additional support for targeted students combined with a whole-school approach to improve the profile of reading are beginning to have an impact upon achievement in the upper school. There is also evidence that Year 7 catch-up funding for targeted students in Year 7 is having a positive impact upon their progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 As this is the school’s first year of operation, no end-of-year data is yet available that shows the gap in attainment between students eligible for the pupil premium and their classmates. The imaginative use of the pupil premium funding in providing additional support, such as counselling, mentoring and one-to-one tuition is helping these students to make faster progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Some students are entered early for their GCSE examination in mathematics. Most of them are then provided with additional support to achieve higher grades. However, a few students who have reached a C grade, no longer study mathematics but instead receive additional support with their English. They are thus not able to achieve a higher grade in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Students who attend courses at South Essex College and Prospects College are well supported and make good progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Too much teaching requires improvement and a very small proportion is inadequate. However, new teachers joining the school, combined with training of existing staff, sharing good practice and robust performance management have increased the amount of good and outstanding teaching.  In lessons where teaching requires improvement, expectations are not high enough and activities are not demanding enough. Questioning does not always push students to think deeply about their answers.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Students are too reliant on their teachers so that opportunities for high-quality independent work are limited.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Not all teachers make effective use of the information they have about students’ attainment in order to plan lessons matched to students’ different abilities. There is insufficient challenge for more-able students in some lessons and a lack of support for less-able students.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The development of literacy in all lessons is inconsistent. In the best lessons, teachers use a variety of methods to improve their students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. For example, in an information and communication technology lesson where students were designing their own websites, the teacher included a variety of challenging tasks to develop students’ writing. However, in some lessons, there was little evidence of extended writing, there were errors in spelling, and the students’ spoken use of English were not corrected.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Most students know their target grades but they do not all understanding what they have to do to reach them. Students do not always act upon comments made by teachers in their marking in order to improve their work. This means that errors recur.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not consistently assess the progress that students are making in lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the sixth form requires improvement. There are missed opportunities for students to take the initiative because teachers talk for too long. There is insufficient challenge for more- able students.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the best lessons, teachers’ expectations are high and careful planning ensures that the learning needs of all students are met. Students are encouraged to learn from each other and to assess each other’s work. In a Year 9 music lesson, for example, after skilful modelling by the teacher, students were able to judge the quality of the singing of other students using technical language. The teacher’s skilful questioning enabled all students to make excellent progress.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Whilst attendance has recently improved for Years 7 to 10 and for some persistent absentees, it is still too low in relation to the national average. Attendance has been affected by the lower attendance rates of some students admitted mid-term from other schools.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 A significant minority of parents and a small minority of staff believe that students’ behaviour and the way that the school deals with bullying could be improved.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The behaviour of students in lessons is mostly good but, occasionally, students’ behaviour deteriorates when lessons do not interest them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 There have been no permanent exclusions. The rate of fixed-term exclusions is high in relation to the national average. This has been a result of the school needing to assert appropriate standards of behaviour with students who are new to the school. A range of options for support, including anger management sessions and work with parents, are having a positive impact upon the behaviour of some students. Consequently there has been a fall in the number of fixed term exclusions since January 2013.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The inspection confirmed that students behave well around the school. They come into and out of assemblies quietly and calmly and are friendly, courteous and helpful. Relationships between staff and students are warm and respectful.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Students told inspectors that they felt safe in the school and that there is always an adult available to help them sort out any issues.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Students say that bullying is rare. They are familiar with the different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying and homophobic behaviour, and are confident that issues will be addressed.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Students make a very positive contribution to the wider community and are involved in organising a variety of fundraising events for charity. Senior students play an important role in advising the headteacher about improvements they would like to see, which are often listened to and acted upon.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because leaders have not ensured that teaching is consistently good to enable students to make good progress. They have not ensured that staff consistently plan their lessons to meet the needs of all learners and to tackle underachievement. Monitoring systems are not always effectively used by staff to drive forward improvements in learning, particularly in Years 7 to 9.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school does not give a high enough priority to systematically developing students’ literacy skills in other subjects.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has yet to be successful in gaining the support of those families whose children do not attend school regularly.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The leadership and management of the sixth form require improvement because there are variations in the quality of teaching and the progress students make.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders have accurately identified areas requiring improvement and have devised well- considered action plans.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 A rigorous programme of staff development and performance management (the setting of targets to improve staff’s work) is in place to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The breadth of the range of Key Stage 4 courses is enhanced by part-time placements on alternative vocational courses at South Essex and Prospects College.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Some students express concern about a lack of advice about the consequences of the subject choices they made at Key Stage 4 and in the sixth form, upon future career options.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 There is a range of opportunities for the promotion of social, moral and cultural development. A wide range of activities all help to make sure that the students have an enriching school experience: for example, charity work, assemblies on determination and cultural awareness, visits, trips and links with schools abroad and a range of after-school activities and clubs.  Safeguarding policies, practice and child protection arrangements meet statutory requirements and ensure that students are safe while in school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body holds senior leaders to account in their management of resources, including the pupil premium. Governors are ensuring that rewards for teachers are based on the progress of their students. However, governors are readily accepting without challenge reports on the performance of the school. They are not challenging the headteacher to improve the effectiveness of some subjects, or raise the achievement of all groups of students. For this reason, an external review of the governing body is recommended.

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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 139181 Local authority Essex Inspection number 420104

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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 Convertor School category Foundation 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 1208 Of which, number on roll in sixth form 139 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Anthony King Headteacher Marian Spinks Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01268 471201 Fax number 01268 474494 Email address admin@bromfords.essex.sch.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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