Calthorpe Park School

School report Calthorpe Park School Hitches Lane, Fleet, GU51 5JA

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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.  As a result of the effective and determined leadership of the headteacher and her teams, this is an improving school which increasingly meets the needs of all its students.  The range of courses, opportunities and activities on offer is outstanding.  The school has a vibrant community ethos where all students feel very safe and work happily and respectfully together.  Students achieve well. Their GCSE results are well above average, in line with their higher- than-average starting points. Students’ attainment in mathematics is outstanding.  Teaching is good with some outstanding practice. It is improving rapidly as a result of focused professional development. Teachers are enthusiastic and relationships between teachers and students are highly positive.  Most students behave very well. They are polite and courteous. Their attitudes to learning are good and can be exemplary.  Students’ attendance has much improved since

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

the last inspection and, as a result of the better teaching and good support systems, exclusions have reduced dramatically.  The headteacher has successfully gained the overwhelming support of staff, students, and parents and carers.  Members of the governing body know the school well and regularly monitor students’ achievements. They work supportively with the headteacher in making improvements.  The social, moral, spiritual and cultural aspects of students’ education help them become well- prepared young citizens.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough teaching is outstanding. Some lessons do not ensure that all groups of students in the class fulfil their potential.  In a few cases, teachers do not use the behaviour management systems effectively to tackle occasional low-level disruption in their lessons.  Marking and feedback do not consistently provide students with clear and detailed information about how they can improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 45 lessons taught by 45 teachers. Four of these were joint observations with members of the school’s senior leadership team.  Meetings were held with students, the Chair and members of the Governing Body, and with school staff including senior and middle leaders. A telephone conversation was held with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the school’s own surveys of parents and carers, and students, the 156 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire and the 28 responses to staff questionnaires.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a wide range of documentation including samples of students’ work, current student assessment information, the improvement plans and the ways in which the school assesses how well it is doing.

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Inspection team

Mary Hoather, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Margaret Faull Additional Inspector Richard Kearsey Additional Inspector Glenn Mayoh Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Calthorpe Park is an average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of students eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in the care of the local authority, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those from service families, is well below average.  The large majority of students are of White British heritage, with a low proportion speaking English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is well below average, as is the proportion of those at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  One Key Stage 4 student is educated part time at the Linden Centre and a few others follow vocational courses part time at Farnborough College of Technology or Merrist Wood Agricultural College.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for students’ attainment and progress.  The school has specialist status in mathematics and computing.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that more is outstanding by ensuring that teachers:  make better use of marking and feedback so that students can manage their own targets and always know what they need to do to improve  plan lessons that meet the needs of different groups of students, ensuring that introductions are not so long as to restrict the time students have to complete the work set  consistently apply the school’s behaviour management systems when faced with low-level disruption in lessons.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Students enter Year 7 with levels of attainment well above the national average. Standards have remained high since the last inspection, and in 2013, based on its analysis of present performance, the school expects four out of five students to attain at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics.  After falls in GCSE results in 2011 and 2012, most notably in science, and subsequent robust interventions, data available in the school suggest a marked improvement in science. The school’s very good tracking of students’ progress and grades already validated indicate that about one in five more students will gain at least two A* to C grades in GCSE science subjects in 2013 and make the expected progress from Year 7.  Achievement in mathematics, one of the school’s specialist subjects, is outstanding. Nine out of 10 students are expected to attain higher grades at GCSE this summer, with three quarters of all

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The achievement of pupils is good

Year 11 students currently making more than the expected progress from their starting points in Year 7.  The school’s policy of entering whole year groups of students early for the GCSE mathematics examination has been successful in that the proportion of students achieving the highest grades is well above the national average and 15% of Year 11 students go on to study mathematics successfully at advanced level. Inspectors noted that even in Year 7, students’ knowledge and understanding were well above average.  Students have also achieved consistently well in English, where standards are well above average, and they also do well in, and enjoy, humanities, drama and other creative arts subjects. The small proportion of students who speak English as an additional language make similar progress to others of the same age.  In 2012, the school recognised that students eligible for the pupil premium funding were not

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The achievement of pupils is good

achieving as well as they should. The appointment of a designated coordinator and other successful interventions have meant that these students are now achieving better in relation to their peers in Year 11 in both mathematics and English. Eligible students have comparable levels of attainment in mathematics but do less well in English.  There has been a significant improvement in the achievement of boys. School data show that boys make similar progress to girls in mathematics and that they are catching up with girls in English. Boys now are doing marginally better than girls in science.  Disabled students and those with special educational needs are very well supported and achieve well.  The few students following alternative provision in Key Stage 4 achieve well.  Identified Year 7 students in need of catch-up work are already benefiting from additional time with a learning support assistant.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good with examples of outstanding practice in a range of subjects.  The school’s focus on developing teaching and learning, and eradicating any inadequate teaching, is having an impact. A stronger contingent of teachers, especially in science, is starting to maximise the potential of students, challenging them to think more for themselves and become more independent learners.  Relationships between teachers and taught are very positive. Teachers have high expectations of all students and are clear about what is expected in the lesson. They provide a range of interesting activities backed up by good resources. Students’ learning is checked well using homework and regular assessments.  The best teaching challenges students to demonstrate that they can hypothesise about what they have learnt, apply that learning to a range of contexts and debate issues in a very mature way. This was seen in several lessons in Key Stage 3, including history and mathematics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The most effective lessons are marked by skilled, directed and probing questioning by the teacher, who quickly gets students involved in practical activities, usually in pairs or groups. These teachers maintain a good pace throughout the lessons and make regular references to the levels, or grades, that students are working to. Additional materials are always to hand to support those who need it or to extend the learning of others if they are ready.  Students generally know their target levels, or grades, but are less clear about their current levels of attainment, unless they have just had a formal assessment. This is because feedback through marking sometimes lacks sufficient detail about how well they are doing and what they can do to improve. Students say that they are regularly given good verbal feedback, but that this is done in different ways by different teachers and rarely recorded.  Some teachers limit students’ potential to make progress in class by talking for too long or

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The quality of teaching is good

allowing students to spend time carrying out passive tasks. Others do not plan effectively enough for the full range of students’ needs and abilities.  The school promotes students’ wider reading with regular visits to the school library and the expectation of private, silent reading once a week during tutor times. While more students are borrowing books and entering the reading competition, reading during tutor time has had mixed success.  The school has an effective range of strategies to work with individual students, including those eligible for the pupil premium funding, whose reading levels may limit their access to the curriculum. Most of those targeted are making good progress.  Students appreciate the support given by the skilled learning assistants in the study unit and learning support areas. There is effective one-to-one study skills support and reading recovery in these areas.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Students’ attitudes to learning are good.  Students feel safe in school and know how to keep themselves safe in a variety of contexts. Bullying is rare and dealt with effectively if it occurs. The behaviour and safety of those students attending local colleges and the Linden Centre are good.  Students value the counselling that can be accessed in the medical room. This, along with the other support available, has clearly had much influence in modifying the behaviours of more vulnerable students at times during their school careers.  The vast majority of students behave well and are punctual to lessons. They conduct themselves in a very orderly manner around the school site and are courteous to visitors and respectful to those around them. Older students confirm that behaviour has much improved over the last few years, helped by the mixed-age tutor groups within the house system.  Students are involved in many aspects of the school’s daily life such as the appointment of staff,

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

school surveys and the many community events.  Inspectors agree with the school’s self-evaluation that ‘the school is relentless and creative in its support of vulnerable students’. There has been a dramatic drop in the number of internal exclusions this year, and most students respond well to the rewards and sanctions now in place to improve behaviour.  A small minority of students are not ready to learn, or hinder learning through low-level chatter in lessons. Some teachers do not always use the behaviour management system effectively to deal with this.  The school has improved students’ attendance since the last inspection; overall, it is now well- above average. Through the good work of a dedicated team, the persistent absence of a small group has also been much reduced.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school is very well led and managed. The headteacher, supported by able deputies and increasingly effective leadership teams, has worked hard to tackle the underachievement in science and of some groups of students. The capacity of Calthorpe Park to become an outstanding school is excellent but weaknesses in teaching noted at the time of the inspection and some disappointing 2012 GCSE results mean that it is not so at present.  Through the robust tackling of underperforming staff, particularly in science, new appointments, excellent leadership development programmes and good continuing development for all staff, the headteacher and governors have built a staff team which is now successfully raising the achievement of all students.  The leadership of teaching is effective. All subject leaders monitor the quality of teaching as part of their regular ‘learning walks’ and through department reviews. Teachers work together to

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The leadership and management are good

improve their practice through a range of groups and training opportunities.  Well-developed systems are in place to enable leaders to monitor and evaluate the school’s performance, and to manage the performance of teachers and other staff. Staff targets are regularly monitored and linked to pay and progression; pay increases are dependent upon targets being adequately met. The roles of senior and middle leaders in this process are very clear and middle leaders are holding their teams to account. The professional development of each member of staff is beginning to be linked to their needs as identified through performance management.  The tracking of the progress of all groups of students is now highly effective, enabling school leaders to focus challenge and support as needed to ensure equality of opportunity for all students.  The outstanding range of appropriate courses, enrichment and wider community opportunities,

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The leadership and management are good

such as the Citizenship Day, meets students’ needs very well. Students’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is excellent, helped by this wealth of opportunities and through core provision such as advice and guidance, and effective assembly time.  Pupil premium funding has been used well to provide summer school time to support eligible students in their transition from Year 6 to Year 7, and for extra teaching time and smaller groups to enhance students’ progress in English and mathematics. Plans are in place to implement the new Year 7 catch-up premium funding.  The local authority provides light-touch support for this effective school through an annual visit focused on the identified key areas for improvement.  The school has worked well with parents and carers to gain their confidence and support, and most would recommend Calthorpe Park to others. The partnership-in-progress days, which bring

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The leadership and management are good

parents and carers together with students and tutors, are well-attended, although some parents and carers would rather such half-days were not taken out of students’ curriculum time.  The governance of the school:  The governors know the school well. The governing body is informed by the school about students’ achievement, and governors are clear about where teaching is most effective and where it still has weaknesses. With external support, governors regularly review the performance of the headteacher, and they have a clear view of the pay and performance of all staff. They know about the use of the pupil premium. Governors are now updating their training to hold the school more effectively to account and be clearer about how it should be performing against national measures. They have supported the headteacher through the re- staffing of science and understand the need to ensure the appropriate achievement of all

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The leadership and management are good

students. Governors successfully ensure that the systems to keep students safe meet the statutory safeguarding requirements.

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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 116436 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 413447

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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 Secondary School category Community Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 1,088 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jeff Kelsey Headteacher Catherine Anwar Date of previous school inspection 2–3 June 2009 Telephone number 01252 613483 Fax number 01252 626091 Email address cathy.anwar@staff.calthorpepark.hants.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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