Stour Valley Community School

Stour Valley Community School Cavendish Road, Clare, Sudbury, CO10 8PJ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 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 a good school.  This free school has students in Years 7 to 10. Standards are generally in line with or above those expected for each age group. Achievement is rising rapidly in some subjects.  Disabled students and those who have special educational needs do well because their needs are understood and support is effective.  Assessment information is used well to set targets for students’ progress and raise standards.  The school’s checking and review of teaching is consistently accurate. Teaching is good. Students respond very positively to the well- planned lessons.  Behaviour is outstanding. Students work particularly well together, feel safe and have a very positive attitude to learning.  Students are courteous and well mannered. A calm social atmosphere is evident around the school. Parents and guardians are pleased with the school.  Attendance is above the national average.  Additional government funding has been used

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

well to support students who need extra help. As a result, they achieve as well and often better than their peers.  A well-equipped and fully staffed school has been created.  Leadership and management are outstanding. Senior staff and governors have created an effective school. Staff are proud to be part of a rapidly improving team.  Working together, senior staff and governors have driven rapid improvement in teaching and achievement.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Students’ achievement is variable in some subjects and year groups.  The proportion of outstanding teaching is too low.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 27 lessons; all staff were offered professional feedback about the lessons inspectors observed.  Meetings and informal discussions were held with groups of students. Meetings were arranged with senior leaders, the governing body and nominated staff.  The inspection team took note of the views expressed by 51 parents and guardians on the Ofsted online questionnaire (Parent View).  The inspection team observed the school’s work and scrutinised statistical information about students’ achievement which was then cross-referenced to the work in the students’ books.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents provided by the school, including the school improvement plan, the analysis of students’ progress, the results of staff questionnaires, the records of lesson observations conducted by senior staff, the headteacher’s reports to the governing body and the minutes of governing body meetings.

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Inspection team

David Jones, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Michael Stanton Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The overwhelming majority of students are White British and there are a small number of students who represent other minority ethnic groups. Few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of students for whom the school receives the pupil premium is below the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for students known to be eligible for free school meals, those in local authority care and those with a parent in the armed services.  The proportion of students who need extra help with their learning because they are disabled or have special educational needs is average. These include students supported at school action, school action plus and those with a statement of special educational needs.  The school does not make use of any alternative educational provision.  Students, currently in Year 10, will be the first year group to take public examinations in the

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Information about this school

summer of 2014.  The predecessor school was scheduled for closure by the local authority as part of its reorganisation of school places. The Stour Valley Educational Trust Ltd presented plans for a free school to the Secretary of State for Education immediately after the 2010 general election. The plans were approved in the spring of 2011 and the new free school opened with academy status on 1 September 2011.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards and ensure that students progress equally well in all subjects and all year groups by:  increasing the proportion of outstanding teaching available  sharing good classroom practice  providing staff with well-targeted professional development opportunities.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Students’ progress is improving rapidly in some subjects; an effective system of assessment and recording has helped the school to identify where improvements are needed. Standards are in line with or above age related expectations. They are rising across all the English Baccalaureate subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school makes good use of a detailed assessment and recording system to set targets and raise standards. The students are given minimum expected progress levels which are above national expectations.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The small numbers of students from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language achieve well, and many make outstanding progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled students and those who have special educational needs, including those with a statement of special educational needs, make good progress because of the quality of teaching, the early identification of need and the individual support provided. Students who receive support from the school and other agencies progress more rapidly than those who receive only internal support. Provision for those who find learning difficult is reviewed termly to ensure that their good progress is sustained.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Those students known to be eligible for free school meals or those in the care of the local authority make good progress. This is because of the wide range of personal and academic support provided, funded in part through the pupil premium. Current data suggest that Year 10 students who are in receipt of pupil premium funding, are approximately one term behind the rest of the students in this small year group, but this gap is closing. Those who have received individualised support during the last year progressed at least as rapidly as the rest of the students.

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The quality of teaching is good

 During this inspection, more than eight out of ten lessons observed were good or better and one in four overall were outstanding, a figure close to the records maintained by the school. The rising standards noted in the students’ work is directly related to this effective teaching. Good teaching was seen in all of the English Baccalaureate subjects.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Year 9 students began their GCSE courses immediately after the completion of the school’s Key Stage 3 assessment programme in May. These lessons are particularly well focused on the examination syllabus and the marking criteria provided by the examination board. In an outstanding Year 9 French lesson, students progressed rapidly from recognising familiar words to correctly identify and using past, present and future tense because of the teacher’s well- chosen resources and the opportunities provided to speak and listen.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In many lessons teachers planned activities that stimulated learning, questioning assessed progress accurately, and well-chosen resources encouraged students to work collaboratively.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Students work well in small groups and staff use this time effectively to tackle the gaps in their knowledge or understanding. Teamwork was evident in most lessons and many students provided accurate explanations when questioned by others.  Evidence from a scrutiny of the students’ books records the good progress students have made since the beginning of the school year. Marking provides clear guidance on what individuals need to do to improve their work; the impact of this guidance is clear, particularly where the teacher follows up students’ responses to the advice offered.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Many teachers show strong subject knowledge which they use to good effect.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Most lesson planning is detailed and thorough, showing teachers’ strong personal knowledge of the students. Where teaching required improvement, opportunities were missed to deepen students’ subject knowledge or to push them to achieve higher levels through more challenging tasks.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students have very positive attitudes to learning and to the guidance and support they receive at school. Behaviour is exemplary and exclusions are low. There is a calm, well-mannered and mature atmosphere when the students move around the school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Attendance is above average and has improved significantly in the last year. The monitoring of attendance is rigorous and the school has high expectations of students and their families. Communication with parents and carers is good and the views expressed on Parent View, the Ofsted questionnaire were overwhelmingly positive. Punctuality in the mornings is good.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students have a very good understanding of safety matters, particularly e-safety when using the internet. They state that bullying, racism and discrimination are rare and that staff deal very effectively with any concerns raised.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students exercise notable social and moral values with other students and adults. They respect the views of their peers and listen very carefully to the ideas and opinions expressed. The students’ very positive attitude to learning was a notable factor in the good progress made in the significant majority of lessons. Inspectors took many formal and informal opportunities to speak with students, all of whom displayed a very mature attitude.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Staff supervision is low-key and well distributed. Students are keen to engage staff in conversation when out of the classroom and often cluster around those on duty.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher and the senior team make clear their high expectations and lead by example. The working relationship between the senior team and the governing body has been a key factor in the progress the school has made since it opened. Standards are rising, progress is improving and attendance has risen to above average; all of this is clearly related to the improvements secured in teaching and learning.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Staff and students have a very positive opinion of the headteacher’s leadership and are proud to be part of the new and rapidly improving school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The monitoring of teaching by senior staff is rigorous and consistently accurate. From this secure structure for managing teachers’ performance an effective range of staff development opportunities is being developed to drive forward improvements in teaching.  Self-evaluation is robust and the school’s actions are carefully planned, regularly reviewed and very effective. The performance management targets set by the governing body for the headteacher, and by the senior team for every member of staff, are linked to improvements in teaching and learning.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Pupil premium funds are used effectively to improve standards. The improvements made for those who find learning difficult have been supported by this government funding and the school’s own budget.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Senior leaders worked alongside inspectors in the joint evaluation of teaching during this inspection. The views they expressed consistently matched the judgements given by the inspectors.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The curriculum is being gradually expanded and an appropriate range of GCSE courses is now in operation; these subjects will be examined for the first time in 2014.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is very strong, well trained and focused on the needs of the community. Those who conceived the idea for a community school during the days of local authority reorganisation and worked to form The Stour Valley Educational Trust Ltd have become core members of the governing body. Governors are fully informed about how the school is performing and are able to provide the senior leadership team with very effective challenge. This is because of the clarity of information available from a headteacher, who has a relentless focus on high-quality education for all. The governing body is knowledgeable and consistently compares the school’s progress to national and local standards. Governors make regular visits to the school and understand where teaching is most effective. They check the impact of senior staff reviews of teaching and ensure that teachers’ progress through the pay scales is related to their effectiveness in

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The leadership and management are outstanding

raising standards. Governors set targets for the headteacher which are sharply focused on school improvement and check carefully how well these are being met. Governors know how the pupil premium funding is being spent and closely monitor the impact of this and all other spending to ensure that the school budget is being used effectively to help students make rapid progress. The governing body ensures that requirements for the safeguarding of students are met.

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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 136757 Local authority Suffolk Inspection number 400320

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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 free school School category Non-maintained Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 351 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Keith Haisman Principal Christine Inchley Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01787 279342 Fax number 01787 279342 Email address info@svcschool.org 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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