Setting

Mrs Elaine Davies Principal Ormiston Maritime Academy Westward Ho Grimsby North East Lincolnshire DN34 5AH

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Ormiston Maritime Academy

Following my visit to your school, with Philip Smith, Her Majesty’s Inspector, on 26 November, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the outcome and findings of the inspection. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions which have been taken since the school’s previous monitoring inspection.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Ormiston Maritime Academy

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the section 5 inspection which took place in December 2012. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Ormiston Maritime Academy

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Ormiston Maritime Academy

The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Ormiston Maritime Academy

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of the Ormiston Academies Trust and as below.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancs Investment Centre Maple View Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566939 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email: glaw@cfbt.com

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place in December 2012

  Improve the consistency of teaching and the impact it has on students’ learning by: - making sure that teachers make better use of data and assessments to plan tasks and activities that are well matched to each student’s needs and progressively deepen their knowledge and understanding  - ensuring teachers are consistently responsive to students’ progress during lessons, regularly check their work and understanding and adapt tasks in light of this to ensure they are consistently challenging  - providing regular marking and feedback to students about how they can deepen their learning and make even more progress  - ensuring all staff challenge and manage behaviour consistently to eliminate low- level disruption in lessons.     Raise achievement further by: - ensuring teaching in English, mathematics and design and technology is consistently good, sharply focused and effective in improving students’

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place in December 2012

attainment and progress  - making better use of information and data to develop a wider range of initiatives to improve attendance and punctuality to lessons.     Further strengthen leadership and management by ensuring school plans are sharply focused on the impact they will have on students’ progress, with clear criteria to judge success and regular milestones to help leaders secure swift improvement.  

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Evidence

Inspectors met with the Principal and other senior leaders, the Chair and two members of the governing body, and a group of middle leaders. Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 19 lessons, accompanied by either the Principal or a deputy principal, in 17 of these visits to classrooms. A range of documents, including minutes of governing body meetings, records of lesson observations and the academy’s analysis of the 2013 examination results were reviewed. Inspectors spoke informally with students in lessons and observed senior leaders feedback to teachers following joint observation of their lessons.

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Context

Since the previous monitoring inspection, minor changes have been made to roles and responsibilities within the wider leadership team. A literacy coordinator joined the staff in September 2013.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Action taken by academy leaders has improved academic outcomes for students, with attainment and progress measures for English and mathematics rising in 2013. The impact of the academy’s work is also evident in the rising attendance across all year groups and the significant reduction in the use of exclusion. Expectations of teachers have been raised and where performance in the classroom warrants serious concern, senior leaders are taking action. Inspectors’ observations of teaching and marking identified variability in the effectiveness and impact of subject leaders in driving up the quality of provision that needs prompt attention.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The Principal and Chair of the Governing Body have a realistic view of where the academy’s increasing effectiveness places it in the context of its journey out of serious weaknesses. Equally importantly, they recognise where further emphasis is required to ensure that ongoing work to strengthen teaching bites more sharply in classrooms over the coming months.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement

 The success of strategies to improve attendance, reduce exclusion and reduce the reliance on alternative off-site provision.  The support and challenge provided through the Trust.

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Weaknesses in the school’s approaches to securing improvement

 Not enough rigour in checking for inconsistencies in the application of agreed policies (for example, marking and feedback) and/or identifying inconsistencies in the impact of training on teachers’ practice.  Not enough sophistication in using the lesson observation process to strengthen elements of teachers’ practice.

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External support

The Ormiston Academies Trust, through the provision of a highly experienced Chair of the Governing Body, has ensured a good level of challenge at the heart of governance. The ‘Progress Board’ established through the Trust meets every three weeks and keeps a close eye on progress. A link with an outstanding provider in the Ormiston chain means that the academy in Grimsby does not operate in isolation, and this ‘sounding board’ for the Principal is a valuable source of support. The Board, through its understanding of information received from the academy, has been influential in shaping the direction of literacy support that includes the investment of funds derived from the pupil premium. The impact of this developing work will be a substantial focus of the next monitoring inspection.

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External support

The academy does not have established informal links with any of the outstanding providers on its doorstep. Her Majesty’s Inspectors recommended this may be worth exploring as a potential source of local school-to-school support.

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