Setting

Miss Helen Cassady Principal Havant Academy Wakefords Way Havant Hampshire PO9 5JD

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Havant Academy

Following my visit with Thomas Gibson, Additional Inspector, to your academy on 29 and 30 January 2014, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. 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 academy’s previous monitoring inspection.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Havant Academy

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the academy became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in July 2013. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Havant Academy

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time: the academy is making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures. The sponsor’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Havant Academy

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that the academy may appoint newly qualified teachers (NQTs).

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Havant Academy

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body, the CEO of The Kemnal Academy Trust and the Director of Children’s Services for Hampshire.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

Tribal 1-4 Portland Square Bristol BS2 8RR T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 3115307 Direct email : rachel.evans@tribalgroup.com

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place in July 2013

 Improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching, by ensuring that:  teachers have consistently high expectations of what all students can achieve in lessons  staffing becomes stable and less reliance is placed upon temporary teachers  assessment data are used more consistently across all year groups, and particularly in Key Stage 3, to ensure that work is matched to the learning needs of all students, including the most able and those who find learning difficult  teachers in all subjects contribute to developing students’ literacy and numeracy skills  questioning is used to provide challenge to students, so that they are able to think deeply and make more rapid gains in their knowledge and understanding  teachers check students’ understanding of their work frequently during lessons to enable the teaching to be adjusted to meet the needs of all students  teachers mark students’ work using a consistent approach, which clearly

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place in July 2013

identifies specific areas for improvement and allows students to reflect on how they can make better progress.  Raise achievement throughout the academy, so that standards are at least in line with national averages.  Strengthen leadership at all levels, by ensuring that:  information about the progress of different groups is checked accurately across all subjects and used to assess the impact of teaching on improving students’ progress  all senior and subject leaders hold all staff fully to account for students’ achievement  academy policies in relation to managing students’ behaviour are put into practice consistently  the governing body develops effective systems to hold the academy to account for the quality of teaching and the progress that students make, including monitoring the impact of pupil premium funding on students’ progress.  Improve behaviour and attendance by:  setting clear and consistent expectations of students’ behaviour and conduct

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place in July 2013

 providing more effective targeted support for students at risk of exclusion  strengthening further the systems for checking and promoting good attendance, including working closely with parents.  Ensure that a broader curriculum is offered in Key Stage 4, with an appropriate range of academic and vocational courses matched to the needs of students.  An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the academy’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the Principal, staff, senior and middle leaders, groups of students, members of the governing body and representatives from the academy’s sponsor The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT).

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Context

There have been some further changes in teaching staff in the past term. Some posts are currently being covered by temporary contracts, but the number of these posts has reduced.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

GCSE examination results improved significantly in 2013. Although overall results were still low when compared to national averages, these students made much more progress during their time in the academy than those who took examinations in 2012. There were rises in results for all groups of students. The gap between the achievement of students eligible for free school meals and other students was smaller than that seen nationally.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Students currently in the academy are also achieving more. They are increasingly making better progress in lessons because teaching is improving. Many students have very weak reading, writing and mathematical skills, but standards are rising and students are beginning to catch up. A good system is in place to set targets for individual students and to collect information about how well they are doing during the year. This presents information about students’ achievement in a very clear and understandable way. It shows that achievement is rising across the academy, but also that patterns of improvement across subjects and year groups are still rather variable. It also easily allows staff to spot individual students who are falling behind; this enables them to amend their teaching or offer additional help to these students.

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The quality of teaching

Teaching is improving. There is now little inadequate teaching and much that is good. However, students say very clearly that their experience is affected by the turnover in teaching staff and the fact that quite a lot of lessons are still taught by supply teachers.

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The quality of teaching

In the best lessons teachers have high expectations of all groups of students in the class. They ask questions that capture students’ interest and challenge students to think more deeply. They move students on briskly so that little time is wasted. At its best teaching is excellent. In a mathematics lesson seen during the inspection, students made outstanding progress because of the teacher’s excellent planning, high expectations and skilled use of questioning. The initial activity enabled students to check how good they were at using different basic algebra skills and techniques. They were then able to select carefully planned, specific follow-on tasks which helped them to fill any gaps in their knowledge or skills quickly and effectively before moving on to more complex algebraic problems.

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The quality of teaching

The main general weakness in many lessons across the academy is in teachers’ use of questioning. In many cases teachers’ questions are too easy to answer; they do not challenge students or hold their interest, and they do not enable teachers to check how much students have learned. In many less-effective lessons teachers’ expectations are too low. As a result, students make slow progress or produce work that is not as good as it could be. This is particularly the case with more-able students, who are sometimes not stretched in lessons and then tend to ‘coast’.

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The quality of teaching

Teachers generally mark students’ work regularly. However, in some cases their comments do not enable students to understand what they need to do to improve. In some other cases work is marked well, but students do not act on the teacher’s advice.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Students and staff are clear that behaviour has improved significantly in the past six months. Students say the behaviour now only tends to be a problem when they are taught by supply teachers or when there are frequent changes of temporary teacher. Clear and effective systems are in place to support good behaviour in lessons and to ensure that teachers respond in similar ways to any incidents of misbehaviour. Students generally behave well around the academy and in lessons. Some students drift off task quite easily and a few find it difficult to listen to the teacher without getting distracted. Students at risk of exclusion are supported well. There has been a slight fall in the number of fixed term exclusions this year. The number of students subject to ‘call out’ during lessons is still quite high, although falling.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

An effective system is in place to monitor students’ attendance. Staff have a good understanding of where they need to target additional support to students to reduce absence levels. Attendance has improved this year for the majority of students. However, many of the students who attend alternative provision have poor attendance.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The Principal has achieved a great deal in her first six months in post. She is enthusiastic and ambitious for the academy, and has galvanised the staff. She is well supported by a strong senior leadership team. They have a clear and realistic understanding of the academy’s strengths and weaknesses, and know what needs to be done make the necessary improvements. This understanding is based on very thorough checking of the academy’s work, in part through very regular themed ‘learning walks’: brief visits to a large number of lessons to look at particular aspects of the academy’s work. The outcomes of these visits are carefully analysed to gauge improvement. Students’ achievement is checked carefully at different points in the year. This information is analysed well. Leaders are making good use of it to look for patterns and trends in the achievement of different groups. They are also using it to hold staff more accountable for students’ achievement.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Senior leaders observe teachers frequently to check their teaching. They are all skilled at observing lessons, judging the quality accurately and analysing what teachers need to do to improve. Teachers are provided with very useful feedback and a range of valuable training that is carefully shaped to match their particular stage of development as a teacher. Leaders recognise that more now needs to be done to develop more subject-specific training. This is particularly the case as, in such a small school, some staff are required to teach outside of their main subject area.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Much good work has been done to strengthen the work of middle leaders. They have received very useful training to help them to observe lessons and provide teachers with clear, honest and helpful feedback. The value of this training has been reinforced during joint lesson observations carried out with senior leaders.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Significant changes are being made to the academy’s curriculum. Leaders decided in October to make changes to the curriculum for students currently in Year 11. This was a bold decision which was challenging to implement. However, it was carefully thought out and based on a good understanding of students’ needs. It involved consultation with individual students about, for example, whether to continue with courses started in Year 11 or whether to spend time re-taking examinations taken at the end of Year 10. It is too early to gauge the impact of these changes on students’ achievement.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The development of the governing body is being led very well by the new Chair of Governors, who was commissioned by the sponsor TKAT. Much has been achieved in the three months since he took up post, although more still remains to be done. The review of the governing body’s work was thorough and it helped governors to draw up a useful action plan to guide the development of their work. A number of sub- committees have been established, enabling governors to share workload and make better use of individual expertise. The governing body is now providing more effective challenge to the academy’s leaders; this challenge is well documented in the minutes of meetings.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The governing body is provided with extensive information about students’ achievement. This information is currently quite complex and it focuses more on students’ achievement in English and mathematics than in other subjects. Senior leaders and governors are working together closely to refine the information so that it provides governors with a more concise and easily comprehensible summary of students’ current achievement across the curriculum.

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External support

The academy is being well supported. Much of this support is being provided by a number of other TKAT academies in the local area and further afield. This support is based on a good understanding, both of Havant Academy’s current needs and where good practice in particular aspects can be found in other academies.

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External support

The sponsor (TKAT) now commissions a trained Ofsted inspector to carry out reviews of the academy’s progress which are reported directly to them. The first of these reviews took place earlier in the spring term, but the report was not yet available at the time of the monitoring visit.

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External support

Following the judgement at the first monitoring inspection, the sponsor TKAT has now taken appropriate steps to ensure that the statement of action is ‘fit for purpose’.

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