Ayesha Siddiqa Girls School

School report Ayesha Siddiqa Girls School 165 – 169 The Broadway, Southall, UB1 1LS

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Overall effectiveness Good 2

Pupils’ achievement Good 2 Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Quality of curriculum Good 2 Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate 3 Leadership and management Good 2

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This school is good because

 Students make good progress in English and mathematics. In the sixth form students make good progress in their chosen subjects, including in English.  Students’ behaviour and personal development are good due to the good Alima (Islamic jurisprudence) course that helps to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.  Teaching is good due to teachers’ skilful questioning and ensuring students’ full participation in the lessons.  The curriculum is good and provides for the needs of all students including the most able. It prepares them well for their future education and employment.  Senior leaders and governors are highly committed to the school. They regularly monitor teaching and learning, and as a result, achievement and teaching are good. They provide good opportunities for staff to train further in their subject areas.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Progress in mathematics and Arabic is not as fast as in English. Teachers do not always provide feedback to students to ensure they know the ‘next step’ to take in their learning.  Students have limited opportunities for practical experiences to promote their cultural development.  The roles of anti-bullying and behaviour officers are not well developed to ensure students are well supported.  Governors are not involved in monitoring students’ records and the complaints procedure. The self-evaluation process does not fully reflect all areas of the school’s work.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school requires improvement and must take action to meet schedule 1 of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements. The details are listed in the full report.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out with one day's notice. The inspectors observed 18 part lessons taught by 16 teachers.  The inspectors looked at students’ work and held meetings with the governors, headteacher and students.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of the school’s documentation including schemes of work, teachers’ planning, policies, procedures and assessment records. They also examined students’ work.  Parents’ and carers’ views were collected through personal meetings with the inspectors. Additional information was gathered through staff questionnaires and discussions with the students.

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Inspection team

Lubna Aziz, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Nathaniel Lieberman Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Ayesha Siddiqa Girls School is a Muslim day school, which is located on the second and third floors of Abubakr Mosque in Southall, in the London Borough of Ealing. It has been operating since 2007.  The school caters for girls aged from 11 to 18 years of age and currently there are 84 students on roll, none of whom has a statement of special educational needs.  Students are mainly from Somali, Pakistani, Indian and Arab heritages. The majority of the students travel from Ealing and the surrounding boroughs.  The school aims to provide ‘girls with good education in an Islamic environment’.  The school had its last full inspection in March 2011. There was an unannounced emergency inspection in February 2013. The school had a progress monitoring visit in September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that students achieve the best possible progress by: - improving the quality of mathematics and Arabic to ensure students’ achievement is consistently high throughout the school and matches that of English - ensuring that marking is consistently good and students receive feedback on what to do to improve further.  Further enrich students’ cultural development by: - creating practical opportunities for them to increase their understanding of different faiths and cultures.  Further improve the students’ welfare, health and safety by: - ensuring the roles of anti-bullying and behaviour officers are fully developed so that they are more involved in monitoring and supporting students’ behaviour.  Improve the quality of leadership and management by: - ensuring the governors are more involved in regularly monitoring the records kept for students’ behaviour, any incidents of bullying and complaints by the parents and carers

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

- ensuring the self-evaluation fully reflects all areas of the school’s work - ensuring the system for tracking students’ progress in different subjects informs the school on students' rates of progress over time.

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

 The school must ensure the complaints procedure allows for parents to attend the panel hearing and, if they wish, to be accompanied (paragraph 25(h)).  The school must ensure the complaints procedure provides for the panel to make findings and recommendations and the procedure stipulates that a copy of the findings and recommendations are: - provided to the complainant and, where relevant, the person complained about - available for inspection on the school premises by the proprietor and the headteacher (paragraph 25(i)).  The school must ensure the complaints procedure provides for written records to be kept of all complaints, indicating whether they were resolved at the preliminary stage or whether they proceeded to a panel hearing (paragraph 25(j)).  The school must ensure the complaints procedure provides that correspondence, statements and records of complaints are to be kept confidential (paragraph 25(k)).

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Pupils’ achievement Good

Students’ achievement is good. As a result of good teaching and a good curriculum, they make good progress in English and mathematics at all key stages, from their different starting points. However, the progress in mathematics is not as fast as in English. Students’ attainment is above average in English and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 4 and their GCSE results are improving over time. This is due to strong adult support in small groups and booster classes. All students make good progress and achieve well in reading, writing, communication and mathematics. Students in the sixth form do equally well in their chosen subjects including English. Their progress is good in Islamic studies and Urdu. However, progress in Arabic is adequate due to adequate teaching. The school is using a system to measure the progress of its students across the subjects. However, the information from this tracking system is not evaluated sufficiently well to

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Pupils’ achievement Good

enable the school to have a very good understanding of the progress students make over time. The school does not know as well as it might, exactly how well the students are progressing in different subjects.

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Pupils’ achievement Good

Students are fluent and confident readers throughout the school. They enjoy reading a range of books such as detective stories by Agatha Christie. There are good reading opportunities for them in class and also through the use of the well-resourced school library during lunchtime. Students report that they take on responsibilities such as being a librarian as well as being part of the student council. As a result, they are well prepared for their further education, training and employment. The most and the less able students do as well as their peers.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

Students’ behaviour and personal development are good. Their behaviour and attitudes in class, around the school and at break times are good. They feel safe and report no bullying in school. They get on well with each other and the adults around them. Students are courteous and friendly to visitors and always give Islamic greetings. Older students support younger peers to help them settle in school. They have good awareness of keeping themselves safe from risks such as bullying and drug abuse. They attend regular assemblies and anti-bullying week that ensures they are well aware of how to keep themselves safe. Students enjoy school, as is evident in their good attendance which is above the national average.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

The school provides good overall provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Students’ personal development is well supported through the use of the Alima (Islamic Jurisprudence) course where students learn about moral issues such as how to conduct a business using the examples from the life of the Prophet Muhammad and relating this to present day life. Students learn about their own religion and of others present in Great Britain through Islamic studies, history and visiting speakers such as from the Hindu and Jewish religions. Students are encouraged to get involved in collecting for charities such as Islamic Relief. They also learn about the role of various public institutions through listening to visiting speakers about the election system in Britain. They are taught balanced political views. However, there are few opportunities to visit a broad range of places of cultural interest including different places of worship.

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Quality of teaching Good

Teaching is good and supports students well in their good achievement. Teachers use skilful questioning and ensure all students participate in lessons. Teachers place good emphasis on the teaching of basic skills. As a result, students make good progress in developing their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. This was observed in English lessons where students participated successfully in group activities and role plays. Less able students are provided with good support which addresses their weaknesses, especially in mathematics. As a result, they make good progress in mathematics. A good range of activities keeps them fully engaged and matches their interests. This was observed in lessons such as textiles where students were working on their individual projects and enjoyed sewing, sketching and working on fashion designs. However, in Arabic the teaching is only adequate. As a result, students’ progress is not as fast as it should be.

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Quality of teaching Good

Teachers support students well in class and ensure any mistakes are rectified to advance their learning. Good use of resources, such as a projector, further enhances students’ knowledge and enables them to make faster progress. For example, in a science lesson the teacher used the projector to show a leaf to describe the process of photosynthesis to enthuse students and make learning interesting for them. All lessons are linked to the planned schemes of work.

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Quality of teaching Good

Students’ work is marked regularly, but the quality of marking and its effectiveness vary across the school. Marking does not always inform students of the ‘next step’ required to make progress in their learning. There is a system of tracking students’ progress; however, it is not fully utilised to inform the school clearly on the rate at which students are making progress. Students enjoy lessons such as English and textiles. For example, one student commented, ‘English is my favourite as there are role plays and group activities.’

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Quality of curriculum Good

The quality of the curriculum is good and covers all the required areas of learning. It provides good opportunities for all students, including the most and least able, to make good progress. There are good schemes of work in subjects such as English, mathematics, science, design and technology, information and communication technology, Arabic and Islamic studies. Students make good progress in reading, writing, communication and mathematics due to good teaching in basic skills which are taught across subjects. This prepares students well for moving on to the next stage of their education as is evident from their success in the sixth form. Although the curriculum meets students’ needs, discussions with students revealed they would appreciate a wider choice of GCSE subjects. Students are well supported for GCSE at Key Stage 4 through extra support and booster classes. The Alima course makes good links with literacy, history and Arabic thus enabling students

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Quality of curriculum Good

to raise their self-confidence and self-esteem.

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Quality of curriculum Good

There are good opportunities in personal, social and health education (PSHE) for students to interact with outside speakers such as those from Parliament’s Education Service who talked about democracy in action at local, national and European levels. The school provides extra-curricular activities through regular educational visits such as field trips for geography and after-school clubs. Career advice is covered in personal, social and health education (PSHE) and through visits from colleges on apprenticeship. Students in Year 10 attend work placements for two weeks in areas such as working with a solicitor and in primary schools. This prepares them well for their future economic well-being. The school creates a welcoming environment through colourful wall displays of students’ work in classrooms and corridors. This includes work on Victorian Times covering Jane Eyre and displays on fashion dresses designed by students in textiles.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

The school’s provision for students’ welfare, health and safety is adequate. The school has met all the regulations in this area. Students report that they feel safe in school and they are aware of how to deal with risks such as drug and domestic abuse. The school has a suitable written policy for safeguarding and ensures it is reviewed annually. The policy has clear guidelines on what to do in case of allegations against staff or the headteacher. The senior designated officer for child protection and other members of staff have completed suitable training in safeguarding. There is an appropriate policy on anti-bullying and any bullying incidents are recorded. There is an anti- bullying officer as well as a recently appointed behaviour officer; however, their roles are not yet fully developed so that the full impact of their work on students’ behaviour is not clearly evident. The school has trained suitable members of staff in first aid. First aid procedures are appropriate

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

and any incidents are recorded and parents and carers are informed. The fire safety policy and procedures are suitable and tests on electrical equipment are carried out regularly. The school follows appropriate procedures for educational trips and carries out satisfactory risk assessments for all activities in school and off site. The school ensures it practises safe recruitment and vetting procedures. It ensures all staff members are suitable to work with students and the required checks are appropriately recorded in the single central register. The school meets admission and attendance register requirements.

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Leadership and management Good

Leadership and management are good and, as a result, all but a very small number of regulatory requirements related only to the complaints procedures are met. Governors and senior managers are highly committed and active in the school. Due to this, students' achievements, the quality of teaching and the curriculum are good. Senior leaders and managers ensure that literacy is well embedded throughout the school. As a result, students make good progress in English. Senior leaders monitor the quality of teaching effectively and have raised the standards of achievement over time. They set targets for how to improve teaching. They provide additional training such as obtaining qualified teacher status through the Association of Muslim Schools. They provide a good Islamic curriculum to support students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They have ensured students’ good behaviour and their personal development by implementing appropriate

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Leadership and management Good

policies and keeping suitable records. However, governors are not ensuring these records are kept in an efficient way and monitored well. They do not have sufficient involvement from the anti- bullying and behaviour officers in supporting students’ behaviour.

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Leadership and management Good

The school’s self-evaluation rightly identifies strengths and areas for improvement; however, it does not evaluate the school’s performance in all aspects of its work. The school is using a system to monitor the progress of all students. However, senior leaders and managers are not yet able to evaluate the extent of students’ progress from their starting points to gain a full picture of their progress over time. The views expressed by students, parents, carers and staff about the school are highly positive. Parents and carers receive all the required information, although the complaints procedure does not meet all the regulatory requirements. Governors and senior leaders are aware that they do not record any complaints as rigorously as they should in the complaints register. The premises are suitable and are kept well. Although there is building work going on, this does not directly affect the school users.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding A school which provides an exceptional quality of education and significantly exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 2 Good A school which provides a high quality of education that exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 3 Adequate A school which meets minimum requirements but needs to improve the quality of education it provides. Grade 4 Inadequate A school where minimum requirements are not met and the quality of education has serious weaknesses.

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School details

Unique reference number 135155 Inspection number 440228 DfE registration number 307/6338 This inspection was carried out under section 162A of the Education Act 2002, as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school. Type of school Muslim Day School School status Independent School Age range of pupils 11 – 18 years Gender of pupils Girls Number of pupils on the school roll 84 Number of part time pupils 0 Proprietor Islamic Recreational and Educational Institute Chair Mr Mohamed Asgar Headteacher Mrs F R Liyawdeen Date of previous school inspection 15 March 2011 Annual fees (day pupils) Key Stage 3: £3,000. Key Stage 4: £3,250. Sixth Form: £2,250 Telephone number 020 8867 9284 Fax number 020 8571 0241 Email address info@ayeshasiddiqa.org.uk guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If

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School details

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School details

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School details

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School details

inspects to 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,

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School details

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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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