Bordesley Green Girls' School & Sixth Form

Bordesley Green Girls' School & Sixth Form Bordesley Green Road, Birmingham, B9 4TR

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 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 an outstanding school.  The school provides an exceptionally high quality of education for its students. Students make outstanding progress in their academic and personal achievement.  Teachers have high expectations of students and develop excellent working relationships in the classroom. Students have very positive attitudes towards their learning.  Teachers generally make sure that work is well matched to students’ needs, enabling them to gain skills, knowledge and understanding rapidly. Very occasionally, students’ work is not set at the right level of difficulty and is too hard or too easy.  Students are proud of their school. They feel safe and say bullying is uncommon. Students behave extremely well in lessons and around the school site.  Teachers know students exceptionally well as individuals. They fuel students’ interests and encourage them to research and find things out for themselves.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Attendance is above average.  The school’s leaders consistently reinforce the highest expectations of all staff and high aspirations for all students, including those who are disabled or have special educational needs and those who are eligible for support through extra funding. As a result, all groups of students achieve exceptionally well.  The sixth form is good and students make good progress on their post-16 courses. Students receive information, advice and guidance which helps them to make well- informed decisions about future employment, education and training.  The headteacher is very ably supported by the senior leadership team. School leaders have a strong track record of improving teaching and achievement.  The very experienced governing body is exceptionally effective. Governors provide a high level of both support and challenge for the school and are committed to its continued improvement.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 34 lessons, four of which were paired observations carried out with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with senior and subject leaders, groups of students, and the Chair of the Governing Body. A telephone conversation was held with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors analysed the school’s 2012 examination results and the unvalidated results for 2013. They analysed the school’s data on the progress students have made from their starting points and their current progress. Inspectors reviewed a variety of school documents, including the school’s evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses and development plans, behaviour records, safeguarding records, governing body documents, and documents relating to the management of teachers’ performance.  The views of the 11 parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account. Inspectors also considered the views expressed in 62 questionnaires

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Information about this inspection

returned by school staff and emails received from a parent.

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Inspection team

Steven Cartlidge, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Thomas Walton Additional Inspector Laura Henshaw Additional Inspector Bernadette Green Additional Inspector Susan Lewis Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school with sixth form.  Almost all students are from minority ethnic backgrounds. The largest groups are from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and African backgrounds. The proportion who speak English as an additional language is also high  The proportion of students for whom the school receives the pupil premium (additional funding for particular groups, which in this school applies to students who are known to be eligible for free school meals and the few looked after by the local authority) is very high.  The proportion of students receiving extra support through school action is average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for the attainment and progress of students by the end of Year 11.

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Information about this school

 The school hosts a specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs. This hearing impaired resource base is shared with Small Heath School and is managed by the local authority. There are currently eight students in the base.  The headteacher and Chair of the Governing Body were both appointed in September 2013.  The school opened its sixth form centre in September 2011.  A very small number of students are currently educated at South and City College Birmingham.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further increase the rate of students’ achievement, including in the sixth form, by ensuring that work is set at the right level of difficulty for students so that it is not too easy or too hard for them to complete.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students typically start the school with attainment well below national averages. They make outstanding progress and their attainment, including that of the most able, means that the proportion of students gaining five or more A* to C grades including English and mathematics is above average. The school’s information, based on accurate internal assessments of how well students are doing, suggests that students are on track to achieve even better results in 2014.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The school enters students early for GCSE examinations in mathematics, with an option to retake them in Year 11 in order for them to gain the best possible grades. This has been successful for the present Year 11, 52% of whom have already gained a grade C or above. The school is ensuring that, in mathematics, all students have the opportunity to improve their results further through extra tuition and homework clubs.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The high standards and rates of progress in Key Stage 4 are also reflected in Key Stage 3, where standards and rates of progress for all groups of students, including the more able, begin improving rapidly from Year 7 onwards..

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students make good and often outstanding progress in individual lessons. This is reflected in performance data, which show that the proportion of students making or exceeding expected progress in English and mathematics compares very well to national averages, and is particularly high in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Disabled students and those who have special educational needs make rapid progress because staff identify their individual needs early and arrange the right additional help. Teachers and teaching assistants support students expertly, providing challenge and encouragement and helping them with subject-specific vocabulary. The small number of deaf students make good progress in vocational subjects and mathematics but their progress in English is more variable. They do not always spend enough time in with specialist teachers of the deaf and this slows their linguistic progress.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The school is making very good use of its pupil premium funding. Extra staffing, one-to-one tuition and funding for additional educational resources, for example, are helping students to make very good and sustained progress. As a result, the gap in English and mathematics between these students’ attainment and that of their classmates narrowed to less than a quarter GCSE grade in 2013. Inspectors’ careful scrutiny of school data on current Year 11 students’ attainment indicates further improvement. Eligible students are on course to closing the attainment gap by 2014 and students observed during the inspection were seen to be making excellent progress alongside that of their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Well-established strategies help to accelerate reading skills. Catch-up courses are provided for the weakest readers, establishing a systematic approach and providing effective individual support throughout Key Stage 3. This support means that these students make rapid progress.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 For the students in Year 7 who are eligible for support through the ‘catch-up’ premium for those struggling with literacy and numeracy skills on entry, the school has accurate tracking systems which are used to direct specific support. As a result, the school’s data show that these students are also making rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 There is no significant difference between the achievements of students from different ethnic backgrounds, including those who speak English as an additional language.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 A very small number of students attend alternative courses away from the school. Leaders monitor the quality of this provision carefully and those students progress well.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Lesson observations show that students are highly motivated and keen to do well in the vast majority of their lessons, resulting in their very positive progress. For example, in a Year 7 religious education lesson, students displayed great enthusiasm, demonstrating to their classmates their new knowledge gained interpreting aspects of the Creation story. They then became totally engrossed in identifying and correcting their own mistakes.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Achievement in the sixth form is good and results are improving strongly. The attainment of students joining the sixth form is below the national average at the highest GCSE grades because some Year 11 students choose to continue their education elsewhere following the impartial advice they receive on the options available at age 16, and the proportion of high ability students in Year 11 is also below national average. Students’ good progress means they leave Year 13 with standards that are at least in line with and some above the national average for most subjects. Better use of data assessing students’ progress and attainment to set targets, and subsequent robust tracking of their performance, including that of the most able and those eligible for the pupil premium funding, are ensuring that they are making good progress. The school is also ensuring that students who do not already have a grade C GCSE or above in both

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

English and mathematics are being prepared appropriately to sit these examinations in the summer. Students are well prepared for the next stage in their education, training or employment.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The school’s records indicate that teaching is good and often outstanding. This was confirmed during the inspection, where the teaching observed was consistently highly effective in capturing students’ interest and engagement, and in ensuring that the girls made rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers have excellent subject knowledge. Teachers are successful in motivating students, including the most able. They provide a range of tasks that encourage students to want to succeed. Students are also keen to live up to the expectations of the adults around them and their positive attitudes to learning contribute much to their outstanding progress. This was particularly noticeable, for example, in an art lesson, where students in Year 9 had the opportunity to practise their drawing skills. The students demonstrated outstanding understanding of the use of perspective in drawing and were able to show a clear understanding of the strategies needed to develop their work to reach the highest level.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers and teaching assistants work together effectively and the help they give is matched well to the accurate assessment they make of students’ different abilities. This ensures that all abilities, including disabled students and those who have special educational needs and the most able, make excellent progress in all subjects.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The small number of deaf students often enter with delayed communication and language skills. They make good progress overall, and their progress is outstanding in some subjects. They have limited access to specialist support from the teacher of the deaf or others that is focused on reading and writing skills. This holds back what they can achieve in some subjects.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers provide high-quality constructive feedback to students, both verbally and in written feedback, Teachers’ written comments, which show students what they need to do to improve their work, often contributes to the progress that students make. Students value this kind of feedback, particularly when they are given the opportunity to reflect and respond to the comments.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Homework is well considered and consolidates and extends learning well. Students complete homework to a high standard and this gives them a strong platform for tackling work in the following lesson.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Students know what they are aiming for in terms of targets for each subject. Progress towards their targets is closely monitored and students talk about the aspects of their work they need to develop in order to meet or exceed them. Very occasionally, students’ work is not adapted sufficiently to meet their different abilities. On these rare occasions, some less-able students simply copy information because they do not understand clearly what they have to do, and more-able students are sometimes expected to undertake tasks that are too easy for them before moving on to more challenging work.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching in the sixth form is good and results are improving rapidly to match those in the lower school. Teachers monitor, review and assess students’ understanding, ensuring that students have grasped key subject ideas that will enable them to achieve good grades. Sixth-form students receive outstanding information, support and guidance on the subjects they study. They take responsibility for monitoring their own progress against personal targets, and they collaborate well in helping each other to achieve.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The behaviour of students is outstanding. They settle quickly in lessons and are prepared to cooperate with their teachers when asked to perform any learning activities. For example, in a food technology lesson, Year 7 students developed their food hygiene skills by working in groups following precisely the instructions from their teacher.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Outstanding behaviour was also seen by inspectors at break and lunchtimes during the inspection. Students were keen to point out that this was typical behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students conduct themselves well. They are polite and courteous to visitors. They willingly talk to adults and are open about their feelings about the school. The school promotes positive relationships between students, and they get on well together.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school works effectively to maintain excellent behaviour and attendance, including that of those who attend offsite provision. There are clear procedures to monitor and support students who have difficulties with behaviour or attendance.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Attendance has been above the national average over the past three years. Leaders are effectively maintaining this position and are focusing on families who struggle to get their children to school, making clear the effect absence has on their children’s progress and attainment.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Students’ work is usually neatly presented, and students take pride in themselves, their school uniform and their school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. The school has a positive and caring atmosphere. Students say they feel safe in school and their parents agree with that view.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Staff have created a strong anti-bullying culture throughout the school. Students say that there is almost no bullying in the school and that they are very well supported on the rare occasions it occurs. They are well informed about different forms of bullying and other aspects of safety, including internet safety.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The new headteacher, senior leaders and governors are passionate about the school and the young people in their care. All staff share this commitment. There is an obvious determination to ensure that all students achieve the highest standards they can. Leaders use well-developed systems and processes to check and evaluate the school’s performance. As a result, they have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas requiring further improvement.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school has a very accurate view of the quality of teaching and learning because leaders are skilled in making judgements on the quality of lessons. In the four lesson observations carried out with members of the senior leadership team, the judgements of inspectors and leaders on the quality of teaching matched in every case.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The new headteacher’s rigorous analysis of students’ progress and her accurate evaluation of the school’s work already provide all teachers and the governing body with a clear understanding of the school’s performance. The school’s track record, reflected in students’ outstanding achievement and effective teaching, also demonstrates capacity for continued improvement.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The leadership of teaching is outstanding and the school places a high priority on improving teaching through high-quality training. Teachers’ performance is checked and information is used from lesson observations, and from information about students’ progress, to set teachers targets for improvement. There is a clear understanding that decisions about promotion and pay rates will be based on the impact of teaching on students’ progress.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The leadership of the sixth form is good. A strengthening of leadership and management has benefited students, who have, consequently, shown improved attainment and progress in most of their post-16 courses and those in Year 12 who have begun their study programmes. The school has rigorously analysed its results in 2013 and it has introduced close tracking of individual students’ progress and provides regular feedback to students encouraging them to develop their research skills. Current indications are that sixth form students are on track to improve their results in 2014.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Teachers and support staff comment positively on the opportunities they have for ongoing training to develop their skills. The impact of this training is reflected in the high quality of teaching and support seen in lessons. Staff morale is extremely high.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Pupil premium funding is used effectively and has helped develop the role of the teaching assistants. Students identified as in need of additional help, including those eligible for pupil premium or Year 7 ‘catch-up’ funding and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, are all well supported. The school’s evaluation of its expenditure on the support provided shows that these students are making similarly rapid progress to that of their classmates.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 School leaders ensure that different groups of pupils have an equal chance to succeed, and they tackle effectively any instances of discrimination.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The range of subjects and topics taught promotes a highly positive attitude to learning among students in all subjects, and leads to students achieving exceptionally well. The curriculum has been carefully designed around students’ interests and abilities. As a result, students are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. They receive high-quality information, support and guidance to enable them to make choices of career and of higher education.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is very effectively promoted by a very broad range of arts, drama, music and sports activities, as well as by visits to other places in this country. Year on year, students have raised a considerable sum of money in order to help Children in Need.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Arrangements for students following alternative courses offsite enable them to achieve well. Their progress is closely monitored and their safety assured. As a result, almost all students leave school for employment, education or training.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority is aware of the school’s strengths and areas for development. It does not provide any support because it does not think the school needs it.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is very well informed. It challenges school leaders and holds them to account for students’ achievement. By using the data available, it compares the school’s performance with that of schools nationally. Governors also strongly support the school and its leaders. They have a deep insight into the quality of teaching and its impact on students’ learning. They manage the performance of staff effectively and are rigorous in ensuring that the salary progression of staff is justified by students’ progress and achievement. Governors check carefully on the use of additional funds from the pupil premium and Year 7 ‘catch-up’ in improving the achievement of eligible students. Explanation and action from leaders and managers are called for when performance does not advance as intended. The governing body oversees the management of finance and resources expertly. Governors rigorously check

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The leadership and management are outstanding

safeguarding practice and, as a result, safeguarding procedures meet current legal 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 103493 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 440496

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Comprehensive School category Maintained Age range of pupils 11–18 Gender of pupils Girls Gender of pupils in the sixth form Girls Number of pupils on the school roll 800 Of which, number on roll in sixth form 200 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Shafique Shah Headteacher Judith Woodfield Date of previous school inspection 1 July 2009 Telephone number 0121 4641881 Fax number 0121 4643311 Email address enquiry@bordgrng.bham.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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