Salvatorian Roman Catholic College

School report Salvatorian Roman Catholic College High Road, Harrow Weald, London, HA3 5DY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Standards and progress require improvement because students enter the school with well above average standards but too few of them attain better than average GCSE results.  Students, particularly the most able, do not attain enough high GCSE grades.  Many students, particularly middle attainers and those with special educational needs, have not made enough progress in the past.  There is still a small achievement gap between students who are eligible for additional funding and other students.  Teaching is not yet consistently good enough to generate rapid progress and very high standards. A few teachers do not follow the school’s marking policy and a few students sometimes leave work uncorrected or incomplete.  It has taken two years to eradicate poor teaching and establish an effective senior leadership team.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher has been relentless in his pursuit of excellence. He has made many successful teaching appointments, particularly this year, and ensured that the leadership of teaching and learning is effective.  In most subjects, students are making good progress this year because teaching is improving. In English, for example, better marking is helping students to know how to improve their work.  Students’ behaviour is good. They mature into helpful young adults who are responsible and polite. They are keen to work hard and do well.  Senior and middle leaders are generating higher standards and expectations, and monitoring the school’s work carefully.  Governors are pro-active and well trained. They are fully aware of the school’s strengths, and know which areas require development.  Students feel safe at school, as reflected in improved attendance. Pastoral leaders provide high quality care and safeguarding.

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The school has the following strengths

 The provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed 36 part-lessons, many of which were jointly observed with members of the senior leadership team. Inspectors observed tutor times.  Year 11 students were taking mock examinations so only revision lessons took place. For the same reason no assembly took place during the inspection.  Inspectors spoke to many students informally as well as meeting representatives from several year groups.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other members of the senior leadership team, and staff with responsibility for subjects and other aspects of the school’s work.  Interviews were held with the Chair of the Governing Body, the Vice-Chair of the Trustees and other governors, the Chair of Harrow’s School Improvement and Children’s Services, and the partner adviser from Harrow School Improvement Services who visits the school once a term. A telephone call was held with the Director of Education for the Diocese of Westminster.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors discussed their observations with teaching staff and examined a range of documents including the school’s self-evaluation, development plan, monitoring records and reviews, minutes of governors’ meetings and information about progress, standards, exclusions, attendance and behaviour.  Inspectors looked at a range of students’ work in lessons and outside of lessons.  Inspectors took into account 40 questionnaires completed by members of staff and 111 responses to Ofsted’s online Parent View questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Clare Gillies, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The school is part of the Salvatorian Order Trust.  The headteacher took up post a few weeks before the previous inspection.  About one-third of the students attending the school are White British, with smaller proportions of Irish, Polish, Black African, Asian and several other minority ethnic backgrounds.  A higher-than-average proportion of students speak English as an additional language, of whom only a small number are at an early stage of learning English.  A lower-than-average proportion of students receive support through the pupil premium, which is additional government funding for specific groups including students known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs is slightly lower than that seen nationally. The most common needs relate to students with specific and moderate learning

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Information about this school

difficulties, and behavioural, emotional and social issues.  Only a few students are eligible for Year 7 catch-up funding, which is for students who did not achieve the expected Level 4 in reading or mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2.  A very small number of students attend off-site education provision, either full time at the Jubilee Academy (a local, alternative provision free secondary school), or one day a week for a construction course at the Harrow Skills Centre. Year 11 students are completing their GCSE music course at St Dominic’s Sixth Form College.  The school exceeds the government’s current floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that students make rapid progress, by all staff consistently:  following the school’s marking policy and giving clear guidance about how students can improve their work  carefully planning the work they prepare for students with special educational needs  incorporating numeracy skills into lessons more often  insisting on good presentation of work and ensuring that no student leaves work uncorrected or incomplete.  Raise achievement by:  focusing on increasing the percentage of GCSE A* and A grades achieved by all students, particularly for the most able students  ensuring that middle ability students are encouraged to attain higher GCSE grades  intensifying support for students eligible for additional funding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher’s focus on improving teaching, learning and achievement is very clear in his energising presentations to staff and in the actions he has taken since he was appointed. He quickly assessed areas that had to improve and tackled them determinedly.  The headteacher’s strong and confident leadership has created a school where students behave well, good relationships are fostered, and where practically all staff want to match his high expectations for the future. A refurbishment has significantly lifted the atmosphere of the school.  The headteacher was the only senior leader in post for more than two years in September 2014 when the restructured leadership team became fully effective. Senior leaders have brought expertise and experience to their roles. They collect information about progress regularly, analyse it carefully, highlight weaknesses and take effective action.  Senior leaders monitor teachers’ work, check their lesson planning, evaluate their strengths and

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The leadership and management are good

weaknesses accurately and organise high quality whole-staff and individual professional development. Teachers know that annual reviews of their performance will impact on their pay. The leadership of teaching and learning is one of the school’s several strengths.  With new, effective middle leaders in post, this layer of leadership is gathering strength. It still requires improvement because consistency in quality and outcomes is not yet secure.  Provision for students with special educational needs requires improvement due to weak leadership in previous years. The newly appointed coordinator has acted quickly, and in less than one term has completed all the annual reviews and brought in essential resources to bring about improvement.  The school has always evaluated the effectiveness of spending on the strategies it has used to provide for students supported by additional funding. The introduction of a ‘pupil premium’ leader is now generating

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The leadership and management are good

sharper monitoring of these students’ progress throughout the year.  The headteacher knows exactly what remains to be done, as shown in his realistic evaluation of the school’s situation, his development plan and detailed reports to governors. He seeks external advice and verification of his progress towards excellence as needed. He values the helpful support of the local authority and the Diocese of Westminster.  The responses to the staff questionnaire show support for the headteacher. They also reflect understanding that there are areas of school life that still require improvement, for example, a few members of staff do not always apply policies and manage behaviour consistently.  Parents’ questionnaire responses are similarly encouraging and several wrote about the huge improvements they have seen: ‘I have seen a miraculous change.’ They have access to colourful, informative weekly newsletters. Regular focus group meetings give parents time to discuss issues openly

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The leadership and management are good

with senior leaders. The school ensures that parents are fully involved in their sons’ education. Attendance at information and parents’ evenings has gone up. The school strongly promotes equality of opportunity and focuses on eliminating discrimination.  The headteacher is keen to promote creative subjects but only if they are taught well. Hence music, drama, and also German, have been removed from the main curriculum this year. Unsuccessful courses, such as engineering, have been dropped. The predominantly academic curriculum matches students’ potential for achieving high standards well. The reduced allocation of time and resources to English and mathematics has been adjusted correctly.  Sporting clubs are popular and boys do extremely well in rugby and football competitions and many other sports. There are many extra-curricular activities in addition to revision sessions and subject support.  Assembly topics cover significant issues, such as racial justice, which develop students’ awareness of

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The leadership and management are good

spiritual, social, moral and cultural issues. In citizenship, now taught in Years 7 to 10, students discuss elements such as Britishness and democracy. Students are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  Careers education helps students to make informed choices. They receive insight into post-16 and higher education along with team-building and work-related learning. Visits to St Dominic’s offer Year 10 students taster sessions in AS subjects such as philosophy. Higher attainers visit Oxford. In 2014, all former students were either in employment, training or further education.  With well-established links with St Dominic’s, senior leaders regularly check on the attendance, punctuality, behaviour and progress of the few Year 11 students completing their GCSE music at the sixth form college. For the same reasons, the inclusion manager visits the Jubilee Academy weekly and the pastoral manager visits the Harrow Skills Centre fortnightly.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s safeguarding and child protection arrangements fully meet statutory requirements. Training for all staff, including temporary teachers, is regular and up to date.  The governance of the school:  Governors have moved into a higher gear since the previous inspection. Members have considerable professional experience, such as in education, finance and building.  Governors describe their ‘determination and resilience to move the school forward’ which is evident in their practice. Receptive to training, they have an accurate understanding about the quality of teaching and the school’s results compared to national ones.  During the last year, a small group of governors met frequently to assess the school’s progress. Confident that things are moving forward well, they have reduced the intensity of this involvement but continue to ‘grill middle leaders’ and ‘hold senior leaders to account’.

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The leadership and management are good

 Governors continue to evaluate whether additional funds are spent effectively and to ensure that teachers are only rewarded when better progress is evident. Very few staff moved up pay scales in the headteacher’s first year. Governors have supported his actions to eradicate poor teaching.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is good. They are polite, welcoming and keen to share their enthusiasm for the improved school they enjoy. They can be noisy and boisterous but there is no aggression, and unacceptable behaviour is rare.  Students want to learn, and they work hard in most lessons. They appreciate the constructive comments many teachers write in their books and the extra help teachers provide after school.  Rigorous procedures improved attendance and punctuality last year. It is now average and the number of persistent absentees has dropped dramatically. With close monitoring of any behaviour incidents and rapid resolution of any issues, exclusions have also reduced.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep students safe and secure is good. Pastoral leaders, heads of year and the inclusion team liaise well to provide thoughtful support and guidance. They keep a careful eye on vulnerable students and risk factors such as online safety. A Key Stage 4 student observed that ‘pastoral leaders should be praised more’.  Students say bullying is rare, describing the importance they attribute to the anti-bullying posters and assemblies. Aware that Year 7 students need help to feel secure, prefects are keen to see training for peer mentors reinstated. Year 7 boys feel that the school is special because staff are ‘alert to things that go on’.  Students’ awareness of different lifestyles and cultures is fostered well through religious education lessons and discussions in tutor time. They would welcome more debate on issues such as homophobia, extremism and radicalisation, feeling that ‘lack of knowledge is a bad thing in these cases’.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching and learning require improvement because neither is consistently good enough to overcome the boys’ poor progress in the past. The school struggles to appoint staff with the calibre it wants but now has more permanent staff than in the last two years. A considerable number of effective teachers joined the school in September 2014, but the impact of their work will take time to generate the high quality achievement needed to reflect students’ capabilities.  Students’ work was not always assessed accurately last year. Some weaknesses were not identified and remedied fast enough. A few teachers do not check whether students have mastered work before moving on; consequently, some students’ knowledge and understanding are insecure.  In several subjects in the past, the timing and marking of GCSE controlled assessments were not carried out efficiently. Students were given too little time to respond properly to weaknesses identified in their

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

practice assessments. In some cases this reduced the amount of time for examination preparation, and students achieved less well than they should have.  In all years, students’ work is now assessed accurately by middle leaders, checked by senior leaders and validated externally as necessary. Controlled assessments start earlier. These issues have been addressed, but contribute to the need for rapid progress, particularly in Year 11.  Several new subject leaders are improving the plans for lessons they have inherited, for example by introducing more problem solving in mathematics. With no numeracy policy as yet, students’ application of mathematical skills is not developed enough through other subjects. Nevertheless, a numeracy programme is used once a week in tutor time.  Most teachers make sure that students write regularly. They emphasise the importance of subject-specific vocabulary and accurate spelling and grammar. Reading is a weekly tutor-time activity. Students who

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

speak English as an additional language are well supported and quickly gain confidence in the language.  Homework and marking improved last year, particularly in English, so more boys benefit from clear guidance about how to improve their work. Teachers also highlight strengths, but their comments can be too general and the areas for improvement can lack precision. A few teachers do not insist that boys complete and correct work properly, or take care over how it is presented.  Teachers usually prepare more than one level of work so that it is not too easy or too difficult. Occasionally, when students are allowed to choose for themselves which level to tackle, they do not select the activities that will generate rapid progress. The school plans to introduce setting earlier and in more subjects than at present.  Teachers now prepare work that challenges the most able and know that middle attainers also need work

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

that leads to more than just pass grades. With weak leadership for students with special educational needs in the past, teachers do not always know the best way to adjust work to support these students. Nevertheless, learning support assistants provide helpful support in lessons and know when to stand back and let students work on their own.  Since September, higher expectations of what students can achieve are evident in many lessons. Accurate monitoring information suggests that GCSE results will be better in 2015, but that progress which fully matches students’ abilities will take longer to emerge.

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requires improvement

 Having dipped in 2013, GCSE results recovered in 2014 to where they had been in 2012 so they, and standards in all years, require further improvement.  Since the previous inspection, achievement has been low in geography, religious education and all technology subjects; it has fluctuated in many other subjects. In 2014, Year 11 students’ progress was particularly weak in mathematics, science, German and music. All the subjects mentioned had major staffing issues which have been resolved, either by appointing new middle leaders or by not offering the subjects until experienced leaders can be appointed.  The most able students, especially those who speak English as an additional language, have attained few high GCSE A* and A grades in recent years. The very small number of those who studied the three separate sciences attained well above average results. Well over 60 students will take these three GCSEs

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requires improvement

from 2015 onwards.  The most able students did better in 2014 than in 2013, with over 90% of them attaining five good GCSEs including English and mathematics. In these two subjects, the school attained well above average standards in 2014.  Middle attainers, who enter the school with at least average standards, and students with special educational needs make relatively less progress than other students. The recently appointed special educational needs coordinator is already giving guidance to teachers on how to plan work for these students so that the education they receive fully matches their needs. Progress was above that seen nationally for the small number of lower-attaining students in 2014.  After a drop in their achievement in 2013, disadvantaged students did better in 2014. The gap between their GCSE results and those of other students in the school fell to below one GCSE grade in both English

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requires improvement

and mathematics; their progress was only slightly less than that of other students. Their GCSE results were about one-third of a GCSE grade lower than those attained by other students nationally.  No ethnic group achieves the progress made by the same group nationally. In the last two years, the school’s overall progress, matched by White British students, has been exceeded by Polish and Asian students. The performance of Black African and Irish students has been weaker. The gaps between the achievement of different ethnic groups narrowed in 2014, reflecting the school’s improved response to the analysis of students’ performance information.  Year 11 students completing their GCSE in music at St Dominic’s are making good progress. The very small number of students studying at the Jubilee Academy and the Harrow Skills Centre is also making good progress as the courses they follow are well matched to their interests and abilities.

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requires improvement

 The impact of more effective subject leadership is evident in the good progress in English that students are currently making throughout the school. The summer 2014 GCSE results showed that Year 11 students made at least the progress expected nationally, and an above-average proportion made more than the expected progress. Progress in mathematics only matched that seen nationally, and was not as good as it had been in 2013. No students were entered for any GCSEs before the end of Year 11.  Predictions for 2015 match the much improved learning and progress seen in English and mathematics, and in several other subjects, during the inspection. The evidence suggests that the results will come nearer to reflecting the progress students have the ability to make.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 138458 Local authority Harrow Inspection number 449071

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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 Secondary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Boys Number of pupils on the school roll 651 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Gary Prazer Headteacher Paul Kassapian Date of previous school inspection 10–11 October 2012 Telephone number 020 8863 2706 Fax number 020 8863 3435 Email address admin@salvatorian.harrow.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 and 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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