Outwood Academy Ormesby

Tothill Avenue, Netherfields, Middlesbrough, TS3 0RH

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 This inspection: Inadequate 4 Leadership and management Inadequate 4 Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate 4 Quality of teaching Inadequate 4 Achievement of pupils Inadequate 4

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This is a school that requires special measures. Select

 Students’ achievement is inadequate. The proportion attaining five good GCSE grades, including English and mathematics, is significantly below the national average. Too many students in many subjects do not make enough progress from their starting points, including boys and the most able.  Too many lessons are disrupted by poor behaviour that is not tackled robustly by teachers. Behaviour on the corridors is unruly, especially when younger students are moving between lessons. A number of students expressed concerns about bullying and feeling unsafe in certain situations around the school.  Teaching is inadequate. Too many teachers do not have a good grasp of what students need to learn next, nor do they give good advice on how students could improve their work. Too many have low expectations of students’ work and behaviour.  The impact of leadership and management over time is inadequate. Since the last inspection,

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This is a school that requires special measures. Select

previous school leaders failed to stop the decline in teaching and students’ achievement. The roles and responsibilities of subject and pastoral leaders have not been defined clearly enough to ensure that these staff were fully accountable for students’ performance and behaviour. Middle leaders have not received enough training in the past, and therefore do not always have the skills to carry out their roles effectively.  Governors were not able to hold the school to account, because previously they  were given inaccurate information about attendance, exclusions and progress data.

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The school has the following strengths

 The recently appointed headteacher has brought exceptionally strong leadership to the service of the school and has set it on the path of improvement. Students who had previously been excluded for lengthy periods are now re- integrated and are benefiting from regular lessons.  The headteacher has dealt skilfully with a number of serious irregularities in the way the school was previously run. She has ensured that all records of students’ absence and exclusions now meet legal requirements.  Robust monitoring of teaching by the headteacher and deputy headteacher has identified much weak teaching which has been challenged.  The new deputy headteacher has started to make a number of improvements to teaching and has raised the expectations of some staff with regard to what students can achieve. This is improving the morale of these staff and of some students.  The headteacher has acted quickly to enlist the

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The school has the following strengths

support of the local authority and other school leaders to help accelerate the school’s improvement and improve middle leadership.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in lessons and parts of lessons, four of which were observed jointly with senior staff.  Discussions were held with members of the governing body, senior and middle leaders, staff and students.  Inspectors observed the school at work and looked at range of documentation, including that relating to the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures. They also looked at information about students’ progress and attainment, the school’s view of its own performance and the school development plan.  Inspectors examined students’ work and discussed their work with them during classroom visits.  Inspectors took account of 24 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View). They also took account of the 68 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Moira Fitzpatrick, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Full report

In accordance with section 44 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended), Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average size secondary school.  The proportion of students eligible for support through the pupil premium is high. (The pupil premium provides additional funding to support disadvantaged students; including those known to be eligible for free school meals and students looked after by the local authority.)  The proportion of disabled students and those with special educational needs is high.  The vast majority of students are of White British heritage. The proportion that has English as an additional language is below average.  The school did not meet the government’s floor standards in 2014. These are the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in English and mathematics at the end of Year 11.  In September 2014 a new headteacher, deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher were appointed to the school.  A very high number of students who had been excluded from school for long periods of time in recent

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Information about this school

years have been re integrated since the beginning of the school year. From September, the school has created an additional resource centre (ARC) for these students.  Some students attend alternative provision at Redcar College.  There has been a high level of staff turnover since September 2014, including many senior leaders leaving the school. By April 2015, approximately half of staff, including a number of senior and middle leaders, will have left the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Rapidly improve students’ behaviour in and out of the classroom and ensure that students always feel safe on site by: - frequently monitoring lessons to evaluate the extent and severity of disruption to learning and its impact on students and teachers and using the information obtained to provide support where it is most needed to bring good order to lessons - establishing a shared vision amongst staff of what is and what is not acceptable behaviour in the classroom, in corridors and around the school site - agreeing strategies to be used by all staff to develop better behaviour amongst students and monitoring the application of these rigorously to establish consistency across the school quickly - providing training for all staff in the management of students’ behaviour, so that they all have the skills and expertise to respond appropriately to the challenges that students present, and establish high

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

standards of behaviour in their classrooms, the corridors and outdoors - ensuring that students understand and follow agreed behaviour rules and any consequences for breaking them - developing mutual respect between students and teachers and between students - doing more to challenge bullying effectively.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Rapidly improve the quality of teaching so that it is at least good, in order to improve students’ achievement and accelerate their progress by: - assessing precisely where the greatest needs are and providing specific training programmes for these teachers - sharing the good practice that exists in the school and encouraging staff to learn from each other’s successful strategies - raising teachers’ expectations of what all groups of students, including boys and the most able, can achieve, including by providing them with opportunities to learn from good practice in schools with students with similar needs - developing teachers’ expertise in planning for learning so that the significant gaps in students’ reading, writing and mathematical skills can be reduced rapidly - providing effective training for teachers in their use of assessment so that they can plan effectively to meet students’ different needs

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

- rigorously monitoring the implementation of the school’s new marking policy to ensure that teachers provide regular, clear and specific guidance to students on how to improve their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Rapidly improve the quality of leadership and management, especially that of middle leaders, and of governance by: - making sure that subject leaders are accountable for the progress that students make in their subject - ensuring that middle leaders monitor the work of their departments rigorously, acting upon any weaknesses as a matter of urgency by holding all members of the department to account for implementing the school’s and departmental policies - ensuring that the school’s recently introduced tracking systems provide accurate information for senior leaders and governors, so that staff can be held to account for the progress their students make - developing the role of pastoral leaders to include regular monitoring of behaviour, conduct and students’ attitudes in lessons, so that the school has a continuous flow of information on these aspects and is able to take prompt action where it is needed

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

- building on the good start made by the core group of governors to extend the knowledge, skills and expertise of all governors to hold the school to account, and to challenge and query reasons for the school’s actions and students’ performance.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Over time the school’s leaders have not done enough to improve teaching and students’ achievement. Subject and pastoral leaders have not been fully accountable for students’ performance and behaviour. They have not received sufficient training and many do not have the skills to carry out their roles effectively. Until the start of the academic year, governors have not held the school to account for its performance, because previously they were given inaccurate information about attendance, exclusions and students’ progress.  The headteacher has been relentless in her determination to redress serious and damaging irregularities in the school’s organisation relating to students’ attendance and high levels of exclusion, which prevented a large proportion of students having access to education, sometimes over prolonged periods of time. In September 2014 the school began to re-integrate the significant proportion of students, in excess of over

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The leadership and management are inadequate

one fifth of the total on roll, who had been excluded during the previous three years.  New behaviour systems have been introduced since September. However, an ethos for good behaviour has not been established. Leaders have not developed a shared vision amongst staff about what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. Currently, staff lack the expertise to respond to the challenges presented by students. There is inconsistency amongst staff in applying behaviour rules and consequences. Additionally, the monitoring of students’ conduct and their attitudes in lessons is not regular enough. The school does not have a continuous flow of information on these aspects and is unable to take prompt action where it is needed.  Middle leaders have had too narrow a role in leading and managing performance in their subjects. The majority have had little or no training for this role and are only just beginning to understand their

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The leadership and management are inadequate

accountability for students’ achievement by developing teaching and learning in their subjects. Currently the impact of middle leadership in the school is inadequate, and where newly qualified teachers have been appointed, the head of department’s support for their professional development is inadequate, for example in the English department.  The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers.  The recently appointed headteacher is quickly establishing a new vision for the school, where everyone is valued and everyone is supported. Under her skilful leadership, weak and inadequate teaching is being reduced and all staff are aware of higher expectations of their role in the promotion of good progress for all students. In all of this work she has been very well supported by the recently appointed deputy headteacher.  Robust systems to track students’ progress have been introduced since September, so that this is now

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The leadership and management are inadequate

tracked regularly. This has helped senior leaders to discover which staff are not able to make accurate assessments of learning, and to identify the further training needs of these teachers. School data, which are steadily improving in their accuracy, confirm that in the current Years 10 and 11 classes the progress for the majority of students is inadequate. The progress of all groups of students over time is inadequate in too many subjects. Consequently, students do not have equality of opportunity with their peers nationally in order that they can be successful in their learning.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher have established a determined drive to improve teaching and learning since the start of the academic year through their robust monitoring of teaching. A high proportion of staff have received support and training to enable them to manage larger classes, assess and plan learning that better matches students’ needs and raise their expectations of what students can

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The leadership and management are inadequate

achieve. The impact of this initiative has been patchy, so that while some staff have improved the quality of their teaching, there are still too many staff not improving their practice quickly enough to benefit students’ learning currently. Staff have not had sufficient opportunities to share the good practice in the school or to observe good practice in schools with students from similar backgrounds.  The headteacher has moved quickly to introduce performance management targets for teachers in the current school year. She has ensured that these targets are based on the progress that students make. There is now a clear link between staff appraisal, job descriptions, the responsibilities of staff to support school improvement priorities and the pay policy.  Senior leaders have redesigned the curriculum skilfully and introduced a new timetable from January to ensure that all students now have their entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. This is helping

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The leadership and management are inadequate

students overcome deficits in their learning from the previously inadequate curriculum provision, although good subject expertise to ensure widespread rapid gains in students’ knowledge and skills is still lacking amongst some staff.  Students on alternative provision are now registered correctly in both the school and the additional resource centre they attend, and their attendance, well-being and progress are regularly monitored by the school.  The school has devised a wide range of support and enrichment activities to improve the performance of disadvantaged students who are in receipt of pupil premium funding. These systems are at an early stage of development, but there is evidence that the attendance of this group has improved in the current year so that these students are accessing education more regularly. In the past there was little difference between the attainment of these students and other students in the school, because underachievement

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The leadership and management are inadequate

was widespread.  There are increasing opportunities for students to learn about the different cultures and faiths in modern British society, through, for example, the re-introduction of religious education and history. The school is working to foster good relations through advocating tolerance and acceptance of difference as part of its growing ethos. Students are encouraged to reflect on the needs of others and have increasing opportunities to offer service to others in and beyond the school. However the school is not yet fully effective in its efforts to challenge discrimination and this is reflected in the use of inappropriate language and name-calling by some students.  The school’s promotion of students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is improving quickly, mainly through very recent improvements to the curriculum and more opportunities for students to learn from visits and visitors. Senior staff have planned changes to tutor groups from the start of the summer

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The leadership and management are inadequate

term as well as the programme for tutor time, because they recognise that students’ social and moral development is an area in need of much further improvement.  The school provides advice and guidance for students at regular intervals as they move through the school. This helps students make informed decisions about subject choices and progression routes.  Safeguarding policies and procedures meet requirements.  When the headteacher took up post there was no external support or challenge provided for the school. She has quickly re-established support from the local authority, as well as from independent consultants and outstanding schools in the region. All of these sources have provided good quality support and advice which is helping the school set an appropriate programme for rapid improvement.  The governance of the school: - Governors were unable to hold the school to account for outcomes since the previous inspection,

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The leadership and management are inadequate

because information about attendance, exclusions and students’ achievement was not reported accurately. This meant that they were unaware of the high exclusions, low attendance and the inadequate achievement of students. - Following a review of governance in September 2014, requested by the Chair, the governing body has established a small core team with responsibility for recruiting new governors and seeking independent advice on the school’s systems and performance. While this core group is quickly gaining the skills needed to hold the school to account, the majority of recently appointed governors have some way to go to develop these skills. However, robust systems are now providing accurate information about the school’s performance, so that governors are well aware of the high proportion of inadequate teaching. - Governors also know that the pupil premium funding is now spent to improve the achievement of

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The leadership and management are inadequate

students for whom it is intended. They have established the financial integrity of the school by ensuring that specific funding is used for the purposes for which it is allocated . Governors hold teachers to account for their performance by rewarding only those who meet their targets fully. Those who do not are set time-limited targets for improvement.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate. Too many lessons are disrupted by widespread, voluble chatter, often when the teacher is talking; consequently other students cannot get on with learning. In many lessons, students are too ready to challenge or defy teachers and show little or no respect for their authority. Poor attitudes to learning are widespread.  Exclusions have been exceptionally high in the past and many students received no education for long periods. The situation has now been remedied by the new headteacher and the re-integration of high numbers of students in the autumn term has stretched the school’s capacity to manage the behaviour and learning of many of these disaffected students. Irregular exclusions have ceased in the current school year. Exclusions now meet legal requirements and the school is developing systems to support students with severe behavioural difficulties.  Students’ self respect and respect for others is very low, except in Year 11 where students more regularly

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Behaviour

conform to teachers’ expectations of good behaviour. In classes where teachers do not provide a good match of work to students’ needs, behaviour quickly deteriorates and very little learning is achieved.  Outside of classrooms, during transition from one lesson to another, behaviour is boisterous and sometimes uncontrolled as students do not follow simple rules for moving around the school. Corridors and stairways are not supervised well enough to check on this behaviour and there are times when staff who are present take no action. This creates potentially unsafe situations.  Social times outdoors are also boisterous with sometimes aggressive, bullying behaviour which is highly visible but not always checked, because there is not a strong enough staff presence to manage situations. On two occasions during the inspection, situations of this unsafe nature were observed involving large numbers of students.

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Behaviour

 Students report that bullying, and bad language are and not always challenged by staff.  Behaviour and safety in the ARC provision are good because staff manage students’ behaviour consistently and make their expectations clear each session.  Attendance is improving over previously mis-reported figures. New procedures show signs of improvement because of more rigorous monitoring and consequent action with poor attenders.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is inadequate. This is because there are occasions out of the classroom when students’ behaviour becomes too unruly for staff to bring it under control quickly.  Students are taught to assess risks to their well-being and safety, including those associated with the Internet. They are aware of what constitutes bullying and confirm that it sometimes happens.  The quality of pastoral care is inconsistent. Some staff are robust in forming good relationships and developing respect between students. This creates a safe and calm environment for learning, where students are able to work without constant interruption, so they make good progress. However, in too many classes this is not the case and students who want to work are prevented from doing so.

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

 Teaching is inadequate because teachers have over time had too little support or training to improve their skills in the past. Teachers’ assessments of students’ learning have not been accurate so that lesson- planning does not provide a good level of challenge for students.  Too many staff do not have high enough expectations of what students can achieve. The work that students are asked to complete is often too easy, especially for the most-able students. For example, Year 11 students worked at a very slow pace when developing reading and writing skills in an English lesson, because the teacher did not expect them to work at a brisk pace; consequently, learning was slowed by constant chatter and students’ leisurely approach to their tasks. Work in books showed the impact of these low expectations leading to inadequate progress over time for the vast majority of students.  Poor management of students’ behaviour is a weakness which often derails lessons which have been well-

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

prepared and offer the opportunity for good learning. Teachers have not received enough training in whole-school, agreed approaches that would provide a consistency of expectation and practice in all classes. This has resulted in a strong culture of defiance, particularly in classes of younger students. Here some students challenge the teacher at the start of a lesson which disrupts the learning of others, and causes them considerable distress.  New marking and assessment systems, introduced by the headteacher in the autumn term, are embedding slowly, because too many staff make generalised comments about students’ work without telling them what to do now to improve the quality of their work; this is often not challenged by subject leaders. Some staff are still not able to assess the level at which different students are working accurately, so that work provided does not challenge all abilities in a class and progress is too often inadequate for

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

large numbers of students.  Where teachers use accurate assessments of students’ learning to plan tasks which enable all to work with a good level of success, students make good progress. Year 9 students worked with enthusiasm and good levels of cooperation in their mathematics lesson because the teacher had adapted tasks so that every student was working at the right level to develop skills and understanding successfully. This, and the teacher’s skilful behaviour management created a very positive atmosphere for learning which helped each student to move on at their own best rate.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Students enter the school with attainment that is significantly below average. In 2014 performance at the end of Year 11 was significantly below the national average for students gaining at least five A* to C grades, including English and mathematics, and their progress was inadequate. These results continued a downward trend in performance since before the previous inspection.  The proportion of students making expected progress, and the proportion making more than expected progress in 2014, was in line with the national average in English, but was significantly below average in mathematics. The progress of boys was significantly behind that of girls, and the progress of the most- able students was behind that of other groups.  While results in some subjects showed low attainment for students, results in other subjects showed a stronger picture of performance. For example, while the average GCSE grade for subjects overall was

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

grade D, in art and design, business studies, textiles, engineering and a number of other vocational subjects, the average grade for students was C.  Previously, students were entered for English and mathematics examinations early. This practice has now been discontinued.  Year 7 funding to support students with low basic skills is now being used effectively to help the students for whom it is intended to improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills. Initiatives such as the recently introduced reading programmes and additional basic skills lessons are helping these students to gain the skills necessary to access the rest of their curriculum alongside their peers. Prior to this school year, there was no specific provision made for this group of students and the earmarked funding was used as part of the general school budget, which partly explains why there has been inadequate progress in developing the basic skills of a large majority of students in Years 8 and 9.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 There has been much development in the provision for students who are disabled or have special educational needs since the start of the school year, which consequently, is beginning to accelerate their progress. Staff have been trained in programmes to support the development of basic skills and to assess the levels at which students are working so that they are able to pitch activities at the correct level to bring success to these students.  Many of the students who attend alternative provision have not attended any educational provision for long periods in recent years. The achievement of these students is below that of their peers nationally and is inadequate.  The ARC programme is successfully re-integrating students who had lost contact with learning and with the routines of school life. Excellent pastoral care and careful assessment of students’ needs in the ARC are convincing these students that they can make up lost ground and set targets for their future. Although

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

progress is slow at this stage, discussion with students confirms how much they value this support to, ‘get back on track and get some qualifications’.  Very few of the most-able students make the progress of which they are capable. They are not sufficiently challenged in lessons because many teachers do not make accurate assessment of their abilities and do not have high enough expectations of them. Results in 2014 showed that progress for this group was below that of average-attaining students in the school and that very few achieved A and A* grades.  The attainment of disadvantaged students in the school was one GCSE grade behind other students nationally in English and a grade and half behind in mathematics. In the past there was little difference between the attainment of disadvantaged students and other students in the school, because underachievement was so widespread. In 2014 disadvantaged students were a third of grade behind other

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

students in the school in English and half a grade behind in mathematics. Their progress is slower than that of other students in the school.

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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 138711 Local authority Middlesbrough Inspection number 453595

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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 Academy School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 713 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sue Maidens Headteacher Lynn James Date of previous school inspection 21 March 2013 Telephone number 01642 452191 Fax number 01642 446472 Email address ormesby@middlesbrough.gov.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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