Wingfield Academy

Wingfield Road, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S61 4AU

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy 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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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Over time, students have not made good progress in mathematics, modern foreign languages, history and some design technology subjects.  The most able students have not made consistently good progress across a range of subjects. As a result, too few of them attain the highest GCSE grades by the end of Year 11.  Teaching requires improvement. Guidance given to students is not consistently related to improving subject skills and understanding. Consequently, the progress made by students is inconsistent across subjects.  Questioning is not consistently effective. It is not always used skilfully enough to challenge students to think deeply about what is being learned or to strengthen the learning of others in the group.  Work set for students is not always challenging enough to ensure that they make better than expected progress.  Teachers’ expectations of students are not high enough. Too often, students are not reminded to

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

respond to helpful comment to improve their work. This slows their progress.

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The school has the following strengths

 There is good and better teaching in the academy and where this happens students make good progress and learn well.  The curriculum promotes strong personal development for students, with highly effective experiences that promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Senior leadership has the full support of staff in its drive for improvement. Staff morale in the academy is high. As a result, teaching and achievement are improving.  Leaders and managers provide a wide range of training for teachers and this is improving the quality of teaching.  Students say they feel safe and enjoy their time at the academy. They behave well and are cared for well, especially those who might be considered to be vulnerable students. Parents and staff confirm this.  Leaders and governors are ambitious for students and have a clear understanding of the academy’s strengths and how to tackle its weaknesses. As a

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed a range of teaching and learning in parts of lessons. Three observations were undertaken jointly with leaders from the academy.  Inspectors spoke with three groups of students about their learning in lessons and their safety in the academy. An inspector also listened to some students reading.  Meetings were held with the Chair of the Governing Body and four other governors. Meetings were held with academy staff, including middle and senior leaders.  Inspectors also looked at the academy’s review of its own performance, its development plan, academy policies and the minutes of the governing body meetings. Inspectors also considered a range of documentation in relation to child protection, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors looked at students’ work in lessons and analysed samples of students’ books and folders.  The 47 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) were evaluated.

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Information about this inspection

 There were 74 questionnaires completed by staff which were analysed by inspectors.

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Inspection team

James McGrath, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Wingfield Academy converted to become an academy school on 1 September 2013 . When its predecessor school, Wingfield Business and Enterprise College, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The academy is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of students known to be eligible for the pupil premium is above average. (The pupil premium is additional funding the academy receives for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those children who are looked after by the local authority.)  The vast majority of students are White British. Almost all students speak English as their first language.  The proportion of disabled students or those with special educational needs is well above average.  There are three alternative providers used by the academy; Doncaster, Rotherham and District Motor Trades GTA Ltd (Doncaster GTA), Morthyng Group Ltd and The Rowan Centre.

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Information about this school

 The academy holds the Rotherham International Good Schools Award and a Healthy Schools award.  The academy does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectation for students’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 11.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is at least consistently good in all subjects in order to ensure good progress for all students, particularly the most able, by making sure that:  work set challenges all students, especially the most able, to do better than they should  clear subject guidance is given when marking students’ work so they know what to do to improve  expectations of what students can achieve are high and students respond to the guidance given to them to deepen their knowledge and understanding  questioning is consistently skilful, challenges students to think deeply about their learning and increases the knowledge of all students.

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The leadership and management are good

 The executive headteacher, senior leaders and governors have high ambitions for the students. They make it clear that the academy’s ‘mission’ is to improve achievement, the quality of teaching and develop students’ personal skills. This is fully understood by staff, parents and students. As a result, the academy is improving.  Leaders and governors have an accurate view of the academy’s strengths and its areas for improvement. Plans for improvement are well developed and are focused strongly on improving teaching, achievement and behaviour. As a result, behaviour is good and teaching and achievement are improving.  Leaders, including subject leaders, check on the quality of teaching rigorously and where it falls short of what is expected, they provide training and support to improve it. In particular, the actions taken by leaders have improved the quality of teaching and achievement in English so that it is good. At present,

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The leadership and management are good

they are working to ensure that teaching is consistently good across all subjects.  Arrangements to check on the performance of teachers are thorough and identify the skills teachers need to improve. The system also identifies strong teaching skills and these are used to contribute to the professional development of other staff in the academy. Training for staff includes using expertise within the academy, coaching methods and links with other academies. Staff say the support improves teaching and leadership skills.  Leaders, particularly the academy’s special educational needs coordinator, have ensured that bespoke training occurs for teaching assistants. This is helping them to develop good skills to support students effectively. This is a good example of the academy’s commitment to equality of opportunity.  Pupil premium funding is used effectively throughout the academy to provide additional teaching support

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The leadership and management are good

for disadvantaged students and extra staff to cater for the needs of these students. This is leading to improvements in progress and attendance for these students.  The curriculum for all year groups is designed to meet the needs and interests of students. This is supporting students’ enjoyment of the academy and improving attendance and achievement. Literacy skills and numeracy skills are a focus across a broad range of subjects and are helping with improvements in English and mathematics. There is a rich programme of additional after-school activities including sporting, cultural and academic support.  The promotion of students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is planned and delivered across the academy skilfully. During the inspection students were fully engaged in form time in discussing the ‘meaning of Easter’ and the Christian events that occur at Easter. Good promotion of different cultures

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The leadership and management are good

is supported by visitors to the academy and visits to places of worship as well a ‘cultural week’ in the academy. Students are clear about the academy’s rules, the law in Britain and the working of democracy. These activities develop an acute sense of life in modern Britain and support the work of the academy in fostering good relationships and tackling discrimination.  Partnership work is strong and contributes effectively to students’ well-being and academic progress. Transition from primary school to the academy and then on to colleges or training at the end Year 11 is highly effective. Parents are very positive about the work of the academy. The headteacher has developed links with other schools to share expertise in teaching and learning in order to improve the academy. The academy does not receive support from the local authority nor from any academy chain.  For the small number of students attending alternative provision, the leadership ensures that appropriate

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The leadership and management are good

courses are provided and students attend regularly, make good progress and are well cared for.  Good careers information, advice and guidance help students to select appropriate courses to fulfil their ambitions. Almost all students leaving the academy in 2014 went on to education, training or employment.  The governance of the school:  Governors have an accurate, first-hand view of the academy. They understand fully the data about students’ progress and ask searching questions of leaders, including subject leaders, to determine what needs to be done to improve standards. Governors know the main priorities and are involved in evaluation and improvement planning. They support and challenge the headteacher well in order to ensure that priorities are met. Governors use their skills and make checks on the academy’s budget. They have approved the use of pupil premium and are regularly checking the impact of its use.

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The leadership and management are good

Governors know the quality of teaching and understand fully the arrangements linking teachers’ performance to pay. When teachers’ targets are not met they challenge the headteacher to ensure that there is improvement. Governors are clear about how the academy is supporting students’ personal and academic development. They check the academy’s arrangements for safeguarding and know they meet statutory requirements.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is good.  Students are keen to learn, follow the instructions of their teachers and enjoy sharing ideas to support their learning. Occasionally, when the quality of teaching is not good, they can lose concentration, although lessons generally flow smoothly.  Students say that behaviour has improved since the opening of the academy, as staff are supportive and willing to listen to their views. They are punctual to the academy and move quickly to their lessons.  Students are pleasant, polite and courteous to visitors. Inspectors found the academy to be a calm and purposeful place and ‘litter free’. Around the academy students are well behaved, socialise well together and are confident when speaking to adults.  Students know what is expected of them. There are well-established routines and consistently high expectations of their behaviour. Although above average, exclusions have reduced considerably since the

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Behaviour

opening of the academy. Leaders and managers have set up in-house systems to manage behaviour and these are working well to prevent exclusion from the academy.  Attendance has improved well since the opening of the academy and it is now broadly average. Students told inspectors that they ‘enjoyed coming to the academy’.

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Safety

 The academy’s work to keep students safe and secure is good.  Students are clear about what constitutes bullying and say that it is infrequent; records confirm this. Assemblies, work in form time and visitors to the academy who explain the impact of bullying on others give students a good understanding of all types of bullying. Should it occur, students have every confidence that the academy will deal with incidents highly effectively.  Students have a good understanding of Internet safety. The academy’s website and information posted around the academy give students an acute awareness of what to do should there be any problems with Internet safety.  Students are clear about how to keep themselves safe and assess risks to their safety. The academy informs students about what to do should they feel their safety is compromised. All students spoken to by inspectors said they felt safe in the academy.

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Safety

 Procedures for safeguarding students are highly effective. Staff are vigilant and take immediate and decisive action should they believe any student might be in danger. Students, including the most vulnerable, are well cared for as the academy employs its own specialist staff to support families and young people. There are effective links to outside agencies to support the most vulnerable students.  The academy’s staff use their expertise in safeguarding and child protection to train staff from other local schools in how to keep students safe.  Arrangements to support students studying off site are good. There are clear arrangements with providers to check on the safety and attendance of students.  Parents and staff share the same, positive views about students’ behaviour and safety.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Since the opening of the academy, the quality of teaching has not been consistently good across and within subjects. This leads to students not making good progress in some of their subjects, particularly mathematics, history, modern foreign language subjects and some aspects of design technology.  Teachers do not use questioning consistently skilfully across subjects to involve all students and to challenge them to think deeply about what they are learning. Also, they do not always use it well enough to search out the knowledge of students and deepen their understanding. There are good examples of challenging questioning such as that seen in a Year 11 religious education session, where students were considering ‘Christian attitudes to sex outside of marriage’. Questioning engaged all students highly effectively and students were asked skilful, challenging questions to develop their spiritual and moral

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

understanding of the issue.  An analysis of students’ books by inspectors showed that marking of work is regular, but is not consistently providing succinct, useful, subject-specific guidance to help students to improve their work. Also, it showed that when good guidance is given, students do not always respond to improve their work and there is not always an insistence that they do so. Consequently, students’ progress in learning slows. There is high quality marking and strong response from students, especially in English, which contributes to students’ good progress in this subject.  Work set does not always challenge students to do better than they should. Although varying levels of work are set for students, they are not guided well enough to choose tasks that are challenging for their level of ability. This leads to students not being challenged appropriately to ensure that those of all levels

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

of ability make good progress, particularly the most able.  Literacy is used well across a wide range of subjects as school leaders have focused strongly on its development. There are many opportunities for students to read in subjects other than English. There are good opportunities for students to write at length, especially in science and design technology. Students have an improving range of opportunities to discuss their learning with one another to develop their speaking skills. Mathematical skills are used effectively in a range of associated subjects.  A strength of teaching is that interesting work is planned to capture students’ imagination and to motivate them well. Consequently, students focus well on their work and relationships between adults and students are good. As a result, students do what they are asked to do by teachers and other adults and lessons flow smoothly.  Teaching assistants are well trained by the academy. They are highly respected by the students,

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

particularly those who are disabled and those with special educational needs who are benefiting well from their support.  Leadership has gained the full support of staff in its relentless drive to improving teaching and there are clear signs of improvements.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement requires improvement as the progress students have been making over time in mathematics, history, modern foreign language subjects and some design technology subjects has not been good enough. This has been the result of teaching that requires improvement.  The most able students have not been challenged well enough and as a result, too few of them reach the highest GCSE grades in a wide range of subjects. In 2014, this was particularly noticeable in mathematics and French, where the proportions achieving the highest GCSE grades were well below average. Overall, the most able students made less progress than similar students in other schools.  Starting points for those students leaving the academy at the end of Year 11 in 2014 were broadly average. The proportion of students attaining five or more GCSE grades at A*-C, including English and mathematics, was broadly average. This indicates that students made the progress expected of them, but

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

not enough did better than they should have done. Students attained well in geography, art, information technology and performing arts.  Information provided by the academy show that there should be further improvements in the proportion of students attaining five or more GCSE grades at A*-C, including English and mathematics, in 2015. The academy has focused on improving the quality of teaching and believes that students are set to make better progress than previously. Across the academy, progress is improving.  A scrutiny of work by inspectors showed that students are making good progress in English and in science. Particularly in English, this improvement in achievement is due to the additional training and support provided by senior leaders to improve the quality of teaching. Students’ work in mathematics and modern foreign languages showed students making the progress expected of them, but not enough doing better.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Effective use of the additional government funding provided for disadvantaged students is helping them make better progress than previously and gaps are closing. Disadvantaged students, at the end of Year 11 in 2014, were two thirds of a GCSE grade behind non-disadvantaged students in the academy in English and less than half a grade behind non-disadvantaged students nationally. In mathematics, they were two thirds of a GCSE grade behind non-disadvantaged students in the academy and almost a grade behind non-disadvantaged students nationally.  Disabled students and those with special educational needs are now making progress similar to that of others across the academy. Their progress has improved quickly over the past year because of much better leadership which has led to better targeted support for students. Students say they have noticed improvements in the quality of teaching and the support they receive from teaching assistants. This is a

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

good indication of the academy’s commitment to equality of opportunity for all.  There are few students attending alternative provision. They are doing well in the courses studied off site and are progressing as well as others in their mathematics and English courses in the academy.  The academy no longer uses early entry to GCSE examinations. Early entry to GCSE mathematics for those leaving the academy in 2014 did not serve the most able students well, as few improved on their previous grades, which left too few reaching the highest GCSE grades.  Year 7 catch-up funding (government funding for those entering secondary school with below average standards in English and mathematics) is helping to improve students’ literacy and mathematical skills. Additional time is given to English and mathematics for these students who are catching up.  Reading is promoted well by the academy. The younger students say that they enjoy the computerised

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

reading systems the academy uses to encourage and check on the quality of their reading. Younger students say they enjoy the support they get from Year 11 students to improve their reading.  The national method for counting, or not counting, GCSE English results changed in 2014 and depended on the dates students sat particular English examinations. The impact of this change did not affect any individual students’ results in GCSE English, but has led to the academy not meeting the government’s current floor standards.

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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 139992 Local authority Rotherham Inspection number 453400

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 765 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sue Gladwin Headteacher Russell Heritage (Executive Headteacher) Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected as an academy Telephone number 01709 513002 Fax number 01709 511196 Email address office@wingfields.org 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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