Setting

Beverly Jones Headteacher Coleridge Community College Radegund Road Cambridge CB1 3RJ

p.1

Community College

Following my visit to your academy on 7 July 2015, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the academy since the most recent section 5 inspection.

p.1

Community College

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the academy was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in March 2015. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. At its previous section 5 inspection, the academy was also judged to require improvement.

p.1

Community College

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection. The academy should take further action to:

p.1

Community College

 Ensure that the academy improvement plan includes targets which are measureable where possible, and identifies key times during the year when progress towards achieving the targets can be measured by leaders and governors.  Ensure that members of the governing body analyse the performance of different groups of students in detail in order to identify trends and measure the impact of support strategies effectively.  Act immediately on the findings of the external review of the academy’s use of the pupil premium due to take place in September 2015. Serco Inspections Colmore Plaza 20 Colmore Circus Queensway Birmingham B4 6AT T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T : 0121 679 9167 Direct email : farhan.aslam@serco.com

p.1

Evidence

During the inspection, I held meeting with you, the executive principal, the headteacher designate, other senior leaders, two groups of students, the Chair of the Governing Body and the Chair of the multi-academy trust to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I evaluated the academy improvement planning documents. I visited a small number of lessons, accompanied by you and the deputy headteacher, to observe students’ learning and to look at their books. I also checked the academy’s records of recruitment checks of staff.

p.2

Context

A new headteacher is due to take up his post in September 2015. Five teachers are due to leave the academy at the end of this term and replacements have been appointed for the majority of these teachers. The senior leadership structure has been reviewed to include an additional assistant headteacher from September 2015 who will have responsibility for the achievement of disadvantaged students. In addition, a new teacher with responsibility for co-ordinating intervention and support work is about to be appointed. A new Chair of the Governing Body was appointed in April 2015 and three new governors have joined the governing body.

p.2

Main findings

There are two academy improvement plans, one which covers the time from the previous inspection until the end of this academic year and the other one which covers the new academic year. These plans suitably identify all of the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection. However, the plans do not always make clear how the impact of these actions will be measured and what the academy is expected to have achieved by a given deadline. This information is crucial to enable leaders and governors to monitor progress towards the academy’s targets.

p.2

Main findings

You have rightly identified the need to tackle the underachievement of disadvantaged students by creating a new senior leadership role to oversee the performance of these students. You have also identified the need to co-ordinate support and intervention strategies for this group of students by appointing a member of staff whose role is to develop students’ basic skills, teach alongside colleagues and provide catch-up sessions for students. Teachers’ awareness of their crucial role in narrowing gaps in attainment between different groups of students has been increased because you linked the quality of their teaching to the impact on students’ progress when deciding whether or not they meet the Teachers’ Standards. Your observations of individual teachers have led to well-planned personalised training programmes which target their specific needs. The special educational needs co-ordinator has also started to challenge subject leaders more

p.2

Main findings

effectively on how well disabled students and those who have special educational needs achieve in different subjects. The quality of teachers’ guidance to students is improving in some areas, but this is not yet consistently good. Most students are aware of their targets in individual subjects but report that these are not always adjusted when they are achieved early.

p.2

Main findings

Members of the governing body acknowledge that weak governance in the past and the lack of precise and detailed information on the performance of different groups of students has acted as a barrier to their providing sufficient challenge to the academy’s leaders. Consequently, they have formed a data sub-committee to focus on this aspect of students’ achievement. Governance has also been strengthened through the addition of three new members who bring with them relevant expertise and experience.

p.3

Main findings

The external review of the academy’s use of pupil premium funding which was recommended in the previous inspection report has not yet taken place. However, this is scheduled to take place in September 2015.

p.3

Main findings

Ofsted may carry out further monitoring inspections and, where necessary, provide further support and challenge to the academy until its next section 5 inspection.

p.3

External support

The executive principal makes regular visits to monitor, evaluate and review the work of the academy. Heads of department from both academies in the trust have worked well together to moderate teachers’ assessments of students’ work in English and mathematics. The academy values the peer review work carried out with two other academies in which the work and impact of leaders have been reviewed and good practice shared. This work is set to continue.

p.3

External support

The local authority has worked well with the academy to improve students’ attendance and attitudes to school. Consequently, the number of students not in education, employment or training has reduced dramatically.

p.3

External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Cambridgeshire, the Education Funding Agency and the Department for Education - Academies Advisers Unit.

p.3

Her Majesty’s Inspector

cc. Appropriate authority - Chair of the Governing Body/Interim Executive Board cc. Local authority cc. For academies only - CausingConcern.SCHOOLS@education.gsi.gov.uk

p.3