Beis Yaakov High School

Beis Yaakov High School 69 Broom Lane, Bury New Road, Salford M7 4FF

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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This is a good school

 This academy has improved rapidly and significantly since its last inspection. All areas for improvement detailed in the last inspection report have been addressed and are now strengths of the academy.  The executive principal and acting headteacher share with senior leaders and governors a strong sense of direction and ambition for the academy.  Most pupils reach high levels of attainment and progress, given their starting points, by the time they leave Year 11.  The behaviour of pupils is good. Most pupils now attend the academy very regularly and enjoy everything it offers.  Governance has improved beyond measure since the previous inspection. Governors are now well able to support senior leaders and challenge them to make the academy as good as it can be.  The school’s work to support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the academy.  Parents and staff are overwhelmingly positive

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This is a good school

about the academy’s work and the changes brought about by senior leaders and governors to improve the academy further.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Some teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can do.  Teachers do not always use assessment information accurately enough to set work of exactly the right level to challenge the most-able pupils.  Sometimes teachers do not check pupils’ learning frequently enough to judge when they are ready to move on to more complex work.  Teaching assistants are not always deployed and managed to best advantage in classrooms.

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Full report

In accordance with section 13 (4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, in order to raise the achievement of all pupils, in particular of the most able, by ensuring that: all members of the school community raise their expectations of what every pupil is capable of achieving all teachers challenge, inspire and support all pupils, including the most able, to achieve the highest levels possible from their starting points teachers sharpen their use of assessment information in planning pupils’ learning, so that tasks and activities are set at just the right level for individuals and groups of pupils leaders make frequent and thorough checks on pupils' learning in order to know precisely when each pupil is ready to move on to their next steps and leaders improve the effectiveness of other adults working with teachers in their classrooms, through better communication and joint planning of pupils’ learning.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The recently appointed acting executive principal and acting headteacher work in close harmony with each other and with other senior leaders and governors. They promote a calm and orderly atmosphere for learning in which pupils flourish. In the short time since the school was judged to require special measures, the new senior leadership team and governors have built very effectively on the early work of the previous principal, to make all the right changes that the school needed in order to improve.  The acting executive principal and acting headteacher complement each other’s strengths well. The acting executive principal has deep knowledge and understanding of the Kodesh (Jewish Studies) curriculum. She also plays a key role in supporting the school’s strong moral and spiritual ethos.  The acting headteacher leads on the National Curriculum subjects and the improvement of teaching and learning. She has a strong sense of direction and ambition for the academy and sets high expectations of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

herself, senior leaders, teachers and pupils. Both she and the executive principal are much respected by the staff.  Together, the acting executive principal and acting headteacher have quickly established strong working relationships with the new senior leadership team and governors. They have galvanised the great majority of the staff and governing body to be determined to make the academy the best it can be. Senior leaders have also drawn wisely on the excellent support, organised through the local authority, of a national leader of education and her teaching alliance. These are the reasons for the rapid and successful tackling of all the recommendations from the previous section 5 inspection.  Middle leaders with whom inspectors spoke fully support and appreciate the academy’s sense of purpose. Their roles have been completely re-structured, so as to be clearer and more effective. Middle leaders

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

enjoy the challenge of greater individual responsibility for the quality of their teams’ work.  Senior leaders and governors manage teachers’ performance well and this sustains the generally good quality of teaching over time. The process of performance management is now rigorous and transparent, being firmly based upon the Teachers’ Standards. Teachers’ targets are always based on pupils’ progress and senior leaders and governors do not shrink from refusing pay progression when necessary.  Middle leaders are growing in confidence to support and challenge their teams. Middle leaders’ assessment of the quality of teaching and learning over time is, therefore, generally accurate. Their judgements closely matched those of inspectors in joint observations during the inspection.  The academy’s views about its performance are honest and accurate. Senior leaders and governors know the academy’s strengths and weaknesses well because they are actively involved in its quality assurance.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Senior leaders draw increasingly on external reviews, for example, from national leaders of education and of governance to confirm their judgements about the academy’s work.  From a low base, senior leaders have implemented much stronger systems for knowing how well pupils are progressing. All staff have had basic training in the use of assessment information to make accurate predictions of pupils’ progress and set them appropriately challenging targets.  Senior leaders are aware that there is more work to be done to raise teachers’ expectations of how quickly pupils can learn, especially the most able. Teachers do not all use assessment information in their planning of pupils’ learning to make sure that tasks and activities are at just the right level to move pupils’ learning on.  The curriculum is broad, balanced and responsive to pupils’ learning needs and aspirations. The most- able pupils are stretched by separate science courses and two modern language options. A recent review

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

has led to the introduction of geography at Key Stage 4, to widen pupils’ option choices and improve outcomes in humanities in the English Baccalaureate. Provision in citizenship has been expanded, to allow an even greater focus on pupils’ understanding of the diversity of life in modern Britain.  Pupils greatly welcome the improved arrangements for careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG). A dedicated and very enthusiastic teacher is now regularly available to pupils when they need information. Advice given to pupils is carefully recorded and good use is beginning to be made of the experiences of former pupils who have taken up a range of professional careers.  The academy promotes equality and relationships well. Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.  The 90 parents who expressed their views to inspectors were overwhelmingly positive about all aspects of the academy’s work.  The governance of the school:

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Governors have risen exceptionally well to the challenges of navigating the academy through an uncertain period for its community, making courageous decisions along the way. As a result, governors have won the confidence of the vast majority of parents and staff. They have undertaken extensive training to improve their practice and are becoming an ever stronger team. Governors enjoy very positive professional relationships with senior leaders. Nevertheless, they now mount a robust challenge to them, for example, on financial and curricular matters. Governors have a deep knowledge of the academy’s strengths and priorities for improvement. They have shown great humility and willingness to learn, not least from the two reviews of governance they commissioned from a national leader of governance. The most recent of these reviews clearly attests to the rapid pace of governors’ work to improve the academy.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

The governing body has strengthened its committee structure, to make committees more efficient. Governors are aware that the small core team, which has driven much of the academy’s improvement, now needs to draw in new governors with different skills. Governors have, therefore, undergone an audit to ascertain where there are gaps. Governors are increasingly visible in the academy and have begun to forge links with subject departments, to hold middle leaders to account effectively. Governors have ensured that the academy’s financial systems are now transparent and that fair recruitment is observed in all appointments of new staff. Governors are vigilant in ensuring that all policies are reviewed within the correct timescale and meet statutory requirements. They keep a close watch on the expenditure of the relatively small amount of pupil premium funding that the school receives. This group of pupils surpassed the progress of other

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

pupils nationally in the 2015 GCSE examinations in English and mathematics. Pupils who receive Year 7 catch-up funding typically make rapid progress in their reading, for example catching up one year’s progress in five months.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders make thorough checks before the appointment of an adult to work in the academy. All staff undertake regular training in child protection, including training to raise their awareness of signals that might indicate a pupil to be at risk. The academy works well with a range of outside agencies to ensure that any such concerns are quickly followed up with the appropriate authority. All staff have been trained in the Prevent duty (the requirement to keep pupils safe from the risk of extremism). They know the correct procedures for communicating to the police any signs that pupils may be at risk of radicalisation.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Most teaching over time in the academy is good, both in National Curriculum subjects and in Kodesh (Jewish Studies). This is evidenced in teachers’ planning, pupils’ work and in the at least good progress that pupils make across a range of subjects. Teachers mark pupils’ work diligently and comply consistently with the academy’s marking policy.  Teaching is characterised by very positive and respectful relationships between teachers and pupils. This leads to the strong engagement of pupils in their learning. This is because teachers typically have very strong subject knowledge. They are confident to adjust their plans and re-shape pupils’ learning, in response to pupils’ spontaneous questions and ideas, or misconceptions, driving pupils’ thinking more deeply.  These teachers find innovative ways of helping pupils to apply their learning to their own daily lives and faith, fostering their high levels of motivation to learn. This was the case in a Year 10 history lesson on

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Hitler’s foreign policy. Pupils discussed a range of cartoons and photographs of the period, matched to just the right level of challenge. They then worked out what was happening and how reliable the image was as evidence. This produced some very sophisticated ideas and language from pupils and deepened their critical thinking.  Teachers promote pupils’ reading, writing and mathematics effectively across the range of subjects. Teachers’ insist on the correct use of subject-specific terms. Pupils are enthusiastic and fluent readers.  Senior leaders know that all teachers are not yet equally confident users of the academy’s new systems for tracking pupils’ progress. They do not always recognise, therefore, when pupils have acquired and consolidated their learning and are ready to move on to different and more complex work. This is especially the case in mixed-ability classes and occasionally results in the most-able pupils, particularly,

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

becoming bored, which then leads to low-level chatter.  Other adults who give extra help in classrooms to particular pupils often make a strong contribution to pupils’ learning. They are at their most effective when they meet regularly with teachers to plan the learning, and their roles in it, in advance of the lesson. Where this does not happen, and teachers do not give clear direction in the classroom, there is little impact on pupils’ learning.  The academy has made significant investment in training to improve teaching further. Teachers are excited by the many opportunities that they have to improve their teaching. Training is well structured and draws on the existing expertise within Beis Yaakov as well as that of other schools, in particular St Patrick’s Teaching School Alliance, of which Beis Yaakov is now a member.  Many teachers are eager to study for further professional teaching qualifications and benefit greatly from

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

courses such as the Excellence in Teaching Programme provided by St Patrick’s. As a result, the already good teaching observed during the last section 5 inspection is improving further. The gap in quality noted at the previous section 5 inspection between teaching in National Curriculum subjects and Jewish Studies has all but closed.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is exemplary. Pupils’ personal development and welfare are the cornerstone of the academy’s vision of providing a nurturing, caring social environment in which the views of all members are heard, valued and respected and in which students develop self-esteem and are supported to become independent young adults.  Extra-curricular provision is very rich. As well as having opportunities to experience a range of sporting activities, pupils involve themselves eagerly in various interesting and worthwhile experiences, which are not only enjoyable, but also give them opportunities for leadership.  All pupils in Key Stage 4 are expected to lead a team and organise a project, whether an entertainment project, a contribution to one of the academy’s many social events and festivals, or a community project. Pupils must apply to lead their project and cost it, developing the beginnings of economic awareness and

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Personal development and welfare

skills for pupils’ future working lives.  Pupils are very active in the community, for example, in their commitment to regular visiting of elderly local residents, participating in a local authority project to re-generate a nearby local park and in numerous charity funding events. Many pupils aspire to work in caring professions in their future lives.  The curriculum strongly supports this exceptionally good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils express their understanding of their own and other cultures though musical activities, high-quality artwork and poetry displayed around the academy. Pupils’ social and moral maturity is clear in their lively debates on world events.  In Kodesh lessons and in assemblies, pupils relish the many opportunities to reflect on and discuss deep spiritual concepts and their meaning for pupils’ own lives.  Pupils are knowledgeable about different social and political systems, such as democracy and monarchy.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils were excited to receive a reply from Buckingham Palace to the card they sent to Her Majesty the Queen, on the birth of her latest grandchild. They experience democracy through membership of the school council and participate in mock elections.  Pupils learn about the rule of law, the values of tolerance and individual liberty, for example, through commemorations of Armistice Day and Kristallnacht and opportunities to meet with Holocaust survivors. They are, therefore, well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The academy ensures that pupils know how to keep themselves healthy and safe from risks. Pupils can point to a whole range of adults who are always ready to support them with any problems, whether physical or emotional, that they may encounter in the academy or at home. Pupils are not aware of any examples of any form of prejudice-based bullying. Nevertheless, aspects of the curriculum explore

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Personal development and welfare

bullying and personal safety very effectively.  Pupils and their parents say that the academy provides a very safe environment. While many pupils and their families do not access the internet, pupils are, nevertheless, given good information about its safe usage. Pupils also understand the risks of extremism and radicalisation.  Where there may be religious sensitivities about some risks, for example, in discussing safe relationships, the academy has produced appropriate materials for parents to explore with their children at home, if they wish. Regular meetings with expert staff, where mothers and fathers can raise questions separately, are proving popular.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  The behaviour of pupils seen during the inspection was impeccable in and around the academy. Pupils are unfailingly courteous to each other and to their teachers. They are pleasant, articulate young people who interact confidently with adult visitors.  Senior leaders have worked hard with parents to impress on them the importance of good attendance for their children’s learning. They have taken a much firmer approach when pupils are persistently absent. Consequently, from being in the lowest 10% of schools nationally for attendance, overall attendance is now high and improving. Exclusions are unknown.  Pupils arrive punctually to school and to lessons. They say with confidence that behaviour is very good around the academy. They move between classes calmly and efficiently. At break- and lunchtimes, pupils are well behaved and self-disciplined.  Pupils are rightly proud of their school. Relationships between pupils and staff are respectful, warm and

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Behaviour

good humoured. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are good. They take pride in their appearance and are well- equipped to work. Low-level chatter occurs occasionally, usually when work is not challenging enough.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils enter the school in Year 7 with standards that are broadly in line with national averages. In 2015, as leaders predicted, pupils’ attainment in the GCSE examinations was high on most measures. The proportion of pupils who gained five or more GCSE passes, including English and mathematics, was significantly above the national average, as was the proportion of pupils who gained grades A* to C and A* to A in English and mathematics respectively.  Outcomes were similarly high in languages and science, while in humanities they were broadly average.  The progress of Year 11 pupils was broadly average in English but significantly above average in mathematics.  The comparatively small proportion of disadvantaged pupils in the school make faster progress in English and mathematics than other pupils in the school and nationally, indicating good progress from their starting points.  The progress of the most-able pupils is in line with their peers in English and significantly above average

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Outcomes for pupils are good

in mathematics. The academy knows that these students could be making faster progress in English especially. Teaching for these pupils is not always challenging enough, especially in mixed-ability groupings, to enable them to reach the highest grades of which they are capable.  Pupils progress well in most other subjects, especially languages, mathematics and science. Senior leaders have been quick to make changes to the curriculum in humanities to secure higher outcomes in the English Baccalaureate.  Very few pupils are disabled or have special educational needs and their relatively small numbers make year-on-year comparisons of their progress difficult. However, they are a priority for the academy, not having met their targets in English in 2015. In the past, poor attendance has hindered the progress of these pupils, but the academy’s success in improving overall attendance this year has secured high

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Outcomes for pupils are good

attendance for most pupils in this group. They are fully integrated in their classes and receive expert care and guidance.  The academy’s assessment information shows progress in Key Stage 3 to be similarly strong, partly because transition arrangements are highly effective. Year 7 pupils settle quickly and understand that they are expected to work hard. The good progress they make in Key Stage 3 stands pupils in good stead for good and outstanding outcomes at Key Stage 4.  Almost all pupils leaving Year 11 move on to a Jewish seminary, where they pursue further Jewish Studies and post-16 study such as A level courses.

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School details

Unique reference number 138698 Local authority Salford Inspection number 10004116 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Girls Number of pupils on the school roll 279 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr David Ziskind Headteacher Mrs Stacey Feddy Telephone number 0161 708 8220 Website www.byjhs.org Email address admin@byjhs.org Date of previous inspection 16 September 2014

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Information about this school

 Beis Yaakov High School is an academy that serves the Orthodox Jewish Charedi community based in Salford, Bury and Manchester.  The academy’s stated purpose is ‘to provide a positive, inclusive, environment for learning and growth which promotes excellence and inspires students to discover, develop and fulfil their potential and to become independent lifetime learners’. A set of core beliefs underpinning this purpose, about learning, teaching, preparation for working life, pupils’ personal development, citizenship and home-academy partnership is set out on the academy’s new website.  The academy is much smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The overall proportion of disabled pupils or pupils who have special educational needs is below the national average, but is increasing in the younger years. The proportion of those pupils who have a statement of education need or an education, health and care plan (EHC) is above the national average.

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Information about this school

 The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged (including pupils known to be entitled to free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority) is well below the national average.  Most pupils are of White British heritage. Very few of them speak English as an additional language.  The academy uses one alternative provider, Langdon College, in Prestwich, for a very few pupils in Key Stage 4. The college provides education, employment opportunities, social activities and supported living for young Jewish people and adults with learning disabilities. Pupils attend for one day per week, mainly for life-skills sessions and specialist support. Attendance is checked regularly and pupils’ progress is discussed at multi-disciplinary meetings between school and college.  The academy meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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Information about this school

 In August 2015, the then principal resigned from his post and an acting senior leadership structure is now in place. The deputy headteacher has been appointed as acting headteacher in charge of National Curriculum subjects and teaching and learning.  An executive principal has also been appointed to lead developments in the Kodesh (Jewish Studies) curriculum and secure pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Both of these are internal appointments and the governing body is seeking to appoint a substantive headteacher in Spring 2016.  These changes have led to some turbulence in staffing and consequent concerns in the wider community, but the vast majority of staff and parents who contacted the inspectors were overwhelmingly positive.  At the academy’s previous section 5 inspection in September 2014, its overall effectiveness was judged to be inadequate. Since that inspection, there have been three monitoring inspections. On the second, in

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Information about this school

July 2015, the academy was judged to be making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures.  This third monitoring inspection in December 2015 was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence during the inspection. This included observations of teaching in most subjects across the academy, undertaken with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with academy staff, including the headteacher, the executive principal and other senior and middle leaders. Inspectors also met members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority, as well as a small group of parents. Inspectors also spoke with pupils about their views of the academy, in formal interviews and lessons and informally at lunchtime.  Inspectors considered a large variety of documentation related to the academy’s work: improvement plans, the academy’s view of its performance and information concerning pupils’ attainment, progress and attendance.  Inspectors also scrutinised records concerning safeguarding, pupils' behaviour, the quality of teaching and learning and the academy’s arrangements for performance management. Inspectors also looked at

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Information about this inspection

pupils’ work during lessons.  As most families in the academy’s community do not access the internet, it was not possible to use Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents) to take account of parents’ views, or those of staff and pupils. The lead inspector, therefore, analysed 90 written messages sent to her directly by parents and a few members of staff and pupils. Inspectors also took account of the academy’s own records of parents’ and pupils’ views about the academy.

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Inspection team

Susan Wareing, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Sue Eastwood Her Majesty’s Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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