Kings International College

Kings International College Watchetts Drive, Camberley, Surrey GU15 2PQ

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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 Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher, ably supported by her senior team, provides good leadership. As a result, there have been significant improvements in key aspects of the college, including pupils’ outcomes, since the previous inspection.  Leaders make good use of information on pupils’ progress to analyse strengths and weaknesses and set appropriate priorities for improvement.  Subject leaders have a clear focus on the quality of learning and teaching in their subject areas. There is a spirit of continual improvement, staff are held to account, and a wide range of effective training is provided.  Teaching is consistently good. Positive relationships between teachers and pupils underpin engaging and effective learning.  Teachers assess pupils’ progress accurately and set tasks well matched to their needs.  Pupils make good progress in English and mathematics and in most other subject areas.  Gaps in achievement between different groups of

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This is a good school

pupils currently in the college have either closed or are closing rapidly. The progress made by disadvantaged pupils is better than in the past.  Parents and their children are rightly proud of the college. They recognise that it offers a caring and compassionate community where pupils are kept safe and their welfare matters greatly.  The vast majority of pupils behave in a mature and thoughtful manner around the site and in lessons.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 At times, teachers do not challenge pupils enough which means they do not make really rapid progress.  Some gaps remain between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others.  Teachers’ questioning does not always challenge the most-able pupils sufficiently  Pupils with disabilities or special educational needs, and disadvantaged pupils have attended less often than others in the past. This is improving, but gaps remain.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Continue to improve the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs by ensuring that their attendance improves further and their progress accelerates.  Raise pupils’ achievement further so that more make outstanding progress by: ensuring that the level of challenge in lessons is consistently high improving teachers’ questioning skills to stretch the most-able pupils.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher is passionate about wanting the very best outcomes for all pupils. A warm and welcoming culture with a shared drive for continual improvement is evident from the top down. Leaders, teachers and pupils are proud of their college’s success. All parents who expressed an opinion praised the quality of leadership and management, and nearly all would recommend Kings International College to other parents. One parent described the college as ‘a wonderful, friendly, supportive community enriching my child’s life in all areas’, adding that ‘[their child] has gained a love of learning from Kings’.  The leadership of teaching and learning is particularly strong. Senior leaders monitor the quality of teaching closely and so they know individual teachers’ strengths and areas for development well. Training is effective and sharply focused on college priorities. There are strong links between the identification of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

strengths and weaknesses in teaching and the provision of more focused support for individual teachers. This has led to improved outcomes in many subjects.  Middle leaders and teachers respect and trust the headteacher and senior leaders. They value greatly the support and challenge that leaders bring to their work. Working together has ensured that the teaching is securely good, particularly in subjects such as English, mathematics and the arts.  Subject leaders are an enthusiastic and committed team and they are driven to continually improve standards in their subject areas. A culture of collaborative learning, coaching and professional dialogue has led to improved teaching and learning across the college. The staff surveys returned indicate the effect of this teamwork is that teachers feel valued and staff morale is high.  Governors and the headteacher have ensured that the leadership of special educational needs and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

support offered for vulnerable children is particularly effective. As a result, these pupils make good progress at the college.  The pupil premium grant is used effectively. It has funded a well-managed programme of one-to-one tuition, small-group interventions, accelerated reader programmes and extra help in lessons which have had a demonstrable impact on the progress that disadvantaged pupils have made. Although published information does not yet show a significant reduction in the gaps in standards achieved by this group and their peers, these gaps are closing much more convincingly for disadvantaged pupils currently at the college.  Leaders ensure that the Year 7 catch-up funding is used to good effect to raise standards of literacy and numeracy for those pupils arriving at the college with lower than average attainment in English, mathematics or both subjects.  The curriculum meets the needs of pupils very well and leaders ensure that the college values of ‘inspiring

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

learning’ are at the heart of college life. This, along with a wealth of opportunities for learning beyond lessons and opportunities to undertake leadership roles, underpin pupils’ achievements. Consequently, pupils’ progress, although not yet outstanding, has improved considerably since the previous inspection.  Tutor time is used well to promote interest in a broad range of issues, stimulated by current affairs. This, plus a well-planned religious education programme at Key Stage 3 and a wide range of opportunities in other subjects, combine to promote a good awareness of spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues. Pupils respect people from different backgrounds, cultures and beliefs.  The small number of pupils in Key Stage 4 who learn elsewhere for part of the week benefit from their experience of a broader and more vocational curriculum. Their progress and welfare is overseen by a nominated member of staff who liaises frequently with the other school. These pupils’ learning in core

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

subjects when back in college is carefully organised.  Good partnerships and close working relationships with other local schools have led to better teaching and leadership in a range of subjects. The college works closely with a link adviser from the local authority. Regular monitoring and review visits take place to affirm both the accuracy of leaders’ self- evaluation and the quality and impact of their improvement work.  The governance of the school Governors share the headteacher’s ambitious aims and vision for the college. They have recently recruited new members with specific skills and experience to strengthen the team and attend to their own training needs. Consequently, governors have the capacity to offer increasingly robust and systematic challenge to all aspects of the college’s work. Under the first-rate leadership of the Chair, new members of the governing body are becoming highly effective. They are well informed about the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress, which allows them

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

to provide effective challenge and support to leaders. They ensure that finances are managed well, including checking that pupil premium funding has a clear impact on disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes. A planned calendar of focused meetings and visits enables governors to evaluate aspects of the college such as safeguarding, the quality of teaching and provision for pupils with special educational needs. They have a good understanding of the college’s performance and its day-to-day work. Scrutinising performance information, alongside externally produced analyses, equips governors with a good understanding of the success of the college against its own targets, and national standards. Governors manage the performance of the headteacher well. They review the recommendations of leaders to ensure fair and consistent application of policies and that only the best teaching is rewarded with pay rises.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There are good systems in place to secure the well-

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

being and safety of pupils. All staff and governors receive regular high-quality training and are able to carry out the college’s policy and procedures well.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 The well-trained staff share the headteacher’s commitment to helping all pupils achieve their very best. They work well as a team and are eager to receive leaders’ feedback and respond to challenges well. As a result, teaching is consistently good across the college.  Teachers know their pupils’ strengths and weaknesses well and have high expectations. Staff use their specialist subject knowledge to good effect to design and deliver stimulating and engaging lessons. Access to accurate and detailed information about pupils’ achievement enables teachers to provide them with additional support and challenge within and outside lessons.  Teachers’ planning is effective and ensures that little time is wasted in lessons. Teachers and teaching assistants work closely together as a highly effective team to support pupils with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language. For example, in mathematics and geography

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

lessons, the teachers and teaching assistants skilfully supported pupils to solve problems by breaking down complex tasks into a series of smaller steps and encouraging them to persevere to find a solution. As a result, the pupils gained confidence and their learning improved.  Teaching in English is effective and is supporting pupils’ good progress. Sound systems are in place to support teachers’ assessment of pupils’ work and appropriate support is given for any pupils who lag behind. Group work is used well and pupils have very good attitudes towards their learning. While pupils are challenged to creatively analyse texts and are supported with spelling and handwriting well, there is an underemphasis on the use of extended writing to develop deeper thinking.  Teaching in mathematics is strong because the head of department has high expectations and is very clear about the approaches that are needed to ensure that all pupils achieve well. Teachers model

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

mathematical techniques well and challenge pupils to think deeply by spotting relationships and solving problems. Year 10 pupils proudly explained to an inspector how their achievement in lessons, coupled with their experience of trips and mathematics competitions, has boosted their aspirations to study mathematics beyond GCSE.  Where learning is most effective, teachers ensure that all pupils learn rapidly by ensuring all tasks are at the right level for them. They check pupils’ understanding frequently, for instance using probing questioning skilfully to promote pupils’ deep thinking. In a minority of lessons, these strong features are less well developed and some pupils, particularly the most able, do not make as much progress as they could because the work provided is too easy or too hard for them.  Most teachers regularly assess pupils’ progress and give feedback in line with the college’s policy. This is

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

very effective in subjects such as English, art and French where pupils are given time to reflect on the feedback they have received and use this to correct their work and contribute further ideas, which improves their understanding. Not all of the teachers follow the college’s procedures; consequently, their marking and feedback lacks precision and as a result not all pupils are challenged to improve as much as they could be.

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Personal development and welfare

 The college’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Kings International College cares a great deal about pupils’ achievement and personal development and so working relationships between staff and pupils are very strong. Key Stage 4 pupils told inspectors that they particularly value the extra time and one-to-one coaching that teachers willingly provide. Parents agree and believe that that these good relationships underpin the progress that their children make.  Pupils are safe and secure in the college and they feel content here. Excellent systems are in place to offer help and support to vulnerable pupils, sometimes involving external agencies when appropriate. An overwhelming majority of parents responding to Parent View affirmed that their child is well looked after at college and all of them agreed that their child is happy here. Parents’ faith in Kings International

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Personal development and welfare

College is well founded; this is a very caring community.  Pupils value the opportunities that they have to learn about keeping themselves safe, in and around the college as well as online. Learning about e-safety is given an appropriately high priority.  Attendance is slightly above the national average. Disadvantaged pupils, and pupils with disabilities and those with special educational needs have contributed disproportionately to absence levels in the past, but there are good indications that this is being addressed although gaps do remain. Similarly, leaders are aware that the levels of unauthorised absence have been high and have prioritised resources to address this.  Exclusions for poor behaviour are falling dramatically and are only used sparingly and as a last resort. In the past, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with disabilities and those with special educational needs have had higher exclusion rates than their peers. The college has invested well in better resources and systems

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Personal development and welfare

to support these groups of pupils, and behaviour and attitudes have improved. Any differences in exclusion rates are being eliminated.  Pupils who attend Tomlinscote School for part of the week achieve well in the vocational subjects that they study there and also acquire a useful range of qualifications from their college-based work to take them on to their next stage of training or employment.  Careers advice and guidance is well organised and effective and a good range of careers reference materials are available in the library. Pupils in Key Stage 4 are able to speak with confidence about the range of opportunities open to them at age 16, including the variety of courses, different institutions and qualifications needed to support their aspirations. They are well prepared for their next stage of education, employment or training.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils are polite, courteous and respectful to each other, staff and visitors. They know the standard expected of them and take a pride in their uniform and their college. They enjoy each other’s company at social times and value the good friendships that they make here.  Behaviour in most lessons is very good. Pupils are punctual and come to lessons well equipped and ready to learn. The vast majority of pupils are keen, attentive and thoughtful in class.  In a small minority of lessons, not all of the pupils receive the challenge they need to maintain their interest or stretch their understanding. Where this happens, occasionally lessons can be disrupted by low- level chatter or off-task behaviour. Pupils say that this is rare and regard it as not in keeping with how they want their college to be; they say staff usually manage it well. Good systems ensure that when it

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Behaviour

does happen there is little impact on learning.  Bullying is very rare and limited to a small number of pupils and tends to be about day-to-day relationship problems. Pupils are very confident that concerns can be shared with adults in the college whom they trust to handle any potentially awkward situations sensitively to resolve problems promptly.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Overall GCSE results in 2015 did not rise significantly from the year before and progress in science was slow. However, the current achievement of Key Stage 4 pupils reflects much-improved rates of progress and higher standards. Inspectors’ scrutiny of current progress information and pupils’ work indicates improved progress for all pupil groups in English, mathematics and science.  In the past, disadvantaged pupils in Key Stage 4, although progressing well in mathematics, have underachieved in English. They have made less progress than other pupils nationally and within the college. This is changing. Currently in Key Stage 3, disadvantaged pupils are making progress in line with their peers. Disadvantaged pupils currently in Years 10 and 11 are making improved progress in English, mathematics and science from all starting points and gaps are narrowing. The headteacher and governors are well aware that there is more to be done to eliminate these gaps.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 In Key Stage 3, progress is good in English, mathematics and across the curriculum. The majority of pupils are on track to meet, or exceed, the appropriate targets set for them.  Outcomes are consistently good in most subject areas. Teachers regularly check pupils’ learning and provide a range of helpful support and guidance for any who lag behind. This means that pupils achieve well in English, mathematics and across a range of other subjects.  Pupils with English as an additional language achieve as well as, and frequently better than, their peers in the college. This is because the support that they receive is well matched to their needs and allows them to play a full part in lessons and the life of the college. Similarly, pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds achieve as well as other pupils.  Progress overall is good. Teachers and teaching assistants have high expectations and so pupils from all

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Outcomes for pupils are good

starting points are making improved progress in English, mathematics and across the subjects. However, the most-able pupils are not always routinely stretched and more could be done to ensure more of this group attain the highest grades.

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School details

Unique reference number 132268 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 10002314

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Comprehensive School category Foundation Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 462 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Barter Headteacher Judith Langley Telephone number 01276 683539 Website www.kingsinternational.co.uk Email address info@kings-international.co.uk Date of previous inspection 3–4 October 2013

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Information about this school

 Kings International College is much smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  A comparatively high proportion of pupils join the college after the beginning of Year 7, with some joining during Years 10 and 11.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding) is in line with the national average. Some pupils are eligible for the Year 7 catch-up premium.  The proportion of pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs is much higher than the national average. The proportion with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is high.  Just over a fifth of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, with the largest group from Nepalese backgrounds. More pupils speak English as an additional language than in most schools.  The college meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupils in 24 lessons in order to contribute to their evaluation of the quality of teaching, learning, and assessment. Some of these observations were conducted jointly with members of the college leadership team. Inspectors also attended tutor periods, visited the library and observed pupils’ conduct around the site at break and lunchtime.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, members of the governing body, senior leaders, teachers and support staff, a representative of the local authority and several groups of pupils.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of college documentation including that relating to: policies; the minutes of governors’ meetings; annual review and strategic planning documents; self-evaluation documents; pupil achievement; behaviour and attendance information and a wide range of pupils’ work.  Inspectors considered the views expressed in 77 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and

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Information about this inspection

38 questionnaires returned by college staff.

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Inspection team

Matthew Newberry, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Matthew Haynes Her Majesty’s Inspector Karen Roche Ofsted 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

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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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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