Raynes Park High School

Raynes Park High School Bushey Road, London SW20 0JL

p.1

Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

p.1

Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

p.1

Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

p.1

Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

p.1

This is a good school

 Leaders have been relentless in their efforts to improve provision. As a result, standards of teaching and the outcomes of students are now good.  Given their starting points, students are making good progress in both English and mathematics. Their performance in a range of subjects is improving on that of previous years.  Teachers have good subject knowledge and most have high expectations. They plan interesting activities that help students develop good attitudes to learning.  Students understand well how to keep themselves safe. Leaders have ensured that all staff are effectively trained in how to keep children safe.  Good progress has been made against the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. For example, subject leaders are now skilled in carrying out effective self-evaluation.  The vast majority of students are courteous, polite, friendly and helpful. Behaviour in lessons

p.1

This is a good school

and around the school is good so that the school is a peaceful, harmonious community.  Governors monitor the work of the school very closely and hold the school to account for the progress students make very effectively.  The sixth form is good. It promotes good learning and achievement. Students are well informed of the routes available to them when leaving school.

p.1

It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Some teachers do not always act in line with the school’s marking policy and provide specific advice for students about how to improve their work, and check that students respond.  Students, in particular the most able, are not given enough opportunities in lessons to apply their thinking and reasoning skills.  Students do not get sufficient opportunities to practise and hone their reading, writing and numeracy skills across a wide range of subjects.

p.1

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve teaching and raise achievement for all students by making sure that: – marking and guidance always gives students clear advice on how to improve their work, and that students use this information effectively – students, especially the most able, are given regular opportunities in lessons to apply their thinking and reasoning skills – students’ skills in reading, writing and numeracy are developed fully in all subjects and year groups.

p.2

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher and governors successfully communicate high expectations for the quality of teaching and students’ achievement. Staff, parents and students understand and fully share the school’s drive for improvement. Accurate self-evaluation contributes to continuous improvement because the correct priorities emerge from close analysis, and feed into the school improvement plan and targets for staff.  Teaching is much improved because leaders carry out rigorous checks on its quality. They use their coaching and mentoring skills to offer useful advice and training to raise standards further. Best practices are shared between colleagues and are used in classrooms to improve the effectiveness of teaching.  Senior leaders regularly review how good the teaching is. Information from these reviews is used to decide any salary increases and to identify opportunities for promotion. As a result, much of the weak

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

and ineffective teaching has been wiped out.  Senior and middle leaders look very closely at the attendance, behaviour and work of students to see if any are falling behind and need additional support. This is especially true of students following courses off site. This close examination by leaders, including those in the resource base for autistic children, has resulted in students achieving significantly better outcomes in the previous year.  The school promotes students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well through lessons, tutor time and trips. Staff make students aware of the importance of British values and ensure that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain. For example, inspectors observed a house assembly in which the value of resilience was explored using a real and relevant example from the very recent finale of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ contest.  Students experience an appropriate range of subjects at all key stages. This ensures that students can

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

pursue GCSE and sixth-form courses best suited to their interests, aspirations and abilities. They receive good information, advice and guidance to help them make the right choices to succeed. A wealth of additional activities helps students to develop skills and extend their learning. However, students do not get enough opportunities to develop their reading, writing and numeracy skills across a wide range of subjects and year groups.  The quality of subject and other middle leadership has improved. Regular meetings between senior leaders and subject leaders help to track students’ progress and the quality of teaching closely. Mentoring by senior leaders and support from external consultants have also helped to build leadership skills. Recent changes to the leadership of the English and mathematics departments are leading to good improvements for students.  The school uses the pupil premium effectively to help disadvantaged students receive the academic and

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

social support necessary to help them make good progress in their learning and development. As a result, disadvantaged students have narrowed gaps with their classmates and with other students nationally. Senior staff track the spending of the pupil premium and check what difference it is making to students’ outcomes.  Leaders promote equality of opportunity well. Aspirational targets are set for all groups of students and well-planned, timely support is available to help those who need additional help to make good progress. All groups of students are reaching higher standards than they did last year so that any differences between groups have reduced considerably.  Leaders understand their responsibilities with regard to safeguarding, which underpins all aspects of the school’s work. They work very effectively with a wide range of agencies to keep the students safe and secure.  Leaders have benefited from the useful quality assurance work undertaken by the Merton Education

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Partnership. The recommendations provided have helped leaders to focus on the right priorities.  The governance of the school – Governors have taken the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection seriously, and worked closely with leaders on an action plan to secure sustained improvements. They make a good contribution to improvement planning and self-evaluation. Governors visit regularly and are very well informed about the school’s key strengths and weaknesses. They are providing good support for the new headteacher. – Governors are trained in the analysis of performance information and in safeguarding. Using key performance indicators (KPIs), they track students’ achievement, behaviour and the quality of teaching. They use this information to ask challenging questions of leaders, which helps to focus senior leaders on areas for improvement in the school. – The performance of staff is managed effectively. Salary increases are carefully considered and are

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

awarded only when there is clear evidence to support them. Poor teaching is not tolerated. – Governors know how the pupil premium funding is spent. They can demonstrate the positive difference it is making now in most groups. – Governors’ recruitment and training are well managed. As a result, governors bring a good range of skills and experience to strengthen the leadership of the school.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 The evidence secured from the school’s own checks on teaching, its own assessment information and the quality of work in students’ books all indicate that teaching has improved since the previous inspection and is now good. This has resulted in students’ good attitudes towards learning and good progress for the large majority.  Teachers have good subject knowledge. They are confident and many use their knowledge to ask searching questions to check that students understand new learning. Teachers use students’ answers to decide whether they need to explain again or whether they can challenge students further. This helps students to make good progress.  Students are enthusiastic learners because most teachers have strategies to make lessons enjoyable. Teachers are enthusiastic, and this inspires students to learn. They find ways of engaging students with their work and use interesting approaches to share new knowledge and consolidate previous learning.

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Good training opportunities for teachers to develop their expertise have resulted in good teaching. Teachers new to the school take on established routines. Better, more consistent teaching is improving students’ progress.  Teaching meets the needs of disabled students and those who have special educational needs well, including those in the resource base for autistic children. Teaching is supported by teaching assistants who make a positive difference both in and out of classrooms.  The teaching of English and mathematics have both improved, partly as a result of a stronger focus on regularly checking students’ learning in lessons and using this information to adjust teaching. Detailed and thorough checking of students’ progress in English enables teachers to plan learning that meets students’ needs well. Effective modelling in mathematics lessons coupled with good use of resources is enabling students of different abilities to learn more purposefully.

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teachers have sound knowledge of each student’s learning and progress. Most teachers use this to plan learning which enables each student to make strong progress. Occasionally, however, activities planned for the most-able students do not always require them to think deeply enough about their learning. This prevents these students from having a deeper understanding based on exercising their reasoning skills; as a result, students are able to explain what they have done but not always what they have learned.  The quality of feedback students receive from their teachers has improved significantly, including through marking and discussion during lessons. However, it is not yet equally good both within and between subjects. While most students use this feedback to improve their learning successfully, not all students are equally effective in doing this.

p.4

Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupil’s personal development and welfare is good. Senior leaders ensure that all staff are well trained in safeguarding procedures and that students are well informed about how to keep themselves safe. Any referrals to external agencies are followed up well by the school to ensure that students at risk are well supported.  Most students show high levels of respect, courtesy and politeness. They engage readily in discussions about their work and are keen to help visitors. The school’s values underpin the collaborative attitudes that students show to one another and to adults. Students’ positive attitudes to learning mean that the school is purposeful, peaceful and harmonious.  Students have good opportunities to develop their leadership skills. For example, some students have been part of a programme to teach local senior citizens basic skills in information technology. In the

p.4

Personal development and welfare

main school, all students are members of a house, and they take part in a range of exciting competitions to build their resilience, self-esteem and personal confidence.  The school links regularly with students who spend part of their time on a different site and ensures that they attend regularly, behave well and feel safe.

p.5

Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is good. School records show that the school’s internal achievement and inclusion centre is used effectively when standards fall below leaders’ expectations. As a result, both fixed-term and permanent exclusions have decreased over the past 18 months.  Persistent absence has come down significantly since the previous inspection as a result of the school’s more targeted approach to working with families. Parents are more aware of the value of good attendance, which is fast approaching the national average for secondary schools.  In discussion with inspectors, students from different year groups expressed confidence in their teachers to care for and help them resolve issues relating to bullying. Students are confident about sharing any concerns that they have with staff and they are willing to report any concerns they have about friends to teachers.  In lessons, students are eager to share their work and talk about their learning. Most comply with high

p.5

Behaviour

expectations of effort and presentation in their work; students’ work is often well-presented. Occasionally, some students’ attitudes to their work are not as positive when teaching does not engage them as well as it should.

p.5

Outcomes for pupils are good

 Students join the school with below-average attainment in English and mathematics but leave with standards that are broadly average.  The proportion of students gaining five or more good GCSE passes, including English and mathematics, at the end of Year 11 in 2014 was in line with the national average. The school’s assessment information shows a further rise in standards in 2015 in English, mathematics and science.  Detailed and thorough checking of progress and targeted support early in the previous year have ensured that students made good progress in a range of subjects from low starting points. The school’s extended learning programme is used effectively to speed up the progress of those students in danger of falling behind.  Some students did not achieve as well in mathematics in 2014 as they did in English. Leaders have taken decisive action to ensure that they have a secure understanding of each student’s current

p.5

Outcomes for pupils are good

progress and to improve the quality of teaching in the department. As a result of this action, the progress current students make is good and improving.  The school’s historic information shows that disadvantaged students made steady rather than good progress in 2014. As a result of effective strategies to raise the achievement of this group of students coupled with closer monitoring, outcomes for these students improved in 2015, most significantly in English. This shows good progress.  In 2014, Year 11 disadvantaged students were a grade below their peers nationally in English, and also a grade below their peers in school. In mathematics, they were almost one and a half grades below their peers both nationally and within the school. Gaps for current students are closing rapidly, particularly in English, due to the good level of support they receive.  Disabled students and those with special educational needs make good progress. Teachers and

p.5

Outcomes for pupils are good

teaching assistants plan for and meet the individual needs of these students well in lessons, including in the resource base for autistic children.  A higher proportion of the most-able students achieved top grades in their GCSE examinations in 2015, for example in subjects such as geography and photography. They make steady rather than good progress, partly due to fewer opportunities to apply their reasoning skills to solve problems.  The school’s checking of students’ progress coupled with evidence in books indicates that White British students are now making good progress. Teachers have a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in learning, which enables them to tailor their teaching with greater precision.  Year 7 catch-up funding is used to provide a range of effective extra support sessions for those who need them, particularly in literacy and reading. Students make good progress as a result of this extra

p.5

Outcomes for pupils are good

support.  The school does not enter students early for examinations at GCSE.  A very small number of students attend courses away from the school’s site. These courses are proving successful in ensuring that students have a renewed interest in education. They succeed in securing skills and qualifications relevant to work that enable them to move on to further education, employment or training.

p.6

16 to 19 study programmes are good

 From below-average starting points, students make good progress and achieve close to average results by the time they leave the sixth form. The school accepts students with lower entry grades than found nationally, since most students study a combination of academic and work-related learning courses.  Teaching is good. Changes in the leadership of the English department, and closer monitoring in the mathematics department, have contributed to improvements in the quality of teaching and ensured that more students achieve a GCSE grade C in English and mathematics by the time they leave the sixth form. However, teachers do not always set work for the most-able students that challenge them to achieve the highest A-level grades.  The leadership and management of the sixth form are effective in promoting high ambitions and raising self-esteem. This ensures that students succeed. The strong focus on improving standards of teaching

p.6

16 to 19 study programmes are good

in the classroom is ensuring that learning is planned with a clear purpose and is interesting. This is leading to rising achievement and attainment levels in many subjects and for most groups of students.  Leaders track students’ progress accurately. Information is used well to plan focused, effective support, supporting students who are underachieving to catch up. Students are appreciative of how the school supports and guides them to manage their learning successfully to secure good outcomes.  The personal development, behaviour and welfare of sixth form students are good. The school ensures that students are always safe and secure. They attend regularly and are punctual to lessons. They act as good role models for younger students and play an increasing role in the wider life of the school.  Good careers advice, guidance and support enable students to make well-informed decisions about their future. This prepares them well for life after the sixth form. It ensures that students move on

p.6

16 to 19 study programmes are good

successfully into higher education, further education, employment or apprenticeships when they leave school.

p.6

School details

Unique reference number 102674 Local authority Merton Inspection number 10001980

p.7

School details

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

p.7

School details

Type of school Secondary School category Community Age range of pupils 11–18 Gender of pupils Mixed

p.7

programmes

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,020

p.7

programmes

Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Michael Ross Headteacher Kirsten Heard Telephone number 020 89464112

p.7

programmes

Website www.rphs.org.uk Email address school@raynespark.merton.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 18–19 September 2013

p.7

Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs is below average. This is lower than at the time of the previous inspection.  Just over one-third of students are supported through pupil premium funding. This is well above that found nationally and higher than at the time of the previous inspection.  A much higher than average proportion of students are from minority ethnic groups. Just over half of students are of White British heritage. Asian and Black heritage students form the second and third largest groups.  A very small number of students receive part of their education at the local South Thames College.  The school operates a special unit for 26 students with statements of autism.  A much higher than average number of students start or leave school other than at the beginning of Year 7 or the end of Year 11.

p.7

Information about this school

 The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress.  The current headteacher commenced post in September 2015.

p.7

Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 38 part lessons, four of which were observed jointly with school leaders. In addition, inspectors scrutinised students’ books and looked at how students were learning across a range of subjects.  Meetings were held with three groups of students, four governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body, the local authority’s school improvement adviser and school staff.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents. These included the school’s attainment and progress information, planning and monitoring documentation, the school’s improvement plan and self-evaluation summary, the safeguarding policies and behaviour and attendance records.  Inspectors took account of the 161 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 67 responses to a staff questionnaire.  Inspectors talked to students about the school’s work and listened to some students read.

p.8

Inspection team

Nasim Butt, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Gill Bal Ofsted Inspector Alison Moore Ofsted Inspector Lisa Gorman 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 .

p.8

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.

p.9

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

p.9

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,

p.9

Inspection team

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

p.9

Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspection team

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

p.9