Setting

Ms Kerry Linden Acting Head of College Manor Green College Manor Campus Century Youth House Romford RM1 2PS

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

Following my visit to your college on 2 March 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken since the college’s previous monitoring inspection.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

The inspection was the third monitoring inspection since the college became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in February 2015. The full list of the areas for improvement that were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

Leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

The local authority’s statement of action is not fit for purpose.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

The college’s action plan is fit for purpose.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

The college may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection. Ofsted

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted I am copying this letter to, the Chair of the Interim Executive Board, the Regional Schools Commissioner and the Director of Children’s Services for Havering. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took place

 Ensure that leadership and management are more effective by: – making sure that all the required policies are in place and their importance is understood by all staff – making certain that leaders check carefully on the quality of teaching and the curriculum in all parts of the college – building on the recently introduced system for checking students’ progress, so all students, including disadvantaged students, achieve equally well, particularly in English and mathematics – making sure that leaders and middle managers are equipped with the necessary skills to manage their teams effectively and hold them to account for raising achievement .  Improve the quality of teaching by: – ensuring that teachers have higher expectations of students in lessons and that students are engaged in their work – making sure that teachers make effective use of assessment information so that work is at the right level for students

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took place

– ensuring teaching assistants are supported, through training, to develop the skills they need to be more effective in supporting students' learning – ensuring that teachers provide students with clear guidance on how to improve their work – working closely with mainstream schools to identify best practice that could be used effectively at the college.  Improve students’ achievement so that they all make the expected progress from their starting points by: – accurately assessing their starting point in each subject and setting realistic targets for their progress – monitoring rigorously the progress students make towards these targets and identifying appropriate support as required – making certain that the curriculum is carefully adapted for students in all key stages – ensuring that teaching of literacy and numeracy across the college is a priority.  Improve attendance by ensuring the systems currently being developed are fully

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took place

embedded in all parts of the college and are used consistently in tackling poor attendance.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took place

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took place

An external review of the college’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Evidence

This monitoring inspection focused on the Key Stage 4 Manor campus, which is the largest site. The three other campuses were not visited although the impact of improvements on all four of the college sites was evaluated. Meetings were held with the acting head of college and the acting deputy head of college in charge of the Manor campus. A discussion with the college’s lead learning mentor took place. A telephone conversation with the chief executive officer of the Olive Academies Trust was held and the inspector met with a representative of the local authority. Both have been appointed to the interim executive board (IEB). She also met with two senior leaders from the local authority who were visiting the college during the inspection. Key Stage 4 pupils were spoken to throughout the inspection and their views taken into account. The 13 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. Fifteen staff members attended a meeting with the inspector

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Evidence

to share their views. The local authority’s statement of action and the college’s latest action plan were evaluated. The inspector conducted joint observations of teaching, learning and assessment at the Manor campus with a senior leader. The documents recording the college’s work across all campuses were scrutinised.

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Context

The acting senior leadership team has remained unchanged since the last monitoring inspection. However, the deputy head of college in charge of the primary campus now has a teaching commitment for half his time to support the quality of teaching in English and mathematics across the college. The frequency of staffing changes has reduced significantly. A few temporary teachers have left the college and some roles and responsibilities have been changed, but the staff team is much more stable.

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Context

The management committee was formally dissolved at the start of February, although it was unable to meet for some time before this due to resignations and apologies for absence. The strategic management board and the monitoring board constituted by the local authority were also disbanded at the same time. An interim IEB is being formed but the date of the first meeting of the board has still to be confirmed. The full membership of the IEB has yet to be established and the college has not had a functioning system of governance for some time. As the identified sponsor, the Olive Academies Trust is working closely with college leaders and the local authority to facilitate the academy conversion. This is now planned for 1 May 2016.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders and managers are monitoring the quality of teaching and learning across the college more closely. They have correctly identified that they need to be more consistent in the judgements they feed back to staff and are working to improve how they do this. They are increasingly effective in addressing any teaching that fails to meet the required standards, and regularly hold staff to account to establish how much progress pupils are making. Monitoring and tracking systems are now firmly embedded and leaders used this information, and their own observations and checks on pupils’ work, to identify that some assessments were overgenerous last term. Although they are hopeful that teachers’ assessments in the spring term will prove to be more accurate, the available tracking information remains unreliable.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders have recognised that the standards reached by current Year 11 pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 are unlikely to improve on those achieved by their peers last year. They are taking action to address this to ensure that every Year 11 pupil can gain accreditation in at least five subjects. To make this possible, they have reviewed the curriculum and have added a number of short courses. However, these will not all help pupils to take the next steps in their learning. Leaders and those responsible for governance have been too slow to address the very poor standards of literacy and numeracy that remain across the college, particularly at the Key Stage 4 Manor campus. Teachers responsible for leading and implementing improvements in literacy and numeracy have still to be identified and staff have not been provided with sufficient training to help them improve their practice. Unless immediate action is taken, Year 11 pupils will be unlikely to achieve GCSE passes in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

English or mathematics at the level that they could be expected to achieve.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Little strategic support and challenge has been provided to acting school leaders since the dissolution of the management committee and the strategic boards. They have not allowed this to deter them from pressing ahead with improvements which are starting to have an impact at all sites except the Key Stage 4 Manor campus. The consultancy support offered by the Olive Academies Trust has helped leaders to start to focus on the key priorities, but improvements at the Manor campus have been slow to embed and little has changed since the previous monitoring inspection. A recent health and safety review has led to minor repairs of the building but the site is not fit for purpose as a result of years of neglect and underinvestment.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Following the judgement at the second monitoring inspection, the local authority did not resubmit their statement of action. However, the college action plan has been redrafted by leaders and now addresses many of the failings identified in earlier versions. Some of the areas for improvement from the full inspection report have been omitted because the actions have been completed or are no longer relevant. The new plan is sensibly focused on priorities that need to be achieved in the short term while the academy conversion process is finalised. Specific timescales and milestones ensure that actions are now carried out in a timely manner and leaders can evaluate how much difference they are making. Although the plan takes account of monitoring roles and resources, this information cannot be included until the IEB meets and makes its decisions known. Leaders have correctly evaluated that most improvements have still to make an impact on raising standards, particularly at Key

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Representatives of the Olive Academies Trust are providing increasing amounts of support to leaders to address the improvement areas. Leaders value the advice they are given by academy consultants and have started to implement their recommendations. However, there remains little measurable impact from these actions.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Plans for the college’s medical and primary provisions are nearing completion. Primary pupils and pupils with medical and emotional needs will be supported in new facilities developed within mainstream schools and resourced by the local authority. These arrangements are planned to be in place for September 2016.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Changes in staff are less frequent and teachers are being held more strongly to account for meeting the minimum quality standards expressed in the college’s policies. For example, pupils are increasingly provided with clear guidance on how to improve their work. Teaching standards at other campuses have started to improve, but the quality of teaching at the Manor campus remains a concern and improvements have yet to have an impact on the quality of work produced by pupils. Opportunities for sharing good practice within the college are provided but there have been few chances for teachers to work with their mainstream colleagues. Consequently, assessments remain unreliable and coaching support is limited.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Some staff are now trained as learning mentors to help pupils address any concerns and take responsibility for their own behaviours and attitudes to learning. This is being modelled effectively but systems for accessing this support are not clear or taken account of in the behaviour policy. This allows pupils to pick and choose how they will engage with support staff in lessons.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Not all teachers or support staff have high enough expectations or challenge pupils to engage positively with their learning so that they can start to catch up. Staff do not always apply the behaviour policy in a consistent manner. Pupils at the Manor campus are quick to take advantage of this and disruption to learning is common.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The attitudes and behaviour of older pupils at the Manor campus remain a concern. The situation has not been improved by the rising number of pupils enrolled at this campus, including some with significant special educational needs which the college has struggled to support. Exclusion rates have continued to rise and are especially high for pupils in Year 11. Despite the closer monitoring of absence and follow-up actions taken by leaders and the education welfare service, overall rates of attendance show little sign of sustained improvement and remain well below acceptable levels. At the Manor campus, some pupils have improved on their attendance from the start of the year. However, many pupils are still regularly absent or late, which reflects their general lack of engagement. Pupils say they do not value the education provided at the college and attend to socialise, rather than to learn.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils’ negative attitudes are not improved by the unsuitable facilities and inadequate catering arrangements that remain. Pupils are still permitted to leave the site at break and lunchtimes to get something to eat, with some taking the opportunity to smoke. The multi-use games area is still not able to be used because no efforts have been made to clear the surface of rubbish or remove the overhanging creepers. There is therefore nowhere to play sport or exercise during break or lunchtimes. Pupils who would benefit from participating in sports activities throughout the day are not able to do so. This impacts on their behaviour and the outcomes they achieve.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

A significant number of pupils enrolled at the Manor campus attend off-site alternative learning provision. Their attendance and behaviour are tracked and the welfare of individual pupils is monitored carefully.

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Outcomes for pupils

The latest college assessment information demonstrates that standards across the college have continued to fall. This is partly because teachers’ assessments for the autumn term were found to be inflated and outcomes have been reported more accurately by them this term. However, too few pupils are making expected progress in English, mathematics or science, with a significant number of pupils underachieving in these subjects. Less than half of Key Stage 4 pupils are making expected progress in any of these subjects, with some falling further behind in all of them. Very few pupils are likely to achieve the targets that they have been set this year.

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Outcomes for pupils

Standards achieved in literacy and numeracy have not improved. Pupils are unable to develop their reading, writing, communication and mathematical skills because they are not provided with opportunities to reinforce these skills across all classes and subjects. Unless intensive interventions are planned and implemented immediately, pupils in Year 11 are likely to be restricted in their choices for further study when they leave the college. Comprehensive tracking systems are now in place. Half-termly evaluations of pupils’ progress for all cohorts and groups who attend the college show no differences in the performance of any group. However, until the assessment information collected is externally checked and validated, this information remains unreliable.

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Outcomes for pupils

The large number of pupils who attend off-site alternative education providers for some or all of their time are individually tracked and visits are made to check on their progress. Many are new to the area and are at the early stages of learning to speak English. However, it is unclear if their progress is good enough because there are no systems in place to formally evaluate this.

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External support

Havering local authority is taking too long to address the concerns that led to the college being placed in special measures in February 2015, and this has been a significant factor in the slow pace of improvement. For example, governance arrangements have been muddled and indecisive and an IEB has yet to be fully established. As a result, acting leaders have not always been empowered to make the very significant improvements that are necessary. The local authority has not reviewed its statement of action to ensure that it takes account of the new college action plan. Pupils with education, health and care plans, which identify special educational needs or disabilities, have been placed at the college even when leaders have been clear that their needs cannot be met. This has led to further behaviour concerns.

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External support

The local authority has brokered support from representatives of the Olive Academies Trust to address some of the improvement areas. Consultants have evaluated the quality of teaching, learning and assessment at both the Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 sites and have reported that while improvements can be seen at the Key Stage 3 site, they have yet to benefit older pupils. Support to address the behaviour and attendance issues at the Manor campus is ongoing and has led to an action plan being drafted.

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External support

Few opportunities for subject teachers and support staff to observe good practice within other settings have been provided. For example, teachers have not worked with their peers to confirm that their assessment judgements are accurate, or to consider how to reinforce literacy and numeracy skills more effectively in their lessons.

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