Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College

Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College Sandpits Lane, Keresley, Coventry CV6 2FR

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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

 School leaders and governors have thoroughly addressed the concerns raised at the last inspection and improvement is evident in all aspects of the school’s work.  Pupils make good progress across a wide range of subjects and reach standards that are above national averages.  Almost all teachers plan for and deliver effective learning that supports pupils in developing a secure understanding of subjects.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are well supported to make good progress as a result of well-targeted support plans and good additional support in the classroom.  The sixth form is good. Learners have access to a suitable range of courses and make good progress in them.  Staff and pupils share a strong culture of respect for each other. As a result, the great majority of pupils behave well both in lessons and around the school site.  Pupils are well cared for. Each pupil is valued as

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This is a good school

an individual and disadvantaged pupils are provided with the support they need to ensure that they succeed.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils do less well in science, where difficulties in recruitment have meant that some pupils have had a number of different teachers and are making slower progress.  Some teachers do not ensure that the work in lessons is hard enough to make sure that pupils, particularly the most able, are stretched. Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 2 of 9

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen the progress pupils make in science by: – ensuring that all staffing vacancies are addressed as a matter of urgency – supporting leaders in science to more accurately track the progress of pupils and monitor the quality of teaching, intervening as necessary – providing additional help for pupils to catch up on work they have missed due to periods of poor science staffing.  Improve the quality of teaching so that more pupils, particularly the most able, develop excellent knowledge, understanding and skills by ensuring that teachers: – keep the pace of learning high and use all available time in lessons on learning activities – set more activities that pupils will find challenging so that they think and apply themselves fully in order to succeed – use questioning more pertinently to help pupils gain a deeper understanding of their work. Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 3 of 9

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher and senior leaders are passionate advocates for the school and its pupils and articulate their high aspirations at every opportunity. Since the last inspection, improvements in a number of areas are clearly evident: successful implementation of the new behaviour system; improved teaching and learning; higher achievement in mathematics; and better outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability.  Most improvements have been implemented through a restructuring of how middle leaders are held to account. This has led to greater involvement of these leaders in the leadership of the school. Middle leaders now meet regularly with their senior leadership team line manager. These meetings are focused around a detailed quality assurance calendar, with leaders held responsible for ensuring that improvements are made. New line management arrangements for the leadership of science have just

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

been put in place and have not yet led to the consistent practice seen elsewhere in the school.  The curriculum is broad and balanced, with suitable pathways in place for pupils of different abilities. Pupils enjoy the range of after-school clubs that are available, although older pupils participate less in enrichment activities, concentrating instead on after-school revision clubs.  Senior leaders understand the strengths and weaknesses of teaching and have prioritised staff training on questioning and marking over the last year. The impact of this training was evident in the frequent use of questioning and the consistency of marking that were observed during this inspection.  The pastoral team’s enthusiasm and competence is evident in the successful implementation of the behaviour policy and in the consistent delivery of the pastoral programme in form periods. Attendance has improved and the number of logged incidents of poor behaviour has reduced.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Leaders spend the pupil premium funding effectively on a range of additional staff and activities that have improved the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.  The school’s faith-based ethos supports a rich spiritual life within the school. Pupils’ moral, social and cultural development is given a high priority through the school’s assembly and tutorial programme. The tutorial programme promotes a good understanding of diversity, the need for equality and other British values.  Senior leaders have recognised the importance of ensuring that tracking information about pupils’ achievement is accurate. They have insisted that all assessment information is securely based on a range of activities, including examination-style questions. Following any school-wide collation of tracking information, teachers identify pupils who need further support and intervention plans are drawn up. As a result, fewer pupils are now falling behind in their work. Senior leaders have made use of other schools to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

help moderate standards, particularly in science, where leaders have the most concerns about reliability of internal tracking information.  Following the last inspection, the local authority identified the school as requiring support, particularly in mathematics. The school has valued the help it has received from local authority improvement partners. However, both the local authority and leaders recognise that the school is ready to move on from a model of support to an increased element of challenge.  The governance of the school – Governors are well informed and thoughtful. They know about the improvements in the school over the last two years and have reviewed and adapted their committee structure to be able to closely monitor the school improvement priorities. – Governors meet statutory duties and are fully involved in the life of the school. For example, they met with leaders of mathematics on a fortnightly basis until there was clear evidence that results had

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

improved. – Governors make use of external organisations to provide additional advice and guidance and triangulate information provided by the school. – Governors carefully track spending on disadvantaged pupils and regularly review the impact of the actions taken by the school to support these pupils. – Governors have a strategic involvement in staff appraisal and ensure that teachers’ pay progression is clearly linked to them making a successful contribution to the school’s improvement.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective and are given a high priority by the school. The designated safeguarding lead teacher is well supported by a fully trained team. Records are accurately Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 4 of 9 and securely kept and show timely and appropriate interventions. Several senior leaders and governors

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

have been trained to safely recruit new staff.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 The great majority of teachers carefully plan lessons to provide pupils with appropriate and interesting activities.  There is a strong emphasis on ensuring that pupils are well prepared for external examinations. Pupils are given frequent opportunities to try examination questions and receive detailed feedback, thereby improving their confidence and skills.  Teaching assistants are knowledgeable, well trained and influence classroom provision through their good understanding of pupils’ needs. Pupils who have special educational needs or disability speak highly of the support they receive from teaching assistants, including support for issues around mental health.  This year the school has prioritised the development of literacy skills. Subject teachers ensure that pupils understand key terminology and use key words appropriately. Where needed, teachers ensure that extended writing is well marked for literacy skills. The effectiveness of this was evident in the humanities

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

subjects.  Teachers encourage pupils to talk and develop their communication skills, correcting grammar and pronunciation as appropriate. Questioning is used extensively in lessons, although some teachers do not always use their questions to help pupils think more deeply about their work.  Pupils take care with the presentation of their work. Books are marked regularly in line with the school policy and pupils are provided with feedback on what they have done well and how they need to improve. Pupils particularly value the helpful marking they receive in religious education and English.  Teachers use an agreed range of strategies to consistently and accurately assess pupils’ work through the course of the year. Short assessment activities known as ‘pit stops’ occur every few weeks and pupils find them helpful in identifying what they have understood well and what areas they need to work on.  Leaders have expected teachers to help pupils develop skills of self- and peer-evaluation. This has been

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

successful and helps pupils to understand and improve the quality of their work.  Although teaching generally supports most pupils in making good progress, some teachers do not provide pupils with challenging activities that make them think hard and make accelerated progress.  On occasion, teachers do not move pupils onto new activities quickly enough, so that pupils sit waiting for the next instruction.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  The school has good procedures to enable pupils to keep themselves safe. A well-planned tutorial programme ensures that pupils are well informed about risks such as abuse, sexual exploitation and extremism. They know how to stay safe online.  The positive ethos of the school helps pupils to make a good contribution to wider society and prepare for life in modern Britain. School elections, a culture of trust and respect for others and a well-established tradition of charitable giving exemplify some of these values.  Pupils take pride in their work and show the self-confidence necessary to be successful learners. In many lessons, pupils were enthusiastic about their learning, but this was not evident on all occasions.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Conduct in lessons and around the school is good. Pupils are courteous and polite, listen attentively to their teachers and show respect for the school buildings. Infrequent occurrences of poor behaviour are dealt with effectively by staff.  Pupils value the new behaviour system and believe it is fair. They know what is expected of them and what will not be tolerated.  Pupils report that bullying is infrequent and incidents are dealt with well by the school. The few racist incidents are carefully logged and dealt with. Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 5 of 9  Attendance is improving and is now in line with national averages. There has been an improvement in attendance for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability as a result of careful monitoring and intervention by the pastoral team.

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Behaviour

 Few pupils receive fixed-term exclusions, and as the behaviour policy has increasing impact, the rates continue to fall.  The well-being, achievement, attendance and behaviour of pupils who attend alternative provision are carefully tracked by the pastoral team and additional steps taken if pupils are falling behind or failing to attend regularly.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 The proportion of pupils who gained five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and mathematics, increased to 64% in 2015 and is now well above the national average. Unfortunately, performance information for the school published by the Department for Education does not show this success because the school used a combination of English qualifications that was not permitted in these tables.  English attainment has been significantly above the national level for the last three years and continues to improve. Pupils make good progress from all starting points as a result of consistently good teaching.  Attainment in mathematics in 2015 examinations improved considerably over the previous year and is now in line with national averages.  Increasing numbers of current pupils in school are making better than expected progress in English and mathematics as a result of better teaching and more rigorous assessment, tracking and intervention.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils make good progress across a range of subjects at the school, with notable success in religious education, English and health and social care. However, historically, achievement in history, geography and science has been below average. Current pupils are now making better progress in humanities as the department develops its skills in working with a larger number of pupils. Improvement in science has been slower and, although there has been an improvement in the quality of teaching, some pupils have a shortfall in the coverage of some content to make up in order to make good progress.  Historically, the most-able pupils have not made the rapid progress that is made by similar pupils nationally across a range of subjects. More current pupils are likely to achieve the highest grades of A and A* than in previous years, and aspirations and expectations, evident through pupils’ targets, are now

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Outcomes for pupils are good

higher for younger pupils.  Disadvantaged pupils make better progress than similar pupils nationally and their attainment and progress is improving year on year. There is still a gap in achievement between these pupils and their peers, although it is narrowing. The school is closely monitoring this and robustly reviewing the impact of its interventions.  Imaginative strategies are in place to promote reading across the school. For example, the school library leads themed days and offers rewards and prizes to incentivise reading. Most pupils read widely and dedicated time is allocated in form periods to support reading.  Pupils who arrive in Year 7 with weak numeracy and literacy skills are supported through a targeted programme to bring them closer to the standards of their peers.  Outcomes for pupils who have special educational needs or disability are improving as a result of better planning of provision and support, and more targeted intervention from teaching assistants.

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16 to 19 study programmes are good

 Leaders responded decisively to the previous inspection report. They have made targets more challenging, introduced more rigorous tracking procedures, introduced more regular examinations to ensure that assessment is reliable, and have established sixth-form tutor groups.  Learners are making better progress on academic courses than in previous years as a result of better teaching and more effective interventions if they fall behind. There is still some variation in the progress learners make on different courses. They make the strongest progress on vocational courses. Leaders intervene to provide challenge to departments where learners express concerns or tracking information identifies weaknesses. Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 6 of 9  Learners who enter the sixth form without GCSE grade C in English or mathematics receive additional

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16 to 19 study programmes are good

lessons and many successfully improve their grades when they subsequently resit these examinations.  Attendance is high and learners are punctual to school and to lessons. They behave well and are good role models for younger pupils.  Leaders are highly committed to inclusion. Level 2 courses have been introduced to provide an appropriate pathway for learners of all abilities. Disadvantaged learners receive strong support to explore the possibilities of higher education.  16 to 19 study programmes are personalised and reflect detailed knowledge of learners. There is a genuine care for learners and their well-being is firmly at the heart of decision making. Leaders and form tutors work sensitively to encourage learners to follow challenging but manageable courses.  Learners receive good advice and guidance to help them consider their next steps. They all receive work- related learning and all those on vocational courses, and many on academic ones, undertake a period of

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16 to 19 study programmes are good

work experience. All leavers in 2015 moved onto a suitable provision, including universities and apprenticeships.  There are good opportunities for sixth formers to engage in the wider life of the school and they can participate in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, school shows and sports teams.  A small number of learners take courses at other local sixth forms, mainly in languages and computer science. The school carefully monitors their progress.  Learners are well supported to become independent and tutorial time is used to consider a wide range of relevant topics, for example, keeping safe, drug and alcohol awareness and ‘stress-busting’ workshops. Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 7 of 9

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School details

Unique reference number 103743 Local authority Coventry Inspection number 10009242

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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 Secondary comprehensive School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 11–19 Gender of pupils Mixed

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programmes

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,239

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programmes

Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Chris Smith Headteacher Marina Kelly Telephone number 02476332382 Website www.cardinalnewman.coventry.sch.uk Email address admin@cardinalnewman.coventry.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 5–6 March 2014

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of pupils who receive support for special educational needs or disability is average.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is average. The pupil premium is additional funding provided by the government to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or who are in the care of the local authority.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards in 2015, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  Twenty-two pupils in Years 10 and 11 attend alternative provision at 10 different providers: Brakes Training Ltd, City College, Coombe Country Park, Coventry Building Workshop, CWT, Heart of England Hair/Beauty, Henley College, LearnFit Academy, Moor Farm Stables and Positive Youth Foundation.  In the sixth form, eight learners attend courses at Barr’s Hill School and Community College, Finham Park

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Information about this school

School, Coundon Court and Blue Coat Church of England School and Music College.  The school has received additional support from Prince Henry’s High School and from Caludon Castle School, where the headteacher is a national leader of education. Inspection report: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Arts and Community College, 20–21 April 2016 8 of 9

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed lessons in all year groups and looked at the work in pupils’ books. They talked to groups of pupils.  Inspectors held meetings with senior and middle leaders, teachers and support staff and members of the governing body. Inspectors also held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation including safeguarding records, self-evaluation summaries, the school improvement plan and information held by the school about pupils’ progress.  Inspectors took account of the views of 128 parents on the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. They also took account of the views of pupils and staff who also responded to an online Ofsted questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Deborah James, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Derek Barnes Ofsted Inspector David Hughers Ofsted Inspector Adele Mills Martin Spoor Ofsted Inspector 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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