St Dunstan's School

St Dunstan’s School Wells Road, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 9BY

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is an inadequate school

 Governance is inadequate because governors have failed to hold leaders to account for the school’s performance. As a result, pupils do not make enough progress and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has not improved since the previous inspection.  The culture of safeguarding in the school is inadequate. Too little attention is given to ensuring that systems for keeping children safe are robust and effective.  Frequent changes of staff and leadership at all levels have had a negative impact on pupils’ learning.  Too many Year 11 pupils underachieved in 2015.  Current pupils are not making enough progress, including in their literacy and numeracy skills.  Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not high enough. The work pupils complete lacks challenge, particularly for the most able.  Teachers’ questions do not encourage pupils to think deeply about their learning. This limits their

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This is an inadequate school

understanding and the progress they make.  Not all teachers adhere to the school’s marking and feedback policy. As a result, pupils are unclear about how well they are doing or what they need to do to improve their work.  Although behaviour in the school is generally good, when teaching fails to engage pupils fully, some of them do not concentrate and disrupt learning for others.  Too many pupils are regularly absent from school.

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The school has the following strengths

 The interim headteacher has introduced new systems and procedures, which have stabilised the day-to-day running of the school and raised staff morale.  Middle leaders are committed and enthusiastic. They have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and work well together.  Staff support pupils with special educational needs or disability well.  The school is a caring community. Teachers know pupils well and there is a positive atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance.

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the culture of safeguarding in the school by ensuring that: governors are appropriately trained so they check the monitoring of the school’s safeguarding procedures effectively to be sure that all pupils are safe staff safeguarding training is up to date and recorded accurately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise outcomes for pupils by checking that all teachers: pose effective questions that check pupils’ learning, develop their understanding and extend their thinking follow the school’s policy by providing pupils with effective feedback so that they know how well they are doing and understand how to improve their work give pupils, particularly the most able, work that challenges them develop pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise attendance by: improving systems for monitoring absence working effectively with parents and other agencies to reduce the proportion of pupils who are regularly absent.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

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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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 The school has undergone an extensive period of change leading to a decline in many aspects of its work and, in particular, pupils’ outcomes.  There is limited capacity in the leadership team and governors do not support leaders effectively. Governors have failed to ensure that safeguarding processes are robust.  Procedures to monitor pupils’ attendance lack rigour. Too many pupils are persistently absent from school so that the school’s procedures to ensure their well-being and safety are not effective.  Middle leaders are united in their approach and ambitions for the school but they have not yet had enough impact on developing pupils’ learning and achievement.  The school has had difficulties in recruiting staff, and this has been a contributory factor in the lack of improvement in teaching since the previous inspection.  Leaders have not ensured that all pupils study subjects appropriate to their needs and interests. There is

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

a good range of GCSE option subjects but for some pupils the predominantly academic focus is not suitable if they are to succeed.  Additional government funding to support disadvantaged pupils is not used effectively to improve the achievement of these pupils. The impact of the funding has not been evaluated in order to see whether the interventions it has financed are effective and whether they are generating better learning and progress.  Work to support pupils with special educational needs or disability is well led and consequently these pupils make the same progress as their peers. St Dunstan’s is an inclusive school; pupils with special educational needs or disability participate actively in lessons and withdrawal for extra support is done thoughtfully and for sound educational reasons.  The school offers a full range of extra-curricular activities, as well as regular opportunities to develop

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. These aspects of pupils’ learning are well developed.  The interim headteacher has raised staff morale and introduced a wide range of systems and practices to support staff development and improve the quality of teaching and learning. In particular, he has created a range of opportunities for teachers to share good practice and develop their classroom skills. However, the impact is yet to be seen as the quality of teaching, learning and assessment still requires improvement.  Inspectors recommend that the school does not seek to appoint newly qualified teachers.  The governance of the school Governance is inadequate. The governing body has been subject to a number of changes in personnel and, as a result, roles and responsibilities are unclear. In particular, governors have not been effective in monitoring safeguarding procedures and have not been holding leaders to account for the school’s

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

performance. Governors are aware of how pupil premium funding has been spent in the school but they have not considered the effectiveness of the expenditure or the impact it has had on pupils’ outcomes.  The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.  Pupils feel safe and staff work hard to keep them safe but systems for monitoring safeguarding in the school are not currently robust enough to ensure that pupils are safe.  Governors’ oversight of safeguarding is inadequate, and frequent changes of leadership at all levels have led to weaknesses in some systems. Inconsistencies in the recording of governor training, confusion over who is the nominated safeguarding governor, concerns regarding governors’ involvement in recruitment and the quality of risk assessments all contribute to a lack of confidence in the school’s safeguarding culture.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teachers’ expectations are often too low so they rarely give pupils challenging enough work. Teachers do not give pupils the chance to make good progress as work is often too easy for them, especially for the most able. Pupils with special educational needs or disability, however, are challenged and supported very effectively in small groups and in one-to-one tuition. This enables them to progress well.  Teachers do not often ask questions that check pupils’ learning, challenge their thinking or deepen their understanding; this limits the progress pupils make.  The marking and feedback pupils receive are ineffective in helping them to understand what they have done well and how they can improve their work further. When feedback is provided, pupils do not, as the school policy requires, routinely act on it to improve their work.  Pupils are not inspired by their lessons and often fail to engage actively in their learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Where teaching is effective, teachers have a good understanding of pupils’ needs and plan work for groups of pupils with different abilities so that all pupils can make good progress. In geography, for example, pupils respond enthusiastically to a good variety of ways to help them revise for their GCSE examinations and they make good progress as a result. They show determination to succeed and clearly enjoy working with the teacher to test their knowledge and develop their understanding.  Teachers are beginning to share good practice and a learning culture is emerging in the school, supported by more effective professional development for teachers.  Pupils’ reading and writing are not developed well. Teachers do not ensure that the fundamentals of literacy and national expectations are consistently applied. Teachers do not demand high enough standards from pupils in terms of how they present their work.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Further work is needed to develop pupils’ numeracy skills.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.  Pupils feel safe and are very well cared for, particularly those with special educational needs or disability. However, the poor safeguarding culture in the school means that not enough is being done to be sure that pupils are safe.  Teachers know pupils well and work effectively to support them. Pupils are offered a wide range of extra- curricular opportunities and staff ensure that academic support is available by providing many extra revision sessions. Participation is good.  There is an open culture of trust, which underpins the strong relationships between pupils and staff.  The school has a system of enrichment days that focus well on developing pupils’ personal, health and social education; these are complemented by assemblies and tutor periods. Opportunities for careers education are built into this programme but the school’s delivery of independent advice and guidance is

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Personal development and welfare

not structured or planned well enough. Key stage 4 pupils take part in work experience, which is something they particularly value.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Behaviour in lessons is generally good but there is low-level disruption in some lessons, which has an impact on pupils’ ability to make progress in their learning.  Bullying is rare and dealt with well by leaders and pastoral staff when it arises.  Pupils behave well around the site at breaktimes and lunchtimes and there is a calm atmosphere in the school. Pupils show respect for staff and each other and there is very little graffiti or damage to property. Pupils generally wear their uniforms well.  The school’s exclusion policy has lowered the number of fixed-term exclusions to just above average. It is implemented consistently and pupils’ behaviour has improved.  Attendance is improving and the leadership team is working hard to introduce measures aimed at getting pupils to come to school regularly. However, there are still too many pupils who are persistently absent

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Behaviour

from school and this means that they learn too little and make very limited progress.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 In 2015, far too few pupils left the school with five or more GCSE at grades A* to C, including English and mathematics. Whatever their starting points, pupils, particularly boys, did not make the progress expected of them and their achievement in English and mathematics was below national averages.  The most-able pupils make too little progress across a range of subjects; they do not achieve the number of higher grades in GCSE examinations that pupils of their ability should attain.  The school’s predictions for 2016 suggest that outcomes for pupils will be much higher than in 2015. However, work seen in pupils’ books, suggests that these predictions are over generous.  The school’s processes to set targets and to track pupils’ progress have been extensively reviewed by the leadership team, but pupils’ work seen during the inspection indicates that there is still a wide variation in pupils’ achievement. Too often, pupils are not making the progress of which they are capable due to

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

teachers’ low expectations and limited feedback.  The gap between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils in the school and nationally was wide in 2015. Work in books and the school’s own data suggest that the gap is narrowing but not quickly enough.  The special educational needs department is well led. Leaders of this provision and teaching assistants know each pupil’s needs well. Helpful extra support is provided to raise pupils’ reading and writing proficiency, particularly for those entering the school with low levels of attainment. Pupils with special educational needs or disability make good progress at key stage 3 but this is not the case for those with poor attendance.  Literacy across the curriculum is not well developed in the school, and as a result, literacy levels are low, particularly at key stage 3.

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School details

Unique reference number 137202 Local authority Somerset Inspection number 10017410

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 341 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ray Tillbrook Headteacher Mark Trusson Telephone number 01458 832943 Website www.st-dunstans.somerset.sch.uk Email address sch.533@educ.somerset.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 10–11 September 2014

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Information about this school

 The school converted to academy status in September 2011. This is the academy’s third inspection. It has been deemed to require improvement on two previous occasions.  The school is much smaller than most secondary schools.  The proportion of students eligible for support through the pupil premium is about average. The pupil premium is additional government funding for children who are looked after by the local authority and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage and very few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is above average. Needs relate mainly to social, emotional and health difficulties.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The interim headteacher has been in post since September 2015.

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet the requirements on the publication of information on its website.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 22 lessons, 10 of which observations were carried out jointly with members of the senior leadership team. Inspectors also visited parts of lessons and looked at a range of pupils’ work.  Inspectors held meetings with the interim headteacher and other senior leaders, other staff and groups of pupils. The lead inspector met with three members of the governing body and had a meeting with the executive head designate for the multi-academy trust the school is about to join.  The inspection team looked at a range of documentation, including the school development plan, information on pupils’ attainment and progress, records relating to safeguarding and pupils’ behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors observed an assembly and observed behaviour around the school between lessons, at lunchtime and breaktimes.  Inspectors took account of 25 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire. They considered

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Information about this inspection

the school’s own survey of staff views and 16 responses to the staff questionnaire completed during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Richard Steward, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Raymond Friel Ofsted Inspector Steffi Penny Her Majesty’s Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted.

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Inspection team

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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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