Setting

Mr Jon Angell Principal The City Academy Bristol Russell Town Avenue Bristol BS5 9JH

p.1

Special measures monitoring inspection of The City Academy Bristol

Following my visit with Stuart Wilson and Sarah Gillett, Ofsted Inspectors, to your school on 7–8 June 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 school’s previous monitoring inspection.

p.1

Special measures monitoring inspection of The City Academy Bristol

The inspection was the fourth monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in January 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.

p.1

Special measures monitoring inspection of The City Academy Bristol

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

p.1

Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of

Having considered all the evidence, I recommend that the school may seek to appoint no more than two newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection in any subject except science.

p.1

Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of

I am copying this letter to the chair of the interim academy board, the regional schools commissioner, the and the director of children’s services for the City of Bristol. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.1

Her Majesty’s Inspector

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.1

The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

 Improve the quality of teaching, including in the sixth form, by ensuring that teachers: - use information on pupils’ abilities and needs to provide adequate support for those that have low levels of literacy and/or weak English language skills - have the highest expectations of the amount of work pupils complete and the presentation of this work - provide suitable work for the most able pupils to challenge them to think more deeply about their learning - effectively question pupils to assess their understanding of key concepts and ideas and to probe and deepen their learning - ensure that pupils act on the feedback provided to improve their learning.  Raise achievement across the academy, particularly in Years 7–9, in mathematics and in the sixth form by: - implementing an effective and consistent approach to developing pupils’ literacy and communication skills - raising expectations of what pupils are able to achieve

p.2

The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

- providing carefully targeted and effective support for disadvantaged pupils to speed up the progress they make.  Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that leaders: - develop a rigorous approach to monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching by linking it closely to the progress pupils make over time - robustly analyse the impact of all extra support sessions so that pupils in them make good and better progress - link with leaders from a good or better school to learn from their effective leadership practice - set regular targets and timescales within the academy development plan to monitor the progress that the academy is making. An external review of review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the academy’s use of the pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may

p.2

Evidence

During the inspection, inspectors met with the principal and with other members of the school’s leadership team. The lead inspector also met with the chair of the interim academy board. Inspectors held discussions with groups of pupils and students from all year groups and talked with other pupils, at various times, in lessons and around the school. A focused discussion with a small group of pupils who had special educational needs or disability was also held. Inspectors observed learning in various lessons, where they also looked at examples of pupils’ work. Alongside leaders from the school, inspectors scrutinised samples of the work of disadvantaged pupils and of pupils who had special educational needs or disability. All visits to lessons were made with leaders from the school. Inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including records of the checks on teaching and information about safeguarding, particularly the single central record of checks on staff

p.3

Evidence

recruitment. Inspectors looked at behaviour and attendance records as well as at information about pupils’ achievement.

p.3

Context

Since the previous monitoring inspection, the school has joined the Cabot Learning Federation, which has become the new sponsor of the school. As a result, a transition to a new governance structure is taking place, including the establishment of a new academy council. The interim academy board will continue in this role until September 2016 to facilitate a smooth transfer to the incoming academy council. The current chair of the interim academy board has been appointed to be the chair of the academy council. From 1 September 2016, a resource base for pupils with moderate learning difficulties will open and will be run by the school. Since the last monitoring inspection, three teachers have left the school. No new permanent appointments have been made.

p.3

The effectiveness of leadership and management

School leaders have successfully sustained the momentum of improvement from the previous monitoring inspection. They communicate clearly and consistently their expectations of teaching and assessment, and of pupils’ attendance, behaviour and attitudes to learning. Staff are positive about the improvements being made and pupils are clear that their experience of school is better than it was in the past. The principal has led the school well through a period of significant workforce reform, while ensuring an effective focus on the core weaknesses affecting the school. These important changes have been carried out with rigour and sensitivity so that staff confidence and morale have been maintained. The leadership of teaching has continued to improve. A focus on a series of ‘non- negotiable’ elements has ensured that all pupils now receive regular feedback about the quality of their work and how it can be improved. Through their checks on

p.3

The effectiveness of leadership and management

teaching, leaders make sure that these expectations are being met, including in the sixth form. In addition, leaders ensure that staff receive useful feedback and points for improvement about the quality of their teaching. However, this feedback usually focuses on what teachers should do differently (for example, ‘Mark more frequently’), rather than on how pupils’ learning will be improved. Sometimes, not enough account is taken of the quality of pupils’ work over time in assessing the impact of teaching. This reduces the effectiveness of feedback in raising the achievement of different groups of pupils.

p.4

The effectiveness of leadership and management

Curriculum leaders are also making a stronger contribution to improvement, particularly in the steps they are taking to improve the quality of the curriculum and assessment in their subject areas. However, some curriculum leaders do not yet have the skills to lead improvements to the quality of teaching. They now have better information about teaching quality in their subject teams to inform this work, and senior staff are working with them to help them to develop the confidence and experience they need.

p.4

The effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders make sure that teaching assistants receive helpful feedback about the quality of their work with pupils who have special educational needs or disability. However, leaders do not check well enough the quality of classroom teachers’ work with these pupils. As a result, they sometimes struggle to access the curriculum effectively, or are not given the right work to help them improve. Leaders recognise the importance of tackling this weakness – particularly as the school will take responsibility for a new resource base for pupils with moderate learning difficulties, opening on 1 September 2016.

p.4

The effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders in the sixth form are planning for future changes to the range and provision of courses. They are also tackling the important weakness affecting the quality of teaching and students’ achievement. The use of assessment information has been improved so that any underachievement is identified and tackled more effectively than in the past. Arrangements for safeguarding in the sixth form are fully integrated with those in the rest of the school, supporting a greater awareness of students’ safety, welfare and well-being.

p.4

The effectiveness of leadership and management

The interim academy board continues to make an effective contribution to school improvement. Members understand what is being done to raise standards and improve teaching, and they maintain a stringent oversight of safeguarding arrangements. They ensure that their challenge is rigorous by focusing on the impact of leaders’ actions and how this is being demonstrated. They scrutinise performance information carefully and ask searching questions about how, for example, the attendance of pupils in Year 10 is being improved. They ask for regular updates about how planned changes to the sixth form are being implemented. Members have a good range of expertise and have carried out an audit of their skills to see where these can be further strengthened.

p.4

The effectiveness of leadership and management

Responsibilities for governance are currently being transferred from the interim academy board to a new academy council, under the scheme of delegation of the new sponsor (Cabot Learning Federation). Members of the new academy council are shadowing the interim academy board to ensure that skills and expertise are retained following this handover. For example, the chair of the interim academy board has worked with other academy councils in the federation to share good practice. Board members correctly recognise that they need to understand in more detail the views and experiences of pupils at the school. They are also aware that the school’s website needs further improvement.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The overall quality of teaching continues to improve, including in the sixth form. Pupils are now taking greater pride in their work because teachers are more likely to insist that they do. Pupils appreciate the feedback they receive that helps them to improve. However, some feedback does not address the most important things that pupils need to do to improve their learning. Sometimes, pupils are asked to correct their mistakes or make changes without understanding the reasons for the errors they have made (for example, ‘Use more semi-colons’, without understanding their purpose).

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Variations in teaching quality, although reducing, persist across the school and are reflected in pupils’ different rates of progress. The school’s assessment records show that pupils make good progress in subjects such as English, art and design, Spanish and computing, but slower progress in some other subjects, such as science and humanities. Similarly, while teaching is increasingly effective in helping lower- attaining pupils to catch up, it is having less impact on the progress of the most able pupils, or those who have special educational needs or disability.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Learning is best where teaching is clear and purposeful. Pupils say it helps to know what they are learning and why, and to understand how to improve. They like meeting their targets and being set new challenges which encourage them to aim even higher. The successful use of assessment and feedback is effective in helping more pupils to make better progress than in the past. However, teaching is not yet consistent in checking learning. On occasion, important mistakes are not picked up in time, or pupils are not moved on quickly enough to more challenging work. In the sixth form, students say that teaching does not make good use of longer lessons. They say that sometimes these lessons drift because there is too little purposeful focus to the work they do. Similarly, too little teaching in the sixth form is effective in developing students’ skills for future learning. Students say that they are not able

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

to use private study time effectively to develop these skills. The strongest teaching takes account of the next steps in pupils’ learning. Much of the teaching of the ‘mastery’ curriculum, and the ‘review and re-teach’ at the end of each block of teaching, is helping many pupils to put right important gaps in their learning. For example, carefully targeted teaching for pupils with weaker reading and writing skills is effective in helping them understand how letter sounds can be used to improve their spelling. However, at times, teachers’ questioning, or work presented as ‘extension’, does not help pupils to deepen their learning or develop their thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills. This affects the progress of the most able pupils in particular. Similarly, for some pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities, learning in lessons is sometimes not adapted well enough to ensure that they understand what to do and make progress.

p.5

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils’ behaviour continues to improve. Leaders check closely any patterns in the referrals made by staff for poor behaviour in lessons or around the school. Leaders provide prompt and effective support where there are issues that affect learning. As a result, the overall number of referrals has fallen by around one sixth on the same period last year. Pupils agree that behaviour has got better, and although they say that disruptions to learning still happen in some of their lessons, teachers deal with them more effectively than in the past. Although the number of pupils receiving fixed-term exclusions since the start of the autumn term is high, much of this is attributable to leaders’ raised expectations of behaviour, introduced at the beginning of the academic year. Since that period, the number of exclusions has continued to fall, and very few pupils are excluded more than once. However, exclusions of pupils

p.6

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

who have special educational needs or disability are disproportionately high, with one quarter of exclusions affecting pupils from this group. Leaders have not evaluated information about these exclusions well enough to see how many are linked to weaknesses in the teaching these pupils receive.

p.6

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Overall, pupils’ attendance continues to rise and is close to the national average for secondary schools. This is due to leaders’ increased focus on attendance and punctuality, and to the positive impact of targeted support for pupils and their families. For example, staff are working with the Gypsy Roma community to help families to understand the impact of absence on pupils’ achievement. By contrast, the attendance of pupils who have special educational needs or disability has declined a little. Although this is in part due to the range of pupils’ needs, including medical concerns, leaders have not analysed the patterns of attendance of these pupils closely enough. In the sixth form, attendance has risen markedly since the previous monitoring inspection. Attendance of sixth-form students is reviewed regularly and prompt action is taken where there are concerns.

p.6

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

As at the previous monitoring inspection, the use of ‘learning family time’ varies in its effectiveness. Pupils’ understanding and interest in contemporary issues, and of different faiths, cultures and societies, is too often dependent on the commitment of tutors and pupils to the programme provided. Leaders’ checks on this programme have not had enough impact on improving its quality. By contrast, the school’s work with a range of external agencies is increasingly effective in meeting pupils’ social, emotional and personal needs. This is particularly the case for potentially vulnerable pupils, for pupils who are new arrivals from other countries, and for some pupils who have special educational needs or disability. This is helping to support improvements to pupils’ behaviour, attendance and achievement. By contrast, the impact of information, advice and guidance is more variable. For example, none of a small

p.6

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

group of key stage 4 pupils spoken to had aspirations to join the school’s sixth form. At the time of the inspection, there was very little useful information about the sixth form on the school’s website.

p.7

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements continues to improve. The school’s systems and record-keeping are secure and all members of the school community understand fully their roles and responsibilities. Training for staff is wide-ranging and comprehensive. Work with partners and other agencies is detailed and tenacious, including with the local authority ‘Prevent’ team. Staff are increasingly adept at using evidence from patterns in attendance, behaviour and any referrals to pinpoint possible safeguarding concerns.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils

Overall levels of achievement continue to rise. Leaders are predicting improvements to headline measures of attainment and rates of progress for Year 11 pupils in 2016. They have greater confidence in the accuracy of these predictions as a result of work done in collaboration with other schools to check the reliability of assessment information. Current predictions suggest little difference in the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils in the school.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils

Despite these improvements, the smallest gains are for pupils who have special educational needs or disability, and for the most able pupils. Improvements in achievement are also happening more slowly in science and in humanities than in other subjects. Leaders’ analysis of assessment information for pupils in key stage 3 shows a similar pattern. This is because the improvements to teaching and the curriculum have not yet had enough impact for these groups of pupils or in these subjects.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils

Achievement in the sixth form is improving, with gains predicted for students on academic courses in particular. Half of those students following resit courses in English and mathematics have improved their grade, although few have yet secured at least a C grade in these subjects. Most students are now on more appropriate courses because of changes made to entry requirements in Year 12. This is also having a positive impact on improving the proportion of students who are on track to complete the courses they have chosen. All the students currently in Year 13 are on course to secure worthwhile destinations for future education, employment or training. This is a marked improvement on the previous year and reflects the better quality of advice and guidance offered to students about their future choices. However, provision to develop students’ employability skills is not as strong. Students say they have limited work experience or work shadowing opportunities.

p.7

External support

The school has continued to work closely with the Cabot Learning Federation. This partnership has gathered pace as the federation assumed sponsorship of the school on 1 June 2016. This partnership has provided support for senior and middle leadership at the school, and for provision in science. Leaders in English and mathematics have participated in network meetings with leaders from other schools in the federation, and this has supported developments to the curriculum and assessment in these subjects. The federation has also provided welcome support for finance and for human resources.

p.8