Hinde House 3-16 School

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

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Mr Chris French Executive Principal Hinde House 3-16 School Shiregreen Lane Sheffield South Yorkshire S5 6AG

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Short inspection of Hinde House 3-16 School

Following my visit to the school on 22 June 2016 with Lesley Butcher HMI, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since your school was judged to be good in November 2012.

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Short inspection of Hinde House 3-16 School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have a clear vision to raise achievement and aspiration for all and this vision spreads throughout the school. Trust directors share this sense of moral purpose and middle leaders stated they work at Hinde House as they want the very best for the children in this community. As a result of strong leadership, rigorous systems and effective teaching, pupils make good progress.

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Short inspection of Hinde House 3-16 School

You and your leaders have sustained a culture of high expectations over a period of considerable change for the school and its community. A higher proportion of children for whom English is an additional language have joined the school and many have arrived at differing times of the school year. Leaders have worked intensively to build good community relationships through open evenings and regular meetings with parents. Pupils feel safe in the school and value the actions taken to generate an inclusive community where tolerance is the norm. Parents are extremely appreciative of the school’s work in providing support and establishing close parental links.

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Short inspection of Hinde House 3-16 School

At all levels, leaders closely track pupils’ progress and have an acute understanding of the progress of vulnerable groups. Innovations such as the New Start programme are giving pupils essential literacy and numeracy skills. As a result, pupils are able to engage with a wider range of subjects more successfully as they move through the school. Ongoing interventions and support continue to address underperformance when it occurs. As a result, many of the vulnerable groups with language needs or special educational needs are making improving progress. Leaders at all levels check the effectiveness of teaching thoroughly and there are robust systems in place to hold teachers to account for the quality of their teaching and the progress of pupils in their classes.

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Short inspection of Hinde House 3-16 School

Trust directors share the principal’s vision for sustained progress for all pupils. They have the skills and expertise to question leaders effectively and challenge underperformance. They ensure that there is a clear link between teacher performance and pay progression. Trust directors are visible at school events and work with school leaders to build close links with the local community.

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Short inspection of Hinde House 3-16 School

Safeguarding is effective. The school actively promotes a culture of safeguarding and pupil welfare lies at the heart of its actions. The school has been at the forefront of efforts to confront issues such as extremism. Education for safety is a key element of the school’s work. Rigorous checks are made on the suitability of staff. Staff and governors receive training on key safeguarding issues and the school has close links with the local children’s safeguarding board. Pupils feel safe and their parents agree. School leaders set clear boundaries where unacceptable behaviour is challenged and positive behaviour rewarded. Leaders have worked assiduously to establish an inclusive environment within the school.

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Inspection findings

 Over time, pupils make good progress. Although attainment has been below that achieved nationally, pupils make good progress from their starting points that are often significantly below average. In the primary phase, pupils continue to make good progress and by the end of key stage 2 achieve levels of progress that exceed those achieved nationally. This pattern continues in the secondary phase where pupils make good progress at the end of key stage 4, with progress in subjects such as mathematics and science above that achieved nationally.  Leaders are committed to addressing the needs of vulnerable groups, and effective teaching, well-matched support and close tracking are leading to improving progress. Disadvantaged pupils are making good progress in mathematics and English in Year 11, a pattern that is repeated in Years 7 to 9. Pupils who have special educational needs are making improving progress

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Inspection findings

overall, as was reflected in the work in their books over time. Pupils with special learning and physical needs make better progress than pupils with social and emotional needs. The progress of the increasing proportions of Roma children has improved, albeit from low starting points, over the past four years. Improving teaching, enhanced by targeted support, has enabled Roma children to engage with a broader curriculum and make much better progress in mathematics and science, although they make slower progress in English.  Well-paced lessons and demanding tasks challenge the most able and enable them to make good progress. In mathematics, pupils in the top sets experience challenging and rapid questions that check their conceptual understanding and demand participation, while in English they study ambitious texts and genres from Year 7 onwards. As a result, pupils are on track to attain standards in English, mathematics and science that are above

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Inspection findings

those achieved by the most able nationally, and their progress in mathematics remains particularly strong.  Leaders have effective systems in place to monitor the quality of teaching and learning. Their quality assurance programmes include regular checks on lessons, work in books and pupils’ progress. Middle leaders provide both support and challenge to the teachers in their teams. Support programmes help teachers to improve their practice and a thorough programme of professional development is in place.  Teaching has many strengths. In the primary phase, teachers demonstrate thorough subject knowledge and address misconceptions swiftly in lessons and in books. Pupils respond well to teachers’ feedback and improve their work as a result. Skills are developed across the curriculum with opportunities to use mathematics in science and extended writing in humanities. Teachers promote the language of learning well so that all

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Inspection findings

pupils understand school values and can articulate good learning behaviours.  In the secondary phase, pupils have a clear understanding of the school’s ‘five star learner’ programme and demonstrate preparedness and attentiveness. Pupils welcome challenging questions that make them explain the rationale behind their answers. Teachers plan thoroughly to meet the needs of individuals and the whole class, and teaching assistants are used effectively. Across a range of subjects and year groups, pupils were purposefully engaged with questions and tasks that prompted deeper understanding. While teachers’ feedback is improving, pupils do not act upon it to improve their work as consistently as in the primary phase. Similarly, some of the opportunities to strengthen the curriculum and assessment across the primary and secondary phases are not fully developed.  In the early years, pupils make good progress from the start of Nursery to

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Inspection findings

the end of Reception. Many children start Nursery with skills, knowledge and understanding that are well below those seen typically, but through effective teaching they are prepared well for key stage 1. They benefit from a stimulating learning environment with strong outdoor provision. Learning journals contain frequent observations that inform the next stages in their learning. Planning is thorough and it reflects the needs of individual children well.  As a result of a range of initiatives, including attendance interviews and the wider partnership work of the attendance support team, attendance is improving. This has proved more challenging with the substantial changes to the school population in recent years and the increasing number of pupils joining at differing times of the year. Overall, attendance for the school is improving, as it is for disadvantaged pupils. Children with special educational needs are showing significant improvements in their attendance

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Inspection findings

in 2016. The rates of attendance of Roma children have significantly improved this year because of leaders’ concerted actions. While improving trends are apparent, attendance remains below national and further work is needed to ensure that pupils do not suffer as a result of low attendance.  Across both phases, pupils demonstrate confidence and self-awareness and take pride in their work. Behaviour in lessons and around both sites is orderly. Leaders responded to some of the tensions that emerged in 2014 from the changing contexts of the school with a mixture of intensive support and firmness. As a result, there was an increase in fixed-term exclusions, which is now subsiding. The school retains a positive approach to behaviour and an inclusive ethos. Primary pupils greatly valued the support and opportunities provided, describing how ‘This school has changed my future’ and ‘All pupils in the school try to follow the core values.’ These sentiments

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Inspection findings

were echoed by their secondary peers, who could describe how the extensive work to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development had promoted a culture of tolerance. Parents were equally as appreciative, describing a ‘totally supportive’ school whose focus was ‘all about the child’.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should take steps to:

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Next steps for the school

 improve the quality and impact of assessment to further accelerate progress across both phases of the school  strengthen the curriculum links between the primary and secondary phases of the school to increase challenge and further improve progress and attainment  develop strategies to build on the positive relationships with parents, carers and the wider community to further improve attendance.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, we met with you, the heads of the primary and secondary phases, deputy headteachers and middle leaders. I also spoke to a group of directors, including the chair. We undertook learning walks with senior leaders across the primary and secondary phases. We looked at pupils’ work along with middle leaders. We held meetings with groups of pupils in both the primary and secondary phases. We examined the school improvement plan as well as other documents, including school self-evaluation, assessment information on current progress, attendance information and pupil tracking and intervention documents. We also examined safeguarding documents, including the single central record. I met a group of eight parents and took into account 13 responses to the Ofsted online Parent View questionnaire, along with eight free text responses and one parental phone call.

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