Setting

Mr Alan Gaunt Interim Executive Headteacher Manor Green College Manor Campus Century Youth House Albert Road Romford RM1 2PS

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

Following my visit to your college on 14 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 which 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 fourth monitoring inspection since the college became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in February 2015. The full list of the areas for improvement which 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 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.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

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. Ofsted

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Manor Green College

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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place in February 2015

 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 .

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place in February 2015

 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 – 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.

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place in February 2015

 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.

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place in February 2015

 Improve attendance by ensuring the systems currently being developed are fully embedded in all parts of the college and are used consistently in tackling poor attendance.

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place in February 2015

An external 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 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 3 Birnam Wood campus. 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 both of the interim executive headteachers, the chair and three members of the interim executive board (IEB) and the chief executive officer of the Olive Academies Trust. The education, inclusion and support manager and the project manager for schools in Havering also met with the inspector. The three responses to the online Ofsted Parent View questionnaire were considered and pupils were spoken to informally during the inspection. 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 in a number of key stage 3 lessons, accompanied by a senior leader. She reviewed documents recording the college’s work across all

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Evidence

campuses and checked safeguarding arrangements.

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Context

Since the last monitoring inspection, the college’s senior leadership team has been reviewed. Two new executive headteachers were appointed on an interim basis at the start of the summer term and will remain in post until the end of this academic year. They share the role between them, with one working for four days and one for the remaining day of the week. The acting head of college has returned to her substantive role as head of key stage 4 and is acting deputy head of college. The roles and responsibilities of other acting senior leaders have been adjusted accordingly. The personalised learning coordinator of the Green Vale medical provision has left the college and the deputy coordinator is covering this role. A further teacher has left the Oglethorpe primary campus and has not been replaced. There are no qualified teachers currently at the primary campus.

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Context

The IEB is now fully in place and has met a number of times. The membership of the IEB includes representatives from the local authority, Havering headteachers’ forums and the Olive Academies Trust. As the identified sponsor, the trust continues to work closely with college leaders and the local authority to facilitate the academy conversion. The proposed conversion to become an academy is now planned for 1 September 2016. The trust has appointed a permanent executive headteacher for another of its schools from September and this role will be extended to cover the executive leadership of the college if the conversion takes place as expected.

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Context

The previous proposal that identified a site for a new building to accommodate all key stage 3 and 4 pupils was turned down by the local authority. An alternative plan to develop the Birnam Wood site for older pupils and a different site for key stage 3 pupils from September is still being finalized. The arrangements for the management of the medical and primary provisions from September are more advanced but have still to be completed. The original proposal for them to be managed by leaders from other schools and the local authority has not changed.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders are very aware that a clear vision and ethos for the new college has to be established from the start of next year if they are to raise expectations and promote the engagement of pupils. Although systems for monitoring the quality of teaching, learning and assessment have improved, leaders are still unable to accurately judge the quality of teaching because not all assessments of pupils’ progress are accurate. Leaders and managers correctly identified that assessment information for some subjects was overgenerous last term and did not reflect the quality of work seen in pupils’ books. There remain inconsistencies in relation to teachers judging and reporting progress across subjects and classes. Any tracking of pupils’ progress, including the performance of the more vulnerable pupils, the most able or disadvantaged groups remains unreliable.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders have tried to establish how well the current Year 11 pupils are likely to achieve at the end of this year. Their predictions suggest that the standards reached by these pupils will not reflect their potential. Little has been done to address the very poor standards of literacy and numeracy that remain across the college. Staff have received further training but leaders have still to appoint coordinators to continue to embed these skills across the curriculum. The numeracy policy has not yet been shared with staff. The few interventions that have been made to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of pupils, particularly those who will leave the college this year, have been too little and too late.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Not much has changed at the key stage 4 Manor campus since the previous monitoring inspection. Further minor repairs to the building have been made. For example, the multi-use games area has been cleaned up for pupils to use. No further investment has been made as this site is planned to close at the end of this term. The facilities at the key stage 3 Birnam Wood campus are much better but have still to be adapted to meet the needs of Year 10 and 11 pupils who will attend the site next year. Plans to improve the catering, sports and practical facilities have yet to be implemented. The site boundaries have not been secured. In addition, formal risk assessments have not been carried out on the buildings used by other providers, including community groups and an early years nursery. Key stage 3 pupils will move to attend a temporary provision at the Petersfield depot site. This will also require significant development. There is still much to be done to ensure that both

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

the proposed sites are safe and appropriate places for pupils to attend in September. Leaders have still to give careful consideration to how many pupils can safely be accommodated while the planned improvements take place. The high numbers of pupils who are permanently excluded from other schools within Havering and placed at the college are likely to make this a significant challenge. The college action plan is regularly reviewed and evaluated by school leaders and the IEB. The evaluation correctly identifies that most actions have had very little impact on raising standards across the college. Leaders are battling hard to bring about the necessary improvements but until the academy conversion process is finalised, they are constrained by a lack of resources. In the meantime, representatives from the Olive Academies Trust have continued to offer valuable support to leaders to address key improvement areas. They remain firmly committed

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

to the proposed academy sponsorship arrangement and are planning carefully for the launch of the new academy in September. For example, they are reviewing the curriculum to ensure that it better meets the needs of pupils and allows them to return to mainstream schools successfully as soon as possible.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Plans for the college’s medical and primary provisions have been agreed, although the specific details have still to be shared with the IEB, parents and staff. Primary pupils will be taught in nurture groups within mainstream schools that will be resourced by the local authority. The Oglethorpe primary campus will therefore close. Pupils with medical and emotional needs will continue to attend the existing Green Vale campus for next year while they wait for new facilities to be built at the Frances Bardsley Academy. Both these arrangements are likely to be in place for September 2016.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The quality of teaching across the college remains a concern. Ongoing support and training for teachers have yet to have an impact on pupils’ progress. Work seen in books is sometimes not reflective of the assessments given by teachers. Some books are poorly presented and contain abusive language. The feedback provided by teachers is not as helpful or specific as it could be and there is little indication that pupils are acting upon the advice they are given. Overall, it is a very inconsistent picture. Some teaching is more effective because teachers take account of pupils’ starting points and engage them with well-planned activities. In other lessons, teachers take too long to settle pupils and have low expectations of their behaviour and what they can achieve.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Opportunities for teachers to visit other schools to work with mainstream colleagues have still not been provided. Consequently, teachers’ assessments are not accurate and some teaching fails to challenge those pupils who are most able and could achieve more.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching assistants are generally used well to support learning when pupils remain in class. However, they frequently need to leave lessons because pupils choose to remove themselves or need to be taken to work elsewhere when they become disruptive. All policies will be reviewed next year if the academy conversion takes place as planned. In the meantime, the website is currently undergoing maintenance and new policies have still to be shared with parents. When new procedures have been introduced they are not always applied in a consistent way by all staff. For example, pupils at the key stage 3 site are praised and sanctioned in different ways by different staff. They are quick to take advantage of this and learning time is lost.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

New mentoring and restorative justice systems are being developed across the college. However, they have still to embed and are making little difference to pupils’ attitudes because staff apply them inconsistently. The attitudes and behaviour of key stage 3 and 4 pupils remain a concern. Following the last monitoring visit, Havering local authority has not placed any further pupils at the college with education, health and care plans or statements of special educational need. However, the college has continued to receive pupils with recognised special educational needs or disability from other local authorities. The number of pupils on roll has continued to rise and staff have struggled to meet the needs of all pupils.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Many pupils do not attend as well as they should. Exclusion rates remain high, especially for pupils in Year 11. The majority of incidents resulting in a temporary exclusion are due to persistent disruptive behaviour or physical assaults. Overall attendance rates are well below acceptable levels. Pupils who attend the medical provision are not offered a full-time placement even if they could cope with this or could attend for longer periods of time.

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Outcomes for pupils

The available assessment tracking information is unreliable but indicates that many pupils continue to make poor progress from their starting points. Less than half of key stage 4 pupils are making expected progress in mathematics and only just over a quarter are making the expected amount of progress in English. The progress of key stage 3 pupils is slightly better with just over half making expected progress in mathematics and English. Few pupils are making better than expected progress in either subject. Consequently, standards in literacy and numeracy remain low. Pupils continue to fall further behind their peers in other schools and the gap is getting wider.

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Outcomes for pupils

Very few Year 11 pupils are predicted to achieve GCSE passes at grades A* to C in English and mathematics. Nearly one quarter of those entered for the English GCSE examination are unlikely to achieve a pass at any grade. A few pupils have completed courses in catering and art and the pass rates for these subjects are likely to be more positive. However, in information technology examinations, the majority of pupils entered are likely to fail the course. The outcomes for Year 11 pupils who have attended courses at alternative providers are difficult to predict because they have not been monitored closely enough. Some pupils have yet to be enrolled on courses or apprenticeships next year and may not be in education, employment or training when they leave.

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External support

Since the last monitoring visit, Havering local authority have reviewed their statement of action and resubmitted it in May 2016. It now takes account of the college action plan and is fit for purpose. Using the services of staff from the Olive Academies Trust, they have brokered further training for teachers and support for leaders. The senior leadership team has been strengthened by the advice and guidance of experienced interim executive headteachers. Representatives from the local authority are working more closely with the IEB and officers from the trust to facilitate the academy conversion as soon as possible. It is frustrating for everyone that this is taking so long to achieve. In the meantime, few improvements have had any impact on raising standards across the college.

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