Setting

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

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Mr Dale Jackson Principal Kingswood Academy Wawne Road Bransholme Hull HU7 4WR

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Academy

Following my visit to your school on 21 September 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the academy since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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Academy

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in March 2016. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Academy

Senior leaders, governors and the trust are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order to become a good school.

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Academy

The school should take further action to:

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Academy

 eradicate remaining variations in performance between subjects, and for different groups of pupils in each year group, so that all pupils make at least good progress from their starting points  accelerate the progress of the most able and the most able disadvantaged pupils so that they reach their full potential  identify and address the training needs of new governors so that they can be fully effective in this role.

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Evidence

During the inspection I met with you, other members of the senior leadership team, a group of middle leaders and the chair of the local governing body. I also spoke with a group of key stage 4 pupils and had a telephone conversation with a representative of the trust. I accompanied the vice-principal on a series of short visits to classrooms. I reviewed the single central record and documents relating to staff recruitment. I scrutinised a range of information about the school’s performance, including unvalidated results of GCSE examinations taken in 2016 and the school’s self-evaluation document. The school’s action plan was evaluated.

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Context

Since the last inspection six teachers have left the school and 10 have joined. Three new governors have joined the local governing board. The regional director of the trust has recently left their post and at the time of this inspection the position was unfilled. The trust’s director of challenge and intervention is currently supporting the school.

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Main findings

You, along with other senior leaders and governors, are relentless in your drive to secure rapid improvement. Your vision is shared and embraced by all staff. They are fully committed to ensuring that the school’s ‘key drivers’ support the journey towards providing ‘world-class learning’ for all pupils in the school. You have created an aspirational culture in which pupils’ achievements in all respects are celebrated. Planned actions to tackle the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection have been wide-ranging and are clearly having a positive impact on many areas of the school’s work. Teaching and leadership vacancies have been successfully filled, bringing more stability to the teaching team and increasing capacity for improvement.

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Main findings

Governors are knowledgeable about the school’s strengths and priorities. They use their knowledge and expertise effectively to monitor the school’s progress and to challenge you and your leadership team to bring about sustainable improvements in provision and pupil outcomes. Newly appointed governors have brought valuable additional skills and experience. Training to ensure that they are fully effective in this new role has not yet taken place.

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Main findings

Middle leaders are making a much stronger contribution to driving improvement in their areas of responsibility and are being more robust in holding teachers in their departments to account. These leaders are highly motivated to bring about the necessary improvement.

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Main findings

Professional development opportunities for teachers, including regular peer coaching and after-school training sessions, are focused sharply on school priorities. Opportunities to reflect on and share good practice are valued. These approaches are successfully helping teachers to develop their skills. As a result, variation in the quality of teaching across the academy is being successfully addressed.

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Main findings

Similarly, variation in teachers’ expectations of what pupils should achieve are also diminishing. Pupils noted how teachers know their individual strengths and weaknesses and take action to help them improve. They feel that work is better matched to their needs and feedback is more individual, supporting them to make better progress.

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Main findings

There were some marked improvements to pupils’ attainment in the 2016 GCSE results. Over half of pupils gained a good GCSE in English and mathematics, compared with just one third in 2015. Progress was better in many subjects and standards rose as a result, for example in English, business studies, physical education and food technology. However, in other subjects, such as science and geography, historic weak teaching and staffing issues prevented pupils achieving as well as they should, despite improved progress during Year 11.

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Main findings

Differences in the performance between groups of pupils in the school are being successfully narrowed, for example between boys and girls and between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. The attainment of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities also rose in 2016 as a result of better individual support and improvements in whole-class teaching. School leaders know that there is more to do to ensure that the most able pupils and the most able disadvantaged pupils achieve their potential.

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Main findings

Actions to improve punctuality are consistently applied and have been effective. Pupils report that the use of rewards and sanctions is effective, encouraging them to arrive on time, work productively in lessons and behave well. This was evident on my tour of the school. Pupils appreciate that positive attitudes to learning and good behaviour is now rewarded more frequently. Older pupils recognise the importance of working hard so they can successfully progress onto their chosen next stage of education or training. When asked to describe their experience at the academy, pupils used words such as ‘interesting’, ‘improved’, ‘helpful’, ‘effective’, ‘life- changing’ and ‘motivational’, reflecting the positive impact of recent improvements.

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External support

The trust has an accurate view of the school’s current performance. They have supported the school in securing improvements in a number of key areas, including governance, leadership and mathematics.

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External support

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

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