Setting

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

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Mr Chris Parkinson Executive Headteacher Winstanley Community College Kingsway North Leicester Leicestershire LE3 3BD

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Community College

Following my visit to your school on 5 October 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 school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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Community College

The visit was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in June 2015. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. At its section 5 inspection before the one that took place in June 2015, the school was also judged to require improvement.

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Community College

Senior leaders and governors are not 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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Community College

The school should take further action to:

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Community College

 rapidly improve the quality of teaching across all years in all subjects  ensure that all teachers assess pupils’ work accurately and use this information to inform their planning of future lessons  ensure that the behaviour in all lessons is appropriate to enable all pupils to learn and make progress  develop governors’ skills to enable them to hold leaders effectively to account for the quality of the school’s provision.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, subject leaders and the chair of governors. I also met with a lead practitioner from the lead school of the LiFE multi-academy trust and the chair of the board of directors of the trust. I visited seven lessons across a range of subjects in Years 8, 9 and 10. I conducted these visits with the head of school. I spoke with pupils during these visits to lessons. Furthermore, I spoke with pupils from Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 during breaktime, when I also observed pupils’ behaviour. I looked at pupils’ books, both during lessons and as a separate activity with subject leaders. I scrutinised information relating to the quality of teaching and learning, achievement and leadership and management. I also checked the school’s single central record.

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Context

You took up your substantive post at the beginning of this academic year. You are also the executive headteacher of the lead school of the LiFE multi-academy trust and spend two days each week at Winstanley Community College and three days each week at Bosworth Academy. When you are not present at Winstanley Community College, the previous headteacher, who is now head of school, leads the academy.

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Context

The chair of governors at the time of the last monitoring inspection resigned at the end of the last academic year. Subsequently, his replacement also resigned. The current chair of governors has been in post for two weeks.

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Context

Since the previous monitoring inspection, there have been two new appointments to the teaching staff in addition to your own appointment.

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Context

The school is looking to enter the LiFE multi-academy trust imminently.

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Main findings

Despite the actions that senior leaders have taken to improve the quality of teaching and learning since the previous inspection, the outcomes for those pupils who sat their GCSEs in 2016 were disappointing. The outcomes were below those that senior leaders were expecting. In light of this, since your arrival at the school as executive headteacher, you and your senior team have taken swift action to improve the quality of teaching at the school and to secure greater achievement for pupils. Leaders have ensured, for example, that teachers now have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve. They have also put in place a mentoring system for all Year 11 pupils. The purpose of this initiative is to ensure that all pupils in this year group receive advice and guidance from a designated mentor to enable them to make the progress they should. Pupils from across all years that I met with remarked on the increased expectations that teachers now have of them.

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Main findings

However, many of the actions your senior leaders have undertaken to improve the quality of teaching and raise pupils’ outcomes are recent. Consequently, it is too early to measure their impact.

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Main findings

Subject leaders have worked closely with colleagues from the lead school of the LiFE multi-academy trust to develop their leadership skills further. Subject leaders from both schools have worked collaboratively to design this support so that it meets the individual needs of the different departments within the school. For example, the subject leader for English has worked closely with colleagues from the lead school to check the accuracy of teachers’ assessments of pupils’ work. The subject leader of science has received support to secure the quality of teaching in the science department. This wide-ranging support has enabled subject leaders to benefit from examples of best practice from the lead school. While the targeting of this support is effective, it is too early to measure the impact on improving the quality of teaching and raising pupils’ outcomes.

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Main findings

You, working closely with your senior leaders, have taken action to improve pupils’ attitudes to their learning and their behaviour. Leaders have communicated to both staff and pupils the school’s raised expectations in relation to behaviour. Your senior leaders have increased the presence of staff during social times to supervise pupils’ conduct. They have also ensured that, where staff require support in managing a pupil’s behaviour, they receive it. This includes putting in place close support for those pupils who demonstrate challenging behaviour. The majority of pupils I met with said that behaviour is now better. However, a few pupils expressed concern in relation to the behaviour of some pupils, particularly in science lessons. You rightly recognise this issue and, working closely with your head of school, are currently taking action to resolve it. However, it is too early to measure the success of this

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Main findings

The governing body has undergone significant change since the last monitoring inspection. Current members of the governing body rightly recognise that they have insufficient knowledge and expertise to be able to hold the school’s leaders to account effectively. They have sought support, particularly from the directors of the multi-academy trust that the school plans to join imminently. However, this support has been recent, and it is too early to measure the impact that it has had on the governors’ capacity to check on the quality of the school’s provision.

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External support

In the short time that you have been executive headteacher, the school has been able to draw on wide-ranging support from the lead academy of the LiFE multi- academy trust. The directors of the trust’s board are committed to ensuring that pupils at the school receive the quality of education to which they are entitled. To this end, they have supported you in taking up your current position as the executive headteacher of the school. Furthermore, they have enabled the school’s subject leaders to receive close support from subject leaders at the trust’s lead school. Directors of the trust have also provided support to the school’s governing body.

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External support

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

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