Haygrove School

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

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Mrs Karen Canham Headteacher Haygrove School Durleigh Road Bridgwater Somerset TA6 7HW

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

Following my visit to the school on 8 November 2016 with Will Morgan, Ofsted Inspector, 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 the school was judged to be good in June 2012.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

The school has a strong ethos and a well-established and widely applied set of values. Many pupils and parents are positive about the culture of care, support and concern for the well-being and all-round development of all pupils so that they are prepared well for their next steps. You, with other leaders and governors, have established a personalised approach to teaching and learning that has raised pupils’ academic achievement significantly year on year over a period of four or more years. This is a clear endorsement of your strong leadership.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

Pupils join the school at the start of Year 7 with starting points that are in line with the average. They make strong progress in a wide range of subjects and achieve well in examinations at the end of Year 11, although pupils’ achievement is significantly stronger in English than in mathematics. You and governors are aware of the need to continue to improve the outcomes for pupils in mathematics. Pupils achieve well in a range of other subjects, such as history, religious education, physical education, art, music and photography. The work of current pupils in mathematics, science and modern foreign languages shows less progress, although GCSE examination results in mathematics and science are at least in line with national rates. Teachers are mostly very effective in preparing pupils for GCSE and other examinations.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

The overall achievement of disadvantaged pupils by the end of Year 11 has improved more rapidly than that of others nationally. Their achievement in English is strong but still lags behind that of other pupils in mathematics, particularly for the most able disadvantaged pupils. Strategies to raise the achievement of these pupils are not yet fully effective in all subjects. The achievement of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has improved at least in line with that of other pupils. The report on the previous inspection identified the need to raise expectations to improve the achievement of the most able pupils. This has been tackled successfully in some subjects and can be seen clearly, for example in English. However, the high level of challenge for the most able pupils is not provided consistently for current pupils in mathematics and science.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

Your evaluation, and that of other senior leaders and governors, that the performance of the school is outstanding is not supported by the progress being made by current pupils in some key subjects. The evaluation that teaching overall is outstanding does not explain the weaker achievement of pupils in a minority of subjects. There is clear overall evidence of the positive impact of the school’s excellent personalised learning checklists in securing improvements in pupils’ progress in many subjects. However, this has not yet led to a clear focus on the progress of each pupil, including those who are disadvantaged and the most able, being firmly embedded in all subjects.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

The school’s approach to assessment is described as a combination of fixed assessment points and formal reviews of pupils’ progress against their targets, and teachers’ ongoing assessment of pupils’ work. This works well in some subjects. In English, for example, in addition to the regular in-depth marking in line with the school’s marking policy, pupils receive frequent feedback on their work so that they are clear about how well they are doing and how to improve. Pupils’ work in creative subjects improves as a result of high-quality feedback from the teacher and highly effective use of peer critique. This good practice is not taking place in mathematics and science, for example.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

Governors are very supportive of you and other senior leaders. They share and make a strong contribution to the positive culture and ethos in the school. They agree with your evaluation of the performance of the school. However, they lack a precise independent analysis of, for example, data and information about pupils’ achievement, to challenge you robustly about the progress of specific groups of pupils. They accept your analysis of information about pupils’ progress at each review point. They do not, for example, ask how the checking of pupils’ work has confirmed the accuracy and reliability of the data.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

Governors, you and the school’s leadership team have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are up to date, meet requirements and are fit for purpose. The senior leader who is the designated safeguarding lead is very well informed about all aspects of safeguarding and provides good leadership. Relevant records are detailed and of good quality. An analysis of all relevant information, such as absence data and records of any incidents of poor behaviour, is undertaken by senior staff and governors. They identify any potential safeguarding or child protection concerns. Pupils feel safe and are safe and well looked after. Pupils are clear about what they need to do to keep themselves safe and what to do if they have any concerns.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

Governors are well informed about all aspects of safeguarding. Many governors have been, or soon will be, trained. The link safeguarding governor, who is the chair of the governing body, has regular meetings with the designated safeguarding lead to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of arrangements and of staff training. Staff are well trained, including in understanding the ‘Prevent’ duty to ensure that they are alert to the dangers of extremism and radicalisation. Safeguarding is promoted frequently through staff briefings. Regular reports are provided for the full governing body. Governors are aware of the need to keep the procedures for the safe use of computers and other technology, and for the pupils’ use of the internet and social media, up to date. Parents are kept up to date through the school website.

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Short inspection of Haygrove School

The large majority of parents believe that the school keeps their children safe and cares for them well. Pupils enjoy coming to school and this is shown in their mostly good attendance. You are aware that the attendance of some disadvantaged pupils, such as those currently in Year 11, is not good enough.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They are polite and respectful of adults and each other. Even during lunchtime, when particular areas of the site are crowded, pupils’ behaviour is safe, sensible and mostly understanding of others’ needs.  Pupils make strong progress in a wide range of subjects as a result of good teaching. The work in pupils’ books and folders fully supports the school leaders’ analysis of examination data and current pupils’ progress that identifies those subjects with strong performance.  Pupils make very strong progress in English as a result of teaching that focuses well on the needs of individual pupils. Frequent and precise feedback ensures that pupils know exactly how well they are doing. They use this feedback well to improve their work and make further progress.  Work of an exceptionally high quality was seen in art, photography and music. Pupils work with great enthusiasm in these subjects and take obvious

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Inspection findings

pride in what they achieve. School leaders are rightly proud of the quality of this work. Pupils taking examination courses in physical education showed a good depth of understanding of theory work, for example in the skills required to undertake three-day hill walking exercises.  Pupils in a Year 11 religious education class have an impressive depth of understanding of complex and sensitive issues, such as assisted suicide. Their classwork books show that they can balance a range of views and opinions, weigh up facts and reach perceptive and well-argued conclusions. It is a shame that this classwork is not reviewed by the teacher to give them feedback on the high quality of much of this work.  Examination results in mathematics have improved and the end of Year 11 progress measures are generally at least in line with national averages. However, the work of current pupils shows some not making the progress

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Inspection findings

they are capable of, as indicated by their target grades. Too many pupils have long periods with no indication that their work is correct or that they understand it. Some work repeats earlier work and shows that prior learning was insecure or does not extend and deepen pupils’ learning sufficiently. In some classes, the most able pupils are not challenged to make as much progress as they could. A small number of disadvantaged pupils show the potential to achieve at a higher level but this is not detected by the teacher.  Pupils achieve well in examinations in science. However, there is not enough of current pupils’ own work in their books to be able to confidently see what progress they are making. Much shows a lack of development of pupils’ scientific thinking and reasoning skills to determine their depth of understanding. The work of the most able pupils, in for example Year 10, is not at the level expected for them to achieve their targets of the highest

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Inspection findings

GCSE grades. They are not encouraged to develop and apply their understanding of key scientific ideas. Conversations with them show that they are fully capable of doing this.  The school offers a wide range of modern foreign language courses, in line with its specialist status. Classes mostly include pupils with a wide range of aptitudes. Teaching generally does not take sufficient account of this so that current pupils’ progress is not as strong as it should be.  The achievement of disadvantaged pupils has improved steadily over several years. Overall it is comparable with other non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. However, there is variation across subjects in how well current disadvantaged pupils are supported and challenged to achieve as well as they could. This is often done well and these pupils are thriving, sometimes in high-ability teaching groups. In a minority of subjects, teachers are not

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Inspection findings

adept at identifying these pupils’ real potential so that their progress can be accelerated.  The overall achievement of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has improved to be at least in line with that of other pupils. In lessons, these pupils often receive targeted support to help them fulfil their potential.  Pupils who join the school in Year 7 with low prior achievement are supported well in English. As a result, many make significant gains in their reading and writing to enable them to catch up. School leaders provided no analysis to show similar improvements in pupils’ numeracy skills. However, the additional work that these pupils undertake to develop these skills has led to those currently in Year 7 making good progress.  When they are given the opportunity, pupils show their keenness to learn. When they are given clear feedback from teachers, they use this well to

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Inspection findings

improve their work. When they are asked direct questions by teachers, they respond well. When these things do not happen, although pupils do as they are told, they show less interest in the work and do not become involved.  Teachers’ use of questions to probe and deepen pupils’ understanding is considered to be a strength by school leaders. There is much good practice. However, this is not fully embedded in all subjects. When not used well, questioning is limited to a few pupils who volunteer answers or is too superficial to sufficiently check or extend pupils’ understanding.  Pupils read well. Many say that they often read for pleasure. They can interpret information in textbooks and other sources.  The large majority of parents are very positive about the school, but those that do raise concerns do so about the lack of challenge in some lessons and quieter pupils not being encouraged to participate. These comments

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that teachers in all subjects:

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Next steps for the school

 enable pupils to produce work that shows their depth of knowledge and understanding so that their progress can be accurately checked  provide pupils with precise feedback on their work to enable them to know more clearly what they need to do to improve and to set higher expectations of what they should achieve.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other senior leaders, and with the chair and five other members of the governing body. Accompanied by senior leaders, inspectors visited lessons in most year groups and across a range of subjects. One formal meeting was held with a group of Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils. Informal discussions were held with other pupils during lesson changeovers, morning break and at lunchtime. Inspectors listened to some pupils read in lessons. A range of documents was read, including school policies, the school’s self-evaluation, and the analysis of assessment, attendance and other information. Inspectors undertook a range of activities to check the effectiveness of the school’s arrangements for safeguarding, including reading documents, and talking with pupils, teachers, school leaders and governors.

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors took account of the 65 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, including 60 with additional comments and the views of 33 pupils who completed the online survey. There were no responses to the staff survey.

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Information about the inspection

At the start of the inspection, the following lines of enquiry were agreed with the headteacher and deputy headteacher, and later discussed with governors.

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Information about the inspection

 Have improvements in mathematics been sustained so that current pupils in all year groups are making strong progress?  Is there an effective set of strategies for raising the achievement of disadvantaged pupils that is used consistently well by all teachers?  Are the most able pupils challenged sufficiently to achieve well across a wide range of subjects?  How well are pupils who have special educational needs supported in lessons to make strong progress?  Do pupils with low starting points make enough progress to enable them to catch up?

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Information about the inspection

It was also agreed that inspectors would check the achievement of pupils in subjects such as English, science, history and creative subjects (art, photography and music), evaluated as stronger by school leaders.

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