The Bishop Wand Church of England School

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

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Mr D Aldridge Headteacher The Bishop Wand Church of England School Layton’s Lane Sunbury-on-Thames Surrey TW16 6LT

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Short inspection of The Bishop Wand Church of England School

Following my visit to the school on 24 January 2017 with Ofsted Inspector Tajinder Bhambra, 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 February 2013.

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Short inspection of The Bishop Wand Church of England School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your leadership team have worked effectively to drive forward improvements. A focus on individual pupils’ needs is at the core of your work. The school’s development plan clearly identifies the right areas for further improvement in order to achieve the high ambitions you have set for the school. Your accurate monitoring and use of robust procedures to check teachers’ performance are helping teachers improve. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved and pupils are making more progress than previously. Results are improving in the sixth form and student numbers are increasing because leaders have improved the quality of the curriculum and teaching for these students.

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Short inspection of The Bishop Wand Church of England School

You, the governors and other leaders have established a culture that is welcoming and inclusive. The school has a positive atmosphere with a great sense of community. Pupils are respectful and say they enjoy coming to school. Most pupils are keen to participate fully in lessons and other activities.

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Short inspection of The Bishop Wand Church of England School

At the time of the last inspection, the school was asked to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Your dedicated senior leaders have led this improvement skilfully. They have made sure that the quality of training has improved so that teachers have a greater understanding of the needs of key groups of pupils. Sharp monitoring by leaders enables them to fine-tune support for staff promptly. As a result, pupils are making better progress overall than at the time of the previous inspection. However, you have rightly identified that boys’ progress needs to accelerate further, as does the progress of most-able pupils in some subjects.

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Short inspection of The Bishop Wand Church of England School

The culture of safeguarding in the school is strong, building effectively upon your secure understanding of the school and its surrounding communities. Regular checks further enhance both the high quality of support on offer to pupils and the overall effectiveness of school systems.

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Short inspection of The Bishop Wand Church of England School

Leaders and governors have ensured that the school’s arrangements for safeguarding and keeping pupils safe are very effective. Appropriate training for staff and governors is up to date and records are maintained very well. Checks on the suitability of staff are recorded methodically and concerns are followed up promptly. The behaviour of the pupils is consistently respectful. Pupils move around the school site with courtesy, responding promptly and politely to staff requests. Pupils say they feel safe and well cared for by staff. Staff deal with any bullying and name-calling incidents quickly, although such occurrences are rare. Pupils who spoke to inspectors could name the person they would turn to for support or advice.

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Inspection findings

 During my visit, together with you, I looked closely at specific aspects of the school’s provision, including safeguarding arrangements, the effectiveness of leadership and the achievement of key groups of pupils, including the disadvantaged, the most able and boys.  Historically, outcomes for disadvantaged pupils have been lower than for other pupils. The school’s information about pupils’ achievement shows that the difference in progress for disadvantaged pupils is diminishing, when compared to other pupils nationally from similar starting points. The school specifically targets disadvantaged pupils who are in danger of falling behind. Leaders use pupil premium funding well to support disadvantaged pupils’ all-round development, including their academic needs. Teachers use information meaningfully to meet the needs of these pupils, especially at key stage 3. As a result, current disadvantaged pupils are achieving more highly.

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Inspection findings

 In mathematics and science, a new curriculum in key stage 3 is starting to challenge the most able and those who are disadvantaged effectively. However, in a small minority of subjects, such as languages and humanities, the most able pupils do not make progress that is good enough. Leaders acknowledge that they need to do more to support teachers to ensure that teachers plan activities to challenge pupils more fully.  Teaching is effective in most subjects because of leaders’ strong focus on training staff well. Staff are particularly positive about this aspect. Relationships between staff and pupils are constructive and thoughtful. Teachers’ and pupils’ higher aspirations have led to better progress for pupils.  Middle leaders’ monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning is effective. They have established a robust professional development programme, providing timely support for teachers. As a result, pupils learn very well because teaching

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Inspection findings

builds carefully on pupils’ earlier understanding. School leaders acknowledge that inconsistences in a minority of lessons do exist and school systems to help improve pupils’ work are not always applied consistently. Middle leaders are helping to embed practices more systematically, such as challenging the most able pupils effectively in all subjects. This is making a positive difference.  Since the previous inspection, leaders have appropriately developed the knowledge of staff, enriched the curriculum and ensured that classroom practice supports pupils well. As a result, progress for the most able, those who are disadvantaged and boys is improving, and their engagement in classroom learning is good. However, leaders acknowledge that although boys achieve in line with national averages, they do not yet match the performance of the girls.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 boys make rapid progress across the curriculum, so that their progress and attainment matches more closely with that of girls  teachers plan activities that challenge the most able pupils effectively, particularly in languages and humanities.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors met with school leaders, other staff, governors, parents and pupils. They visited classrooms with senior leaders, talking to pupils and looking at their work. Inspectors also observed pupils’ behaviour in and out of the classroom. Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of school documentation, including leaders’ self-evaluation of the school’s performance, development planning, school policies and attendance and behaviour tracking information. Inspectors also considered the views of 127 parents and 13 staff who responded to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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