Collingwood College

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

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Mr Eden Tanner and Mrs Karen Griffiths Co-Principals Collingwood College Kingston Road Camberley Surrey GU15 4AE

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

Following my visit to the school on 31 January 2017 with Emma Phillips, 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 May 2013.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your work as co-principals has ensured that you have maintained the best of the school’s traditions while actively engaging with others to seek out new ideas and expertise. As a result, Collingwood College continues to grow and flourish. The leadership team and the governors work hard to ensure that the school remains at the heart of the community. Parents are appreciative of the fact that their sons and daughters are known well to you as individuals and are encouraged to be ambitious about their academic achievements.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

Your vision states clearly that you want the pupils to be happy and well rounded with the self-belief to reach their own goals. The curriculum in the school offers a wealth of choice around the subjects that the pupils study from the very earliest years in the school right through to sixth form. Pupils appreciate the variety of choice they have, where they can follow individual interests as well as continuing to make good progress in their core subjects. Pupils respect their teachers. Relationships across the school are very supportive so that pupils feel safe and enjoy their lessons. The timetable for extra–curricular provision ensures that pupils have a large choice of enrichment opportunities. Pupils spoke with great pride of their achievements outside of lessons and felt there was ‘something for everyone’.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

The leadership team works closely with the governors to continually review and drive plans for future improvement. The recent staffing review demonstrated your courage in maintaining the range of academic choices while addressing the restraints of the school budget. The school continues to thrive. Staff feel well supported and share your ambition to make Collingwood a real centre of excellence.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

You have addressed all the areas highlighted for improvement in the previous inspection report. The focus on sustaining the very best teaching is supported by a varied programme of professional development opportunities for all staff. Teachers are very committed to changing their practice where improvement is needed. They are not afraid to take risks when planning lessons and regularly explore more innovative techniques to promote better learning and enjoyment. Leaders are ambitious and want all subjects to be equally effective. A continuing commitment to teachers’ professional development is starting to reduce any in-school variation in standards.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

Improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils remains a top priority for the school. You are able to show real progress in this work. However, you are also aware that overall disadvantaged pupils do not achieve as highly as other pupils nationally. Not all of your leaders are sufficiently adept in analysing performance information and other data. This reduces their capacity to prioritise resources and target support effectively.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are robust. Records are detailed and of high quality. The staff who oversee safeguarding are well trained, and there are thorough procedures in place to keep pupils safe. All staff are regularly trained so they remain up to date in their knowledge. The governing body has considerable safeguarding expertise. One governor used her professional knowledge to deliver assemblies to all pupils in key stages 3 and 4 about the dangers of sexting. The school has strong links with outside agencies, including the local children’s services and some charities. The safeguarding team is persistent in insisting on getting the right support for pupils, even when it is not easily forthcoming.

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Short inspection of Collingwood College

Pupils are keen to explain how well they are supported in learning to keep themselves safe, especially online. Pupils are able to report concerns about themselves or others easily via the school portal. They are very confident that information can be safely shared with adults in the school if they are at all concerned.

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Inspection findings

 For this inspection, we focused on actions taken since the previous inspection and six other key areas. We assessed the impact of leadership in the school, the effectiveness of safeguarding, and how well your systems to improve attendance and reduce fixed-term exclusions are working. We analysed the progress of disadvantaged pupils, and the impact of teaching and feedback in improving their, and other pupils’, outcomes. We looked at the quality of the school curriculum, and the support provided to pupils in all key stages in choosing their options.  Leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of the school really well. They continually evaluate what is working well and have detailed plans in place to address any areas that require further improvement.  Leaders are passionate about doing the best for their pupils, and in their drive to improve provision for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils who have special

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Inspection findings

educational needs and/or disabilities. The special educational needs coordinator and the pupil premium lead teacher work closely together to ensure that support is personalised and relevant for individual pupils. They also work closely with the curriculum leaders to maximise success in lessons for the most vulnerable pupils in the school.  You have used the pupil premium budget judiciously to provide appropriate additional support in mathematics and English for disadvantaged pupils. The lead teachers that you have appointed in mathematics and science are using their expertise very effectively to support other teachers in improving planning and enriching resources. These measures are helping to ensure that all pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils, can aspire to achieve their very best. Teachers spoke enthusiastically about how they actively support one another to continually improve lessons. Leaders rigorously check what is happening in lessons, focusing

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Inspection findings

strongly on the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Leaders liaise closely with the local primary schools so that teachers are clear about any barriers to learning faced by pupils joining the school. The impact of using resources to provide more early support for Year 7 pupils can be seen already. However, more time is needed to confirm that additional support is having a sustained impact on improving results for disadvantaged pupils to match the success of others in the school and nationally.  Teachers use deeper questioning techniques effectively, regularly checking pupils’ understanding to ensure that they all participate well. Good relationships are very evident, and there was no low-level disruption.  Governors describe how leaders have further strengthened the performance management process for teachers in the school. It is directly linked to ensuring

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Inspection findings

that all groups of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve well in line with their ambitious targets.  You have refreshed your approaches to improving attendance. The larger team of staff with responsibility and oversight for the improvement of attendance and behaviour is proving effective. You have enhanced the provision for educational welfare support, working well with the pastoral managers to tackle persistent absenteeism. The best strategies are focused carefully around the needs of individual pupils and their families.  Attendance for key groups, such as disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, has improved compared to previous years. Fixed-term exclusions have reduced from last year, and the school’s internal exclusion room is providing good support to pupils whose behaviour may otherwise interrupt learning for others. Sustaining the improvement in

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Inspection findings

attendance continues to be an important focus for the school now that it is broadly in line with national figures.  Following last year’s full curriculum review involving pupils, parents, governors and staff, you rightly concluded that the current offer is well matched to what pupils need. Pupils make informed guided choices in Years 8, 9 and 11, and they have a wide range of subjects for which to opt. The pupils talked enthusiastically about how much they enjoy some of the more unusual options like electronics, engineering and other technology subjects. This richness of provision is partly as a result of the school’s specialisms in technology and applied learning. The broad curriculum also ensures that students in the sixth form have a good variety of courses which match their abilities and career ambitions. The value-added measure for vocational courses in the sixth form is significantly positive because

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Inspection findings

students attain, on average, at least half a grade higher than students with the same prior attainment nationally.  Teachers and other staff provide clear guidance to pupils at all stages of transition. A good range of sources, including informative booklets, parents evenings, individual interviews and information from the careers coordinator, are used to help pupils choose their options. Leaders go to great lengths to personalise the curriculum to ensure good outcomes for all groups of pupils.  You have worked with an external consultant to spread the really good practice available in the more strongly performing subject areas. This work has also supported other areas of the school’s work, for example in science where difficulties recruiting staff have impacted negatively at times.  Year 9 pupils mentioned a range of assemblies and talks from employers and other speakers about future careers they might be interested in. A careers fair

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Inspection findings

has been organised for later this term which is very timely to support them in making their GCSE options choices.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they:

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Next steps for the school

 continue to improve teaching and learning across the school to reduce any in- school variations  enable more leaders at all levels to make better use of data to produce crisp analyses about the achievement of groups of pupils, and highlight where additional support is needed  prioritise the work on diminishing any differences between the progress of disadvantaged pupils compared to all pupils nationally, so that any gaps in attainment are further reduced.

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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 Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

We met with you both, other members of the leadership team, staff and governors, and groups of pupils. We also made a phone call to the headteacher of the local alternative provision. A wide range of documents were scrutinised, including your analyses of pupils’ achievement, attendance information, and a range of policies including those for safeguarding. We checked that the single central record complied with requirements. We also visited lessons with school leaders, spoke to pupils, and looked at pupils’ work, especially that of disadvantaged pupils. We analysed the 270 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, the 71 responses to the staff survey, and the 155 responses to the pupil survey.

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