Balby Carr Community Academy

Balby Carr Community Academy Weston Road, Balby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN4 8ND

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leadership has been unsuccessful in preventing the decline in the school’s overall effectiveness and addressing the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report. The capacity to improve the school is not secure.  Leaders have not taken swift action to make sure that all staff understand all child protection requirements, fully.  Arrangements for safeguarding are ineffective in the main school because some pupils leave the school site unchecked at lunchtime.  Senior and subject leaders have not been successful in overcoming poor teaching and ensuring that school policies are followed by staff.  Pupils’ progress is weak across a range of subjects including mathematics, science and English. For two years, outcomes for pupils at the end of Year 11 have been below the government’s minimum requirements.  Teachers’ expectations are low. Work set does not meet pupils’ needs and abilities. This leads

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

to poor outcomes for pupils.  There is consistently low attendance, poor punctuality and a high proportion of pupils excluded from school. A significant minority of pupils show a lack of respect for adults and for each other. Some pupils smoke in school.  The curriculum fails to meet the needs of pupils or prepare them well for the future. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is not progressing well.  Leaders’ use of additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has not improved learning and behaviour.  Over time, governors and the multi-academy trust have not supported and challenged the school well enough to overcome its inadequacies.  The sixth form requires improvement because students are not making consistently good progress across a range of subjects. However, teaching and students’ outcomes are better than in the rest of the school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 There is high-quality provision for sport in the sixth form. Students make good progress in vocational sports courses.  The new headteacher is taking decisive action to improve the school, having quickly assessed what needs to be done.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Rapidly improve the quality of teaching, so that it is at least consistently good to enable all groups of pupils to achieve well, by ensuring that: – staff have high expectations of what pupils can achieve – teachers use assessment information effectively to plan work that matches pupils’ needs and abilities, including the most able pupils, and challenges them to make good progress – questioning is used skilfully to check pupils’ learning and to deepen understanding – teachers provide sufficient guidance to help pupils attain a good standard of work – pupils have a wide range of opportunities to develop their literacy and mathematical skills across subjects – the pace of learning is effective for pupils to gain good knowledge, skills and understanding.  Urgently improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities,

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

by ensuring that: – there is a rapid reduction in pupils’ absence so that pupils’ safety is assured and opportunities for learning are not missed – pupils arrive punctually to school and to lessons – improvements in behaviour are secured quickly to reduce the high levels of exclusion and enable all pupils to feel safe – school leaders take action to eradicate persistent low-level disruption in class – pupils take pride in their work and develop good attitudes to learning – pupils treat each other and adults with respect at all times.  Improve the effectiveness of the sixth form by ensuring that: – students make consistently good progress across a wide range of subjects, especially academic subjects – greater opportunities are provided for students to contribute to their studies through independent learning skills – a greater proportion of students continue their studies to full completion – there is increased recruitment, especially from the school’s Year 11 pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Swiftly improve the impact of leadership, including governance and the multi-academy trust, by making sure that: – safeguarding procedures are effective and all staff are knowledgeable about all aspects of child protection and keeping children safe in school – all senior leaders and subject leaders are thorough in checking the quality of teaching and learning so that they have an accurate view of the performance of the school and subject areas – effective use is made of the pupil premium funding and special educational needs funding to ensure that learning and behaviour are at least good for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities – senior leaders and subject leaders ensure that teachers follow the school’s policy for marking, feedback and assessment – middle leaders make sure that teachers consistently apply the school’s behaviour policy to eradicate low-level disruption in class and improve conduct around the

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

school – teachers and leaders are held to account through a rigorous performance management system – the curriculum is well taught across a wide range of subjects, especially English and mathematics, to make sure that pupils are well prepared for their next stage of education – work across the curriculum leads to positive attitudes to learning and strengthens pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development – governors fulfil their statutory duties, including making sure that the school’s website is compliant – the multi-academy trust and governors challenge and support the school more effectively to ensure that the overall effectiveness of the school improves. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Over time, governors and leaders have not done all they should to make sure that pupils are safe. They have not ensured that pupils follow the appropriate procedures when leaving the school site at lunchtime. Therefore, leaders are unaware of the whereabouts of some pupils and cannot account for their safety.  School leaders, governors and the multi-academy trust have not been successful in overcoming the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection. The quality of teaching, outcomes for pupils, personal development, behaviour and welfare, and leadership have deteriorated. As a result, the overall effectiveness of the school is inadequate.  Over time, leaders have been too generous in their evaluation of the school’s performance. Senior leaders and middle leaders have not checked the quality of teaching and pupils’ work effectively. They have not had high enough expectations or taken swift enough action to eradicate poor teaching, weak outcomes for pupils and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

poor behaviour.  Systems for performance management have been ineffective in strengthening teaching and leadership. Targets set are not challenging and, although professional development for teachers is identified as part of the performance management process, this has been ineffective in strengthening teaching and leadership.  Ineffective support has been given to disadvantaged pupils and those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The additional government funding for these pupils has not been spent well and the impact of the spending has not been checked appropriately. The school has much to do to provide equality of opportunity for these pupils.  The curriculum fails to meet the needs of pupils and, as a result, some leave school without any GCSE qualifications. The poor curriculum has led to weak outcomes for pupils and poor behaviour. Literacy and numeracy skills are poor because leaders and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

teachers do not focus well enough on these across a wide range of subjects. Extra activities after school are available and include sporting activities, drama and music as well as additional study time.  There are opportunities at the start of the school day and across subjects to develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness, and British values. The majority of pupils benefit appropriately but a significant minority do not. This is because their behaviour is weak, their social skills are poor and they have little respect for others. Consequently, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is not effective.  Year 7 catch-up funding for those entering secondary school with below-average standards in English and mathematics is used to provide additional teaching support, and this group is making effective progress as a result.  Weak leadership has led to pupils’ poor behaviour. It is recommended that the school

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

does not appoint newly qualified teachers while pupils’ behaviour remains inadequate.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The new headteacher has an accurate understanding of the work of the school. He has identified what needs to be done to strengthen the school and is taking decisive action to implement his plans. He is training and supporting senior and middle leaders to become more effective in their work, and is starting to make changes to the poor curriculum which has hindered pupils’ opportunities to reach their full potential.  The new headteacher has started to reorganise leadership roles in an attempt to strengthen leadership across the school. Some improvements are beginning to show and some leaders are keen to support him in his efforts to strengthen the school. Currently, the headteacher and an assistant headteacher check the quality of teaching but the headteacher has now established a ‘licensed observer scheme’ to train subject leaders in accurately carrying out this aspect of their role.  Much has yet to be done to secure the school’s capacity for improvement because

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

changes are recent and the impact has yet to be ascertained.  Over time, the multi-academy trust has challenged leadership to do better and provided support and training, but this work has been ineffective. Its evaluation of the school’s performance has been too generous. It reassessed its views of the school in September 2016 after exceptionally weak outcomes continued. More recently, the multi-academy trust has increased its support for the school and is working closely with the new headteacher to strengthen effectiveness.  Parents responding to the Ofsted questionnaire were concerned about the quality of leadership over time, the high numbers of temporary teachers, behaviour, and the quality of teaching their children have been receiving. Less than half of these parents would recommend the school to others.

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Governance

 Governance is weak and inadequate. The multi-academy trust has replaced the local governing body with an interim executive board in order to rectify failings in governance. Current governance is becoming aware of the school’s failings but there has been insufficient time to remedy previous weaknesses.  Over time, governors have not fulfilled their statutory duties. For example, they have not checked safeguarding effectively, or made sure that policy reviews are up to date or that the school’s website is compliant with statutory requirements.  Governors have not held leaders to account well enough. As a result of poor challenge and support, the overall effectiveness of the school is inadequate.  Governors have made sure that a review of the pupil premium funding was completed as advised at the previous inspection. However, since then, they have not checked well enough that the funding is used effectively. Consequently, disadvantaged pupils

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Governance

continue to underachieve, as do those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Leaders and staff are not sufficiently vigilant. Pupils leave the school site without permission and cannot be accounted for at lunchtime. A system is in place to check which pupils are leaving school at lunchtime but it is not robust enough to prevent pupils bypassing it.  Staff have had training to fulfil their statutory duties relating to children’s safety. They are clear about reporting matters that give them concern. However, leaders who are responsible for safeguarding have known, for some time, that staff are not fully aware of key areas of safeguarding, such as child sexual exploitation, and have not taken quick action to remedy this.  Leadership makes appropriate checks on staff to ensure that they are safe to work with children, and effective records are kept to confirm this. Effective work takes place with other agencies and parents to support vulnerable pupils who face challenging

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Teaching is highly inconsistent across the school. Pupils underachieve because of poor teaching over time along with a lack of continuity in their work because of the impact of many temporary teachers.  Teachers’ expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving are too low. The quality of work accepted is often not good enough and results in slow progress and underachievement. Many pupils are not clear about what they have to do to produce good work.  Work set by staff across the school does not meet the needs and abilities of pupils. Work is not pitched appropriately to help pupils make good progress and is not adjusted appropriately to challenge pupils well.  Assessment information is not used effectively to make sure that planned work is appropriate and challenging for all groups of pupils, including the most able pupils. The pace of learning is very inconsistent and is too slow. There is too much interruption to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

learning because of poor behaviour that is not managed effectively.  An analysis of pupils’ work by inspectors showed that mathematical skills and literacy skills are not reinforced across a wide range of subjects. It also demonstrated that teachers are not following the school’s marking policy consistently. Incomplete work is evident in many books with the pace of learning being highly variable across subjects and resulting in poor progress overall.  There are good examples of skilful questioning that assesses pupils’ understanding and deepens their learning. However, this is very inconsistent. Pupils often remain unclear about what they are learning and misconceptions are not clarified to strengthen learning.  Parents expressed considerable reservations about the quality of teaching their children receive.  When expectations are high, work is well planned, pitched at the right level for the various groups of pupils and captures pupils’ interests, then pupils engage well and

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.  A significant minority of pupils show disrespect and a lack of tolerance for each other and for adults. This, along with a lack of punctuality to school and to lessons, is not preparing pupils well for future life. Some pupils can be very challenging and do not respond to staff’s requests to moderate attitudes or to move quickly to lessons.  Pupils’ pride in their work is highly variable with some exceptionally weak presentation and work that is not completed fully because of absence or a lack of application. Attitudes to learning are inconsistent.  Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. However, some pupils do not support the school well in keeping themselves healthy and safe. Some pupils smoke on the school site as well as leaving the school site at lunchtimes without permission.  A small proportion of pupils told inspectors they do not feel safe in school. Pupils told

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Personal development and welfare

inspectors that bullying occurs in school but they know how to report it. Pupils said that staff make efforts to stop bullying and to prevent its recurrence. However, pupils and parents are not always confident that bullying is resolved appropriately.  The current headteacher has made sure that staff are readily available to support pupils should they need it. The school provides effective careers education, information, advice and guidance from its own adviser and visitors from business and industry. Most pupils continue in education or employment with training. However, few take the opportunity to continue into the sixth form.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.  Pupils’ attendance has been low for the past two years and is currently lower this year than last. Far too many pupils are regularly absent from school, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school’s attendance team is thorough in checking the whereabouts of absentees. However, such high absenteeism raises concerns about pupils’ welfare and safety.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are highly variable. Misbehaviour and interruptions to lessons are frequent, especially when teaching is not good and the school’s behaviour policy is not followed through consistently.  A significant minority of pupils exhibit poor conduct in lessons and around the school. This leads to high levels of exclusion.  The school’s alternative learning centre is used to reintegrate pupils after exclusion and to support pupils who are in danger of being excluded. Inspectors found pupils in this

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Behaviour

area to be calm and settled. However, its impact over time has been limited because repeat exclusions are well above average.  There are good links with the off-site provider and pupils engage with this provision effectively. As a result, safety is secured for these pupils.  There are well-behaved pupils in the school who make a positive contribution to their learning and behave appropriately. They enjoy learning when they receive good teaching, and positive relationships exist between these pupils and their teachers.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Over time, weak teaching and poor attitudes to learning have led to inadequate progress across a range of subjects, particularly English, mathematics and science in key stages 3 and 4. Over the past two years, some pupils have left the school without any GCSE qualifications and the school has not met the government’s minimum standards for pupils’ outcomes.  Progress has been weak for all pupils leaving school at the end of Year 11 and the school is in the bottom 5% of schools nationally. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make even less progress than others.  An analysis of current pupils’ work shows that progress remains weak across many subjects for all groups of pupils, with little improvement from previous years. Mathematics, science and history show no improvement while slight improvement was seen in English. Outcomes still remain weak across the school.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Considerable differences remain between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally. Differences in attainment are increasing because of weak teaching, exceptionally high levels of absence, high rates of exclusion and ineffective use of the pupil premium funding to support learning and progress.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are poorly taught across the school because leadership has not made sure that teachers are skilled enough to overcome the barriers these pupils have to learning. Very recently, support from the multi-academy trust has been put in place to help new leadership to strengthen progress for this group.  Those pupils who speak English as an additional language make weak progress because provision for them to overcome language barriers is weak.  The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make too little progress and are not challenged well enough to achieve the highest grades at GCSE.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Pupils attending off-site provision make effective gains in a few non-GCSE courses. However, school information shows weak progress overall because pupils’ work has not been checked well enough by the school and poor curriculum provision is in place for these pupils to meet the requirements of GCSE courses.  School information indicates that pupils eligible for the Year 7 catch-up funding make effective progress which is better than others’ because of additional support.  The new headteacher has quickly gained the support of staff to provide additional support for Year 11 pupils. The school’s most recent progress information shows improvements in some subjects including aspects of English and geography but not in mathematics, science, history and other subjects. Over time, pupils have attained effectively in some design and technology courses, in information technology and in art.  Overall, progress is inadequate across the school and pupils are not well prepared for

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

their next stage of education or employment.

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

 The sixth-form provision is improving but it is not strong enough to be good. Inconsistencies in the quality of teaching lead to variable outcomes that require improvement in both academic and vocational courses. Sports courses are strengths of the sixth-form provision.  Students’ independent learning skills are developing well in the sports courses because they make a strong contribution to the good pace of learning and student-led organisation of sporting events. However, across other subjects, students are not developing well and the overall pace of learning is not strong because teaching requires strengthening. Course completion in the sixth form is below average.  Leaders are focusing on the development of teaching across the sixth form but the impact of their work has yet to be seen in consistently good progress or good teaching.  Students contribute well to their learning and are committed to their studies. The large

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

majority of students join the sixth form from other schools. Attendance is much higher than in the rest of the school and this supports learning well. Students have positive attitudes to learning.  Effective teaching supports the few students taking GCSE English and mathematics to improve their grades or obtain a grade C.  Additional opportunities, including work experience and a wide range of enrichment opportunities, support students’ personal development and well-being effectively. Students are respectful to each other and to adults. Their safeguarding is effective because they follow the school’s procedures when entering or leaving the school site.  As a result of effective careers education, advice and guidance, students take up university places, further study and training appropriately. A number of students are accepted for sports scholarships in the UK and abroad.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Mixed

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School details

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,034

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School details

Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the most recent key stage 4 results, the curriculum, the pupil premium, the charging and remissions policy, and governors’ information.  The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish about the pupil premium and the school’s curriculum.  The school is an average-sized secondary school. It is part of the Wakefield City Academies Trust.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported through the pupil premium is well above average. Half the pupils are in receipt of the pupil premium.  Most pupils are White British. Most pupils speak English as their first language.  The proportion of pupils who have support for special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.  The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is above average.

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards for progress by the end of Year 11. The school meets the minimum interim standards for sixth forms.  The school uses one off-site provider, TOPPS, for a small number of pupils and an on- site learning centre for pupils’ behaviour.  There have been significant changes to staffing and leadership since the previous inspection. The current headteacher was appointed in April 2017 after a short period of time as interim headteacher.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed a range of teaching and learning in parts of lessons, some jointly observed with senior and middle leaders.  Throughout the two days of the inspection, inspectors spoke with pupils, both individually and in groups, about learning and safety.  Inspectors reviewed pupils’ work in lessons and analysed samples of work in pupils’ books.  An inspector held a meeting with the chair of the interim executive board and one other governor. The lead inspector met with a representative of the Wakefield City Academies Trust.  Inspectors also held meetings with senior leaders and other staff.  Inspectors looked at the school’s review of its own performance, its development and improvement plan, a number of key school policies and the minutes of governing body meetings. They considered a range of documentation in relation to child protection, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors analysed 39 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

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Inspection team

Jim McGrath, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

David Penny Ofsted Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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