Westborough High School

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

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Mrs Jennifer Napper Headteacher Westborough High School Stockhill Street Dewsbury West Yorkshire WF13 2JE

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

Following my visit to the school on 6 June 2017 with Barbara O’Brien, 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 January 2012.

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. Governors, staff, pupils, parents and carers share your vision and ambition for the school. They are in full support of your work and the improvements that you are making to the school. At the previous inspection, you were asked to improve standards in literacy and numeracy. You have taken decisive and appropriate action to improve literacy. Through effective training and development, there is a greater emphasis on vocabulary, correct English and questioning, which is helping pupils to make good progress. You have also ensured that opportunities for numeracy in subject areas other than mathematics are included in the curriculum.

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

You have created a real community culture in the school. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe and that bullying is rare and dealt with quickly if it happens. Pupils feel well supported and have good relationships with staff, which helps pupils to learn well. Pupils take great pride in their work and are keen to work with teachers to improve. Disruption to learning is reducing from a low level, as are fixed-term exclusions of pupils from school, and pupils are positive about the introduction of the new behaviour system. Pupils move calmly around the building and are very polite and confident to talk about their opinions and views.

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

You ensure that personal, social, health and economic education and fundamental British values are of high value and importance in your school. Through tutorial sessions and ‘drop-down days’, pupils learn a lot about the risks they may face as they grow up. You deal with issues such as child sexual exploitation, online safety, drugs and alcohol, domestic violence and extremism sensitively but robustly.

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

Leaders and governors recognise that the school is on a journey and that, while there is much to celebrate, there are aspects that you still need to work on. These include continuing to improve attendance, particularly for pupils who are disadvantaged and who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, further improving the quality of teaching and learning and ensuring that the new behaviour policy is successful in further improving pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning.

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that appropriate checks are carried out on all adults who work at the school. All staff are well trained in child protection and are provided with clear guidelines, which they follow if they are concerned about a pupil. Leaders take every referral seriously and take appropriate and timely action, carefully and meticulously recording actions and outcomes with a high level of detail. Leaders and staff have strong relationships with parents and take a coordinated approach to ensuring that pupils are safe.

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Short inspection of Westborough High School

Teachers have a strong awareness of the warning signs to look out for that could indicate that a pupil has an issue. Staff are confident in tackling tricky or sensitive issues, for example, if they identify a pupil who is at risk of developing extremist views. The designated safeguarding lead provides staff with high-quality, regular updates throughout the year about safeguarding, which ensures that safeguarding is paramount. Pupils demonstrate, through their behaviour and willingness to talk about issues, that they are tolerant and have respect for cultures other than their own. Pupils describe the school as a community in which they look out for one another.

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Inspection findings

 The headteacher and senior leaders know the school, pupils and their areas of responsibilities well. Through this, they put in place appropriate action plans, which they regularly evaluate for success. This is ensuring that the pace of improvement is rapid and that additional funding, for example, for pupils who are disadvantaged, is spent well.  External reviews are used well to obtain different perspectives on the school. These include reviews from the local authority school improvement partner, other school leaders and consultants. Leaders use these reviews to support and develop school improvement strategies, alongside their own thinking. This is leading to better subject leadership, better teaching and learning and better progress for pupils.  Current pupils are making good progress over time. Information provided by school leaders and work in pupils’ books and in lessons demonstrates that most

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Inspection findings

pupils take their learning seriously and want to achieve well. Pupils work with their teachers to make improvements to their work.  Quality assurance processes ensure that all staff are accountable for the progress pupils make. Regular assessments and meetings to analyse information lead to bespoke intervention for pupils who fall behind or need extra support. This ensures that pupils keep up. However, there is further work to do to ensure that, when pupils are absent, they catch up with their work so that they do not have gaps in their knowledge.  Leaders have recently introduced an improved system for monitoring and evaluating attendance. The structure of the new policy ensures that there is regular contact with parents and that they are held to account for their child’s attendance. Currently, pupils’ attendance overall is improving but remains below the national average. Leaders recognise that there is more work to do to improve

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Inspection findings

attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Teachers use appropriate pupil information to plan lessons that meet the needs of their pupils. Teachers do this particularly well when they use ‘learning passports’ for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Quality training for teachers is leading to better teaching and consistent strategies, for example, when highlighting key words and using connectives in all subject areas. Teachers are enthusiastic about their subjects. Leaders recognise that these are positive developments but that there is further work to do to ensure consistency and continual improvement in teaching.  Leaders have taken appropriate action to improve the quality of teaching and learning in mathematics. Three new teachers and a new head of department have been appointed, which has brought stability and a new enthusiasm to the

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Inspection findings

department. Year 11 pupils spoke very positively about additional support given to them in mathematics.  Overall, pupils behave well in school. The new behaviour policy focuses on ensuring that they have positive attitudes to learning. Pupils welcome this and recognise that, over time, behaviour and attitudes have improved. However, it is too soon to see the impact of the new policy on making further improvements.  Pupils are well supported and cared for in the school. Through good provision for social, moral, spiritual and cultural development, pupils learn life skills. Visits to a variety of places of worship help pupils to learn about different religions and a multitude of extra-curricular opportunities, such as national competitions, after- school clubs and trips, helps to develop social skills. Debate and questioning are positively encouraged, which helps pupils to consider morals and ethics. Pupils

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Inspection findings

talk positively about ‘hot chocolate with the head’ to reward their successes.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should make sure that:

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Next steps for the school

 strategies continue to be developed and evaluated to improve attendance and to ensure that if pupils are absent they catch up on work missed, particularly disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities  teaching and learning continue to improve so that all pupils receive good-quality teaching that ensures that pupils of all abilities make good and better progress  the new behaviour policy is reviewed to ensure that it is improving pupils’ behaviour for learning.

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

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors met with you, your senior leaders and some of your middle leaders, governors and pupils. The inspectors gathered a range of evidence from conducting observations of learning and from scrutinising pupils’ work, jointly with a senior leader. The inspection team checked and evaluated documents, including your child protection policy, safeguarding records, the school’s self-evaluation, improvement plans, minutes from governors’ meetings, evaluations of the quality of teaching and learning, performance management information and attendance information. Inspectors also took account of 359 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including 29 extended responses from parents, 21 responses to the student questionnaire and 46 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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