London East Academy

London East Academy 46 Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, London E1 1JX

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders at all levels, including the governing body, have a clear vision for the school. The impact of their actions has ensured that this is now a good school which continues to improve.  Parents and staff support fully what the school’s leaders are seeking to achieve. They hold the school in high regard.  Pupil make good progress during their time at the school. This is because they experience good teaching across a wide range of subjects.  The most able pupils make good progress because they are challenged through the teaching they receive.  Lower-achieving pupils do not make the same rate of progress as their peers. Some teaching does not consistently meet their needs.  Teaching is managed effectively. Staff receive good-quality training and professional development.  The curriculum is broad and balanced and is supplemented by a good range of additional activities.  Islamic studies complement the secular

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

curriculum well.  Pupils feel safe in the school. They are also taught well about how to keep themselves safe.  Pupils’ good behaviour and positive attitudes towards their learning are a notable feature of the school.  Pupils enjoy coming to school. Their attendance has risen from below the national average to above.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. The school’s own eight core values support the promotion of fundamental British values.  Although careers education features as part of the school’s offer, there is potential to develop this further.  The governing body has a good grasp of what the school does well and what is required to make the school outstanding.  Systems for checking the suitability of pupils’ work experience placements, although appropriate, require further refinement.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes by: – improving the progress of low-achieving pupils so that it matches that of their peers by ensuring that teaching consistently meets their needs.  Improve the quality of leadership and management by: – ensuring that procedures for placing pupils on work experience are as robust as possible – developing the provision of careers education in key stage 3.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The new executive headteacher has transformed successfully a previously inadequate school into one that is effective. He is well supported by other senior leaders and those at middle leadership level.  Parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, are happy with the quality of the provision. One parent wrote, ‘I would never choose another school for my son, as I am very satisfied with the quality of education.’  School improvement planning has been carefully considered. The school improvement plan incorporates a vision towards which staff, parents, pupils and governors have contributed. The plan is regularly evaluated to check for progress and has also been linked skilfully to all of the independent school standards. This ensures that all of the independent school standards have been met.  The school’s self-evaluation is rightly evaluative and largely accurate. This self-critical

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

approach means that the school’s leaders know what they do well and what they need to do to improve.  The school’s small size means that classroom teachers also have responsibilities for leading on subjects including English, mathematics and science. These middle leaders make a good contribution towards the school’s strategic planning for improvement. Their action plans relate well to whole-school issues and have been a key contributory factor in making this a good school.  The school maintains effective contact with parents. Reporting on pupils’ progress is regular, and informative newsletters ensure that parents keep up to date with school activities and developments. Staff are available at the start and end of the day to meet with parents. This helps to establish positive relationships.  The leadership and management of teaching is strong. Teachers undergo regular observations in order to monitor the quality of teaching over time. Performance in the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

classroom is compared with pupils’ outcomes and the quality of work in their books. This, in turn, enables leaders to target training at a whole-school or individual level. Any teachers who are not strong consistently are supported well by more experienced colleagues.  The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced. The Islamic studies curriculum is mixed with the secular subjects. This conveys a clear message to pupils that both aspects are equally important and that no preference is given over to one in particular.  A particular strength of the school is its promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils have a good understanding of different faiths and religions. They speak articulately and maturely about people who have protected characteristics under the Equality Act (2010).  The school’s values deliberately replicate the fundamental British values. Pupils have a

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

very strong awareness of these and model them through their attitudes and their work in school.  The school has forged partnerships with a number of other schools, many of which do not belong to the independent sector. These links have been particularly beneficial in helping to secure greater accuracy in teachers’ assessments of pupils’ progress. Teachers in this school work alongside experienced colleagues from these partner schools to validate their judgements of pupils’ outcomes.  Pupils select their own work experience placements. Leaders’ systems for checking the suitability of the placement appropriately involve visiting the venue and conducting a risk assessment. However, leaders do not always consider whether the chosen placement is entirely appropriate for the pupil in question.

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Governance

 The governing body has been empowered by the proprietary body to make the key decisions. For example, members of the governing body appointed the new executive headteacher and the deputy headteacher. Governors, along with the executive headteacher, are directly responsible for the management of teachers’ performance. Systems to manage this are rigorous.  Governors contributed towards the revamping of the school’s vision and the writing of the school development plan. They meet as a full governing body at least six times a year, which enables them to challenge the school’s leaders and gain a deep insight into what the school does well and how it can improve.  Between them, governors come from a range of useful backgrounds, including education. They regularly visit the school to test out the accuracy of the executive headteacher’s reports. This includes visiting lessons and scrutinising pupils’ books, enabling them to

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  All staff are up to date with their training in the safeguarding of children. Staff have been issued with part one of ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (2016) and all have received training in the government’s ‘Prevent’ duty, which aims to prevent young people from being drawn into terrorism. The school’s risk assessment for their ‘Prevent’ duty involves working closely with the local authority and the police.  The school’s vetting systems for checking the suitability of staff are robust, and records of the details of these checks are suitably recorded on their single central register.  Governors have ensured that the school has published a suitable safeguarding policy on its website. It also provides this policy to parents on request.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Pupils typically experience good-quality teaching over time. This secures good progress across the school.  Teachers’ good subject knowledge is conveyed clearly in lessons and this ensures that pupils are motivated to want to achieve. Relationships between teachers and pupils are positive.  Good use of questioning from teachers ensures that pupils deepen their knowledge and understanding. Teachers also make pupils aware of key subject terminology which helps them to access the work more effectively.  Teachers assess pupils’ progress regularly through tests. This enables teachers to check whether pupils are making good progress towards achieving their targets.  Teachers make effective use of a wide range of resources. This variety of resources makes lessons interesting and sustains pupils’ interest.  Teaching is effective in developing pupils’ reading, writing and communication skills. Pupils read well and are offered frequent opportunities to read aloud in lessons. This

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

helps to build up their confidence and self-esteem.  Improvements in teaching have ensured that the most able pupils make the progress of which they are capable. Teachers use information on this group of pupils’ prior attainment well. They skilfully produce demanding tasks which challenge these pupils to develop their thinking and reasoning skills.  In a Year 7 Arabic lesson in which pupils were revising how to talk about their daily routine, the teacher had planned for the learning carefully so that the needs of all pupils were met. This ensured that they made progress through tasks which were suitably challenging. This was particularly the case for the most able pupils who were asked to write about a third person’s daily routine, which involves a more complex use of grammar.  Teachers’ comments help pupils to improve because it helps them recognise what they have done well and how they can improve. Occasionally, pupils do not respond to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

additional tasks set by teachers. This is one of the reasons why low-achieving pupils’ progress does not yet match those of their peers. Some teaching does not consistently meet the needs of low-achieving pupils.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are well cared for in the school. They are encouraged actively to support one another in lessons, particularly when their classmates are struggling with their work.  Pupils are taught well about how to stay safe. Pupils demonstrated a good understanding of the risks associated with using the internet and how to use privacy settings when using social networking sites.  There is very little bullying in the school. Pupils have a good understanding of the different forms of bullying and are confident that, should any bullying occur, it will be dealt with quickly and efficiently.  The school’s eight core values of ‘knowledge, courage, responsibility, service, divinity, integrity, respect and accountability’ permeate through the school. These are reinforced at every opportunity by teachers with the aim of creating good British Muslims.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils regularly discuss moral issues, beyond their Islamic studies lessons. For example, in a morning assembly, inspectors observed two groups of pupils conduct a debate on what was more harmful, ‘drug abuse or bullying?’ Pupils in the audience displayed good listening skills and, after assessing the performance of each team, voted for the team which presented the most convincing argument.  Pupils are very well supervised during their break and at lunchtime. This is particularly important when they move around areas of the building where they may come into contact with visitors to the London Muslim Centre.  Risk assessments for the building and for school trips are of good quality. This ensures the well-being of pupils.  Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their educational career. Pupils in key stage 4 receive sound careers guidance, and Year 10 pupils take part in two weeks of work

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Personal development and welfare

experience in the summer term. The school’s leaders acknowledge quite rightly the need to provide more comprehensive guidance in key stage 3.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils behave well in lessons and when moving around the school. They wear their uniform smartly and arrive to lessons on time, well equipped and ready to start work.  In order to set high expectations and standards, the executive headteacher excluded a few pupils for a fixed period of time shortly after his arrival in order to make clear the standards of behaviour he expected. Since this time, the number of exclusions has declined and behaviour has improved significantly.  The school’s leaders have worked hard to improve pupils’ attendance, which on the arrival of the executive headteacher was well below the national average. Through close collaborative work with parents, attendance is now just above the national average.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils enter the school with prior levels of attainment with are broadly average or above. Because of their positive attitudes towards their learning and the good teaching they experience, they make good progress over time.  Leaders have introduced more reliable systems to establish pupils’ starting points when they join the school in Year 7. This helps them to produce challenging targets which teachers use effectively when planning for good outcomes.  In 2016, an above-average proportion of pupils made good progress in a range of subjects, including English and mathematics. A high proportion of pupils achieved A* grades in religious studies and physics. The proportion of pupils achieving five or more A* grades in 2016 was 25%, which represents an 11% point increase on the previous year.  Current pupils in the school are maintaining this good progress. Inspectors’ scrutiny of pupils’ books across a wide range of subjects and from all year groups reflects the good

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Outcomes for pupils Good

progress pupils are making. The dips in performance in Year 11 in 2016 with regard to outcomes in Arabic and information and communications technology (ICT) have been suitably addressed through the eradication of weak teaching in these subjects.  Inspectors’ observations of pupils’ learning and a review of books, supported by the school’s achievement information, validate the school’s claim that the most able pupils achieve well and make good progress. This includes the overall progress made by pupils in key stage 3, which was an area for improvement in the previous inspection.  Pupils achieve well in their Islamic studies. They learn self-discipline through memorising extracts from the Koran. This helps them later on, for example, when they have to memorise quotations from literary texts when they sit their English literature examinations.  Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, with the majority moving

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Outcomes for pupils Good

on to college, apprenticeships or work.  Some of the lower-achieving pupils do not yet make consistently good progress. This is because they do not always routinely respond in sufficient detail to their teachers’ suggestions as to how they might improve the quality of their work and deepen their knowledge and understanding. Additionally, not all teaching consistently meets the needs of this group of pupils.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Website www.eastlondonmosqueschools.co.uk/Londo nEastAcademy Email address admin@leacademy.com

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 October 2014

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Information about this school

 London East Academy is a selective Islamic secondary school for boys aged between 11 and 16. The school is in the London Muslim Centre, as is Al-Mizan, an independent primary school for boys. Both schools are led by the same executive headteacher who was appointed in January 2016. The two schools share the same governing body and are managed by the East London Mosque.  The school had its last full standard inspection in October 2014. Two progress monitoring inspections took place in March and November 2015.  No pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities or a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.  There are no disadvantaged pupils in the school.  No pupils attend any alternative provision.  Most pupils are of Bangladeshi background; other groups include pupils from Somali, Pakistani, Indian and North African backgrounds.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was conducted with one day’s notice at the request of the Department for Education.  Inspectors observed learning in Years 7 to 9 and across a range of subjects. At the time of the inspection, Year 11 pupils had left the school and Year 10 pupils were taking part in work experience. Senior leaders accompanied inspectors to observe pupils’ learning. Inspectors also looked at a wide range of pupils’ books across all year groups and including a range of subjects.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and a group of pupils. Arrangements were made to speak to Year 10 pupils who were on work experience by telephone.  Inspectors scrutinised school improvement documents, policies, information on progress, records of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and information on pupils’ behaviour and attendance. They also listened to pupils read in lessons.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors considered 15 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also took account of 12 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

John Daniell, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Jude Wilson Her Majesty’s 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

Parent View 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

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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

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Inspection team

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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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