Derby Moor Community Sports College

Derby Moor Community Sports College Moorway Lane, Littleover, Derby, Derbyshire DE23 2FS

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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 Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Following a decline in standards from the previous inspection, leaders have brought about rapid improvements in pupils’ behaviour and the standards they reach.  Leaders have created a positive and vibrant community for learning. Pupils are proud of their school and its caring and inclusive ethos.  Outcomes have improved and progress in English and mathematics is in line with that seen nationally. Progress across a range of subjects is also improving.  Teachers have good subject knowledge and use their questioning skills well to check pupils’ understanding.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site is good and disruption is rare. Pupils are very polite and they respect and celebrate each other’s differences.  In the sixth form, students enjoy their learning and benefit from good-quality teaching. They make good progress which prepares them well for the next stage of their education, employment and training.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils feel safe at school and know how to keep themselves and others safe.  Leaders have developed a curriculum for all ages which prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.  Teachers do not always make effective use of the information they receive about pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities to ensure that work is set at the right level for them.  Most-able pupils do not have enough opportunities to explore their subjects in greater depth and make the progress of which they are capable.  Leaders do not systematically evaluate the impact of new initiatives so that they are not able to judge their effectiveness precisely enough.  Rates of persistent absence, especially among disadvantaged pupils, are too high.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by: – ensuring that leaders accurately evaluate the impact of their actions so that they can continue to make improvements in pupils’ outcomes.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by: – ensuring that teachers use the information they have about pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities when they plan their lessons – ensuring that there are sufficient opportunities for most-able pupils to do work that stretches and challenges them.  Improve personal development, behaviour and welfare by: – making sure that rates of persistent absence for groups of pupils, especially the disadvantaged, reduce – reducing the remaining incidences of poor behaviour in lessons, particularly where work is not matched well enough to pupils’ needs.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Since the appointment of the current principal and other recently appointed senior leaders the school has made dramatic improvements in almost all areas.  Leaders have led by example and have a visible presence around the school which is highly valued by pupils, parents and staff alike. Leaders have a strong vision for pupils and have created an ethos of respect, care and success.  Leaders and governors have a very clear picture of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. They use this information well and ensure that staff are aware of what needs to be done and how their work contributes to it.  Pupils value each other and celebrate each other other’s differences. The work that leaders do to promote tolerance and understanding means that discrimination and bullying are rare and not tolerated.  The system to manage the performance of teachers is used well to bring about improvements in teaching and eradicate any weaknesses. Leaders are fearless in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

tackling any underperformance and set rigorous targets based on pupils’ progress.  Leaders are relentless in their pursuit of better rates of progress and attainment for pupils. They use performance information well to challenge areas where progress is not as strong.  This includes taking decisive action where leadership has not been consistent, for example for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities or in modern foreign languages and design.  Safeguarding is effective. Leaders take appropriate action to make sure that pupils are kept safe and they do not give up when they think that more could be done to help a child in their care.  Recent changes to the curriculum have led to increased rates of progress and attainment for pupils as well as higher levels of engagement and attendance. The curriculum gives pupils a good understanding of fundamental British values and prepares them well for life in modern Britain. There are many opportunities to explore

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

moral issues that pupils think are important. However, students in the sixth form would like to have greater involvement to lead these opportunities.  Much good work has gone into creating a learning culture for staff and teachers’ take- up of their continuing professional development is high. They value the opportunities that they have to share good practice and learn from each other. However, the school needs to do more to identify and share strategies to teach the most able better.  Leaders use the extra funding brought by the pupil premium effectively and there have been significant improvements for this group of pupils. While there is more to do, particularly in later years, leaders have overseen rapid improvements in the performance of the disadvantaged pupils so that rates of progress are quickly moving closer to national rates of progress for all pupils.  Parents rightly value the recent improvements that leaders have brought about and are

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

very supportive of the school. One parent, whose views echoed many, said: ‘I feel very lucky and proud that my children attend this school.’ However, some parents would like to see more clubs and opportunities for pupils to perform music and drama.  Leaders and governors make good use of external support from advisors and the local authority and have benefited from their work in, for example, conducting a review of pupil premium spending or reviewing safeguarding arrangements. Leaders take careful note of information gathered and use it to make further improvements.

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Governance of the school

 Governors have an accurate view of the school. They are clear where its strengths and weaknesses are and they, and other leaders, share this information so that there is a school-wide approach to improvement.  Governors make good use of information from external sources and ensure that they are not over-reliant on the principal’s view of the school by making regular visits and asking a wide selection of leaders to present reports to governors’ meetings.  The governing body has recently been restructured to create committees in order to scrutinise the school’s work in greater depth. This has led to greater levels of governor challenge and analysis, particularly of pupils’ progress information.  Governors ensure that the school’s finances, including the pupil premium, are managed effectively. However, they need to do more to ensure that leaders use the funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities more usefully by assessing the impact of

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Governance of the school

spending in more detail.  Governors keep a watchful eye over the school’s safeguarding arrangements. They have ensured that their training is up to date and relevant and have ensured that they take into account local contexts, for example ensuring that leaders have a clear awareness of child sexual exploitation.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school and this is rooted in the care staff have for pupils and pupils have for one another. Relationships between staff and pupils are very strong and are a key feature of the school.  Leaders have established clear processes to keep pupils safe. Through the curriculum they also ensure that there is sufficient time for pupils to investigate safeguarding issues such as radicalisation and internet safety.  Pupils are clear that they are safe at school and feel safe. They are confident that they would know what to do if they or someone else was in trouble or feeling unhappy. They are also confident that staff would deal with any problem, quickly and decisively.  Staff and governors are regularly trained and are confident in their abilities to spot, for example radicalisation or neglect. Teachers are confident that leaders deal with issues

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Safeguarding

in a timely fashion and leaders keep detailed records which they are rigorous in analysing for patterns of behaviour or incidents.  Leaders are tenacious in their work with external agencies, such as social care, and will not let matters rest if they believe that concerns about pupils remain.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Current pupils achieve well because of the teaching that they receive.  The introduction of a new assessment system has paid dividends for pupils, especially those who are of low and middle ability. Tasks are based on knowledge and skills and then focus on what pupils’ next steps should be. These tasks are popular with pupils, especially boys, and allow pupils to see clearly what they need to do to improve. Consequently, many pupils are making accelerated progress.  However, such tasks are not as effective for the most able pupils because they are too formulaic and sometimes too shallow to challenge these pupils and their different learning needs effectively enough.  The overwhelming majority of parents feel that their child is taught well. They value the reports and feedback on the progress of their children that the school gives them.  Teachers’ subject knowledge is a strength of the school. This knowledge is used well to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

inform the questions that teachers ask pupils in order to broaden their knowledge or check their understanding. Teachers generally circulate well in lessons and give immediate and helpful feedback which helps move pupils forward.  Leaders make good use of their growing alliance with the Spencer Academies Trust to bring in expertise that will help them improve teaching and learning for their pupils, especially in areas such as French which are not yet consistently good.  Most pupils commit to improving their work and develop their learning through self- discipline. However, some pupils do not consistently apply themselves, particularly in key stage 3. School leaders accept that there is more work to do with these pupils.  The introduction of a new online system to record homework is proving popular with parents and pupils, who can see what work needs to be done easily and clearly. Pupils are now completing more useful homework tasks than last year.

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Personal development and welfare

 Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good and has shown rapid and sustained improvement.  The attendance of current pupils is improving for almost all groups of pupils. Leaders make sure that they contact parents if pupils are not present at school and leaders are rigorous in making sure that they exploit legal routes to make certain that all parents send their children to school regularly enough.  Too many disadvantaged pupils are persistently absent. While the rate of persistent absence for them is declining, it is less rapid than for other groups.  This is an inclusive school and pupils for whom behaviour is a significant barrier to their progress are well catered for in the school’s ‘Thrive’ centre. Pupils receive support to manage their behaviour but also carry on with their studies so that they do not miss any learning and make the progress of which they are capable.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils receive high-quality support and guidance about the stages in their education throughout the school. Opportunities for this in the curriculum are supplemented by ‘drop-down’ days, where pupils focus on a particular area which will help them to make decisions about their future.  Good citizenship is a constant theme of leaders’ and others’ work with pupils and they make good provision for regular opportunities for pupils to examine spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues. This has an impact on their behaviour and on their learning outcomes.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils enjoy coming to school and are punctual to lessons. They are almost always polite. They welcome visitors and are keen to share their positive experiences of school life.  Behaviour seen in lessons is almost always good, although there are occasional instances of off-task behaviour from some pupils, which sometimes disrupts the learning of others. Leaders need to do more to support pupils who need help to focus in lessons.  The number of pupils who have been excluded from school is declining in most areas. Where it is not, this is because leaders are using exclusion as a part of a zero tolerance to certain behaviours in order to raise the standard of behaviour even higher and eradicate any remaining pockets of poor behaviour.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Outcomes for pupils improved dramatically in 2017 and continue to improve rapidly for current pupils so that most pupils are making good progress.  Pupils who enter the school in Year 7 have starting points that are significantly below average and by the end of Year 11 their achievement is broadly average.  Any gaps in pupils’ knowledge caused by poor teaching and behaviour in the past are being filled by learning opportunities that are tightly focused and secure foundations before moving onto new topics.  Leaders are taking effective action to reduce poor performance in art, French and engineering and are making effective use of partnerships with other schools where there is good practice.  Leaders at all levels have a relentless focus on the progress and achievement of pupils. This is bringing about rapid improvements in pupils’ progress and leaders are thorough in their analysis of performance.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupil performance information that the school gathers is accurate. Teachers make certain that assessment tasks are standardised and ensure fair, consistent and accurate marking. Where possible, assessment tasks are scrutinised during collaborative work with other teachers from different schools.  Governors use information about the performance of pupils well and hold leaders to account for pupils’ performance. Their analysis is insightful and rigorous and assists senior leaders in raising standards.  Progress for pupils in Years 8 and 9 is stronger than in later years as they have had less to catch up. This is also true for groups of pupils, and in these years the progress of current disadvantaged pupils is better that of non-disadvantaged pupils.  The progress made by more-able pupils is still not good enough and the system leaders use to set their targets underestimates their potential by not including other

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Outcomes for pupils Good

information such as reading ages. Leaders have not yet thought about how they will adjust targets for pupils who have already met and exceeded them.  The progress of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is improving steadily and, where learning is most effective, pupils are well supported. However, leaders need to do more to make the experience of supported pupils consistently good.

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16 to 19 study programmes Good

 Students make good progress in the sixth form and rates of progress and attainment are improving.  Leaders’ focus on achievement in key stages 3 and 4 extends equally to key stage 5 and there are good systems in place to identify and help students who fall behind. Leaders have raised expectations and challenge by increasing targets. Current pupils are rising to the challenge.  Leaders make effective use of external validation through links with other schools and examination questions to ensure that assessments are accurate.  A well-thought-out programme of independent advice and guidance leaves students well prepared for the next stage of their education, employment and training. Last year, every student in Year 13 left school to go to the course, job or training they wanted. Rates of retention from Year 12 are high and this is because leaders ensure that there is good support available for pupils so that they can make realistic choices.

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16 to 19 study programmes Good

 Students who take fully timetabled English and mathematics GCSE as part of their study programmes achieve well and at above national rates.  The enrichment programme is wide-ranging and varied and there are good opportunities for voluntary work. Work experience in Year 12 is appropriate and well planned.  Teachers’ strong subject knowledge coupled with a good level of challenge and ambition help motivate students to do well. Consequently, students value the teaching that they receive.  Students’ attitudes to learning are very positive and they say that they enjoy coming to school and value the ‘family’ feel in the sixth form. They value their school and talk about it confidently and proudly. Their attendance is also high.  The curriculum is broad and balanced and contains a wide range of academic subjects complemented by a smaller number of well-chosen vocational subjects. Leaders evaluate this offer annually to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the

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16 to 19 study programmes Good

community that the school serves.  Many students take on a leadership role with younger pupils, for example acting as subject mentors or cooking with a younger pupil. They are eager to do more, especially engaging with younger pupils’ interest in issues that they feel are important.

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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

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,515

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address info@derbymoor.derby.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12–13 December 2012

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Information about this school

 The school meets the requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of Year 11.  The 16 to 19 study programmes meet the minimum standards set by the government.  The school will become part of the Spencer Academies Trust on 1 January 2018.  The school is a larger than average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is significantly above average, as is the proportion who do speak English as an additional language.  A very small number of pupils receive their education full time through Kingsmead Junction 16 and Derby Pride Academy.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning across a range of subjects and year groups in 43 lessons or part lessons and some jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors also heard pupils read.  Inspectors had meetings with senior leaders, leaders of teaching subjects and year groups, other teachers and governors. Inspectors also met with the school’s improvement advisor and a representative from the local authority.  The views of pupils in all year groups were sought through meetings and informally in lessons and around the school.  Inspectors took into account the 91 responses from Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and an additional 56 via the text service. They considered the 165 responses to the online pupil questionnaire and the 53 responses from the online questionnaire for staff.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents including senior leaders’ own evaluations of the school’s performance and plans for improvement, documents for managing

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Information about this inspection

teachers’ performance and records of training. They also looked at information on pupils’ progress and attainment, behaviour, attendance and how the school keeps pupils safe.

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Inspection team

Mark Mitchley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Eddie Wilkes 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

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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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