Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership

Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership Initial teacher education inspection report Inspection dates Stage 1: 3 July 2017 Stage 2: 4 December 2017

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This inspection was carried out by two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) in accordance with the ‘Initial teacher education inspection handbook’. This handbook sets out the statutory basis and framework for initial teacher education (ITE) inspections in England from September 2015.

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The inspection draws on evidence from within the ITE partnership to make judgements against all parts of the evaluation schedule. Inspectors focused on the overall effectiveness of the ITE partnership in securing high-quality outcomes for trainees.

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Inspection judgements

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding; grade 2 is good; grade 3 is requires improvement; grade 4 is inadequate

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Inspection judgements

Overall effectiveness How well does the partnership secure consistently high-quality outcomes for trainees? The outcomes for trainees 2 The quality of training across the partnership The quality of leadership and management across the partnership ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017

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Information about the secondary partnership

 The Teach@Weydon partnership is a school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) provider. It is based at Weydon School, Farnham, which is the lead school for the Weydon Multi-Academy Trust (WMAT). The partnership is led by the trust.  The programme is managed by the i2i Partnership, which delivers a range of professional learning programmes, operating from Weydon School and its partners.  The partnership consists of approximately 20 secondary schools in Surrey and Hampshire.  The programme is overseen by a partnership steering group. This group includes representatives of the key stakeholders.  The partnership delivers a core postgraduate programme, with a small minority of trainees each year completing the School Direct (salaried) route alongside the SCITT trainees. This was its first inspection at the end of its second year as an accredited provider of qualified teacher status (QTS).  In the academic year 2015/16, there were 14 trainees on the programme. In

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Information about the secondary partnership

2016/17, the year of the inspection, 37 trainees were enrolled.  Trainees specialise in the 11-to-16 age range. They choose from a range of subjects including: art; computing; English; geography; history; mathematics; music; religious studies; physical education; and science.  Successful trainees are recommended for QTS at the end of the programme. Trainees are also awarded a postgraduate certificate of education by the University of Sussex on successful completion of assignments.

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Information about the secondary ITE inspection

 Inspectors made visits to six partnership schools across the two stages of the inspection. At stage 2, inspectors also observed teaching in two non- partnership schools.  Inspectors observed 13 trainees or NQTs teaching during the two stages of the inspection process. At stage 1, seven trainees were observed teaching. At stage 2, a further six were observed as NQTs. One trainee was observed at both stages.  Inspectors reviewed trainees’ files and folders to evaluate the evidence of their attainment against each of the teachers’ standards.  At stage 1, inspectors observed mentors providing feedback to trainees as part of the weekly training programme. Inspectors also reviewed programme ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017 documents, including handbooks for each of the secondary subjects and the professional studies programme.  Inspectors reviewed a wide range of the partnership’s documents and other

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Information about the secondary ITE inspection

evidence, including external examiner reports, the partnership’s self-evaluation and partnership agreements. They checked that the programme is fully compliant with statutory requirements, including safeguarding and the initial teacher training (ITT) criteria. All aspects of the programme were found to be compliant.  During school visits, where possible, inspectors met with the headteacher and senior leaders responsible for professional development to gather their views on the quality of the partnership.  Inspectors met with groups of trainees at stage 1 and a mixed group of trainees and NQTs at stage 2 to ascertain their views on how well the programme had prepared them for teaching. Inspectors also took into account the views of 29 trainees who responded to Ofsted’s trainee online questionnaire in 2017 and reviewed the responses of trainees to the partnership’s own surveys.

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Inspection team

Simon Hughes HMI (lead inspector) Matthew Newberry HMI (assistant lead inspector)

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Key strengths of the secondary partnership

 Teach@Weydon provides a regular supply of well-trained teachers in an area of the country with significant recruitment challenges.  Most trainees have good subject knowledge and the ability to acquire quickly any new knowledge needed to support pupils’ learning.  The vast majority of trainees are able to manage pupils’ behaviour effectively and create climates in their classrooms that are purposeful and productive. They build positive relationships with their pupils.  The programme provides a good balance of educational theory and school experience. This means that trainees are able to reflect on and evaluate their practice professionally.  The partnership benefits from exceptional leadership which has the capacity to take the programme to the next level. Strategic leaders act quickly and decisively to improve the programme whenever necessary. ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership

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Key strengths of the secondary partnership

December 2017  The programme’s management team is passionate, dedicated and committed. It focuses relentlessly on continuous improvements to the programme so that trainees can thrive and pupils benefit from increasingly strong teaching.  Since stage 1 of the inspection, the programme team has radically overhauled and upgraded all of the partnership’s processes and systems. The system for assessing trainees’ performance and progress is now based on robust and detailed criteria, set against nationally agreed sector benchmarks.

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The partnership should:

 build on the exemplary work completed already to achieve even stronger outcomes for trainees by:  further embedding quality assurance processes so that any trainees falling below the high standards the partnership sets itself are identified and supported to improve at the earliest possible stage  strengthening trainees’ ability to plan challenging work for higher-attaining learners and those who need help to catch up.

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Inspection judgements

1. The Teach@Weydon partnership was founded to provide a regular supply of high-quality teachers for the locality. Teacher recruitment in this area is exceptionally difficult due to the very high cost of housing. The partnership is making a strong contribution to meeting the employment needs of secondary schools in the area.

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Inspection judgements

2. In the two years of its operation, the partnership has enabled nearly all trainees to complete the programme successfully.

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Inspection judgements

3. In the first year, all trainees secured employment by the end of the programme. In 2016/17, the large majority of trainees who completed the programme took up teaching jobs. Of these, the large majority were appointed to posts in partnership schools, often where they had been on school experience placement.

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Inspection judgements

4. Partnership school headteachers, and other headteachers locally, value the high quality of most trainees. Nearly all trainees settle quickly into their NQT year. Headteachers told inspectors that NQTs are already making good contributions to their new places of work.

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Inspection judgements

5. Inspectors found no real differences in the outcomes for trainees between groups or the various subjects. Those who enter the profession later in life generally do as well as recent graduates. There are very few candidates from ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017 minority ethnic groups or those who choose to declare a disability. Those who are do equally well on the programme.

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Inspection judgements

6. This is because trainees are prepared effectively for teaching. They are well organised, reflective, willing to learn and dedicated. They adopt appropriately professional approaches to their work, upholding, with rare exception, the high standards expected of teachers.

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Inspection judgements

7. Leaders ensure that trainees develop awareness of the additional challenges of teaching in schools that require improvement. A few trainees each year have full teaching experiences in such schools that are part of the partnership. Trainees also learn about the impact of deprivation on pupils’ outcomes. This is especially necessary when pupils from low-income families attend schools in areas of low socio-economic deprivation overall.

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Inspection judgements

8. Leaders select trainees carefully. Candidates are subject to a rigorous assessment process which includes checks on whether or not they are fit and proper persons. The comprehensive selection and interview process includes representatives of partner schools, often those where trainees are likely to be placed for their practical experience.

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Inspection judgements

9. Most trainees join the programme with secure subject knowledge. A few are recruited on condition of completing one of the subject knowledge enhancement courses currently on offer with other providers. Increasingly, leaders expect all trainees to undertake relevant subject knowledge enhancement activities. This is especially so, for example, for physicists, who may be required by their placement schools to teach science more generally.

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Inspection judgements

10. During the programme, trainees learn how to acquire new knowledge quickly. As a result, trainees are able to respond effectively to changes in GCSE specifications and examination requirements.

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Inspection judgements

11. The programme supports the good development of trainees’ subject and pedagogical knowledge through a programme of strongly delivered sessions which are highly valued by trainees. Each session is supported by a good list of relevant literature. Books, online resources and articles listed provide trainees with access to essential information about their subject. Subject leaders also provide carefully selected links to additional quality-assured materials for trainees wishing to extend or deepen their subject knowledge and understanding.

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Inspection judgements

12. Subject studies sessions are typically delivered by serving practitioners from the partnership’s schools. Professional studies sessions are delivered skilfully by experienced teachers from partnership schools, or by specialists from elsewhere, who cover topics such as assessment for learning, safeguarding and support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017 13. Appropriate attention is given by tutors to the promotion of safeguarding, equal opportunities and the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils. For example, leaders ensure that trainees are given direct instruction on their personal and professional responsibilities with regard to the use of social media.

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Inspection judgements

14. Trainees, through their actions, demonstrate their concern for the well-being of pupils. They act in accordance with equal opportunities legislation and objectives, promoting the success and attainment of all. They understand their responsibilities to ensure that pupils are kept safe at all times, for example in physical education. In science, they are acutely aware of the need to maintain a safe working environment for pupils when dealing with hazardous substances, even when such considerations may add to their workload.

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Inspection judgements

15. Trainees develop a good range of effective teaching techniques and strategies across the training year. For example, many are adept at using group work. In a music lesson, a trainee encouraged small groups of pupils to perform ensemble short pieces they had composed together. In an art lesson, an NQT was enabling pupils’ understanding of different artists’ techniques by organising groups to research individual aspects of each artist’s work.

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Inspection judgements

16. Leaders require trainees to use technology efficiently to organise their work. Consequently, trainees select relevant tools and applications to support pupils’ learning. The quality of many trainees’ presentations is impressive. Pupils clearly appreciate the professionalism that this communicates.

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Inspection judgements

17. The programme team make sure that trainees support the development of pupils’ literacy and numeracy well. In the vast majority of teaching observed, trainees used the correct technical language for the subject. They provide their pupils with good models of the accurate uses of English.

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Inspection judgements

18. Trainees generally manage pupils’ behaviour confidently. The programme team provides clear training on this aspect of teaching. Mentors support this with frequent discussions with their trainees on how to ensure the orderly conduct of lessons. Usually this is in the context of working with particular classes.

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Inspection judgements

19. A few mentors focus too much on behaviour management rather than on overall strategies for effective teaching. In these cases, they sometimes judge lessons to be effective because pupils’ conduct has been good, rather than because their learning has been effective.

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Inspection judgements

20. Pupils’ behaviour is often extremely good when trainees’ teaching is inspiring and tailored to the needs of all pupils and when they check regularly that all pupils understand why they are learning in a given way. In a mathematics lesson, for example, pupils responded enthusiastically to some real-world examples of simple statistical models. ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017 21. The vast majority of trainees create, plan, prepare and deliver good or better- quality sequences of lessons. The impact of their teaching is seen in the good work pupils produce over time and the amount of progress pupils make.

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Inspection judgements

22. Trainees are generally well trained to assess pupils’ learning in accordance with their placement school’s assessment policy and practice. This is because professional studies sessions provide trainees with good guidance on the principles of assessment, as well as helpful, practical suggestions for classroom practice.

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Inspection judgements

23. By the end of the training, most trainees are able to adapt their teaching in response to their assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress. Not all, however, are sufficiently adept in differentiating the work given so that it meets the needs of all pupils, and, in particular, the most able pupils and those who have low prior attainment or need to catch up.

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Inspection judgements

24. For example, even the most able trainees occasionally prepare lessons that have the same objectives, content and activities for all pupils. This is often despite the wide variation in prior learning shown in trainees’ own information about their classes and the detailed pupil information their placement schools require them to include in planning.

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Inspection judgements

25. At stage 1 of the inspection, standards of mentoring were found to be variable. The quality of a few placements did not match the high standards expected by the programme team and a few trainees were concerned that they had not derived the full benefit of these experiences.

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Inspection judgements

26. In a few other cases, the trainees’ carefully constructed transition targets were not adopted by mentors working with NQTs in their new schools. NQTs, therefore, received different targets on the basis of early assessment by the school of their performance or the school’s needs. Trainees found this confusing and that it added to their workload. This concern is recognised by leaders and is being addressed very effectively for the current cohort.

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Inspection judgements

27. Leaders thoughtfully and skilfully adapted and strengthened the programme’s systems and processes during academic year 2016/17. They made important and effective changes to the criteria against which trainees were judged to be meeting the teachers’ standards. A much-improved assessment grid which uses sector-wide benchmarks and a realistic scale is now deployed routinely across the whole partnership.

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Inspection judgements

28. The assessment of trainees’ performance is now accurate and reliable. All mentors and quality assurance personnel apply these standards consistently. Trainees are now informed at an early stage if their practice is at a level below or equal to the minimum expected for the award of QTS. ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017 29. Equally, current trainees are able to evaluate their own practice realistically and make necessary adjustments. They do so professionally and reflectively. They engage in even more meaningful professional dialogue with their mentors on a weekly basis.

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Inspection judgements

30. Leaders’ rapid interventions demonstrate their capacity to improve provision, and their relentless determination to ensure that the programme overall will make an outstanding contribution to teacher recruitment in the area. Inspectors found many examples of outstanding leadership activities that are making considerable improvements to an already strong programme. Leaders recognise that time is needed for the full impact of these changes to be felt and demonstrated in even stronger outcomes for trainees.

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Inspection judgements

31. Governance of the programme is strong and is being further enhanced by the addition of a wider group of stakeholders to the steering group. Recent appointments to this group include a representative of the University of Sussex and a trainee representative. This enables trainees to influence the future content and direction of the programme. Headteachers already have the opportunity to influence the future direction and quality of the programme through their representatives.

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Inspection judgements

32. Leaders have increased the rigour of the programme by adding more regular quality assurance visits to each of the placement schools. These visits enable the programme team to gather evidence about the quality of placements and any issues faced by the trainees. Link tutors and assessors also use part of their time on visits very effectively to reinforce important programme messages or to deliver bespoke training for mentors.

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Inspection judgements

33. Leaders have also tightened up the requirements for all mentors to be fully trained for their role. Consequently, there was full attendance at a recent training session for mentors. This was in line with the steering group’s development of robust performance indicators which give increasingly reliable information about the programme’s progress.

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Inspection judgements

34. The outstanding quality of leadership gives the trainees great confidence that they are well prepared for their careers. Trainees assert emphatically that the high-quality support from leaders enables them to overcome any personal barriers or other obstacles to completing the programme.

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Inspection judgements

35. Leaders are fully responsive to the needs of trainees, mentors and placement schools. Relationships between stakeholders are very positive. The exceptionally clear communication across the partnership helps to maintain these productive working relationships. For example, as well as frequent email exchanges, meetings and briefings, the i2i Partnership produces a detailed and professionally produced weekly online newsletter which delivers key information and also celebrates the achievements and successes of the trainees. ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017

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Annex: Partnership schools

The following schools were visited to observe trainees’ and NQTs’ teaching:

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Annex: Partnership schools

Weydon School, Farnham ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017

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ITE partnership details

Unique reference number Inspection number Inspection dates Stage 1 Stage 2 Lead inspector Type of ITE partnership Phases provided Date of previous inspection Previous inspection report

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ITE partnership details

Provider address 10022273-2 3–5 July 2017 4–6 December 2017 Simon Hughes HMI SCITT Secondary Not previously inspected N/A

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ITE partnership details

Teach@Weydon Weydon Lane Farnham Surrey GU9 8UG ITE inspection report: Teach@Weydon SCITT Partnership December 2017 regulates and inspects to 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. 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 . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format

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ITE partnership details

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ITE partnership details

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ITE partnership details

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