Archway

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

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Mr Leigh Beaumont Headteacher Archway Normanby Road Middlesbrough Teesside TS6 9AD

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Short inspection of Archway

Following my visit to the school on 20 March 2018 with Tudor Griffiths, 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 your predecessor’s school was judged to be good in October 2013.

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Short inspection of Archway

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since joining the school in June 2017, you have tackled points of need and developed many areas of the school. You and your new senior leadership team have a clear vision and this has created a shared understanding of the expectations of both staff and pupils. Your determination, coupled with the implementation of a strong three-year development plan, are ensuring that the school continues to improve.

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Short inspection of Archway

There is a strong culture of respect throughout the school. Pupils show this to teachers, visitors and each other. For example, when visitors enter the classroom, the pupils are excited to share their work.

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Short inspection of Archway

Behaviour management across the school is consistent. Staff work really well with pupils to de-escalate incidents and support pupils to begin to manage their own behaviour. The behaviour team is seen as ‘soothing’ by pupils, who state that their own behaviour is ‘much better’ than when they were in mainstream school.

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Short inspection of Archway

At the time of the previous inspection, the school did not provide enough high- quality opportunities to develop pupils’ reading skills. You have introduced a library and a range of reading materials in all classrooms. Key stage 3 pupils read widely and for pleasure. This is supporting the pupils’ progress in reading. In key stage 4, reading is limited to set texts and we agreed that you need to increase reading for pleasure across the school. Since the previous inspection, you are ensuring that assessment is used to support teaching and learning within the classroom. Personalised learning is apparent and is clear in pupils’ books. More accurate assessment on entry to the school is starting to have a positive impact on pupils’ progress in all subjects.

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Short inspection of Archway

Pupils’ transition back to mainstream school is a strength of the school. The partnership work that is in place ensures that the pupils are fully supported by Archway staff to settle back into a mainstream school. This transition process ensures that pupils succeed.

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Short inspection of Archway

You and your leadership team have ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You have developed an effective safeguarding culture in school, establishing a safe and secure environment for pupils and staff.

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Short inspection of Archway

Your team of safeguarding officers works effectively across the school. Bespoke timetables to support and manage pupils who have complex issues are in place. Safeguarding officers report to the local authority in a timely fashion when necessary and will follow up cases to ensure that pupils get the support they need.

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Short inspection of Archway

All staff and members of the management committee are regularly trained in safeguarding practices. They have a good understanding of the local context and national policy relating to safeguarding. The safeguarding lead for the management committee is highly trained and supportive of the team of safeguarding officers within the school.

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Short inspection of Archway

You ensure that there are ongoing opportunities for pupils to learn about how to keep themselves safe, through assemblies and the wider curriculum. As a result, pupils in the school feel safe and can articulate how to keep themselves safe outside school, for example when online.

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Inspection findings

 A focus of our visit was attendance and behaviour. The leadership team has put in place robust procedures for tracking and improving attendance. Relationships with pupils and parents and carers, home visits, weekly meetings with the local authority and bespoke timetables have all supported attendance across the school to improve.  Behaviour across the school is consistently well managed. Staff have clear and high expectations for pupils. Pupils respond well to these expectations and are proud of their school, their work and their achievements.  Positive reinforcement and de-escalation techniques used by staff across the school support the pupils to manage their own behaviour.  A further focus was on how teaching has continued to improve and increase pupils’ achievement. The training and support that you have established within the school allow teachers to have a greater understanding of the complex needs

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Inspection findings

of pupils. As a result, teachers plan more accurately to meet the needs of individual pupils, who make more progress as a result.  A developing half-termly assessment tracking system allows teachers to accurately set targets that stretch and challenge pupils. These targets feed into the high expectations of pupils across the school.  Art is a strength of the school. Pupils engage well with the subject and a range of fantastic artwork is displayed around the school. Strong and sustained learning and progress over time were evident in portfolio work, coursework and from GCSE examination results.  Pupils spoken with during the inspection, both in the school and on alternative provision, clearly understood the tasks given to them and what they needed to do in order to be successful. Pupils at alternative provision have a strong working knowledge of their vocational curriculum. They can explain how this supports

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Inspection findings

their future education and employment plans.  A balanced curriculum with a high level of opportunity for educational trips and visits ensures that pupils are challenged and prepared for their future. The introduction of subjects such as art and food technology, alongside the increased offer of physical activities through the gym provision, supplement the core curriculum and give pupils greater choice. Bespoke timetables and alternative provision are used effectively to support pupils’ vocational pathways into employment such as mechanics and construction.  In key stages 1 and 2, a calm and nurturing environment allows younger pupils to settle quickly and develop new methods of learning and engagement. New outdoor equipment allows them to take risks in a controlled and secure environment.  The use of bespoke timetables and alternative provision for the more vulnerable pupils provides an intensive, well-supported experience. Pupils make good

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Inspection findings

progress and engage well with the curriculum that is provided. Staff are successful in ensuring an effective transition for the most vulnerable pupils into the school.  The new management committee has worked alongside you and the senior leadership team to support staff, monitor safeguarding and plan and develop a three-year strategy for Archway, which will see the curriculum offer broaden and the provision increase capacity to split the upper and lower school and admit more pupils. All staff share your vision and goals.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 pupils’ attendance, particularly for those with bespoke timetables, continues to improve  reading is further developed across the curriculum and beyond, especially in key stage 4, so that pupils begin to appreciate reading for pleasure. I am copying this letter to the chair of the management committee, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Redcar and Cleveland. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors met with you, senior leaders and middle leaders. Meetings were held with members of the management committee, two representatives from the local authority and a parent. Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and development plan, policies, attendance data, analysis of behaviour and the single central record. Visits were made by an inspector to two alternative provisions that your pupils access. Senior leaders accompanied inspectors on learning walks. Inspectors spoke with pupils both formally and informally during the inspection.

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