All Saints' Church of England School, Weymouth

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

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Martin McLeman Executive Headteacher All Saints’ Church of England School, Weymouth Sunnyside Road Wyke Regis Weymouth Dorset DT4 9BJ

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School, Weymouth

Following my visit with Deirdre Fitzpatrick Ofsted Inspector to your school on 11 to 12 September 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken since the school’s recent section 5 inspection.

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School, Weymouth

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in May 2018.

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School, Weymouth

Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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School, Weymouth

Leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

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School, Weymouth

The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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School, Weymouth

The school’s action plan is fit for purpose.

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School, Weymouth

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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School, Weymouth

I am copying this letter to the chair of the executive board, the director of education for the Diocese of Salisbury, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Dorset. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 Urgently address shortcomings in safeguarding by ensuring that: – vulnerable pupils, especially those on part-time timetables, are closely monitored and kept safe – pupils are safe from poor behaviour – the single central record is complete and up to date.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 Improve leadership and management by: – securing long-term leadership capacity within the school – ensuring that leaders have an accurate and reliable evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses – improving governance so that senior leaders are held to account and supported appropriately – improving the leadership of teaching so that there are clear expectations of teachers and they are held to account for the quality of their teaching – raising expectations of middle leadership so that middle leaders can improve the quality of teaching in their subjects – ensuring that assessment systems and practice are fit for purpose.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 Improve teaching, learning and assessment and hence outcomes by: – raising expectations of what pupils can achieve – ensuring that assessment is reliable and gives teachers a good understanding of what pupils know, understand and can do – ensuring that teachers match planned teaching activities to the needs of pupils, particularly pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities and the most able pupils – raising standards of literacy across all subjects – ensuring that pupils know how to improve their work.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 Improve personal development, behaviour and welfare by: – improving behaviour around the school site – eliminating low-level disruption in lessons – raising attendance to at least match the national average – reducing persistent absence, particularly of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils, so it is in line with the national average.

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the executive headteacher, the acting headteacher, members of the interim executive board (IEB), senior and middle leaders and groups of pupils. They spoke by telephone to the chair of the IEB, the principal adviser for Dorset local authority, to parents and to leaders of an alternative provision.

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Evidence

Inspectors conducted joint visits to lessons with senior leaders to observe pupils’ learning and behaviour.

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Evidence

Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including attendance data and minutes of IEB meetings and of meetings with national leaders of education and subject advisers. Inspectors checked information about safety and safeguarding, including the attendance of pupils at alternative provision.

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Context

The headteacher resigned in August 2018. The executive headteacher is the headteacher at Queen Elizabeth’s School in Wimborne and the acting headteacher is the deputy headteacher at that school. They were appointed to these positions of support by the Salisbury diocese in May 2018. The IEB was appointed in April 2018. Three new assistant headteachers were appointed in September 2018: one to lead teaching and learning; one to lead the work of the upper school (Years 10 to 11) and one to lead the work of the lower school (Years 7, 8 and 9). Six new teachers, including a newly qualified teacher, started in September 2018.

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Context

The school’s conversion to a sponsored academy is yet to take place.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders have not yet established a safeguarding culture that is secure. The oversight of the single central record of vetting for staff has not been stringent. Although there are some improvements in the collation and management of documentation, shortcomings are not being addressed quickly enough. Leaders have not prioritised this efficiently.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

A site survey has taken place which has identified long-term solutions for the security of the site. However, short-term risk assessments were not carried out. As a result, pupils were not supervised adequately at the start and end of the day. Pedestrian access was not defined clearly. Too many vehicles gained access without any attempt to identify the purpose of their entry. No restrictions on vehicle speeds were in place. Leaders corrected these issues during the inspection. The school has an up-to-date list of pupils on roll who do not attend school full time. They attend alternative provision for some of their education entitlement or are absent for long-term medical reasons. Leaders completed this list at the start of September. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) manages these pupils now. Leaders had not monitored these pupils well enough since the previous inspection in May 2018. Leaders had failed to ensure their safety. Equally, there has

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

been no evaluation of the educational experiences which are offered to these pupils. The documentation is incomplete as it does not include timetables, attendance data and dates for reviews and, in pertinent cases, dates for reintegration into school. Leaders have not communicated effectively with alternative providers, nor have they visited the educational establishments. These are minimum expectations to ensure that the education is suitable. The SENCo has worked swiftly since taking on this responsibility. He has provisional dates for site visits, but these are not confirmed. The review of non-attendees is not yet planned with the relevant agencies and parents.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The long-term capacity for leadership is not secure. The executive headteacher and acting headteacher are in temporary roles. Senior leaders have not reviewed safeguarding and attendance effectively. This compromises the safety of pupils. The new assistant headteachers are stepping into their roles well.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The IEB continues to support and challenge the leadership of the school. It meets formally once a month with school leaders, and questions progress in areas for improvement. The IEB has concentrated on the academisation processes, financial issues and effective planning. In addition, the board has engaged with time- consuming and demanding issues extraneous to the operational workings of the school. However, the IEB did not interrogate actions around safeguarding deeply enough, especially the short-term risk assessments needed to manage the insecure site. Vetting processes, including checks of new staff, risked unsafe practice and were not carried out well. The safeguarding governor did inspect the single central record of vetting for staff and identify the issues of concern. The safeguarding lead from the local authority did the same.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The support provided by Queen Elizabeth’s School and the local authority continues to be vital in determining a positive future for the school. The local authority and the diocese maintain a commitment to support the school until it becomes successful again.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The executive headteacher and the acting headteacher have a secure grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of teaching and learning in the school. Their recent evaluation is realistic. The acting headteacher has maintained the focus on day-to- day operations successfully. He has established a calm and orderly atmosphere within the school. Pupils’ behaviour was observed to be consistently polite and courteous There are clear line-management structures which enable staff to be held to account for their responsibilities. Middle leaders appreciate these systems. They feel well supported. Leaders are good role models. The executive headteacher and the acting headteacher provide clear instructions. Consequently, expectations of teachers and pupils are better.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Displays setting out expectations of presentation in work and behaviour are in every classroom. Teachers are applying these consistently and, as a result, pupils are ready to learn. Pupils, apart from Year 11 pupils, have new books so that they can start the new academic year on a clean sheet. So far, presentation is neat and tidy.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The acting headteacher has an experienced background in data and assessment. He is training middle leaders in how to use assessment information to improve pupil progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The new assistant headteacher in charge of teaching and learning is training subject leaders to plan work that is challenging and appropriate for the different year groups. This is in its infancy so it is not possible to measure the impact yet.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teachers are aware of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and of disadvantaged pupils. Teachers use seating plans to make sure pupils are in the best positions for learning according to their needs. Planning for the range of abilities, and for pupils with particular needs, is not established yet.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The acting headteacher, in collaboration with staff, introduced a new behaviour policy in June 2018. The impact of this has been very successful. Incidents of poor behaviour have reduced significantly. Behaviour in lessons and around the school is good. Low-level disruption to learning is a rarity. When it happens, teachers enforce the systems, supported by the assistant headteachers and heads of year. Subject leaders spoke of improved behaviour of pupils, which demonstrated that they had raised expectations.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Despite consultants working with leaders to combat poor attendance of pupils, there are, as yet, no signs of improvement. There is no detailed action plan to implement changes to the deep-rooted habits of pupils who do not attend regularly. Consequently, attendance of pupils remains below national averages and rates of persistent absence are higher than average nationally. In addition, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities is far worse than that of other pupils. Similarly, the numbers of exclusions for these pupils is at least three times higher, or more, than other pupils. Consequently, the safety of the most vulnerable pupils is not secure.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The number of pupils who arrive late to school has lessened as a result of tightened registration procedures and simple, immediate sanctions.

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Outcomes for pupils

There is no internal assessment information yet, and not enough work done by pupils to comment on pupil progress since the inspection.

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External support

The local authority continues to check on the school’s progress regularly and provide efficient support and advice. The reports written are accurate evaluations of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Each report identifies clearly the areas on which leaders need to concentrate.

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External support

The external support provided by Queen Elizabeth’s School is of a high calibre. The acting headteacher continues to manage the many evolving situations proficiently.

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