Ernest Bevin College

Ernest Bevin College Beechcroft Road, Tooting, London SW17 7DF

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Standards in the school have declined since the last inspection. This is because leadership and the quality of teaching and learning are not effective enough.  Governors do not have a secure understanding of the school’s performance. Therefore, the governing body cannot effectively hold leaders to account.  The quality of teaching is variable. As a result, too many pupils are not making the progress of which they are capable, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).  Inconsistencies in questioning and lack of high expectations limit pupils’ progress.  Leaders do not review the impact of their work effectively. As a result, they do not have an accurate view of the school’s performance.  Sixth-form students, especially those with high starting points, do not routinely make good progress on A-level courses, because the quality of teaching is variable.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 At key stage 4, all pupils do not have access to the wide range of subjects available.  Too many students in the sixth form do not attend regularly enough. This limits their progress.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Senior leaders have created an inclusive school with a strong thoughtful ethos, where pupils feel cared for.  Good teaching in mathematics leads to good progress made by pupils.  Pupils conduct and attendance is good.  Pupils’ personal development and welfare are good, including those of students in the sixth form. Pupils are typically confident and courteous.  Staff ensure that pupils access a well-planned programme of careers education. As a result, almost all pupils move on to further education, employment or training.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership by ensuring that: – leaders routinely and effectively review the impact of their actions, to improve outcomes for all groups of pupils – governors support and challenge school leaders to bring about the improvements needed – leaders and governors have a more stringent monitoring and evaluation of funding for disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEND so that progress for these pupils improves – a curriculum review is undertaken to ensure equity of opportunity for all pupils over the subjects they are able to study.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, by: – ensuring that teachers have consistently high expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving across the curriculum – reviewing and refining assessment practices, so that pupil information is accurate and used to plan learning that challenges pupils of different abilities to learn well over time – ensuring that teachers’ questioning skills are developed, so that pupils are given

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

opportunities to extend their ideas and think deeply – providing opportunities for teachers to improve their practice by learning from one another and sharing good practice among wider partnerships.  Improve the quality of 16 to 19 study programmes by: – strengthening leadership so that leaders’ plans and actions have a demonstrable impact on improving the quality of the education that students receive – ensuring that students benefit from consistently effective teaching on A-level courses, so that all groups of students, especially those with high starting points, attain the grades of which they are capable – reducing student absence.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The standard of education provided at the school has declined since the previous inspection. Too many pupils do not make good progress, because of weaknesses in leadership and teaching.  Governors have not held leaders to account stringently over a significant period of time. As a result, standards slipped. Governors have failed to monitor the school’s use of additional funding effectively. Consequently, progress for disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEND is below the national average.  Over time, analysis of progress has been ineffectual for particular groups, such as disadvantaged pupils or pupils who have SEND, and pupils of varying ability levels. As a result, leaders have been unaware of the poor progress made by groups of pupils. A new assessment system to monitor the progress of pupils has recently been put in place. It is too early to judge the impact of this system.  Leaders’ evaluation of the effectiveness of the pupil premium funding lacks precision

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

and detail. Leaders are not always able to identify which strategies are having a positive impact on disadvantaged pupils’ achievement and which are not.  Leaders have not ensured that their use of the funding for pupils who have SEND is helping these pupils to make progress that is similar to their peers in the school and nationally. Leaders have not ensured that teachers receive the training and support that they require to ensure that their teaching meets the needs of these pupils. As a result, these pupils, particularly those with low starting points, are not routinely taught well. There is too much variability in the quality of teaching of these pupils, and their progress is inconsistent.  Leaders’ use of Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up funding is effective. Pupils are assessed accurately and support is focused and timely. Consequently, the reading and numeracy skills of pupils who had not reached the expected standards by the end of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

primary school have improved.  Leaders have recently revised the training that teachers receive. As a result, those teachers who spoke with inspectors were typically positive about the training that they now receive. They say that they can see the difference it is making to the effectiveness of their teaching.  The range of subjects delivered at key stage 4 is broad. However, current curriculum design restricts pupils’ choice of subjects that they can study. As a result, the curriculum does not consistently meet the needs and aspirations of all pupils.  Senior leaders take positive steps to ensure pupils’ participation in the wide range of cultural, creative and sporting activities that take place beyond lessons. This is recognised by pupils as a positive aspect of the school’s curriculum.  Pupils enjoy the curriculum for spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding and can articulate their opinions on diversity, religion and equalities well. British values

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

underpin teaching. Pupils are ready for life in the 21st century.  Leaders have ensured a culture of mutual respect for staff and pupils. The school is calm and orderly.  The careers guidance programme is effective. Pupils receive information which meets their requirements. As a result, a large majority of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEND move on to further education or training.

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Governance of the school

 Governors do not have a secure enough understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, governors have not been effective in holding leaders to account for school outcomes.  Governors do not fully understand the published performance information for their school. They rely too heavily on school leaders to analyse and present information for them. As a result, their monitoring of the school’s work and additional funding has been lax, and standards have declined.  Governors are committed to the school. They visit regularly as link governors, understand many day-to-day issues and are aware of local risks to pupils.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders have systematic procedures for checking the backgrounds of staff when they are appointed. At the start of the inspection, the single central register of pre- employment checks did not meet statutory requirements. This was rectified during the course of the inspection.  The designated safeguarding lead works well with other staff and with a wide range of external agencies. This helps to ensure that pupils at risk of harm have access to the support they need.  Staff are suitably trained to identify pupils at risk of harm. Staff receive regular safeguarding training, including on the ‘Prevent’ duty, to spot those pupils at risk of radicalisation and extremism.  All incidents are recorded appropriately and securely so that leaders can monitor actions and follow up on incidents or issues where necessary. The designated safeguarding lead and other leaders check and follow up on concerns, so that pupils

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Safeguarding

are safe.  Pupils informed inspectors, both in meetings and through informal discussions, that they feel safe at the school. Pupils could explain how they are taught to be, and keep, safe, both when at the school and when outside the school. They spoke about how to stay safe online, and how the curriculum supports their understanding of how to be responsible citizens.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching requires improvement because it is too variable across the school and inconsistent within subject areas. Consequently, teaching is not ensuring that pupils across a range of subjects and year groups are making good progress over time.  The most common weakness, seen both in pupils’ books and in lessons, is a lack of high expectations for pupils. This includes a lack of challenge for the most able. Pupils do not get enough opportunities to extend their learning, think creatively or solve complex problems.  The quality of assessment across the school and within departments is inconsistent. As a result, teachers are not planning activities that challenge pupils sufficiently or meet their needs, based on their starting points or prior learning. This is leading to variability in the rates of progress made by different groups of pupils, because pupils are set work that is either too hard or too easy.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teachers’ questioning is variable. When questioning is most effective, teachers use it to develop and extend pupils’ knowledge and understanding. However, when it is not used well, teachers accept superficial responses from pupils and they do not require pupils to think deeply about a concept or idea.  Disadvantaged pupils are not receiving appropriate support for their needs consistently. It is a similar picture for pupils who have SEND. As a result, these pupils do not make good progress.  In classes where strong relationships are evident between teachers and pupils, they lead to effective learning and good progress. Pupils in these lessons display a positive learning ethos and good attitude towards their studies. They take pride in their work and engage actively in their learning. This was particularly evident in Year 11 mathematics and English lessons.  Teachers have a wealth of strong subject knowledge. When it is used skilfully, teachers

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

adapt to tackle misconceptions and address pupils’ needs quickly.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are thoughtful and show respect for each other, staff and visitors. Relationships between adults and pupils are highly positive.  Most pupils take pride in their work and continually give their best effort in lessons. On occasion, pupils do not take enough care over their work, and so their work is incomplete and less well presented.  Pupils feel safe at this school. They have confidence that their teachers will look after them and deal with any concerns they have. From the moment pupils cross the threshold of the school in the morning, they are met by positive, enthusiastic staff who model respectful relationships well.  Pupils report that incidents of bullying are rare and that they know there is an adult in school they can speak with if they have any concerns. Checks of bullying records made by inspectors showed that incidents of bullying are followed up and resolved

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Personal development and welfare

effectively.  The pupils with whom inspectors spoke confirmed that staff are approachable and considerate of pupils’ mental and physical well-being. Leaders take necessary steps to ensure that these aspects are promoted effectively through pupils’ learning and the school’s support services.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Leaders ensure that pupils learn about fundamental British values and other faiths and cultures effectively. The pupils with whom inspectors spoke recognise and value differences, and they respect views different from their own.  Leaders ensure that arrangements are in place to check on the personal development and welfare of those pupils who attend alternative provision.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils typically behave well in lessons. Cases of pupils’ poor conduct disrupting lessons are few and far between. On the rare occasions where pupils lose concentration or there is low-level disruption, it is generally because teachers have not set work at an appropriate level or are not supporting pupils’ needs effectively.  Pupils’ conduct around the school is good. At breaktime, lunchtime and at the change of lessons, pupils move around the school in an orderly manner. They arrive punctually at lessons. Pupils treat the school environment with respect and do not leave litter lying around.  There are several pupils who arrive mid-year for a range of reasons, such as permanent exclusions from other schools or being on the brink of them. The majority of these pupils settle swiftly into their new school life, because of the established and effective behaviour routines.

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Behaviour

 Leaders manage the few occasions of poor behaviour well. As a result, fixed-term and permanent exclusions have reduced.  Pupils’ overall attendance is broadly in line with the national average. Disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEND have the poorest attendance, because their funding is not used well to combat this.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Both historically and currently, pupils do not make consistently strong progress across a range of subjects and year groups. Consequently, outcomes require improvement.  Overall, progress measures in 2017 were broadly in line with the national average. Disadvantaged pupils, the most able pupils and those who have SEND did not make the progress of which they are capable, including in English and mathematics.  The provisional examination results for 2018 indicate that, despite a dip in overall progress, outcomes in mathematics for disadvantaged and most-able pupils have improved and are now broadly in line with the national average. In English, provisional information shows that outcomes for the most able pupils have improved. This is not the case for middle-ability and disadvantaged pupils.  Currently, the progress pupils make across a range of subjects is too variable. This is because the quality of teaching is mixed, both across and within subjects. The

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

exception to this is mathematics, where in-school assessment records show that progress is consistent across year groups and for pupils of different abilities.  Inspection evidence and the school’s in-year assessment information show that, in many year groups, disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEND are not making good progress. This is because the teaching in many subjects is not well matched to their needs.  Leaders are aware of the reasons why outcomes have not improved sufficiently over time. For example, weak teaching has been identified. They are resolute to drive standards up through closer monitoring of teaching. Leaders acknowledge the need to check the reliability of pupil assessment information, so that targeted intervention can take place. This is so that gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding are addressed swiftly. Nevertheless, leaders’ actions are in their infancy and the impact so far is

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

limited.  Pupils receive effective careers guidance through a wide range of opportunities. As a result, almost all pupils move on to further education or training at the end of key stage 4.

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

 The 16 to 19 study programmes require improvement because students, including disadvantaged and most-able students, do not make consistently good progress on academic and vocational courses.  The quality of teaching is variable, particularly for the most able students. Teachers’ expectations of what these students can achieve are not consistently high enough, and they are not routinely set work that challenges them to attain the highest grades.  Leadership of the sixth form requires improvement. Leaders do not consistently assess, monitor and evaluate students’ learning effectively. Where students make slower progress than they should, notably on A-level courses, leaders do not act decisively to secure improvements to teaching and the curriculum.  Leaders have been slow to address the low rates of attendance in the sixth form. Too many students do not attend as regularly as they should and could.

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

 Students who resit GCSE English and/or mathematics do not make progress in line with others nationally in improving their grades.  Students benefit from the range of good-quality activities which leaders provide to broaden their study programmes. Leaders ensure that opportunities for students’ personal development and work-related learning form an integral part of their curriculum experience. These aspects of the curriculum meet the requirements of the 16 to 19 study programmes and make a strong contribution to students’ wider development. For example, students participate in Combined Cadet Force and Duke of Edinburgh Award courses, work experience, mentoring of younger pupils and charity work.  High-quality careers education enables students to make informed choices about their futures. Almost all students who completed their courses in 2017/18 moved into higher education, employment, training or apprenticeship.

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School details

Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Mixed

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School details

Number of pupils on the school roll 1262

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School details

Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 5-6 October 2011

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Information about this school

 This inspection is a section 8 deemed section 5 inspection.  The school is larger than the average-sized secondary school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who have SEND is in line with the national average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is below the national average.  The majority of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, which is higher than the national average.  Almost half of the pupils speak English as an additional language.  The school uses alternative provision at The Francis Barber pupil referral unit, Wandsworth.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning across a wide range of subjects and year groups, both in the main school and in the sixth form. Observations were completed jointly with members of the school’s leadership team. Inspectors also observed an assembly and pupils’ conduct at breaktime, lunchtime and the end of the school day.  The inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books in classrooms and they also completed a discrete review of pupils’ books.  The inspectors held various discussions with senior leaders, other leaders and class teachers. The lead inspector met with a group of governors and two representatives from the local authority.  Inspectors also met with groups of pupils, ranging from Years 7 to 13. Inspectors spoke with a number of pupils informally and in lessons.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ self-evaluation. Inspectors considered a selection of school policies, leaders’ assessment information,

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Information about this inspection

pupil attendance information, including that relating to groups of pupils, and documents relating to safeguarding.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s survey Parent View.

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Inspection team

Carolyn Dickinson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Dr Okolo-Angus 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

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

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

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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