Caludon Castle School

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

p.1

Mrs Michele Marr Headteacher Caludon Castle School Axholme Road Wyken Coventry West Midlands CV2 5BD

p.1

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

Following my visit to the school on 5 February 2019 with Ofsted Inspectors Elaine Haskins and Clare Considine, 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 the school was judged to be good in January 2016.

p.1

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school has maintained its standards because of the strong leadership that you and the associate headteacher provide. You, together with governors, trustees and the senior leadership team, have an accurate understanding of the school that identifies strengths and priorities for improvement. You and other senior leaders have created a culture in which staff and pupils feel confident and valued.

p.1

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

Pupils clearly enjoy school. They are highly appreciative that staff are consistently prepared to do ‘whatever it takes’ to support their learning. Pupils attend regularly, and overall attendance and persistent absence are in line with the national averages. School leaders have successfully prioritised the welfare and personal development of pupils. This is a real strength of the school. Staff, pupils and governors have worked well together to ensure that your motto, ‘respect to all, from all’, is a part of everything that goes on in the school. Pupils are proud of their school. They move around the site in a calm and orderly way and look after their excellent facilities carefully.

p.1

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

Teaching is effective. There is a purposeful and productive atmosphere in almost all lessons. Teachers create and sustain constructive and trusting relationships with pupils. Pupils are happy to contribute to lessons and they ask and answer questions articulately. The previous inspection report highlighted the need for the school to further improve teaching in mathematics so that a higher proportion of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, could make at least good progress. The school also needed to build further on the work done in the sixth form to improve the progress that students made in academic subjects. Since the last inspection, leaders have addressed these areas effectively. The progress made in academic subjects in the sixth form is now above the national average. However, further progress still needs to be made in mathematics in key stages 3 and 4.

p.1

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

While some groups of pupils make strong progress, boys, the most able and the least able need to make better progress in some subjects, especially mathematics, science and humanities. Disadvantaged pupils have performed much less well than other pupils nationally. While you have action plans in place to tackle these issues, it is too early to see the full impact on outcomes. The school’s leaders are clear that there is still some way to go to ensure that all pupil groups make the progress of which they are capable.

p.2

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

Pupils are courteous, respectful and willing to talk with visitors. Pupils spoke positively about being part of the school community and about the support they receive from their teachers.

p.2

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

Within the school’s strong culture of high-quality care and support for its pupils, safeguarding is given particular importance. Senior leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose, and records are detailed and clear. An extended safeguarding team works collaboratively and effectively under the leadership of a highly knowledgeable and well-informed senior leader. All statutory checks on staff are carried out and recorded carefully. Pupil records are detailed and of high quality. Pupils have full confidence in the staff to help them address any personal issues. Pupils especially value the fact that members of staff are sensitive in the way that they deal with safeguarding matters.

p.2

Short inspection of Caludon Castle School

Regular, high-quality safeguarding training is provided for all staff and governors. Bullying among pupils is rare and swiftly dealt with. Pupils trained as anti-bullying peer mentors are very effective in their roles.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Senior leaders and heads of faculties have made sure that effective tracking systems are in place in all curriculum areas and across all key stages. Together they have compiled lists of pupils who need extra support and intervention. This support and intervention is appropriate, prompt and is valued by pupils. It includes ‘booster weeks’, where identified pupils receive intensive support.  Online resources have been introduced into programmes of study and are used extensively with all science and mathematics groups. In these subjects, pupils are set and receive teaching appropriate to their needs.  Where teachers’ planning is effective, it meets the needs of most groups of pupils, and teaching and learning are strong. There is effective use of the school’s teaching and learning strategies, such as ‘teaching to the top’ and ‘taking it further’, which have led to improved progress in nearly all subjects since September 2018.

p.2

Inspection findings

 The school’s internal assessment information shows that the most able pupils are starting to improve at the same rate as others. Strategies that have been introduced are starting to have an effect, but the full impact on pupils’ progress has not yet been realised.  In mathematics and science, on occasions, the least able pupils struggle to absorb challenging information because it is not well matched to their needs. Not all challenge seen in lessons was appropriate for these pupils. Pupils saw some work as too easy and some as too difficult.  Standards in English and languages are higher than in other subject areas. Work in books and in assessments shows that teachers provide a consistently high level of challenge and that pupils make progress over time. Whole-staff training has paired English and languages with less successful subject areas, and improvements are starting to be made in subjects where boys and the most able

p.3

Inspection findings

could do better.  In the sixth form, the 16 to 19 study programmes provide students with meaningful and successful pathways. Regular sixth-form team meetings with heads of faculties discuss individual students’ assessment information, and where necessary interventions are put in place. Where the school’s strategy of ‘preparation, diagnosis, therapy, testing’ is embedded, 100% of students make effective progress.  The progress made by sixth-form students in academic subjects is now higher than in applied general subjects. Both are above the national average.  In-school assessment information shows that most disadvantaged pupils are making some progress in English, mathematics and science in Years 7 to 10. There is a strong focus on getting disadvantaged pupils to take up additional intervention. A whole-school strategy, ‘overcoming barriers to learning’, provides increased levels of support.  The attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils in Year 11 need further

p.3

Inspection findings

improvement. The full impact of monitoring and interventions introduced in Year 11 on pupils’ progress has yet to be realised.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.3

Next steps for the school

 disadvantaged pupils’ progress and attainment continue to improve  improvements in mathematics and science continue so that all pupils make better progress, especially at key stage 4  developments in the key stage 4 curriculum benefit all pupils, including boys, the least able and the most able, enabling them to make better progress. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chair of the board of trustees, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Coventry. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.3

Information about the inspection

We met with you, senior and middle leaders, members of the governing body and the Castle Phoenix Trust and with pupils both formally and informally. We made visits to lessons to observe the quality of teaching and learning, some of which were accompanied by senior leaders. Pupils’ work in books and folders was evaluated, and we talked to pupils about their learning. Eighty-six responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. We evaluated school documents, including information about pupils’ progress, safeguarding information and the school’s self-evaluation and development plans.

p.4