Canary Wharf Secondary

Canary Wharf College 3 7 Selsdon Way, London E14 9GL

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders, governors and staff work successfully together to provide a good-quality education. The school is improving.  While the school has grown in size and changed locations each year, leaders and governors have made sure that teaching, learning and assessment, and pupils’ outcomes, are good.  Leaders have made sure that the curriculum helps pupils to deepen their knowledge and to develop important skills as they progress through the school.  Leaders prioritise teachers’ professional development and provide regular support to improve teaching quality further. Even so, there are occasions when teachers do not ensure that pupils have grasped new learning securely before moving on.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make particularly strong progress in sessions tailored to their needs. Sometimes, teaching in mainstream classes does not support pupils with SEND as routinely well.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The curriculum is enriched by a variety of activities and outings. Pupils are enthusiastic to take on responsibility as library monitors and ‘scholar leaders’. Pupils in Year 9 develop valuable employability skills for their adult lives, for example through volunteering in the local community.  Pupils are ambitious for their futures and keen to learn. They typically conduct themselves sensibly and respond readily to reminders from staff about the behaviour that is expected.  Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when using information and communications technology.  Pupils’ knowledge of British values and their spiritual, social, moral and cultural development are well promoted; provision includes topical assemblies and regular and effective personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education sessions.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ outcomes further by making sure that: – work is routinely well matched to the needs of pupils with SEND – teachers check pupils’ understanding systematically.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Leaders and governors have made sure that the school’s overall effectiveness is sustained as the school has grown. Leaders are ambitious for the school. They have maintained high expectations of teaching and pupils’ outcomes during a time when the school has moved from two temporary locations into the current well-refurbished short- term site.  Leaders evaluate the school’s work carefully and identify where further improvement is needed.  Leaders and staff have made sure that the curriculum is suitably balanced. Pupils develop and deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills across a broad range of subjects.  Subject leaders have worked with senior leaders to develop the curriculum in their areas of responsibility. They have identified the subject content and skills that they expect pupils to learn as they progress through the school. Leaders have developed a school-wide style to setting out clearly the core subject knowledge and skills that pupils

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

need to know.  Senior leaders provide regular guidance and individualised support to teachers to improve the quality of teaching. This has helped to encourage a common approach to teaching and behaviour management. However, leaders have not ensured that the best practice is shared in matching work routinely to the needs of pupils with SEND; or in checking regularly that pupils’ new knowledge and understanding are secure.  Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, cultural, moral and social development strongly. Pupils participate in a range of activities, including the celebration of festivals from a range of cultures and faiths, taking care of the local environment, and charity fundraising. Discussions in assemblies and PSHE education sessions on topics such as respect, tolerance and equality help to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.  Leaders encourage pupils to reflect on their aspirations for the future and the qualities

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

and skills that will help them in their working lives. Speakers from a variety of professions encourage pupils to aim high. Visits to universities to take part in workshops encourage pupils’ aspirations for the next steps in their education.

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Governance of the school

 Governors work closely with the school’s leaders in a supportive manner. They know the school well and are ambitious to ensure that the school provides a high-quality education for the community that it serves.  Written records of governing board meetings show that members ask demanding questions. Members of the governing board hold leaders to account. This is shown, for example, by discussions about the development of the curriculum for pupils in key stage 4.  The board regularly seeks external evaluation of aspects of the school’s work to check the reliability of the information that senior leaders provide and drive further improvement.  Governors have expertise relevant to their roles. They are committed to their own development and participate in additional training to support them in the leadership of the school.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders and governors ensure that statutory requirements are met.  Regular training makes sure that staff have a secure knowledge of the school’s safeguarding processes. They know what action they need to take should any safeguarding concerns arise. Staff with specific responsibility for safeguarding take swift action to safeguard pupils’ well-being. They work in effective partnership with outside organisations.  Staff are aware of the possible risks to pupils’ safety. Training ensures that they are alert to any warning signs that a pupil may be at risk from harm.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Teachers make clear what they want pupils to know and understand over time. Pupils appreciate the school’s approach to identifying the main knowledge and skills that they need to know in each subject as they progress through the years.  Teachers plan activities that help pupils to develop and improve their knowledge, understanding and skills. While teachers normally check pupils’ recall of previous learning, occasionally, they do not ensure that pupils have grasped key learning before moving on to the next activity.  Teaching and the curriculum challenge the most able pupils to think hard. Most-able pupils use the learning and skills that they have built up to perform complex tasks.  Teachers set homework regularly. It is carefully selected to help pupils to acquire and remember relevant knowledge.  Supportive sessions for selected pupils with SEND are tailored carefully to their learning needs so that they make strong progress. Sometimes, teaching is not as carefully

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

adapted to ensure that these pupils make equally strong gains in mainstream classes.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils are keen to apply for roles of responsibility. Library monitors’ work includes organising themed reading events; these include a current display of books they have selected on the theme of sadness.  ‘Scholar leaders’ suggest improvements to the school, such as the introduction of table tennis competitions. They have also taken responsibility for making posters to promote equality and diversity that include sexual orientation and gender identity.  Leaders make sure that the timetable enables pupils to have three hours of physical education each week. This, together with taking part in sporting activities after school and sporting competitions with other local schools, ensures that pupils’ physical well- being is fostered well.  Pupils are confident and their attitudes to learning are positive. Typically, they value

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Personal development and welfare

their education and are keen to improve. They are proud of their school and wear their uniform smartly. In lessons, they set to work quickly. Occasionally, pupils are not as determined to participate in learning activities.  Discussions in assemblies and in PSHE education sessions cover ‘fake news’, how photographs can be digitally manipulated to distort the truth, fictional online personas, and sexting. This helps pupils to know how to keep themselves safe in a variety of contexts. Pupils know how to make strong online passwords. They understand the importance of keeping their personal details safe when using social media.  Visitors to the school support pupils to understand risks and the consequences of illegal activity, including carrying knives and using drugs. Older pupils recognise the possible signs that a peer may be at risk of female genital mutilation; they also understand the dangers of extremism and radicalisation.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils said that bullying is rare, and this is confirmed by the school’s records. They know who to talk to if problems occur.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils conduct themselves well throughout the day. Pupils are typically calm and purposeful in lessons and around the school.  When pupils’ self-discipline slips in class or during informal times, pupils typically respond readily to teachers’ instructions and requests from staff.  Pupils’ attendance rates are improving overall. Leaders encourage regular attendance and celebrate the class with the best attendance each week. The attendance of pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils is not improving as strongly.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, make good progress overall in Years 7 to 9 across subjects, including English and mathematics.  Pupils work carefully and concentrate well. Pupils’ typically positive attitudes and commitment to learning support them in making the strong gains that they do. Pupils develop knowledge and skills securely from their starting points.  Frequent sessions in the school’s library encourage all pupils in Years 7 to 9 to select and read books regularly. The most able readers in particular develop a love of reading.  Specific support helps selected pupils in Year 7 to fill important gaps in their mathematical knowledge, for example multiplication tables, that will support them as they progress through the school.  Pupils with SEND make particularly strong progress because of the tailored support they receive. Sometimes, their progress weakens when teaching is not as closely

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Email address secondary@canarywharfcollege.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school, part of the Canary Wharf College multi-academy trust (MAT), opened in September 2016 with its first intake of pupils in Year 7. There are two classes in Years 8 and 9, and three classes in Year 7. There are no pupils in key stage 4 and no students in 16 to 19 provision. The school will continue to grow each year until there are pupils in Years 7 to 11 and students in the 16 to 19 provision.  The school has occupied three different sites since opening in September 2016. It is currently based in an interim location. The school makes use of local sporting facilities and parkland at breaktime.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average.  The previously small proportion of disadvantaged pupils has increased as the school has grown and is now above average.  The school has no national assessment results because there are no pupils so far in Year 11.  The school makes use of one alternative provider, London East Alternative Provision.

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Information about this school

 The governance structure includes trust members and a single governing board for the three schools within the MAT, as well as local college councils for each school within the MAT. The school’s local college council has an advisory role.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited teaching sessions across a range of curriculum areas in Years 7 to 9. Most of these visits were conducted together with members of the senior leadership team.  Inspectors held meetings with the chief executive officer and with the principal. They also met with members of the leadership team and with teaching staff. Inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and spoke to pupils informally during observations of teaching and around the school. They also met with groups of pupils in Years 7 to 9.  Inspectors held a meeting with governors, including the chair of the governing board.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents provided by the school, including assessment information and the self-evaluation report. The school’s documentation relating to safeguarding was also reviewed.  There were 42 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and 27 free-text comments. The inspection considered these along with the 119 online and paper

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Information about this inspection

responses to the questionnaire for pupils and the five responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Madeleine Gerard, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Joanne Hamill 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

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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