Hewens College

Hewens College Hewens Road, Hayes, Middlesex UB4 8JP

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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 Requires improvement

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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 Good

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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

 The quality of teaching across the school varies and is not yet consistently good.  Often pupils are not challenged by the work provided in lessons and this hinders their progress over time.  Pupils are not always given enough information about how to improve their work. The work in pupils’ books shows that pupils do not always make the progress of which they are capable.  Although there are signs of improvement, pupils’ achievements have been low over time.  Many pupils join the school with low levels of literacy. The school has implemented strategies to improve pupils’ reading and writing. More work needs to be done to fully embed these strategies in order to improve pupils’ outcomes.  Pupils’ attendance is low compared with national figures. This has a negative impact on their learning and progress.  Leaders at all levels do not implement improvement strategies with sufficient rigour.  Governors have not challenged leaders

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

sufficiently well about pupils’ outcomes and attendance.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders know the pupils in their school well and provide personalised support for pupils. This promotes pupils’ personal development effectively.  Pupils behave well around the school and in lessons. The school is friendly and there is a caring and reflective ethos.  The school offers a wide range of extra- curricular opportunities. This enriches pupils’ learning and supports their personal development.  There is an open and effective culture of safeguarding in the school. As a result, pupils feel safe and well supported.  Students in the sixth form are keen to learn. They are given effective guidance to support their personal development and to help them prepare for the future.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – teachers use assessment information more effectively to plan work that meets the needs of all pupils – teachers have consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve.  Improve pupils’ outcomes, so that pupils make strong progress, including in the sixth form, by ensuring that: – strategies used to improve pupils’ literacy are fully embedded to improve pupils’ reading and writing skills across all curriculum areas – the attendance of all groups of pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and White British pupils, is improved so that it is at least in line with the national average – the effectiveness of leadership and management is improved by ensuring that whole-school improvement strategies are implemented consistently and effectively.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leaders’ work has not had sufficient impact on raising standards throughout the school.  Leaders, governors and trustees recognise that they are beginning a journey towards improvement. Leaders’ own evaluation of the school’s strengths and areas for development is incisive, accurate and honest. Leaders have correctly identified the key improvement priorities.  School leaders have introduced more robust systems to facilitate school improvement. There is more personalised intervention for pupils and a stronger emphasis on staff training. Strategies to improve pupils’ attendance and strengthen safeguarding procedures are in place. A three-year improvement plan to improve leadership of the sixth form has begun. There have been some successes. However, more time is needed if these strategies are to fulfil their intended impact.  The curriculum is broad and balanced. However, leaders do not always ensure that

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

they match subjects to pupils’ needs accurately. Pupils have access to helpful careers information at all key stages. All pupils study personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and citizenship at key stage 4. There is a broad range of subjects to choose from at both GCSE and A level.  Literacy is promoted through ‘World Book Day’, ‘word of the week’ and creative writing competitions. However, pupils’ literacy skills need to be embedded more deeply across the curriculum to facilitate good outcomes for all pupils.  The school provides pupils with a range of extra-curricular activities and trips. Pupils have visited the Globe Theatre, local universities and the ‘Big Bang’ STEM event in Birmingham. After-school clubs include cooking, chess, football, basketball and rugby – as well as sessions focused on curriculum subjects. These activities and trips help to enrich pupils’ learning and support their personal development.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through an effectively planned programme. This, together with their academic studies, helps to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.  The use of funding for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is used appropriately. New tracking systems are in place to support and monitor the progress of pupils with SEND. These are not yet implemented consistently well across the school to have a positive impact on pupils’ outcomes.  Additional funding, including pupil premium and Year 7 catch-up premium, is used effectively. Personalised intervention is provided for eligible pupils to support them in accelerating their progress.

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Governance of the school

 Governors work hard to support the development of the school. Since the last inspection, a new chair of governors has been appointed. The local advisory board of governors meets each term and reports back to the governance board of the trust.  Governors know the context of the school and understand its improvement priorities. There is a wide range of experience and skills within the governing body. However, governors do not use this consistently well to support school improvement. Governors do not offer consistently effective challenge to senior leaders to hold them to account for all aspects of their work. Although the governing body closely monitors how school funding is spent, governors have not ensured that this has had a sufficiently strong impact on pupils’ outcomes.  Governors closely monitor safeguarding at the school. The governor responsible for safeguarding has recently undertaken a safeguarding audit, with school leaders. This

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Governance of the school

audit has helped to strengthen the culture of safeguarding that exists within the school.  The school receives effective ongoing support from the academy trust. The trustees fully support the school’s improvement priorities. The trust has worked effectively on strengthening links with primary schools to support the transition for pupils with SEND. The school has received support from the trust to implement the three-year improvement plan for the sixth-form provision.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. Staff receive regular safeguarding training – including training on the ‘Prevent’ duty. This helps staff identify and address any concerns about pupils’ welfare quickly. The single central record is up to date and well maintained, ensuring that all staff are vetted and suitable to work at the school.  Leaders work closely with parents, carers and external agencies to ensure pupils’ welfare. Safeguarding procedures and record-keeping are robust. There are clear and effective systems in place for referring safeguarding concerns, both within the school and to other agencies. Leaders monitor safeguarding referrals diligently.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is inconsistent across the school. Teaching does not ensure that pupils make good progress.  The school’s assessment policy is not routinely followed by all teachers. Pupils often lack information about how to improve their work.  Work in pupils’ books is not consistently good enough. Pupils’ work is not well presented and is sometimes incomplete. This limits pupils’ progress because they are not able to refer to previous learning to deepen their understanding and knowledge. It also makes it harder for pupils to use their books to revise for examinations and assessments.  Teachers do not have high enough expectations of pupils’ learning in lessons. There is a lack of urgency in some lessons to move learning forward. Too often, teachers’ questioning is not sufficiently probing to challenge pupils and develop their understanding and knowledge.  Teachers’ planning is not used well to build challenge and support routinely in lessons.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

Teachers do not use assessment information consistently to plan activities that meet pupils’ needs and enable them to make good progress in their learning.  There are strong relationships between staff and pupils in lessons.  Teaching and learning assistants are used effectively to support pupils’ learning. This has a positive impact in lessons and encourages those pupils who receive support to be confident and enthusiastic learners.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  The school is a nurturing, warm and friendly environment. Leaders are knowledgeable about their pupils and work hard to support them in developing their confidence and self-awareness.  Relationships in the school both between pupils, and between staff and pupils, are positive and purposeful. Pupils are positive about their school and are enthusiastic learners. Pupils feel that staff know them really well and that this helps them to flourish in school.  Staff ensure that pupils are well cared for. They promote pupils’ physical and emotional well-being effectively. In PSHE lessons, pupils learn how to spot potential risks by exploring a range of topics including mental health awareness, gangs and knife crime.  Pupils feel safe in school. They are knowledgeable about what to do and who to speak to if they are concerned. Pupils say incidents of bullying are rare and that when they

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Personal development and welfare

do occur, staff deal with these effectively. Several pupils are trained as ‘anti-bullying ambassadors’. Pupils feel this is a supportive initiative.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. This is because pupils’ attendance is well below national figures for most groups of pupils. Leaders are taking action to address poor attendance. For example, ‘Brilliant Parenting’ workshops take place, for parents of pupils who are persistently absent. However, more work is needed to improve pupils’ attendance, particularly of White British pupils and disadvantaged pupils.  The majority of pupils are positive about their learning and incidents of low-level disruption in classes are rare. Pupils say that if behaviour does sometimes disturb learning, staff tackle this effectively.  Pupils are clear about the school’s systems for sanctions and rewards. They feel that these help to support and improve their behaviour.  Pupils generally conduct themselves well around the school. Behaviour at breaktimes, lunchtimes and around the school is orderly. Pupils are polite and respectful to staff,

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Behaviour

and each other.  A review of behaviour systems has been undertaken and leaders are taking appropriate actions to reduce first-time and repeat exclusions.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 The majority of pupils join the school with attainment that is below the national average. Over their time at school, pupils do not make sufficiently strong progress in their learning. Pupils’ attainment in GCSE examinations was below average in 2017 and 2018. Although there have been recent improvements in pupils’ progress, there is still some variation between different groups of pupils.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ books across a wide range of subjects, in all key stages. This scrutiny of a large sample of pupils’ work shows that progress for current pupils is too variable and requires improvement.  Leaders have identified the need to promote the progress and attainment of the most able pupils and those of White British heritage. The variable quality of teaching across the school means that the most able pupils are not always challenged. As a result, they do not always make enough progress.  Although disadvantaged pupils made better progress last year in some subjects, gaps

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

remain between these pupils and their peers. Leaders acknowledge the importance of diminishing these differences more effectively.  The progress of pupils with SEND is not good enough. Leaders are now tracking and monitoring the progress of pupils with SEND more closely. Targeted support in lessons is also helping to improve outcomes for these pupils, but is at the early stages.  Pupils receive informative careers advice and guidance from Year 7 onwards. This enables them to explore different career options and the majority of pupils go on to education, employment or training, after they leave school.

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

 Leadership in the sixth form is not fully effective. A three-year plan is underway to facilitate improvements in this area.  Students’ outcomes for the last three years at A level and in applied general courses have been low. Assessment information provided by the school and the scrutiny of students’ work indicate that currently, progress is too variable and needs to improve.  Sixth-form leaders have high expectations and aspirations for their students. They are concentrating on improving outcomes in a number of ways. The curriculum is being reshaped to match students to the most appropriate courses. Leaders are focusing on strengthening the transition between Year 11 and sixth form to support students with this process. Leaders have introduced a more focused scrutiny of assessment information in order to improve intervention for students. However, these strategies are not yet fully embedded to show sufficient impact on students’ outcomes.

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

 Students in the sixth form are taught across a range of different providers in the trust. Overall, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the sixth form is more effective than in the rest of the school. Students are enthusiastic learners and want to achieve well.  Students in the sixth form feel safe and supported at school. Students say they have good relationships with their teachers and that the school is ‘close and caring’.  Careers advice and guidance is effective in the sixth form. This helps students to make informed choices for the future. The proportion of students progressing to education, employment or training is in line with the national average.

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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

Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Mixed

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School details

Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Appropriate authority Board of trustees

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 November 2015

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Information about this school

 Hewens College is smaller than the average-sized school for pupils aged 11 to 19.  Hewens College is part of the Rosedale Hewens Academy Trust. The trust is managed by the executive group which works through the academy board, made up of nine trustees. The local advisory board of governors meets each term and reports back to the governance board of the trust.  The sixth form runs collaboratively across the trust. Students are educated across a number of sites.  There are no pupils currently attending alternative provision.  The proportion of pupils who receive special educational needs support is below average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above average.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is well above average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupils learning in 42 sessions. Senior leaders accompanied inspectors to 32 of these.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work across a wide range of subjects.  The behaviour of pupils at breaktimes and lunchtimes was observed by inspectors.  Inspectors had discussions with senior leaders, governors, trustees, subject leaders and pupils.  The school provided a range of documentation for inspectors, including the school’s self-evaluation, strategic improvement plan and governors’ meeting minutes. Information about attendance, behaviour and safeguarding was also reviewed by inspectors.  Inspectors evaluated the 13 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and 13 free-text responses.  There were no responses to the Ofsted online staff questionnaire or to the Ofsted online pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Laurence King, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Jennifer Bax 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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