Setting

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

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Mr Daniel Bruton Headteacher Chace Community School Churchbury Lane Enfield EN1 3HQ

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School

Following my visit to your school on 9 May 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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School

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has received two successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections.

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School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good.

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School

The school should take further action to:

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School

 embed the effective strategies for improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and pupils’ behaviour, so that there is a sustained improvement in pupils’ outcomes  ensure that the curriculum reflects accurately the appropriate levels of challenge to enable pupils to fulfil their potential.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I held meetings with you and other school leaders, representatives of the governing body, and a representative of the local authority, to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I also met with a group of pupils representing Years 8, 9 and 10 and held informal conversations with staff and pupils around the school. I held a telephone conversation with an external consultant who supports the work of school leaders. I visited classrooms accompanied by senior leaders, to observe the learning taking place. I observed pupils’ behaviour in and between lessons. I scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including: records of the monitoring of teaching and of pupils’ behaviour; surveys carried out by the school; and the school’s achievement information. The school improvement plan was evaluated.

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Context

There have not been any major changes to leadership or the context of the school since the previous inspection.

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Context

You are working with a local special school to plan the joint running of your resource base for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to extend this provision further.

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Main findings

You have consolidated the strengths of the leadership in place at the time of the previous inspection. You ensure that there are clear lines of responsibility and accountability relevant to the areas for improvement identified at that time.

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Main findings

Leaders have established a regular and thorough review cycle, so there is a systematic approach to your evaluation of the quality of teaching across the school. This enables you to identify the training needs on an individual, subject and whole- school basis. Leaders oversee a well-planned professional development programme, as well as bespoke support, which address key areas for development, including those identified in the previous inspection. There are clear routines for checking that teachers have acted on leaders’ feedback so that improvements are made.

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Main findings

Leaders’ raised expectations are reflected in the increased accountability of individual teachers for the achievement of their pupils. Teachers are expected to, and generally do, know their pupils well, through regular review of assessment information, as well as any specific barriers to pupils’ learning. Where your expectations are met, teachers’ planning integrates opportunities for pupils to receive the right challenge and support. Teachers develop effective strategies to enable pupils to be positively engaged with their learning and achieve well. However, while overall there have been improvements in the quality of teaching and assessment across the school, these have not been in place for long enough to lead to a clear trend of raised achievement across the school. There remains too much variation within and between departments. When teachers’ expectations are not high enough, routine challenges and extension work are not of sufficient depth and

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Main findings

complexity to enable pupils to fulfil their potential.

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Main findings

Leaders organise an extensive range of interventions and initiatives to provide targeted support for individuals and groups, especially those identified as underachieving. Leaders take a comprehensive overview of the school’s investment of pupil premium funding to identify the activities and opportunities that benefit pupils the most. Plans are fine-tuned accordingly so that pupils make better progress as a result of the support they receive. Pupils are appreciative of the help their teachers give them with areas of difficulty, both in lessons and in additional sessions. Leaders rightly have a clear priority that the reliance on intervention and additional sessions will diminish as the quality of teaching in the classroom continues to improve.

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Main findings

Leaders have extended the range of activities that serve to broaden pupils’ outlook and raise their aspirations. Pupils have more opportunities to learn about higher education and listen to inspirational guest speakers. Opportunities presented such as ‘Chace University’ enable pupils, including the most able, to pursue interests in academic subjects that they might like to study further in the future. Increasing numbers of pupils are benefiting from these experiences.

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Main findings

The incidence of poor behaviour and resultant disruption to learning has decreased over the last year. This is due to a combination of some improvements in the quality of teaching, raised expectations and the promotion of the school’s revised behaviour policy. Where some disruption persists, this is associated with poorer quality of teaching, combined with teachers not firmly adhering to leaders’ expectations. Leaders’ weekly tracking of behaviour incidents ensures that the right support is given to pupils and teachers to ensure that incidents of low-level disruption and distractions continue to decline.

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Main findings

Pupils are clear on what is expected of them and that the relaunched behaviour policy works well. Their views and leaders’ records indicate that serious incidents of poor behaviour are rare. Surveys carried out by the school of parents’ views indicate that increasing proportions agree that the school ensures that pupils are well behaved. Pupils respond positively to the higher profile given to rewards. There has been a marked increase in the issuing of rewards, reflecting the impact of the leaders’ intensive work.

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Main findings

The development of middle leadership is highly valuable in the drive for improvement and includes essential work to identify and address training needs within teams. Middle leaders have an accurate view of the strengths and areas for development across the school. They are well supported in their development by their senior line managers and benefit from being able to take on a range of training opportunities.

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Main findings

Subject leaders are rightly reviewing the curriculum to ensure that the appropriate levels of challenge and support expected in lessons are integrated throughout. More time is spent in subject meetings dedicated to the development of teaching, and this helps to improve teachers’ subject knowledge as needed. This work is ongoing to ensure that teachers are confident in determining and providing the right level of challenge for most-able pupils. Governors are knowledgeable about the strengths and areas for improvement of the school and about the developments made over recent times. They have productively reflected on their own practice, recruiting appropriately to fill any gaps in their skills and experience to enable them to fulfil their roles. They attend training and draw on their professional expertise effectively. They are well informed to ask leaders the right questions about their work towards whole-school improvement.

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Main findings

Leaders have collated an improvement plan that details clearly the school’s priorities. It includes appropriate actions relevant to the areas for improvement from the previous inspection report, and identifies the member of staff who is leading on each. Success criteria are usually quantified as appropriate and are easily measurable. The plan is a working document with evident regular reviews. However, while it stipulates completion dates, it does not indicate interim milestones to facilitate the monitoring of progress. The inclusion of individual subject plans demonstrates the contribution, relevance and responsibility of all staff to school improvement, and ensures everyone’s understanding of the school’s priorities.

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External support

You have drawn effectively on a range of sources of external support, including the local authority. The level of support has reduced appropriately with the school’s increasing establishment of new and revised systems. Leaders work productively with the local authority on quality assurance and leadership development, including governance. You are engaging with a number of external initiatives and schemes, supplemented with appropriate training, to support your work to improve the quality of teaching and learning and behaviour.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the director of children’s services for Enfield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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