Sybil Andrews Academy

Sybil Andrews Academy Rougham Tower Avenue, Bury St Edmunds IP32 7QB

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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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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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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

 Leaders’ curriculum plans do not support pupils’ learning as well as they should. They do not ensure that pupils develop and secure the knowledge and understanding they need.  Not enough teachers match the work they set closely to what pupils already know and can do. This weakens pupils’ progress and causes pupils to lose interest.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not supported as well as they should be because their needs are not met well by enough teachers.  Some teachers do not apply the school’s behaviour management systems well enough. When teaching does not meet their needs, some pupils misbehave.  Some adults do not know how to deal effectively with unkind behaviour. Pupils are not confident this will be dealt with well.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The trust is providing effective support. Leadership capacity has been enhanced across the school.  New leaders have a secure understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of provision. They have begun to make improvements.  Pupils are well prepared for their next steps after school. They receive effective advice and guidance.  Some teaching, such as in religious education (RE) and the arts, is strong. Pupils respond well to this and have positive attitudes to learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the progress pupils make by: – putting in place cohesive plans which enable pupils to develop secure knowledge and understanding in all subjects – making sure that teachers match the work they set to what pupils already know and can do – making sure teachers understand and meet the needs of pupils with SEND across the school.  Improve pupils’ behaviour in lessons by ensuring that teachers across the school use the school’s behaviour management procedures well.  Improve pupils’ welfare by making sure all staff know how to, and do, deal with unkind behaviour well.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The school has been through a period of significant change, including the departure of the previous headteacher. This has been disruptive. In addition, a high proportion of pupils have joined Years 10 and 11 since the school opened in 2016. They have different experiences of education and join the school with different starting points to each other.  New leaders, supported by the trust, recognise the challenges the school faces. They understand the weaknesses in provision and know the school needs to improve. They have begun to implement plans to make provision better. However, it is too early to see the full impact of their work.  There has been a significant turnover of staff in recent months which has had a negative impact of the quality of education pupils receive. Parents and carers expressed well-founded concerns about this in their responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. Pupils who spoke with inspectors shared this view. Leaders have

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

successfully engaged support from within the trust to begin improving some aspects of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. However, too much remains less effective than it needs to be.  The curriculum has not been designed well enough at a subject level. For example, while pupils study challenging texts in English literature, this is not supported by the development of English language skills. Work to help pupils who need to catch up in literacy and numeracy is not closely matched to what they learn elsewhere. As a result, pupils do not make as much progress as they should.  While leaders’ work is having an impact on reducing the most significant negative behaviour demonstrated by some pupils, behaviour in lessons is not managed well. Teaching time is lost to poor behaviour because too many pupils are not enthused by their work and strategies for securing good behaviour are not applied well across the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

school.  Leaders have put plans in place to support pupils with SEND. They use their new ‘provision maps’ effectively to support pupils with some aspects of their SEND. However, teachers do not use these maps as part of day-to-day practice in classrooms. Provision depends heavily on high-quality teaching and, because teaching is often not of a good enough standard, these pupils’ needs are not met as well as they should be.  Some pupils are supported well in understanding life in modern Britain. Inspectors saw pupils learning about democracy and environmental protection during pupils’ morning ‘coaching’ session, for example. However, the quality of this provision depends on which teacher pupils are taught by. It is too variable.  Leaders have recently commissioned an external review of pupil premium spending. This has led to relevant actions being planned. However, over time, pupil premium funding has not been used as well as it should have been. There continues to be a gap

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils.  Careers guidance to help pupils prepare for their next steps after school is well planned and implemented. Pupils receive appropriate advice at different stages through the school, culminating in plans for what they will do after school.  The school receives effective support from the trust, both in teaching and leadership. Key subjects have benefited from working closely with leaders from another school within the trust. Newly qualified teachers speak highly of the extra support the trust puts in place for them. Senior leaders value the additional focus they can give to key educational developments because of the trust’s support in areas of finance, premises maintenance and building developments.

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Governance of the school

 The trust has responded effectively to recent turbulence in the school. They have, for example, enhanced leadership by installing an experienced leader as executive headteacher. The chief executive officer (CEO) of the trust is now also the chair of the local governing body, bringing with him relevant knowledge and skills. Together with the new headteacher, they have built leadership capacity across the school.  The local governing body receives accurate information from leaders. They use this well to evaluate the quality of provision and to plan strategically. They recognise the need for improvement in key areas, such as behaviour management, and hold leaders to account for the quality of their work.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders maintain an effective record of their checks on the suitability of adults who work in the school. They ensure that staff have up-to-date training on how to keep pupils safe. Leaders keep clear and easy-to-follow records about concerns relating to pupils’ well-being. They follow up on issues that arise in a timely fashion, involving external agencies where appropriate.  Leaders consider the issues which have the potential to put children at risk of harm. They take appropriate steps to address these. For example, leaders have arranged training for staff and talks for pupils about the dangers of gangs and drugs. Pupils say they feel safe in school. They told inspectors that there is an adult they can talk to if they are worried about something.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The curriculum is not effective in helping pupils gain the knowledge and understanding they need. Leaders have not ensured that enough time is spent developing pupils’ English language skills, for example, and pupils’ written English is not as good as it should be.  Leaders and teachers do not pay enough attention to what pupils already know and understand. Sometimes, work is too easy and does not challenge pupils enough. At other times, pupils move on before fully understanding their current topic.  Because the work teachers set is not well matched to pupils’ needs, some pupils lose interest and misbehave. They disrupt the lesson and the learning of others.  Too many teachers do not use the behaviour management systems well. This means that when pupils do misbehave, these systems do not work as well as they should.  Teachers do not do enough to ensure that pupils’ work is of a high standard. For

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

instance, handwriting is often untidy and mathematics work is regularly presented inappropriately.  Some teaching is strong. Where this is the case, such as in the arts and RE, teaching is characterised by positive relationships, high expectations and engaging work. Pupils respond well to this. They show positive attitudes to learning and make good progress.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ personal development is undermined by the inconsistent approach of teachers. While some personal, social and health education and ‘coaching’ sessions work well, the quality of what pupils learn depends on which teacher they have.  Pupils say that bullying is not common. However, not enough is done to promote pupils’ understanding of, and respect for, individuals’ differences. Pupils say that name- calling, for example, does happen.  While pupils recognise that staff will try to help if they report unkind behaviour, they do not feel enough adults have the skills to deal with this effectively.  Where teaching is stronger, teachers and pupils develop positive relationships.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Learning is too often interrupted by the disruptive behaviour of some pupils. This is not managed well enough and too much learning time is lost.  Leaders have effectively addressed a rise in absence rates. Attendance has stabilised in line with the national average.  New approaches have been introduced to manage behaviour. A new leadership structure involving heads of year is evolving. New ‘provision maps’ help leaders identify and support pupils’ behavioural needs. This has led to a reduction in the incidence of high-level poor behaviour.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 In mathematics, some work helps pupils to develop well over time. However, there have been changes in staffing and, in some classes, improvements in what pupils learn have been too recent. The behaviour in too many mathematics classes interrupts teaching and hinders the progress pupils make.  Pupils make less progress than they should in English because the programmes of study they follow do not sufficiently develop their English language skills.  Across other subjects, pupils’ progress varies from class to class. It is overly dependent on which teacher pupils are taught by.  Pupils with SEND do not make as much progress as they should because of the variable quality of teaching they receive.  Over time, support for disadvantaged pupils has not been as good as it should have been. These pupils do not make as much progress as other pupils nationally.  In some subjects, pupils make strong progress. In religious education and arts

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

subjects, for example, there are high expectations of what pupils can achieve, which help pupils move forward well from their starting points.

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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 saa@sybilandrewsacademy.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The academy opened in 2016 as a new school taking pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9. It has subsequently been through a period of rapid growth. This growth has been driven by taking in more pupils in Years 7 and 8 as older pupils move through the school. There has also been a significant influx of pupils into Years 10 and 11, with over 40% of Year 10, and approximately a quarter of Year 11 pupils joining since the school opened.  The school is part of the Unity Schools Partnership, a multi-academy trust. The trust is responsible for the quality of education pupils receive. They delegate a significant amount of their work to the local governing body. On behalf of the trust, the local governing body monitors provision and holds leaders to account. The trust provides support to governors and leaders in fulfilling their duties.  The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  It has a smaller than average proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals.

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Information about this school

 The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan is close to the national average, while the overall proportion of pupils with SEND is above average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited classes across the school, sometimes accompanied by leaders, and reviewed the work in pupils’ books. They met with the executive headteacher, the headteacher, other leaders, teachers, the CEO of the multi-academy trust and members of the local governing body.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and safeguarding records. They considered the school’s information on pupils’ attendance, progress and behaviour, and reviewed minutes of meetings of the governing body.  Inspectors considered the issues raised in a complaint about the school received prior to the inspection. They considered the 279 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as the 93 responses to the free-text option. Inspectors also took into account the responses of the 29 staff who completed Ofsted’s survey of staff views, and the 67 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey. Inspectors spoke with pupils

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Information about this inspection

during their free time and in organised meetings. They considered emails and a letter received about the school during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Andrew Hemmings, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Al Mistrano Her Majesty’s 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

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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