Wayland Academy

Wayland Academy Norfolk Merton Road, Watton, Thetford, Norfolk IP25 6BA

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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 Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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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

 New approaches to improve teaching are not used consistently by all staff.  Staff know their pupils well, but not all of them effectively plan learning suited to pupils’ different needs and abilities.  The most able pupils are not fully challenged.  Pupils make better progress in mathematics and science than they do in English and a small number of foundation subjects.  Pupils read daily, but not all less able pupils acquire the essential basic skills to read well.  Until recently, the pupil premium has not been used effectively to improve the outcomes achieved by disadvantaged pupils.  New approaches to engage disadvantaged pupils fully in learning are not fully established.  Not all staff with leadership roles share responsibility for securing improvement.  There is no local governing body in place.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The principal, ably supported by his senior team, has worked hard to resolve the weaknesses identified in the last inspection.  Significant improvements have been made to behaviour and attendance. Pupils are respectful and polite and conduct themselves well.  Pupils feel that the school is now a safe, stimulating and enjoyable place to be.  Observations by inspectors confirmed leaders’ views that, currently, pupils are making better progress than they have in the past.  An interim executive board (IEB) oversees the school’s improvement effectively.  Recent actions taken by the trust have increased the accountability of leaders in making improvements  Weekly personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons and welfare days make a good contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

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Full report

In accordance with section 13(4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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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 the school’s new strategy for increasing the effectiveness of teaching becomes fully established across all years and subjects – evaluating the impact this new approach has on improving pupils’ progress in all subjects – monitoring rigorously the impact that regular training and staff development have on securing greater consistency to the quality of teaching.  Raise achievement by: – prioritising improving the teaching of English in both key stages – providing further challenge and support for staff in subjects where leaders’ monitoring shows that pupils do not make enough progress – listening to pupils read more often in order to check that the least able acquire the basic skills needed to become confident, fluent readers – ensuring that ‘bronze’, ‘silver’ and ‘gold’ tasks planned by teachers really stretch and challenge the most able pupils

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– ensuring that new approaches to engaging disadvantaged pupils in learning in lessons become firmly established and enable these pupils to make better progress.  Improve the leadership and management of the school by: – Developing further capacity within the senior leadership team by sharing responsibilities evenly and by holding subject leaders accountable for making and sustaining improvements – evaluating the impact of the school’s use of the pupil premium and additional funding to enable pupils in Year 7 to catch up and secure basic literacy skills – establishing a local governing body to oversee the school’s work and develop its wider role in the local community.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Since the last inspection, senior leaders have steered the school along a steady and sustained journey of improvement. They have rightly prioritised raising attendance and securing improvements to pupils’ behaviour. Significant gains made in these important areas have not been matched in other aspects of the school’s work.  Leaders have been unable to secure significant improvements to the outcomes achieved by pupils at the end of key stage 4, which have remained low. The quality of teaching has not improved fast enough to raise achievement fully across the school.  Leaders and the trust have recognised that they need to build on the improvements made so far, by focusing on what is happening in classrooms. New approaches to teaching and learning have been implemented this year. Leaders are providing staff with a programme of training and support to increase their effectiveness. More time is needed to gauge the full impact of this strategy.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The principal and his team of senior leaders have shared much of the responsibility for making improvements. At times they are overstretched as they have too much to do. The trust has recognised this. Since the start of this year, it has deployed an additional experienced senior leader on a temporary basis to support senior leaders in their work. Senior leaders value the support of faculty leaders in monitoring and evaluating the school’s work and in providing regular training for staff.  A recent review of the use of the pupil premium highlighted the limited effectiveness of the actions taken by leaders to improve the outcomes achieved by disadvantaged pupils. A revised strategy is in place which prioritises the learning and engagement of disadvantaged pupils in lessons. More time is needed before the full impact of this strategy can be fully evaluated.  Leaders ensure that funding to support pupils with special educational needs and/or

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

disabilities (SEND) is used effectively. An experienced coordinator ensures that they receive suitable support and are carefully monitored, and that reviews of pupils with education, health and care plans are carried out in a timely way.  Leaders have implemented a curriculum that aims to raise aspirations and improve the basic skills of pupils, so that they are fully prepared for the next stage of education, training or employment. Pupils pursue a range of GCSE or BTEC qualifications. The impact of this provision has not been fully evaluated to determine its suitability as, in the past, not all pupils have achieved well enough by the end of key stage 4. The curriculum is enriched by a range of visits, visitors and extra-curricular clubs.  Staff talked positively about the range of training and professional development opportunities provided for them. Support for teachers new to the profession is

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Governance of the school

 An academy council in place at the time of the last inspection no longer operates.  Changes in the leadership of the academy trust last year led to the introduction of an IEB to oversee the school’s improvement. This is chaired by an interim executive principal of the trust.  The IEB also has experienced headteachers from other schools within the trust who are well informed and hold school leaders to account for making improvements. Minutes of their meetings show that they are providing sufficient support and challenge for leaders.  The chair of the IEB provides the school with a clear strategic overview and is able to call on additional resources from within the trust to support the school on a temporary basis.  The IEB ensures that statutory duties relating to safeguarding are met.  In the absence of a local governing body, some monitoring duties are not carried out. For example, regular checks have not been made of the school’s single central record.

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Governance of the school

Not all of the information for parents and carers is shared on the school’s website. Initial discussions are under way to establish a new local governing board this year.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  All correct checks are carried out when appointing new staff. The single central record is complete, but confusing in places. This is because staff deployed in school by the trust are listed together with school employees. Some peripatetic and advisory staff are also listed as employees. Details of governors who have left the school remain on the record. Significant scope exists to reorganise this information to aid clarity.  The safeguarding policy and procedures are up to date and are followed by all staff to keep pupils safe. Records show that staff know what to do when they have concerns about pupils, and that these concerns are followed up in a timely way. Links with external support agencies are firmly established.  A senior leader oversees a team of qualified designated leaders of safeguarding. They ensure that training for staff in safeguarding, including the ‘Prevent duty’, is up to date.

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Safeguarding

 The school site is secure. Access to school buildings is carefully controlled.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Previous monitoring inspections over the last two years, and this inspection, confirm that teaching, learning and assessment have steadily improved. However, the overall quality of teaching remains too inconsistent.  Leaders feel that, based on their monitoring, teaching is mostly good. Inspectors noted some examples of very effective teaching, but this was not evident across or within all subjects.  Leaders are not using all of the information they collect to pinpoint what individual teachers need to do to increase their effectiveness. Weaker teaching clearly evident in some foundation subjects has not been tackled effectively by leaders in order to prompt rapid improvement.  Newly introduced procedures based on developing six key characteristics of teaching and learning are beginning to lead to improvement. Additional training has been provided to strengthen teachers’ planning so that the needs of all pupils are met. All

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

staff are planning in detail and are setting bronze, silver and gold tasks for pupils to choose to help them learn. However, pupils are often left unchallenged because they do not make the right choices or because the gold tasks are simply not challenging enough to stretch the most able.  Teachers know their pupils well, including those with SEND and those who are disadvantaged. New procedures to identify what can be done to help disadvantaged pupils learn are used effectively by some, but not all, staff. In lessons where this is done well, teachers target their questions towards these pupils to engage them in discussion. They ask them to carry out duties and make regular checks that they understand fully. This good practice has not been shared fully to show others how to do it effectively.  Pupils in key stage 3 behave well, but when tasks fail to capture their interest or are too easy, some of them disengage from learning. When this happens, pupils do not

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

misbehave or disrupt others, but they do not make enough progress.  All pupils in key stage 3 read to themselves each day. This is respected by pupils, who read in silence because they realise the value of it in developing their literacy and enjoyment of reading. Not all less-able pupils who read aloud to inspectors were proficient readers. They were unsure about how to break down difficult words and lacked fluency and confidence in reading. Staff are not checking that these pupils develop the necessary phonetic understanding to decode unfamiliar words.  Where teaching is most effective, relations between staff and pupils are strong and this mutual respect leads to good behaviour and attitudes to learning. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and challenge them through their marking and verbal feedback. Pupils are enthusiastic and eager to contribute. Good questioning engages all pupils and prompts good discussion. Teachers insist that pupils’ books are presented neatly

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

and show that they have pride in their work.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Determined and sustained efforts by leaders and staff have led to significant gains in pupils’ behaviour and attitudes. This has led to a much calmer and more orderly environment in which pupils feel safe and valued. The daily ‘meet and greet’ by senior leaders at the start of each day sets the tone for learning. Leaders are adept at noticing pupils who appear anxious or show concern. These matters are promptly followed up to ensure that pupils are ready to learn.  Pupils feel that the school has improved a lot over the past few years. They recognise the changes made and feel that the principal has made a big difference. They feel safe in school and know what to do if they have concerns.  Pupils elected as school councillors feel they have a voice and are listened to. However, they also feel that their work has slowed recently due to staffing changes and want the

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Personal development and welfare

council to have a higher profile in school.  Weekly PSHE lessons and welfare days enable pupils to develop a broad understanding of keeping safe and healthy, of citizenship and of avoiding the risks attached to different lifestyles. They show a broad understanding of people from different cultures and backgrounds, but their understanding of British values is superficial.  All pupils receive effective careers guidance. Each year, pupils in Year 10 arrange their own work placement to develop their experience and understanding of the workplace.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Behaviour has improved significantly since the last inspection. The school is a calm, orderly place to be. Throughout the inspection, inspectors found pupils to be polite and respectful. Most of them wear their uniforms with pride.  Very few incidents of misbehaviour were noted during the inspection. Leaders’ records show that there have been far fewer incidents of poor behaviour this year. The proportion of pupils temporarily excluded from school is lower than it was at the time of the last inspection. There have been no permanent exclusions this year.  Pupils know the procedures used to manage their behaviour and are aware of the consequences if they misbehave. Pupils feel that these are applied much more consistently now. However, they feel that this could be improved further in some subjects to ensure that a small minority of pupils do not disrupt their learning.

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Behaviour

 The inclusion unit provides both a sanction for poor behaviour and a nurturing base for pupils who struggle to meet the expectations staff have of them. Specialist staff take time to find out the causes of pupils’ poor behaviour and take action to prevent it from happening again.  Attendance has improved significantly. Currently, it is higher than that found nationally. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has also improved. Rigorous checking and following up by the attendance officer have led to a reduction in the proportion of pupils persistently absent from school.  Concerns raised at the last inspection about the use of homophobic language and prejudice-based bullying have been largely resolved. Pupils are taught about the importance of respect and tolerance. They know who to approach if they experience any bullying. Older pupils who met with inspectors said, ‘It’s OK to be different’ and that anyone with other views or from a different background is accepted.

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Behaviour

 Pupils who train as ‘pupils advising, listening and supporting (PALS)’, to act as the first point of contact for pupils who have concerns, do a great job. They listen carefully, reassure pupils and steer them towards those who can help them.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Leaders acknowledge that outcomes achieved by Year 11 pupils last year were not good enough. Pupils did not make enough progress. Disadvantaged pupils were not given the additional support they needed to achieve well.  The sustained efforts of leaders and staff to raise achievement this year are working. The latest assessment information shows that, currently, pupils in Year 11 are making improved progress, particularly girls. Boys are making slower progress. Leaders are working intensively with boys to enable them to catch up. A similar trend of improvement is evident in recent assessments of pupils in Year 10. All Year 11 pupils are expected to progress into further education, training or employment this year.  Pupils are making better progress in mathematics than in English. This is because teaching is much more consistent in mathematics. Planning and the identification of pupils’ different needs are much more established. Pupils in Year 10 who met with

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

inspectors feel that they need much more help in English if they are to achieve the targets set for them.  Progress made by pupils in history, geography, design and technology and computing remains too low.  Inspectors found that, in lessons in key stage 3, pupils are responsive and eager to contribute during questioning and discussion. However, scrutiny of their books does not reflect the same quality of response. Work is often poorly organised, is not well presented and contains common basic errors. This is particularly noticeable in the work of boys, who generally make steady, rather than good, progress.  Recent strategies introduced to promote the learning and progress of disadvantaged pupils are beginning to work. Leaders feel that some improvements have been made this year but they recognise that more needs to be done to diminish the gap between disadvantaged pupils currently in Year 11 and others nationally.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Effective monitoring of pupils with SEND ensures that swift action is taken to support those in need of additional support. Staff have developed a culture of trust with pupils and their parents, which is helping to promote better attendance and engagement in learning. Pupils with SEND are known well and, where teaching is effective, staff identify the best personalised approaches to help them learn.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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School details

Email address principal@waylandacademy.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27-28 April 2017

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Information about this school

 Wayland Academy is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  Most pupils are White British. An increasing number of pupils from Eastern European backgrounds have joined the school in recent years.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is above average.  A higher than average proportion of pupils have SEND. A higher than average proportion of these pupils have an education, health and care plan.  The school is part of Norfolk Academies Trust (NAT), which is part of the TEN group, a multi-academy trust in Norfolk.  The school was inspected in April 2017 and placed in special measures. In July 2017, the Department for Education issued the trust with a termination warning notice.  In November 2017, a no formal designation inspection was conducted by Ofsted. The inspection was carried out due to concerns raised about safeguarding in the last inspection. The inspection found safeguarding to be effective.

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Information about this school

 Since then, three Ofsted monitoring inspections have taken place: in January 2018, April 2018 and January 2019.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was the fourth monitoring inspection since the school was placed in special measures in April 2017. On the first day of the inspection, inspectors decided the school no longer requires special measures and converted the inspection to a section 5 inspection.  Inspectors visited lessons in almost all subjects. Most of these observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, the interim executive principal of NAT, who is also the chair of the IEB, three groups of pupils and one newly qualified teacher.  Inspectors observed the school’s work. They looked at safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures, self-evaluation and improvement planning, minutes of meetings of the IEB, records of pupils’ attendance and behaviour, monitoring of teaching records and other information provided by senior leaders.  Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books in lessons.

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Information about this inspection

 No Ofsted questionnaires to survey the views of pupils, staff and parents were used.

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Inspection team

John Mitcheson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paul Lawrence 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

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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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