De Salis Studio College

De Salis Studio College Wood End Green Road, Hayes, Middlesex UB4 8JP

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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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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils attain well in English, mathematics and science as a result of the consistently good- quality teaching they receive in these subjects.  Pupils also make strong progress in a range of other subjects, including psychology, criminology and law.  In most subjects, teachers use their strong subject knowledge and their knowledge of examination requirements to prepare pupils very well for their public examinations.  Occasionally, teaching does not challenge or inspire pupils well enough. In these instances, the emphasis placed on testing and assessment comes at the expense of deepening and broadening pupils’ knowledge and understanding.  Pupils at the early stages of speaking English receive very effective support and quickly develop their English language skills.  The curriculum is enhanced by an extensive programme of work- and enterprise-related activities. Good links with employers and opportunities for work experience enhance

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

pupils’ understanding of the world of work.  Not all pupils like the long school day. They say it means that opportunities to participate in extra-curricular sports and the arts with pupils from the neighbouring school in the trust are limited.  Pupils behave well around the college and in lessons. Relationships between pupils and staff are good. Occasionally, pupils lose focus when teachers’ expectations of how much work they should complete are not high enough.  Students’ achievement in the sixth form requires improvement. Until this year, some students were admitted to courses which did not meet their needs well enough. Students’ progress in the sixth form has been affected negatively by turbulence in staffing. This has led to students experiencing some teaching which has been less than good.  Admission arrangements have now been strengthened to the benefit of the small cohort of students currently in Year 12. There remains

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

some underachievement in Year 13, however.  Leaders and trustees have a broadly accurate understanding of the college’s effectiveness. The school’s self-evaluation is overgenerous, however, because it does not give sufficient weight to the weaker outcomes seen in the sixth form and in subjects which have experienced turbulence in staffing, such as business studies.  Strong arrangements are in place to keep pupils safe. Trustees provide excellent oversight of safeguarding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve outcomes for students in the sixth form by: – ensuring that the improved transition arrangements into the sixth form are matched by consistently high-quality teaching in all subjects – providing additional support, where necessary, to students whose progress has been affected by turbulence in staffing.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen further the quality of teaching and the curriculum in key stage 4 by: – ensuring that the strong emphasis placed on testing and assessment is balanced with greater opportunities for pupils to deepen and broaden their subject-specific knowledge and understanding – developing teachers’ questioning skills to ensure that pupils are challenged to think hard in all their subjects – providing more opportunities for pupils to participate in extra-curricular sports and the arts.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that self-evaluation gives due weight to the aspects of provision which are less than good.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Leaders have ensured that pupils have continued to achieve well across a range of subjects, including English, mathematics and science. They have sustained a culture where pupils are respectful, work hard and are ambitious to succeed.  Leaders and trustees have forged and maintained effective links with a range of businesses to ensure that the college’s vision is realised for pupils to become experienced, well-qualified and highly employable young people.  The curriculum is enhanced by the opportunities pupils are given to enhance their understanding of business, commerce, computing and the law during the regular enrichment weeks. These include a range of enterprise activities, which give pupils experience in developing business plans, designing products and selling these to their peers at the college and across the trust.  The curriculum also provides regular opportunities for pupils to engage with employers

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

through visits to business in the local area and in central London and through talks provided by business leaders. The criminology curriculum is enhanced by opportunities for pupils to participate in mock trials in a simulated courtroom. Leaders ensure that all students participate in work-related learning and often the placements are of a high quality.  The curriculum, delivered through day-to-day teaching, ensures that pupils are well prepared for public examinations. Not enough opportunities are provided for pupils to extend and deepen their understanding, however, beyond the requirements of the examination specifications. In English, for example, Year 9 pupils are not routinely given opportunities to read whole texts rather than just extracts from the literature they are studying.  Leaders have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching. They have ensured that teaching remains strong in English, mathematics and science and is effective in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

the majority of other subjects. Appropriate monitoring arrangements are in place to check the quality of teaching experienced by sixth-form students who receive some of their education at other schools in the trust.  Leaders know, however, that teaching is less consistent than at the time of the last inspection. This is largely due to difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff in a small minority of subjects, including in business studies. In their evaluation of the college’s effectiveness, leaders have not given due weight to the inconsistencies in quality this staff turbulence has led to. This is why their evaluations of the quality of teaching over time are over-generous.  Staff benefit from good opportunities to develop their skills through training provided across the trust. For example, staff have worked with primary phase colleagues to improve their understanding of the raised expectations of the national curriculum in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

English and mathematics.  Leaders maintain good oversight of the impact of spending provided through the pupil premium. They ensure that the money is spent effectively and that spending is informed by close analysis of pupils’ barriers to learning. They have invested heavily, for example, in provision to support vulnerable students’ mental health as well as providing additional tutoring, for example in mathematics.  Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is well led. Leaders ensure that these pupils’ needs are well catered for. Leaders provide good support to pupils who arrive from overseas and are at the early stages of speaking English.  Leadership of the sixth form has improved. Leaders recognise that outcomes for sixth- form students have not been good enough and have implemented an effective action plan to bring about the improvements needed. These changes have come too late to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

ensure that all students currently in Year 13 are reaching their potential, however.

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Governance of the school

 Trustees and members of the local advisory body maintain effective oversight of the college’s work. Clear terms of reference set out clearly their respective roles and responsibilities and ensure that both layers of governance are effective.  Their scrutiny of the school’s safeguarding arrangements is particularly strong. Trustees and governors ensure that pupils who leave the college partway through their education successfully transfer to other schools. Their analysis of the reasons why pupils leave shows that in the majority of cases it is because their families are moving out of the area.  Trustees support the college’s leadership and management effectively by drawing on expertise from across the trust. This reflects their astute use of resources to ensure that this small college benefits from leadership expertise from larger schools in the trust.  Trustees have not ensured, however, that the school’s self-evaluation pays due regard

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Governance of the school

to aspects of provision that are less than good, for example outcomes in the sixth form.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The single central record of checks on the suitability of staff is expertly maintained by a highly knowledgeable member of staff from the trust. Record-keeping is meticulous.  Staff receive regular high-quality training from representatives of the trust and are well informed about possible risks to pupils’ well-being and how to report concerns.  Leaders work very effectively with external agencies to support pupils who are potentially vulnerable to harm. They liaise closely with the participation team from the local authority to ensure that any pupils who leave the school roll are placed in education elsewhere. No pupil is removed from the school roll without approval from the local authority.  Detailed records are kept of any safeguarding concerns and are regularly updated to ensure that the actions taken to secure pupils’ well-being have been effective.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Teachers have very secure subject knowledge and use this well to prepare pupils thoroughly for external examinations.  In some cases, teachers’ knowledge of examination requirements is enhanced by their first-hand experience of marking exam papers for the various awarding bodies.  Where teaching is most effective, lessons are challenging. Teachers skilfully question pupils to identify any misconceptions and set work which deepens and broadens their understanding. Particularly good examples of this were seen in mathematics and science, and it is no coincidence that pupils have high regard for the quality of teaching in these subjects. In a Year 9 mathematics lesson, for example, pupils deepened their conceptual understanding of algebra by using practical resources to explore the relationship between simultaneous equations and the geometric shapes they had constructed. In a Year 11 physics lesson, the teacher’s careful probing of pupils’

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

understanding through skilful questioning ensured that all pupils had a very secure understanding of the inverse relationship between an electric current and a resistor. The work in pupils’ books in these subjects reflects high-quality teaching over time and pupils’ commitment and dedication to their work.  Pupils also benefit from strong teaching in subjects such as English, French, psychology and criminology. In a French lesson observed, for example, the teacher skilfully developed pupils’ vocabulary and grammar by gradually increasing the level of challenge through increasingly demanding questioning. The pupils demonstrated their commitment to the subject through their careful and accurate pronunciation.  In many subjects, including in English, pupils are given good opportunities to improve their work as a result of their teachers’ assessment or peer assessment.  Where teaching is less effective, the tasks are not demanding enough. In a small

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

minority of lessons, pupils spend considerable time answering simple questions or copying information from the board. In these and occasionally in some other lessons, teachers use a limited range of questioning which does not probe or extend pupils’ subject knowledge and understanding in sufficient depth.  A range of strategies are in place to support reading though the range of books available for pupils to choose for themselves is limited. Plans are in place to improve this aspect of provision in the next academic year.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are confident, polite and respectful of their teachers and each other.  Pupils enjoy learning in the diverse college community, where pupils from different ethnic backgrounds get along well.  Pupils are respectful of those who are different to themselves. In criminology and law, for example, they learn about the consequences of discrimination and intolerance, including towards members of the community with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010.  Pupils develop good entrepreneurial skills and are well prepared for the world of work. They demonstrate their wider spiritual, moral, social and cultural development by raising money for charity through their enterprise activities.  Pupils enjoy and benefit from the work- and business-related enrichment activities that are provided as part of the curriculum. In discussions with inspectors, though, they

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Personal development and welfare

expressed their frustration that the long school day limited their opportunities to take part in extra-curricular opportunities provided at other schools in the trust.  Pupils report that they feel safe in school. They receive regular information and teaching, including from external organisations and the safer schools’ officer, about how to stay safe.  A small minority of pupils who completed the Ofsted questionnaire reported that incidents of bullying are not always managed well by staff. Inspectors spoke to a wide range of pupils from all year groups. All said that bullying is rare and that they feel well supported by staff. The number of recorded incidents of bullying is very low.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  In most lessons, pupils behave well and take pride in their work. Low-level disruption is rare.  On occasions, pupils do not work as productively as they could because they are allowed to chat as they work. This is particularly the case when they are expected to work independently on computers. A few examples of this were also seen in other classes. Persistent low-level disruption is very rare.  The proportion of pupils subject to fixed-term exclusions has increased, though it remains low. Leaders ensure that appropriate and effective arrangements are in place to support the very small minority of pupils who need help in managing their behaviour. This includes some pupils who join the school having exhibited poor behaviour elsewhere.  Pupils’ attendance is in line with published national averages and, for the large majority of pupils, is high. Leaders take robust action where pupils’ attendance is too low and

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Behaviour

work well with external agencies to tackle low attendance. However, a small minority of pupils do not attend regularly enough.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils attain and achieve well in English, mathematics and science and in a range of other subjects.  The proportion of pupils attaining a good pass in both English and mathematics is consistently above average. Disadvantaged pupils also attain well and secure grades in these subjects that are above the average achieved by other pupils nationally.  The 2018 performance tables do not fully reflect pupils’ achievements. This is because the most able pupils completed some qualifications in Year 10 which are not counted in the performance tables due to government reforms to GCSEs. These students attained very well when they completed these GCSEs, including in the separate sciences and in computing and information and communications technology. Pupils currently in Year 11 have already completed GCSE chemistry, with many attaining highly and almost all making good progress.  Pupils’ outcomes are also enhanced by the range of professional qualifications they

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Outcomes for pupils Good

complete, including in finance and computer applications.  Current pupils are making good progress in each of the core subjects as well as in subjects such as French, law, criminology and psychology.  Pupils’ progress in business studies and ICT has been hampered by the college’s difficulties in recruiting specialist staff. This has led to gaps in pupils’ knowledge in these subjects which have not yet been fully addressed.  Pupils who join the college at the early stages of learning English make rapid progress in English language acquisition because of the high-quality specialist teaching and support they receive. Pupils who join the college from overseas are highly complimentary about this aspect of provision.

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

 Outcomes in the sixth form were significantly below average last year. Students did not make the progress they should have in academic courses, resulting in standards at AS level and A level being well below average.  Though the quality of teaching in the sixth form is generally good, students underachieved at AS level and A level because they had been enrolled onto courses which they found too demanding.  In contrast, students’ achievements in vocational courses were in line with the national average. In some subjects, students made good progress and attained well, though this was not the case in all subjects.  Leaders have strengthened, considerably, admissions arrangements into the sixth form and have improved the quality of information and guidance they provide to prospective students. As a result, the small cohort currently in Year 12 are pursuing courses which match their needs and abilities well. Consequently, this group are making better

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

progress than their predecessors.  Achievement in Year 13 remains variable, however, because of previous weaknesses in the quality of guidance students received in selecting their courses. In addition, difficulties in staffing meant that some of these students did not receive consistently high-quality teaching when they were in Year 12. Students recognise that provision has improved this year, although not quickly enough to fully compensate for gaps in their achievement.  Sixth-form students who met with inspectors, while frustrated by the impact of staffing difficulties last year, spoke positively about other aspects of the sixth form. All said that they would recommend the sixth form to other students. They value highly the opportunities they are given to undertake good-quality work experience.  Students recognise the improvements that leaders have made, and value the good support they receive in making choices about options for future education, training and

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16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

employment. Despite weaknesses in outcomes last year, leaders ensured that all students who applied to university secured a place and that other students progressed to further education colleges.  The curriculum supports students’ personal development well. Leaders ensure that students are well informed about current affairs, opportunities to develop their employability skills and how to manage the potential risks to their well-being that they face as young adults.

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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

Type of school Secondary Comprehensive School category Academy studio school

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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 1–2 February 2017

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Information about this school

 This is a much smaller than average secondary school. The studio school specialises in business and commerce-related courses alongside a core curriculum including English, mathematics and science.  The college is one of seven schools in the Rosedale Hewens Academy Trust. The trust is managed by the executive group which works through the academy board, made up of nine trustees. A local advisory board of governors meets each term and reports back to the board of trustees.  Since the last inspection, the college has moved into purpose-built premises next to another school in the trust.  The large majority of pupils speak English as an additional language.  A higher-than-average proportion of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium.  A very small minority of pupils have SEND. No pupils currently on roll have an education, health and care plan.  The college has higher levels of mobility than is usually seen. A significant minority of

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Information about this school

pupils join the college other than at the usual transition time, including pupils newly arrived in the country. A small minority of pupils leave the college before reaching the end of key stage 4.  No pupils attend alternative provision.  All students currently in the sixth form had secured a pass in GCSE English and mathematics before their enrolment.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning and scrutinised pupils’ work across a range of subjects and in both key stages. They visited 27 lessons in total. Some observations were completed jointly with members of the senior leadership team. Inspectors also observed sixth-form teaching delivered to De Salis students at Rosedale College.  Inspectors held formal discussions with pupils in all key stages and spoke with pupils informally at other times of the college day.  Inspectors met with a range of staff, including senior leaders and teachers. They also met with members of the trust and the local advisory board, as well as other staff from the trust who manage key aspects of provision. The lead inspector spoke by telephone with a participation officer from the local authority.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of school policies and documents. These included published performance information, the college’s self-evaluation and improvement

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Information about this inspection

plan, records of observations of teaching and documents related to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors considered the views of the 67 pupils and two members of staff who completed the Ofsted surveys alongside the views of one parent who submitted comments using the free-text service. There were too few responses to Parent View for these to be considered.

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Inspection team

Daniel Burton, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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

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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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