Villiers High School

Villiers High School Boyd Avenue, Southall, Middlesex UB1 3BT

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Since the arrival of the new headteacher, rapid and transformational change has taken place. Villiers High school is now an outstanding school where pupils and staff excel in a supportive and caring environment.  Leaders set the highest standards for pupils. All groups of pupils make exceptional progress and their behaviour in lessons and around the school is excellent.  The school’s programme of personal development and welfare, delivered through assemblies and the personal, social, health and citizenship (PSHC) curriculum, is outstanding. Staff care deeply about their pupils and make every effort to support them in becoming confident young adults. This is particularly the case for new arrivals to the school who initially lack the self-confidence to speak out in lessons.  Teachers constantly strive to improve their practice. The quality of teaching in key stages 3 and 4 is consistently strong. This is because

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

of the training and encouragement staff receive from leaders and their own colleagues. Teachers use assessment information very effectively to plan lessons that challenge their pupils.  Leadership of the sixth form is outstanding. Students make excellent progress because of the highly effective teaching. The wide curriculum offer, together with strong support and guidance, ensures that students are very well prepared for university or employment.  There is a broad and balanced curriculum which enables pupils to make outstanding progress. However, pupils’ uptake of EBacc subjects in key stage 4 is not as high as it might be.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 To further improve outcomes for pupils leaders should: – encourage more pupils to choose EBacc subjects in key stage 4 – continue to develop and evaluate strategies to build pupils’ self-confidence.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 Leaders are highly ambitious for their pupils. They set very high expectations for pupils’ attainment and behaviour. Pupils respond to these high expectations. Consequently, they make excellent progress and their behaviour is exemplary.  Leaders focus relentlessly on pupils’ outcomes. They track pupils’ progress carefully and provide additional help where needed. Leaders know their pupils extremely well. They give their pupils timely and effective support, which ensures that there is no underachievement.  After the section 8 inspection in 2018, leaders diligently followed up the recommendations made by the report. For example, the actions they took have led to a significant reduction in both internal and external exclusions.  Leaders have established an ethos of learning and support that helps pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils who speak English as an additional language, to make

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

exceptional progress. Leaders use the additional funding they receive for pupil premium and Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up very effectively.  The additional funding to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is used very effectively. All staff are trained very well to support pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND make very strong progress from their starting points because they are assessed and tracked carefully.  The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum which meets pupils’ needs and promotes excellent outcomes. The PSHCE curriculum is a great strength of the school’s provision. Pupils show strong engagement with this programme, discussing and debating controversial issues. Pupils really value this course. However, pupils’ uptake of EBacc subjects is below the national average. Leaders are working with pupils to increase their uptake of EBacc subjects, particularly in modern foreign languages.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 Leaders have a very accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, they identified that the most able pupils were not making the same exceptional progress that other groups were making. This difference has been rapidly addressed and the most able pupils are now making the same exceptional progress as other groups.  Staff have a wide range of training opportunities to improve their teaching and leadership skills. Teachers discuss the quality of their teaching. They are keen to learn from colleagues and are constantly seeking to improve their practice.

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Governance of the school

 Governance is a great strength of the school.  Governors ensure that they provide leaders with strong support and challenge. They are trained regularly and effectively. They carry out their safeguarding responsibilities diligently and with vigilance, auditing their own skills and seeking additional external support where needed. They communicate regularly with parents and carers, pupils and the local community.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  All staff ensure a culture of high vigilance and care, especially for the most vulnerable pupils. There is a wide range of preventative strategies in place to ensure that early help is given and timely intervention takes place.  Staff training is up to date and leaders are prudent in identifying local risks. Leaders ensure that the curriculum includes guidance for pupils about how to identify and avoid local risks such as knife crime and extremism. Pupils are well informed, confident in making sensible choices and know how to keep safe when using the internet.  All staff undertake face-to-face and online safeguarding training. Leaders are vigilant in checking that this training is completed effectively. Pupils feel safe and cared for in this environment.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

 Teaching across all year groups and subjects is very effective. The teaching of mathematics is exceptional. Pupils’ progress is outstanding because of the quality of teaching.  Teachers ensure that there are strong, well-established routines in lessons, in line with the school’s policy. Pupils arrive ready to learn with all the equipment they need for their lessons. Teachers have very good relationships with their pupils and this encourages pupils to take risks and learn from mistakes in their learning.  Teachers use information about pupils’ prior learning very effectively. Pupils are set challenging tasks in lessons and this raises their expectations of what they can achieve.  Teachers have excellent subject knowledge. They plan learning and question their pupils exceptionally well to deepen and develop pupils’ understanding. Pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding develop at a very strong pace.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

 Teachers use a wide range of strategies to engage pupils in lessons. Pupils hugely enjoy their learning because, in the typical view of one pupil, teachers make ‘lessons fun’. Teachers also use strategies to encourage pupils to speak up in lessons. For example, they use games which make pupils discuss answers with their peers.  Leaders and teachers use assessment information to track pupils’ progress carefully. Where pupils fall behind with their work, teachers swiftly put additional help in place. Middle leaders track the progress of groups of pupils and work with their teams to ensure that no groups are left behind. Pupils are encouraged to track their own progress and are confident to do so. They are keen to share their work and talk about their progress.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Many pupils are new to the United Kingdom and arrive in school lacking self- confidence. Leaders and teachers provide a wide range of opportunities to help pupils develop. For example, there are clubs to develop pupils’ confidence and to raise their aspirations. Pupils who responded to the Ofsted online survey said they are supported very effectively.  Careers advice and guidance are very effective. They are built into the school’s highly effective PSHCE programme and are extended with visits to universities and to workplaces.  Teachers give pupils strong support to develop healthy lifestyles and good mental health. There is a counsellor in school four days a week to support pupils who need additional help. Staff are very aware of potential challenges for their pupils in adapting to life in London and use both internal and external expertise to help their pupils in this

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Personal development and welfare

transition.  Pupils say that bullying is rare, but when it occurs staff are very good at dealing with it. In the PSHCE programme pupils are given advice about the different forms that bullying can take, including cyberbullying, and how to seek help if they experience any form of bullying.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school is exemplary. They manage their own behaviour effectively and movement around the school is calm and orderly. At breaktime and lunchtime there is high staff presence and staff on duty spend their time chatting and interacting with pupils. Pupils feel very safe around the school.  Pupils are polite and courteous. They interact positively with adults and with their peers. Pupils said that a great strength of the school is the strong friendships which exist across ethnic groups, different cultures and backgrounds. Teachers and leaders model this respectful behaviour for their pupils. This is a very harmonious school where pupils show respect for others, for diversity, for human rights and for different religions and cultures. Pupils are very effectively prepared for life in modern Britain.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are extremely positive. They respond exceptionally well to

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Behaviour

their teachers’ high expectations.  Pupils’ attendance overall is above the national average and there are no groups lagging significantly behind the school average. Persistent absence is reducing at a rapid rate because of leaders’ actions.  Exclusions of pupils are reducing and are now below national averages because of the strong preventative work and highly effective pastoral systems in school. However, in spite of the school’s best efforts, the actions of a very small number of pupils results in their permanent exclusion. As a result, permanent exclusions are still at national averages, although they are reducing.  There is a very small number of pupils in alternative provision. Pupils in alternative provision are tracked carefully by the pastoral team. In most instances pupils’ behaviour and attitudes improve because of the support they are given and they return to Villiers High to sit public examinations. In a few instances, pupils who have failed to

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Behaviour

buy in to the school’s values and expectations remain in the alternative provision. In those instances, the school seeks further external support for their pupils.

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

 Pupils’ outcomes in public examinations have been very strong for several years.  Pupils make outstanding progress from their different starting points across all subjects and year groups. This very high progress is enabled by highly effective teaching across the curriculum and through the school.  Disadvantaged pupils make stronger progress than all pupils nationally because they are carefully tracked and supported very effectively. Pupils who speak English as an additional language make very strong progress because of the very effective support they are given in acquiring English.  Pupils’ progress in English and mathematics is substantial and has been sustained over several years. The quality and consistency of teaching in these two departments are extremely strong, and in the mathematics department they are exceptional. Pupils rise to the challenge in these lessons and produce very strong outcomes.

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

 Pupils with SEND make very good progress from their starting points. Leaders track pupils carefully and train teaching assistants and teachers to give excellent support to these pupils in lessons.  Pupils’ strong outcomes at the end of key stage 4, and those of students in the sixth form, ensure that they have the qualifications that enable them to move smoothly to further or higher education and employment. The wide-ranging careers guidance they receive also helps them to be well prepared for their next stages.

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16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

 Leaders set a culture of high expectations and seek to widen students’ experience well beyond their own environment. Leaders encourage students to explore higher education opportunities both inside and outside London. They also encourage students to experience learning outside the subject content.  The curriculum in the sixth form is a great strength of the provision. The sixth form is expanding rapidly and offers vocational and academic courses to meet the needs of sixth-form students with a wide range of starting points. Students make excellent progress in the sixth form because the courses are highly suitable and they are guided effectively on to the appropriate pathways.  Students who join the sixth form without GCSEs in English and mathematics are offered dedicated lessons to achieve these subjects. Students’ progress in GCSE English and mathematics in the sixth form is well above national averages.

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16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

 There is a wide range of opportunities for students to experience work-related learning and leadership opportunities. For example, older students support Year 7 pupils with their reading. There is a very effective careers programme and an exceptional enrichment programme for students. These, together with the excellent outcomes students achieve, mean that they are well prepared for life after school.  The quality of teaching in the sixth form is very high, both in academic and vocational courses. Students take a great pride in their work and there is a strong culture of learning. Students’ progress in both vocational and academic subjects is outstanding, with progress in vocational subjects being exceptionally strong.  Leaders were aware that students’ attendance in previous years was not as high as it might be. They took strong action and this resulted in a 5% improvement within one year for both Year 12 and Year 13 students.

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16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

 There is a very strong PSHCE programme for students. This programme covers local and national risks, such as knife crime, radicalisation and extremism and mental health. Students really appreciate this programme and the opportunity to learn about current affairs. Learners feel very safe in the sixth form. Sixth-form students spoke very highly of their school.

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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

Number of pupils on the school roll 1110

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School details

Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.villiers.ealing.sch.uk

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School details

Email address Arsharma@villiers.ealing.sch.uk

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Information about this school

 The school uses two alternative providers, which are West Thames College and Kingsway College.  The previous inspection was a section 8 inspection in May 2018.  There is an exceptionally high number of pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, GCSE and A-level examinations were taking place. Inspectors carried out reviews of pupils’ and students’ work where it was not possible to observe lessons in Year 11 and the sixth form.  On the second day of the inspection, the school was used as a polling centre. Part of the school building was closed to pupils.  Inspectors visited lessons in key stages 3 and 4, in the sixth form and across a range of subject areas. They visited an assembly and registration time. Inspectors carried out checks on pupils’ books and talked to pupils about their work.  Inspectors met with pupils, teachers, middle and senior leaders, representatives from the local authority and governors. Inspectors reviewed a range of school documents related to pupils’ behaviour, safety, teaching and learning, and pupils’ progress and attainment.  There were only six responses from parents to Parent View. Inspectors considered 43

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Information about this inspection

responses from pupils and 46 responses from staff to the Ofsted online questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Joan McVittie, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

James Whiting 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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