Hartshill Academy

Inspection of Hartshill School Church Road, Hartshill, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 0NA

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 15–16 October 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Last year was very difficult for the school because several key members of staff were absent. The quality of teaching and pupils’ behaviour suffered as a result. Things have improved greatly this year. The school is well led and senior leaders are tackling the things that need to improve. Almost all subjects are now fully staffed with well-qualified teachers.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour has improved considerably. Classrooms are places where teachers can teach and pupils can learn. Most pupils are happy in school. They appreciate the recent improvements in behaviour and teaching. Leaders deal with bullying effectively. However, some pupils are still not confident that staff will tackle bullying or other problems.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In recent years, pupils’ GCSE results have been poor in many subjects. Pupils have not achieved as well as they should. The multi-academy trust and school leaders have responded by putting in place new work schemes in all subjects. These are beginning to be successful, particularly for the school’s youngest pupils. Leaders and teachers now expect all pupils to behave well and achieve as well as they can.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with many activities and opportunities beyond the classroom. These are helping to build pupils’ confidence and their understanding of the world.

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better?

Pupils have underachieved in many subjects over recent years. This is because staff have not organised pupils’ learning well enough and the school has had temporary teachers in several subjects. Over the last six months, leaders have put in place new learning plans in all subjects. These plans are ambitious and well organised so that pupils’ learning builds from year to year. As a result of these actions, pupils’ learning is improving in all years.

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better?

The new plans have been in place the longest in science. Pupils now enjoy this subject and are learning well. In mathematics, new plans have only been in place this term. They are proving successful for pupils in Years 7 and 8. However, older pupils have many gaps in their knowledge. Teachers are having to focus on filling these before they can move on to new learning.

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better?

After a turbulent year last year, the school now has a settled and effective leadership team. The Midland Academies Trust supports leaders well. The principal and senior leaders are clear about the high-quality education they want the school to provide. The school’s staff value the support and guidance that senior leaders give them. All staff are equally committed to seeing the school improve.

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better?

Pupils’ behaviour deteriorated last year because of the school’s difficulties. Leaders and staff have worked hard to improve behaviour this year. They have been 15–16 October 2019

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successful in insisting on high standards of conduct. The great majority of pupils now behave well, but some pupils still do not behave as well as they should. When they misbehave, leaders remove them from class for the rest of the lesson. This ensures that the rest of the class can learn. Leaders remove between 20 and 30 pupils from class each day. Leaders expect this number to fall as better attitudes to learning become the norm.

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Most pupils attend school regularly. A minority do not. As a result, the school’s attendance is below that seen in similar schools. Disadvantaged pupils are less likely to attend than others. There are some signs that leaders’ actions are beginning to improve the attendance of some younger pupils.

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The support that staff provide for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is improving. Leaders give teachers helpful information about pupils’ needs. Many, but not all, teachers use this information well.

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The school provides well for pupils’ development. There is a well-planned personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education programme. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and what it means to be a citizen of this country. Many pupils have positions of leadership. Some are prefects and others are subject ambassadors. There is a wide range of clubs and visits away from the school. Pupils have created a ‘remembrance garden’. Here, parents and carers and other members of the community join pupils in an annual act of remembrance.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders train staff well to spot the signs that pupils might need extra support. Staff pass on to leaders any concerns they have. Leaders deal with these well. They make use of support from outside the school when necessary.

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Safeguarding

Leaders recruit staff safely. They keep detailed, secure and well-organised records about vulnerable pupils. Staff from the Midland Academies Trust check that safeguarding is effective.

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Safeguarding

In PSHE education lessons and assemblies, pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, for example when using the internet and social media.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders, with support from the Midland Academies Trust, have put in place a revised ‘five-year’ curriculum in the school. This curriculum is ambitious and well planned. However, its implementation was delayed because of the numerous leadership and staffing issues the school endured last year. Consequently, in several subjects, the revised curriculum has been in place for only a few weeks. It 15–16 October 2019

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is therefore too soon to judge how well it is being taught in these subjects. It is also too soon to judge whether it is having the desired impact in helping pupils to know more and remember more of what they have been taught. The revised curriculum has yet to have any impact on GCSE results, which have been very weak in most subjects for some time. Leaders should ensure that the revised curriculum is implemented successfully in all years and subjects, so that the standards that pupils achieve by the end of Year 11 improve considerably.  Despite leaders’ efforts over recent years, attendance remains below the average for similar schools nationally. This was also the case when the school was last inspected. This is because a small but significant minority of pupils rarely attend school. Most of these pupils are disadvantaged. Staff check that these pupils are safe. Some strategies employed last year, for example those funded by the pupil

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premium, did not have the desired impact. Leaders should ensure that the attendance of pupils who rarely attend school improves, so that the school’s overall attendance improves.  Leaders have been successful in making classrooms calm, orderly places where poor behaviour does not disrupt learning. They have introduced clear routines that staff apply consistently. Staff appreciate how well leaders support them in managing pupils’ behaviour. However, this has been achieved at a cost. Pupils who do not conform to the school’s behaviour expectations are removed from the classroom for the remainder of that lesson. This successfully ensures that learning is not disrupted, but it means that these pupils miss out on the teaching their peers receive. At the moment, between 2% and 3% of the school’s pupils are removed from a lesson each day. Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND are disproportionately represented within this group. Some pupils may be missing

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substantial amounts of learning. Leaders should ensure that pupils’ attitudes to learning improve so that fewer miss learning in the classroom.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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 15–16 October 2019

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years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 15–16 October 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10088496 Type of school Secondary comprehensive

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School details

Website www.hartshill.warwickshire.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 29–30 March 2017

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, there have been several changes of personnel in the school’s senior and curriculum leadership. In September 2019, 19 teachers joined the school.  The school currently uses four alternative providers. A small number of pupils spend all or part of their week at one these providers. The providers are North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, Shaftesbury Young People, U-Neek and Lucky Tails Alpaca Farm.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the principal, the three vice-principals (one of whom is the designated safeguarding lead), and the three assistant principals. The lead inspector met with the executive principal of the Midlands Academies Trust and with three directors, including the trust’s chief executive officer and the chair of the school’s raising achievement board.  We talked to many pupils about their learning and their attitudes to, and opinions about, school. We observed pupils at breaktime and lunchtime and as they moved 15–16 October 2019

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around the school. An inspector visited an assembly.  We scrutinised several documents, including those relating to safeguarding and child protection. We checked that the single central record contained all required information.  We took account of parents’ views by considering 31 written responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, as well as questionnaires completed by parents at a recent parents’ evening.  We took account of 66 responses received on Ofsted’s staff inspection questionnaire.  As part of this inspection, we paid particular attention to English, mathematics, science, languages and performing arts. In these subjects, we met with curriculum leaders, visited lessons, scrutinised pupils’ work and spoke with teachers and pupils.

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Inspection team

Alun Williams, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Mike Onyon Ofsted Inspector 15–16 October 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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