Siddal Moor Sports College

Inspection of Siddal Moor Sports College Newhouse Road, Heywood, Lancashire OL10 2NT

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 15–16 January 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many of the pupils that attend Siddal Moor Sports College enjoy coming to school. They try to work hard in their lessons. They listen to their teachers.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In the past, pupils’ poor behaviour caused considerable disruption to learning. Leaders’ recent actions have led to an improvement in pupils’ behaviour. The pupils that we spoke with said that there are still some pupils that disrupt learning. However, they said that most teachers are better at dealing with this now.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils told us that they feel safe in school. They said that bullying does not happen often. When it does, staff deal with this, but it sometimes takes a long time. Most pupils have good relationships with adults in the school. Pupils said that there is someone to talk to if they have any worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers are starting to raise their expectations of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils are beginning to learn more in all subjects. However, pupils have not achieved well in the GCSE examinations for some time.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders provide a wide range of activities and clubs for pupils. Pupils also have opportunities to engage in leadership roles in the school. For example, some pupils are anti-bullying ambassadors and others are on the school council.

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better?

This school has not provided a good standard of education for pupils for several years. Following the previous inspection, a local teaching school has been providing support to bring about improvement. The current headteacher has been seconded from the teaching school. This support has enabled teachers and leaders to bring about some improvements in the school. However, these improvements have not had the desired impact on the quality of education for older pupils.

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better?

Leaders have recently introduced a new curriculum across the school. Within department areas, leaders and teachers have identified the knowledge that they want pupils to learn. The curriculum has been ordered so that pupils’ learning builds on what they already know. Leaders and teachers have developed activities that identify gaps in pupils’ learning. Teachers then plan learning to help pupils fill these gaps. This is particularly important for older pupils who are suffering from a legacy of poor learning in the past.

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better?

It is too early to know whether this new curriculum will have an impact on pupils’ progress. For too long, leaders have been unable to improve outcomes for pupils in the GCSE examinations. Both progress and attainment measures for GCSE have remained well below other schools nationally for the last three years. In 2019, there 15–16 January 2020

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was little sign of improvement, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.

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In recent years, the proportion of pupils that moved on to further education, training or employment has been below the national average. This has now improved and in 2019 all Year 11 pupils moved on to further education, training or employment. That said, the careers information, advice and guidance that pupils have received have not been good enough. This, together with their poor GCSE outcomes, has made it difficult for some pupils to move on to appropriate courses at the end of Year 11. Leaders have started to improve the careers advice and guidance that they give to pupils.

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There are few opportunities for pupils to broaden their experiences through reading widely. Pupils have very limited access to books in school. The English curriculum does not provide wider reading opportunities for pupils that reflect the depth and breadth of the national curriculum. There is no plan in place to encourage pupils to read more so that they can learn more.

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In the past, pupils have not enjoyed their learning in all subjects. This has been particularly true for languages. Few pupils opted to take French or Spanish at GCSE. As a result, very few pupils were able to enter the full suite of subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). Changes to the curriculum have helped more pupils to enjoy learning a language. Consequently, the proportion of pupils that study the EBacc has improved. However, this remains well below the national average.

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Until the arrival of the current headteacher, lessons were regularly disrupted by the poor behaviour of pupils. Leaders have introduced a new behaviour policy. This is having a positive impact. The number of lessons that are disrupted by poor behaviour has reduced considerably. However, leaders’ raised expectations of pupils’ behaviour have caused the proportion of pupils that are temporarily excluded from school to rise to well above the national average. Permanent exclusions from the school are also high. There remains a small group of pupils who find managing their own behaviour difficult. Some pupils are repeatedly excluded for short periods of time due to their unacceptable behaviour.

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Leaders have brought about some improvement in pupils’ attendance. Overall attendance is now just below the national average. The attendance of pupils with SEND has improved significantly over the last three years. However, disadvantaged pupils’ attendance has not improved. The attendance of these pupils has remained well below the national average. A high proportion of disadvantaged pupils are regularly absent from school.

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Pupils’ personal development is delivered through a planned curriculum. Teachers also supplement the taught sessions with extra work in form time. Pupils learn about equality and diversity. Pupils told us that they understand and respect those with different beliefs and cultures. Pupils are taught about democracy and the rule of law. Recently, pupils participated in a shadow general election in school. Pupils talk about 15–16 January 2020

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moral and spiritual issues in both their personal development lessons and in religious education (RE) lessons. They also learn the importance of healthy relationships.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make all appropriate checks to ensure that only those that are safe to work with pupils are employed by the school. Staff are trained annually and there are regular updates through the year. Staff know the signs of a pupil in need of help and they report concerns promptly.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. They are aware of the dangers of social media. They said that they know that they can go to ‘The Bridge’ to talk to someone if they have any concerns.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Despite introducing a new curriculum, leaders have been unable to improve the progress that pupils make. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, do not achieve well in their GCSE examinations. This means that they are less likely to succeed in the next stage of education or training. Some pupils are unable to move to appropriate destinations after their GCSEs because they do not have the grades that they need. Leaders should build on the recent improvements that they have made to the curriculum offer so that it has a greater impact on older pupils to enable them to be more successful in their GCSE examinations.  Pupils have not received the careers advice that they need to help them decide on their future careers. Some pupils are unsure of the steps that they need to take to move forward in their chosen career. Leaders must act promptly to ensure that appropriate careers information, advice, guidance and support are in place

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

for all pupils. This will help all pupils to move on to appropriate education, employment or training when they leave school.  The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is well below the national average. Furthermore, a significant proportion of disadvantaged pupils regularly miss school. These pupils are missing out on their learning. Leaders must take action to ensure that these pupils attend school regularly.  Leaders have taken positive action to ensure that most lessons are not disrupted by the poor behaviour of pupils. In doing this, the number of pupils that are repeatedly excluded for a fixed period has increased to well above the national average. Permanent exclusions are also high. Pupils who are frequently excluded are missing out on their learning. Leaders must develop further strategies to make sure that the new behaviour policy works for all pupils, enabling them to stay in school and engage with their learning.

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 Pupils are not encouraged to read widely in school. They are not challenged to read different types of books to help them to learn more. Leaders should provide opportunities in school for pupils to read a wide variety of books.

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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 are the school and you are 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 years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 15–16 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121967 Type of school Secondary comprehensive

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 February 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There has been a change of headteacher since the last inspection. The new headteacher is seconded from the local teaching school.

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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

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, we spoke with pupils about their work and school life. We held meetings with senior leaders, governors, subject leaders, the headteacher of the local teaching school and representatives from the local authority.  We reviewed documentation, which included the school development plan. We scrutinised information about attendance and behaviour. 15–16 January 2020

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 We considered the views expressed by parents and carers in the 31 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as parents’ comments received via the free-text facility on Parent View. We considered the 46 responses to a questionnaire for staff. We also considered the 288 responses to the questionnaire for pupils.  We reviewed a range of documentation about the school. This included information about safeguarding, including the school’s record of checks undertaken on newly appointed staff and support for pupils. We also spoke to representatives of the alternative provision used by the school.  We did deep dives in these subjects: English, French, art and RE during the inspection. We met with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke with pupils, met with teaching staff and looked at pupils’ work. We also considered other subjects as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

Erica Sharman, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Elizabeth Haddock Ofsted Inspector 15–16 January 2020

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