Winterton Community Academy

Inspection of a good school: Winterton Community Academy Newport Drive, Winterton, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire DN15 9QD

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Outcome

Winterton Community Academy continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A new headteacher was appointed two years ago. He and other leaders have high aspirations for all pupils in the school. He has made significant changes. Changes to leadership and teaching staff, have resulted in significantly fewer temporary teachers being used by the school. Revisions to the curriculum have meant that pupils learn the content in each subject better. As a result, pupils continue to achieve well and make good progress, across most subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have noticed the improvements that have taken place in the school over the last two years. In particular, behaviour has improved because leaders and teachers have higher expectations. As a result, pupils behave well. The environment around school is calm and purposeful. Pupils are respectful to each other and to staff. However, a small minority of parents expressed some concerns about the behaviour of pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils say that bullying does not happen often. When it does, most pupils are confident that teachers will sort it out quickly. Pupils take advantage of the clubs and activities provided outside the school day. Pupils mentioned how they enjoy the various sports clubs as well as the shows and musicals, choir and the various outdoor activities and trips.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Since his appointment in March 2018, the headteacher has acted decisively to improve the school further. He took action to eradicate weak teaching and weak leadership. As a result, there was some turbulence in staffing. Staffing is now much more stable and the number of temporary teachers used by the school has significantly reduced. Most staff speak positively about the support that they receive from senior leaders. Leaders consider the well-being and workload of staff when they make decisions.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Since 2018, leaders have reviewed the school’s behaviour policy. Staff now have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Most pupils behave well in lessons and around the 5–6 February 2020

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school site. This is because staff establish clear routines and boundaries. Pupils who struggle to meet these high expectations of behaviour are supported through a range of different actions. Bullying is not tolerated. Pupils say that incidents are not frequent. Leaders record a lot of information about pupils’ behaviour. However, leaders do not analyse this information routinely.

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The school curriculum is focused on the English Baccalaureate. Leaders have reviewed the curriculum to ensure that it continues to be ambitious and provides a good education to all pupils. Some subjects are further on than others in embedding recent changes. For example, pupils already benefit from a well-designed curriculum in English and mathematics, but leaders are at an early stage of embedding the curriculum plans in design technology. In most subjects, pupils learn what they need to know, in depth and with detail. As a result, pupils achieve well in most subjects.

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Disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) also achieve well. This is because staff really care and give them extra help when they need it.

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Subject leaders think carefully about the order of the topics they teach in their subjects. As a result, pupils learn facts and skills early on which help them to understand more complicated ideas later. Teachers know their subjects very well. They check pupils’ understanding and reinforce their knowledge before moving on. This works especially well in mathematics and English. However, leaders are at an early stage of making explicit links between subjects. As a result, pupils do not always draw upon wider prior knowledge when they are learning something new.

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The overall attendance of pupils is broadly in line with national averages. Leaders and the attendance team work hard to promote the importance of good attendance. However, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is still not as good as that of their peers.

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Pupils have opportunities to become school leaders. These include being on the school council or becoming an anti-bullying ambassador. Pupils have access to a range of extra- curricular activities and clubs. These include rugby, hockey, netball, choir, cooking, school shows and musicals, outdoor activities and trips abroad.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The designated safeguarding leader and her deputy work hard to ensure that there is a culture of safeguarding in the school. Leaders ensure that safeguarding records are accurate. Recruitment checks are thorough and ensure that staff are safe to work with pupils. Teachers and pupils know what to do if they have any concerns. Staff receive regular training in safeguarding and know the potential risks in the area. Pupils know what to do to stay safe, including online. Leaders also make sure that pupils who attend alternative education provision are safe. 5–6 February 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders are at an early stage of developing explicit links between the content of different subjects. As a result, pupils are not always able to draw upon a wide range of prior knowledge. Subject leaders must continue their work in connecting, where possible, the content taught in different subjects so that pupils can use this wider prior knowledge when they are learning something new.  School leaders record detailed information about attendance and behaviour but do not carry out strategic analyses of this data. As a result, leaders are not always confident in evaluating the impact of their numerous actions. Leaders must now develop a more strategic analysis of behaviour and attendance information so that they can confidently evaluate the impact of their actions.  Despite the hard work of the school’s attendance team to ensure that all pupils attend school regularly, disadvantaged pupils are still more likely to be absent than their

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

peers. Leaders must continue their efforts to improve the attendance and reduce the persistent absence of disadvantaged pupils.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Winterton Comprehensive School with Specialist Status in Engineering, to be good on 23–24 November 2011.

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How can I feed back my views?

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 . 5–6 February 2020

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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. 5–6 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121777 Type of school Secondary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 March 2016

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average-sized secondary school.  The current headteacher was appointed in March 2018.  The school uses the Darley Centre, Keys and Castles Education for alternative provision.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is broadly in line with the national average.  The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is just below the national average. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs support is above the national average.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, senior leaders, subject leaders, special educational needs coordinator, teachers and representatives from the governing body, including the chair of governors. We held telephone conversations with the school’s improvement partner and the senior school improvement officer from the local authority. A team inspector held a telephone conversation with a leader from the school’s alternative provision. 5–6 February 2020

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 We held informal and formal discussions with many pupils and observed interactions during break and lunchtime.  We observed the work of the school and scrutinised a wide range of evidence, including the school’s self-evaluation, school improvement plans, attendance and behaviour records, safeguarding files and recruitment checks. We talked to staff about their role in keeping pupils safe.  We talked to staff, including the newly qualified teachers, about their workload and about the amount and quality of training and support they receive from leaders.  We took into account the 104 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. We also took into consideration the 37 staff responses and 141 pupil responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys.  We undertook deep dives into the following subjects: English, science, mathematics and design technology. This involved meetings with subject leaders and joint visits with

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leaders to a sample of lessons in these subjects. We also looked at books and other kinds of work produced by pupils who were part of the classes observed. Leaders joined us for this activity. We had discussions with teachers and groups of pupils from the lessons observed.

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Inspection team

Dimitris Spiliotis, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Steve Rogers Ofsted Inspector 5–6 February 2020

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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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