Manor School

Inspection of a good school: Manor School Sports College Mountbatten Way, Raunds, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire NN9 6PA

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Outcome

Manor School Sports College continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Manor School Sports College is a friendly and inclusive school. Most pupils are happy and feel safe. Leaders are determined to help pupils achieve their best. They care about pupils’ well-being and their readiness for life in modern Britain. The school’s mission is ‘success for all’. Pupils can study a broad range of subjects, including vocational courses such as hair and beauty and sport. Most pupils work and try hard. Most achieve well in a range of subjects, especially in English. Students in the sixth form have underachieved in the past, but this is improving.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders place a strong emphasis on pupils’ personal development. Pupils value the ‘work, world and wellness’ programme. These sessions include helping to raise pupils’ aspirations, healthy relationships and how to keep safe. Pupils appreciate the range of extra-curricular activities offered by the school, including sports, music and learning Japanese.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that incidents of bullying are low. They are confident that staff will deal with any bullying that does happen. However, pupils also say that sometimes incidents of bullying can reoccur despite the intervention of staff.

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

Leaders have established a collaborative and inclusive culture. Governors are effective at holding leaders to account. Senior leaders have implemented a well-thought-out and ambitious academic and vocational curriculum for all pupils. Pupils can study a wide range of courses which suit their interests and aspirations, including in the sixth form. Parents value this. Leaders regularly review the curriculum. Leaders have ensured that the curriculum for personal development is comprehensive and of high quality. The cornerstones of ‘work, world and wellness’ permeate many aspects of school life. Pupils learn about the wider world and prepare for their next steps. They benefit from a well- planned careers programme. They learn about equality, extremism and justice. Additional ‘curriculum days’ provide many opportunities for pupils to learn about important themes in greater depth. For example, Year 8 pupils enjoy a ‘world of work day’, while Year 10 pupils

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learn about first aid and mental health. Students in the sixth form are prepared for the challenges of living on a budget.

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Staff enjoy working at the school. Leaders have high expectations of staff. They ensure that they consider staff wellness too.

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Subject leaders think carefully about what pupils should learn and when. They are in the process of reviewing and enhancing the delivery of the curriculum. Senior leaders have put training in place to help staff develop their curriculums. Some subjects are at a more advanced stage of planning than others. The curriculum is particularly well planned in English. It is improving in mathematics and science. Leaders have addressed the recent turbulence in staffing in these areas.

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Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong. They use this to question pupils about their learning. However, not all pupils recall important knowledge that would enable them to tackle challenging assessment tasks. Sometimes assessments are left incomplete or pupils wait for suggested answers rather than having a go themselves. Pupils who struggle receive extra support. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Recently, leaders have raised expectations of pupils’ achievement, attendance and behaviour. Most pupils achieve well. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher grades, including in English and mathematics, has improved over the past two years. Leaders recognise that there is more to do, however, to ensure that all pupils achieve as well as they should in all subjects.

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The school’s new policy for the management of behaviour has taken some time to settle in. Most pupils agree that the new approaches are helping to improve behaviour. However, they also say that behaviour sometimes disrupts their learning. The school is generally a calm and orderly community. Relationships between pupils and staff are positive.

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The quality of education in the sixth form is improving. Leaders have improved the support that students receive and their study environment. Students report that they can see the positive impact of recent changes. They are happy to be in the sixth form. Students can study from a wide range of courses. Leaders recognise that further support is needed to ensure that students learn and remember more in the subjects they have opted for.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff take their responsibility to keep pupils safe seriously. They are well trained. Leaders’ expectations are that all staff complete a comprehensive training programme. Staff follow the school’s reporting systems well. Leaders respond swiftly to pupils’ needs. They work well with external agencies to keep vulnerable pupils safe from harm. Weekly meetings help leaders to know how the support processes are working. Leaders ensure that pupils learn how to stay safe. For example, pupils learn about online safety, substance misuse 4–5 March 2020

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and knife crime. Leaders and governors check the suitability of new staff to work with young people.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders are working to improve their curriculum plans to help pupils know and remember more. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always high enough. Senior leaders, together with subject leaders, should ensure that the delivery of the curriculum is equally ambitious for all pupils, including students in the sixth form.

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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 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 school to be good in May 2012.

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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 .

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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. 4–5 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121264 Type of school Secondary

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Website www.manorschool.northants.sch.uk

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Date of previous inspection 4 May 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Manor School Sports College is part of the Nene Education Trust. The school caters for pupils between the ages of 11 and 19.  The school uses four alternative education providers for a very small number of pupils. These providers are the CE Academy, Centurion and Rushmere in Northampton.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with the principal and other members of the senior leadership team. Meetings were also held with leaders of the sixth form and some subject leaders. The lead inspector also met with the chief executive officer of the trust, the chair of the board of trustees and members of the local advisory committee.  To check the school’s arrangements for safeguarding, the lead inspector met with the school’s designated leaders for safeguarding. Policies, procedures and record-keeping 4–5 March 2020

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were evaluated. This included an evaluation of the school’s single central register and the school’s processes for recruiting staff.  Inspectors met with several groups of pupils, including students in the sixth form. They also spoke to pupils informally around the school site.  Inspectors considered the 175 responses to Ofsted Parent View, including 168 free-text comments. Inspectors also considered the 56 responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff and 27 responses to Ofsted’s pupils’ survey.  We did deep dives in English, mathematics and geography. In each subject, inspectors visited lessons, scrutinised the work in pupils’ books and held discussions with subject leaders, teachers and pupils.

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Inspection team

Chris Stevens, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Rachel Tordoff Her Majesty’s Inspector 4–5 March 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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