Eggbuckland Community College

Inspection of Eggbuckland Community College Westcott Close, Eggbuckland, Plymouth, Devon PL6 5YB

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Sixth-form provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 3–4 March 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Eggbuckland is a welcoming and inclusive school. Pupils enjoy coming to school and they attend well. Pupils are proud of their school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils went out of their way to speak to inspectors about how the school supports them. Pupils, staff and parents and carers told us the principal has made sure pupils behave well. Disruption to learning is rare. Pupils say that they can now get on in lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils help each other out and they enjoy working together. Pupils say that bullying does not happen very often. They say that there are trusted adults they can turn to if they have any concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn well when there are high expectations for what they can achieve. They rise to the challenge. However, sometimes the curriculum is not well planned and expectations in the classroom are too low. Pupils do not then do as well as they could.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers clubs and activities, such as a sports academy, theatre trips and outdoor adventure award schemes. The school is proud of the national success of the girls’ football team. Pupils enjoy being selected for the principal’s class of the week and they feel motivated by the rewards they receive in school.

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better?

The principal and his senior team have raised expectations. This has had a positive impact. Behaviour has improved, attendance is now good and pupils feel that they can learn in a safe environment.

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better?

Leaders are planning a new curriculum that is more ambitious for pupils. This is in its infancy. The number of pupils who study both a language and a humanities subject after Year 8 is low. Leaders acknowledge that this is a concern and the new curriculum will include more opportunities for pupils to study a language, including Spanish, for the first time. Pupils told us that they are keen to study a language for longer.

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better?

The curriculum is planned well in some subjects. Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils need to learn. For example, in English, pupils read challenging texts that prepare them well for future learning. When this is matched by high expectations of pupils’ work, they do well.

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better?

In some subjects, however, the curriculum is not well sequenced. For example, in history, the curriculum does not always build on pupils’ existing knowledge. Pupils in Year 7 learn skills without appropriate historical knowledge. Sometimes, pupils repeat content and work they did in earlier years. 3–4 March 2020

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Teaching does not always have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. This means that sometimes pupils, including students in the sixth form, produce work that is undeveloped and of low quality. This is not helping pupils to achieve well.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported effectively by school staff, including specialist staff in the hearing support centre. Staff are well trained and have appropriate resources that help pupils to participate in lessons and to achieve.

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Pupils move calmly around the school and they behave well in lessons. Many pupils have good attitudes to learning and take pride in their work. Pupils regularly attend school. However, attendance in the sixth form is not as good. In some cases, students attend school but do not go to all their lessons.

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The school develops pupils’ wider skills through the P4L programme. Pupils have a good understanding of relationships, British values and mental and physical well- being. Students in the sixth form follow an age-appropriate personal development programme. Pupils receive careers advice and teachers make links to subject-related careers opportunities. Pupils with SEND receive appropriate careers guidance and help to make the next steps into further education. However, students in the sixth form do not always follow an appropriate work experience programme. This means that many students do not have a meaningful experience on which to base their career choices.

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Leaders have implemented a daily reading programme where pupils read with their peers and tutors. This is helping many pupils to read more widely. However, some pupils said that they would like more help in their reading time when they do not understand what they are reading.

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Governors and the trust understand the strengths of the school and how it needs to improve. They have recently improved their level of challenge to the school. Staff feel well supported by leaders. Staff say that they have much work to do in changing the curriculum, but acknowledge leaders’ attempts to reduce workload in other ways.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff and governors have been trained to spot concerns. Staff use the school’s systems well to report anything that concerns them. This is swiftly picked up by the safeguarding team.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding leaders support pupils well. Leaders give pupils sound advice and guidance on potential risks. Pupils learn about local risks, for example the dangers of cliff jumping. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online and pupils say they feel safe in school. 3–4 March 2020

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Safeguarding leaders work closely with external organisations. They find the best ways to support pupils and their families in times of need.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school curriculum is not yet ambitious enough for pupils. This can impede pupils’ learning. Leaders should ensure that staff know what an ambitious curriculum looks like and that staff are well trained in sequencing a rich curriculum. This should enable pupils to build important subject knowledge.  Teaching does not always have high expectations for pupils. This, too, can prevent pupils learning what they need to. Leaders should ensure that teachers’ expectations are consistently high in all subject areas. Teaching should help pupils produce high-quality work, so that pupils are able to learn well and succeed over time.  Leaders have not effectively monitored the quality of the sixth-form curriculum and programmes of study. This impedes their ability to improve this aspect of the school’s work. Leaders should ensure that students attend all aspects of the study programme. Teachers should have higher expectations of the standards of work

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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. 3–4 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122377 Type of school Secondary comprehensive

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sixth form

Date of previous inspection 15–16 June 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Eggbuckland Community College is a member of the Eggbuckland Community College Academy Trust.  Eggbuckland Community College has a specialist hearing support centre for young people who have a substantial hearing impairment.  The school does not make alternative provision for any pupils.

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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 chair of the trust and governors. We also met with the principal, senior leaders, curriculum leaders and the special educational needs coordinator. 3–4 March 2020

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 We undertook deep dives in English, history, mathematics and modern foreign languages. We visited lessons, met with staff, looked at pupils’ work, talked with pupils, interviewed curriculum leaders and examined documentation.  We met with the designated safeguarding lead and deputy designated safeguarding lead. The inspection team talked with a range of staff about safeguarding training. We examined documentation and school records.  We spoke with pupils to discuss their views about the school. We considered 15 responses to the pupil survey, 92 responses to the staff survey and 59 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

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Inspection team

Tracey Reynolds, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Trudi Baker Ofsted Inspector 3–4 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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