The Whitby High School

Inspection of The Whitby High School Sycamore Drive, Whitby, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire CH66 2NU

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Sixth-form provision Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 24 and 25 May 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff have appropriately high expectations of pupils and students in the sixth form at The Whitby High School. Pupils, including students in the sixth form, benefit from a good quality of education and achieve well in most subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff expect pupils to behave well. Mostly, pupils live up to these expectations during lessons and around the school. Pupils enjoy lessons that are typically free from disruption. They are usually calm, polite and respectful when they move around school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A small minority of pupils, parents and carers have some concerns about bullying and other unpleasant behaviours. However, most pupils feel that these are uncommon. Pupils told inspectors that staff will challenge these behaviours when they occur and deal with them effectively. The vast majority of pupils feel that they are supported well by their teachers.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and staff share respectful and positive relationships. The majority of pupils said that they trust staff and would approach them for help if they needed to. This helps pupils to feel safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and students speak highly of the many different clubs, charities and trips in which they enjoy taking part. Pupils appreciate what staff do to make these opportunities welcoming to all; for example, by adapting sports and reading clubs to encourage pupils of all abilities to participate.

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better?

Governors, leaders and staff at The Whitby High School have successfully tackled the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection. Leaders have strengthened staff’s ambition for pupils. The majority of staff have acquired the knowledge and skills that they need to improve the quality of education, behaviour and pupils’ personal development.

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better?

Leaders have ensured that the overall curriculum for pupils, and students in the sixth form, is suitably broad and balanced. Pupils choose to study subjects that are matched well to their needs and aspirations. Subject curriculums are ambitious, appropriately demanding and sensibly ordered. Leaders and staff think carefully about the knowledge that pupils should learn in the subjects that they study.

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better?

Teachers ensure that pupils have calm environments in which to learn during lessons. Most pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. They show respect and interest in other pupils’ ideas.

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better?

Teachers have secure subject knowledge. They use their expertise to design demanding activities so that pupils can learn well. Teachers’ approaches to 24 and 25 May 2022

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assessment strategies are focussed well on the knowledge that they want pupils to have learned. This helps teachers to identify and address pupils’ misconceptions quickly. Pupils and students typically gain an increasingly rich body of subject specific knowledge.

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In a very small number of subjects, some staff are still developing their knowledge of how to deliver certain aspects of subject-specific content well. In these subjects, some pupils’ and students’ understanding of key concepts is not as secure as in other areas of the curriculum.

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Leaders have strengthened the culture of reading. Many pupils enjoy reading for pleasure and read confidently in the subjects that they study. Leaders accurately identify those pupils who are at the earliest stages of learning to read. However, leaders’ systems do not enable them to pinpoint the precise deficits in some pupils’ reading knowledge. This means that some of these pupils do not get the targeted support that they need to quickly become confident and fluent readers.

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Leaders have suitable processes to identify and share the needs of pupils and students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Specialist staff provide well-matched support to help these pupils to overcome the barriers that they face. Most teachers skilfully adapt how they deliver curriculums so that pupils with SEND can access the same ambitious curriculums as their peers and achieve well.

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Leaders and staff provide appropriate challenge and support for those pupils who do not attend school regularly enough. As a result, many of these pupils are attending school more often.

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Pupils in Years 7 to 11 benefit from a well-planned and comprehensive personal development programme including personal, social and health education. Pupils in these years learn about different types of relationships and how to be a responsible citizen. However, this programme in the sixth form is not as well developed. As a result, some students in the sixth form do not have as many opportunities to explore and understand some aspects of personal development.

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Leaders ensure that pupils and students in the sixth form are well-informed about their next steps and possible career choices. Consequently, pupils and students have a secure understanding of the full range of options available to them in further education, employment or training.

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Leaders, including governors, listen carefully and take on board the views of staff. Leaders use this feedback to make positive changes while ensuring that they are considerate of staff’s workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 24 and 25 May 2022

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Leaders and staff have an in-depth understanding of the safeguarding concerns that pupils and students in the sixth form may face. They ensure that pupils are taught well about how to keep themselves safe.

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Staff are trained well to help them to identify safeguarding concerns. They make effective use of systems to report, share and act on concerns about pupils in a timely manner.

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Leaders carefully consider the care that vulnerable pupils and their families need. They make extensive use of expertise from school staff and other safeguarding partners to support these pupils as best they can. Leaders check regularly how well this support contributes to pupils’ welfare and safety.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of subjects, some teachers do not deliver intended curriculums so that pupils and students get sufficient opportunities to build on what they know and remember. This hinders how well pupils in these subjects can recall earlier learning and make links with what they know already. Leaders should ensure that teachers in these subjects get the support that they need to deliver intended curriculums effectively.  Some pupils who are at the earliest stages of learning to read do not always get the support that they most need. This impedes some pupils in making gains in their reading knowledge. Leaders should ensure that staff understand how to identify specific gaps in pupils’ reading knowledge. They should ensure that support for pupils is more closely matched to their specific needs.  In the sixth form, leaders are still refining the personal development curriculum for students. This means that some students in the sixth form do not get enough

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

opportunity to explore and deepen their understanding of some aspects of this curriculum. Leaders should ensure that students in the sixth form benefit from a more comprehensive programme of personal development.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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 . 24 and 25 May 2022

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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. 24 and 25 May 2022

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School details

Local authority Cheshire West and Chester

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School details

Inspection number 10216082 Type of school Secondary Comprehensive

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provision

Number of pupils on the school roll 1564

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sixth form

Appropriate authority The governing body

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sixth form

Chair of governing body Angela Claydon Carole Hibbert Headteacher Bryn Heeley

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sixth form

Date of previous inspection 9 July 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The Whitby High School is a foundation school maintained by Cheshire West and Chester local authority.  The school makes use of five alternative providers to provide full- and part-time education for a small number of pupils.  The school meets the requirements of the Baker Clause, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 24 and 25 May 2022

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and senior leaders. They met with representatives of the governing body and local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, science, history and design and technology. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors spoke to leaders about the curriculum.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s records of safeguarding checks and referrals. They met with leaders who have overall responsibility for safeguarding. Inspectors spoke with staff and pupils about the school’s work to keep pupils

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safe.  Inspectors spoke with leaders responsible for SEND and reading. They also looked at information about the support for pupils who have additional needs.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in class and around the school site. They also scrutinised behaviour and attendance records.  Inspectors spoke with pupils from all year groups and considered the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for pupils.  Inspectors held discussions with staff and considered the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for staff.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including the comments received by Ofsted’s free-text facility. Inspectors also considered the views of parents who contacted them during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Michael Pennington, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Graeme Rudland Ofsted Inspector 24 and 25 May 2022

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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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