Tenbury High Ormiston Academy

Inspection of Tenbury High Ormiston Academy Oldwood Road, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire WR15 8XA

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Inspection dates: 4 and 5 October 2022, and 7 February

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 4 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils at Tenbury High are keen to learn and they behave well. Leaders have a sensible behaviour strategy in place, which is beginning to improve behaviour in lessons. However, particularly in Years 9 to 11, too much learning is still disrupted by off-task or silly behaviour. Breaktimes and lunchtimes are calm, but inside, some older pupils push and shove each other when moving around school. Occasionally, behaviour on stairwells is unsafe. Staff do not routinely challenge this unacceptable behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders take any bullying incidents seriously. Most pupils feel that if they report bullying it will be acted on.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have created a broad curriculum that sets out the most important knowledge pupils need to know. Many subject leaders are new to their role and have only recently begun the work of putting this curriculum in place. While this work is well developed in some subject areas, it is not yet consistent across the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have introduced a new personal, social and health education curriculum, which aims to promote pupils’ understanding of important values, such as respect, kindness and inclusivity. Assemblies focus carefully on current issues and on aspects of behaviour and safeguarding that pupils need to be aware of.

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better?

Leaders’ capacity to improve the school has, over the past year, been hampered by high levels of staff absence, which has resulted in the need for leaders to teach more and to support temporary and new staff. Despite these factors, leaders are working well together to drive improvement and this work is beginning to have a positive impact.

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better?

The principal, along with leaders, has reviewed the school’s curriculum to plan a broad and ambitious education for pupils. In some subject areas, leaders clearly identify what they want pupils to learn over time and in some classes this planning is implemented well. However, this work is not yet consistent across different subjects. There are gaps in staffing and leadership in some subject areas. Learning is also affected, in some classes, by low-level disruption that is not managed well. These factors mean that there are inconsistencies in how well pupils learn.

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better?

Some teachers effectively check what pupils have learned and adapt their teaching well, so pupils build on what they can do. However, others do not do this well enough so are then not able to spot if pupils are falling behind or miss chunks of learning. As a result, especially in key stage 4, pupils continue to have gaps in their knowledge. 4 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are generally supported well. However, some teachers do not check learning sufficiently well to ensure that pupils with SEND understand the work they are completing.

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Leaders have made reading a priority. They ensure that pupils who are at the early stages of reading receive the support they need to become fluent readers. Pupils read widely and often. There is more work to be done, though, to improve pupils’ basic literacy skills. Some pupils’ work, for example in Year 7, shows many instances of spelling and grammatical errors that go uncorrected.

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Pupils in Years 7 and 8 respond well to the school’s expectations of them. Most have settled well into school life. In contrast, older pupils, particularly those in Year 11, have found it very difficult to settle back into school routines. While many are now working well with the school, some continue to display unwanted behaviours. Mainly, this behaviour is casual and over-boisterous rather than malicious. However, it causes younger and smaller pupils to feel very worried. Younger pupils talk about being ‘barged’ and ‘shoved’ and this was seen during the inspection. Occasionally, this behaviour is more deliberate. Leaders have recently introduced one-way systems around school and new routines for entering the classroom. However, too often, staff walk past pupils who are behaving poorly without challenging them, and do not remind pupils of the school’s expectations. Behaviour on stairwells is sometimes unsafe and these areas are not adequately supervised.

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The behaviour strategy that leaders have introduced is beginning to have an impact on reducing disruption in lessons and cutting down on the need for suspensions or internal isolation. The strategy includes training staff and explaining clearly to pupils what behaviours are wanted and why, for example, through focusing on basic expectations such as responding when the teacher talks. When teachers use the whole-school strategies consistently and persist with them over time, pupils respond well. However, some staff are letting unwanted behaviour go unchallenged and good behaviour go unnoticed. Some pupils who want to do well resent this because they feel that their learning is allowed to be interrupted too often.

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Leaders have carefully planned the careers advice and guidance given to pupils. Pupils benefit from a range of external speakers and events to promote different career pathways. Pupils are well informed about their next steps in education or employment.

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The trust has supported the school to expand the leadership team. A trust leader spends some of each week at the school to provide strategic support. This is proving valuable and the trust is committed to continuing this work while the school has a need for it. 4 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding leaders make sure that all staff receive the training they need to identify pupils who are at risk of harm. All staff know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil. Staff are aware of the potential risks to pupils within the local community and online, for example. The required checks are carried out on staff prior to their appointment.

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Safeguarding

Many pupils travel to school by coach or minibus. Leaders pay careful attention to making sure that pupils are kept safe while travelling and quickly act if any concerns arise.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Too often, older pupils do not move sensibly or calmly around the school, and some deliberately push and shove each other or younger pupils. Staff do not always remind pupils how they should behave and sometimes ignore poor and unsafe behaviour. As a result, this inappropriate behaviour persists, creating a disorderly environment which worries some pupils. Leaders should ensure that pupils understand the expectations for safe movement around the school, and that all staff play a full part in ensuring that pupils meet these expectations.  There is still some low-level disruption in lessons, and not all staff are using the school’s behaviour strategy properly. This means that too much learning is interrupted and that pupils are receiving mixed messages about what is and is not acceptable. Leaders should ensure that all staff consistently implement the school’s strategy properly, including the praise and reward elements and ensure

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

that any staff who need help to use the strategy well are supported accordingly.  Not all pupils understand how the behaviour strategy works, for example what the different levels of sanctions mean and how the praise and reward elements work. As a result, some of the pupils who behave well do not feel recognised or understand that leaders are taking appropriate action when others do not behave well. Leaders should continue to communicate with pupils about all aspects of the strategy, as appropriate.  Some teachers do not routinely check on pupils’ learning and what they have remembered. As a result, in some subjects, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. Leaders should ensure that all teachers use assessment consistently to check on what pupils have learned and can do and adapt their teaching accordingly. 4 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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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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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 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10240791 Type of school Secondary comprehensive

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School details

Website www.tenburyhighormistonacademy.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11 and 12 July 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The principal was previously head of school and appointed principal in September 2020.  The school uses one registered alternative provision.  The school meets the requirements of the Baker Clause. This means that pupils in Years 8 to 13 receive information about the full range of education and training options open to them. This includes opportunities for a range of education and training providers to speak to pupils about technical and education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a graded (section 5) inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, His 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. 4 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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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 initially inspected the school on 4 and 5 October 2022. On 7 February 2023, two of His Majesty’s Inspectors returned to the school to gather further evidence. The evidence gathered from all three days was used to inform the final judgements.

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 Inspectors focused on the following subjects: mathematics, science, history and technology (art, catering, design and technology). Inspectors looked at leaders’ curriculum planning, visited lessons, looked at pupils’ work and talked with pupils about the way these subjects are taught. They also looked at other subjects to check how they are planned and taught.  Inspectors reviewed a range of school documents. These included information about behaviour, attendance, the school’s curriculum, and improvement planning. The school’s website was also checked.  Inspectors talked to staff and leaders about safeguarding arrangements. They examined how leaders make employment checks on staff and scrutinised further safeguarding records. They also asked how incidents reported by pupils are recorded and analysed.  Inspectors observed informal times of the day to evaluate safeguarding and pupils’ behaviour. They spent time in lessons looking at behaviour and how this

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was managed and observed pupils’ movement around the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the chief executive officer, trustees, governors, the principal, senior leaders, lead professionals, teachers and pupils. They also talked informally to pupils and staff to gather information about school life.  Inspectors considered responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and free-text comments. Inspectors also considered Ofsted’s staff survey and pupil questionnaires.

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Inspection team

His Majesty’s Inspector Geoff Renwick Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 October 2022 and 7 February 2023

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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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