Kings Heath Secondary School

Inspection of Kings Heath Boys Chamberlain Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands B13 0QP

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good 8 and 9 March 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and considerate at Kings Heath Boys school. They value their schooling and take care to be polite and well behaved. Consequently, disruption in lessons is rare.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils perform well and live up to their teachers’ high expectations. Pupils, especially the disadvantaged, are confident learners who like to study new material and attempt difficult tasks. They make good progress. Most staff support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to learn well. On occasion, a few of these pupils do not have work that is suitably adapted to their needs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and say that staff deal with any bullying straightaway. Sometimes, a few pupils may be unkind. Parents are confident that staff will work with them to try to resolve these difficulties. Pupils like how staff care for their welfare when they need help. Staff listen hard to what pupils say in order to understand their perspective. Pupils respond well because staff fully consider their feelings. Recently, the school won an award for their trauma-informed work with pupils’ emotional well- being.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils can do exciting activities after school, including learning drumming and photography. Others can visit the local Royal Air Force base, food production sites and European cities.

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better?

Leaders have constructed a broad and ambitious curriculum. This has inspired subject leaders to skilfully design subject curriculums. These contain clearly defined and well-ordered knowledge that pupils need to learn. Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to deliver this curriculum well and to help pupils to know more. For instance, in an art lesson, tasks sparked pupils’ interest in the urban artist Banksy. This helped them to reflect how colours and images can influence their artwork.

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better?

Leaders prioritise teachers’ professional development. Because of this, teachers are increasingly skilled in their subject areas. Teachers use this knowledge to provide pupils with challenging tasks. For instance, in GCSE computer studies, pupils completed every step in a ‘Binary Search’ with accuracy. These pupils then applied this knowledge successfully to solve a complex scenario.

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better?

Teachers systematically check what pupils know. They ask questions to identify any misunderstandings. They resolve these before moving on. For example, in an English lesson, pupils freely gave considered responses. This enabled any errors to be picked up and addressed quickly. Learning from their mistakes helps pupils to remember more. 8 and 9 March 2023

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Leaders meet the requirements of the key stage 3 national curriculum except in a few areas. For example, pupils do not learn dance in physical education. This means that they miss the experiences that performing dance offers. Leaders have appropriate plans to address this.

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Most teachers use individual ‘pupil profiles’ well to shape the learning for pupils with SEND. Where this happens, these pupils make strong progress. However, on some occasions, pupils with SEND are not supported as well as they could be. Work is not adapted well enough to fully meet their needs, and this holds these pupils back. Leaders provide suitable support for pupils at the early stages of reading. These pupils receive specialist help and teachers give them opportunities to read aloud. This helps pupils to learn to read with confidence and fluency.

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Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils have mature attitudes and do not like distractions in their lessons. This enables pupils to learn more because low-level disruption is rare.

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Teachers provide many opportunities to deepen pupils’ personal development. They shape tasks to encourage reflection as they study new knowledge. For instance, in a history lesson, pupils were shocked when learning about Kristallnacht in 1930s Germany. As a result, many reflected in depth about what caused these evil behaviours. Leaders have designed a well-crafted mental health programme. Pupils learn about self-care and how to look after their well-being. Staff listen to pupils’ concerns and help them to deal with personal challenges. This helps pupils to cope better with stress.

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Pupils access a comprehensive careers curriculum. Trained careers advisers guide them well about their next steps. Pupils rarely leave school without an appropriate destination.

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Leaders are mindful of teachers’ workload. Staff appreciate leaders’ concerns for their welfare and enjoy their work.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders provide staff with regular comprehensive safeguarding training activities. Staff safeguarding knowledge is up to date and refreshed through weekly briefings. Staff know how to record and report any concern.

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Safeguarding

Designated safeguarding leaders understand the school’s context. They work with local agencies to share information and to discuss local problems that could affect pupils. Safeguarding staff are diligent and know when to take effective action to safeguard a pupil. 8 and 9 March 2023

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Staff prioritise pupils’ welfare. They use trauma-informed practices effectively, to support any pupil who needs help. They work closely with these pupils to keep them safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not checked that all learning activities are sufficiently well adapted for pupils with specific needs. As a consequence, on some occasions a few pupils with SEND find it difficult to complete a task, and this hampers their progress. Leaders should check that all teachers adapt learning activities to fully meet the needs of pupils with SEND.  In a small number of subjects, leaders have not insisted that teachers deliver every aspect of the key stage 3 national curriculum. Subsequently, this limits the breadth of experiences available to pupils. Leaders must ensure that teachers deliver the full specification in these national curriculum subjects.

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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. 8 and 9 March 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10256849 Type of school Secondary comprehensive

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1 February 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses full-time alternative provision for a small number of pupils at two providers, both are registered with the DfE.  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 graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the second routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the chair and members of the governing body and members of the senior leadership team.  Inspectors completed deep dives in English, science, history, physical education, computer studies and the creative arts (music, art and drama). In each subject, 8 and 9 March 2023

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inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders and visited lessons. They spoke with all subject teachers and met with a selection of pupils.  Inspectors met with leaders responsible for personal development. Inspectors talked with pupils in key stages 3 and 4. During their discussions, they asked pupils about relationships education, equal opportunities, careers guidance, safety and other matters related to personal development. Inspectors also gathered evidence to evaluate pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors checked school policies and the single central record of checks on adults in school. They spoke with the designated safeguarding leader about safeguarding and child protection procedures. They spoke with a broad range of pupils and discussed safeguarding with staff and governors.  Inspectors considered the views of parents who completed Ofsted Parent View,

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Ofsted’s online survey for parents. They also considered responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil questionnaires.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents, including records pertaining to self- evaluation and school improvement. They also considered records relating to bullying, behaviour, pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils. They took account of a range of curriculum planning documents, including those related to relationships, sex and health.

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Inspection team

Antony Edkins, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Steve Byatt Ofsted Inspector Gail Brindley Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Huw Bishop Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 March 2023

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