Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Rabbi Nissan Wilson Headteacher Beis Yaakov High School 69 Broom Lane Bury New Road Salford Greater Manchester M7 4FF

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Beis Yaakov High School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection of your school that took place on 8 June 2023, on behalf of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require special measures following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in September 2022.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Beis Yaakov High School

During the inspection, I discussed with you, other senior leaders, staff, members of the trust board, including the chair of the trust, and representatives from the local authority the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also met with groups of pupils from Year 7 to Year 10. I scrutinised a range of documentation, including leaders’ improvement plans, safeguarding records, the programme to support pupils’ personal development and the minutes of trust board meetings. I have considered all of this in coming to my judgement.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Beis Yaakov High School

Beis Yaakov High School remains inadequate and requires special measures.

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Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

necessary for the category of concern to be removed.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Trustees have made changes to the leadership structure of the school so that there is increased leadership capacity and clearer lines of accountability. For example, several new trustees have been appointed and the scheme of delegation has been revised.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You, other senior leaders and trustees have accepted the weaknesses that were identified at the previous inspection. Together, you are using the findings from the inspection report as a mandate for change.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Your first and most immediate priority has been to safeguard pupils. As a result, safeguarding is now effective. You have worked closely with the local authority to thoroughly audit, review and improve safeguarding arrangements. You now have systems and procedures in place to keep pupils safe. You have ensured that appropriate policies for safeguarding, as well as checks on staff’s suitability to work with pupils, are in place and kept up to date. All leaders and staff, including trustees, receive frequent training so that they now understand their professional responsibility to safeguard pupils and to promote their well-being. Staff are clear about the procedures to follow if they have concerns about a pupil’s welfare. Pupils said that their school was a place of safety and that they had a member of staff they could talk to if they had concerns. Nonetheless, pupils lack an understanding of the potential risks that they may face in their everyday

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

lives. Although the programmes to support pupils’ personal development are beginning to address this issue, pupils are not currently equipped well enough to keep themselves safe.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You and other senior leaders have acted swiftly to address concerns about the lack of supervision of pupils at the start of the school day. You have already established clear entrance and exit procedures that are implemented consistently, as well as increased staff supervision in all areas of the building. This means that pupils are now supervised adequately when in school. All pupils and many parents and carers commented positively on the impact of these improved arrangements.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have prioritised improving the behaviour of pupils. Senior leaders quickly implemented a new behaviour policy following the last inspection. Around the school building, I noted that the atmosphere is typically calm and orderly. Pupils told me that they appreciate the increasing clarity about sanctions and rewards. All the stakeholders that I spoke with commented positively on the pace and impact of improvements in this area. Even so, there remains some low-level disruption in some lessons that prevents pupils from learning as well as they could. This is mainly linked to lessons where weaknesses persist in the subject curriculum content or delivery.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Although pupils’ overall attendance has improved over time, you are in the process of tackling the considerable number of pupils who are still persistently absent from school. You have overhauled the systems that you use to record and analyse information about pupils’ behaviour and attendance. This information is now accurate but is not used as well as it could be to inform leaders’ actions. You are in the process of auditing, reviewing and changing the programmes to support pupils’ personal development. In the short term, you have implemented weekly personal development sessions for all pupils. These are supplemented by termly drop-down days. Furthermore, you are auditing the subject curriculums to explicitly identify and map where personal development opportunities can be promoted and supported. This is helping to mitigate gaps in pupils’ understanding and awareness related to their own personal development.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

As part of the provision to support pupils’ personal development, the previous inspection report highlighted the need for you, trustees and other leaders to put into place statutory provision for the teaching of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). Following consultation with parents, you have implemented a policy for the teaching of RSHE. Nevertheless, this policy does not explicitly set out how you will ensure that you will meet all of your statutory obligations.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

In order to address the deficits related to the breadth of the curriculum, you and other senior leaders have taken steps to ensure that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are now taught the full range of national curriculum subjects. You intend to integrate some of the Jewish studies with the secular curriculum. You have decided that pupils will no longer being entered early for some qualifications at key stage 4. You, along with other senior leaders, are in the process of making changes to the timetable to ensure that pupils have increased time to study secular subjects.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You understand the importance of reading and have prioritised this as part of your improvement plans. You have ensured that there are leaders with defined roles and responsibilities for reading. These leaders have started to develop systems and processes to identify and provide support to those pupils who struggle to read. For example, you now check pupils’ reading ability on entry to the school.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

The support that you have received around SEND means that the needs of these pupils are being identified and assessed with increasing accuracy. These pupils now access appropriate support as required, including from a range of external agencies. In addition, all pupils with SEND now access the same curriculum as their peers.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

In many subjects, though not all, middle leaders have now established a broad overview of topics that will be taught across the school. These leaders are beginning to decide the order in which these topics are taught so that pupils can build more effectively on their prior learning. In some subject areas, middle leaders have engaged well with external support to help them to identify the subject knowledge that they want pupils to learn in each topic. Added to this, senior leaders with specific responsibility for teaching and learning are now implementing weekly professional development sessions to upskill teachers.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You and other senior leaders, trustees and staff are embracing the external support that has been brokered by the local authority. However, you have faced challenges related to staff absence and recruitment. These challenges have prevented you from engaging with external support as swiftly as you wished. There is now more stability in staffing. The majority of staff reported that they are proud and happy to work at the school. They appreciate the improved opportunities that they now have to develop their skills and knowledge

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Salford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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