Kineton High School

Inspection of a good school: Kineton High School Banbury Road, Kineton, Warwick, Warwickshire CV35 0JX

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Inspection dates: 30 and 31 January 2024

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Outcome

Kineton High School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Helen Bridge. This school is part of Stowe Valley Multi- Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Ranjit Samra, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Clare Chevassut.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are supported to achieve their personal best in this caring community school. The school’s values of ‘ambition, respect and kindness’ resonate throughout all aspects of school life. Pupils are happy to be a part of this inclusive and vibrant school. Staff have high expectations for pupils’ academic achievement. Pupils flourish academically and personally.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ school experience is enriched with a plethora of activities. Educational visits include international trips, such as supporting local communities in South Africa, a cultural trip to Spain, skiing in Austria, water sports in France and geography trips to Iceland. Pupils also benefit from local visits to museums, galleries, castles and a variety of places of worship. All of this is increasing their learning about culture and diversity.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has developed an extra-curricular programme where there is something for everyone. ‘Let’s talk’ is an inclusive group to encourage pupils to have their voice heard and to bring about change. Recently, the group has ensured there are accessible facilities with readily available period products. The annual musical production is a highlight of the school year, which brings the whole community together. Many pupils take part in these extra-curricular activities, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders work relentlessly to ensure that pupils’ interests are at the heart of all that they do. Their monitoring and analysis ensure that they have a strong evaluation of what is working well and what they need to do to be even better. They frequently review their 30 and 31 January 2024

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policies to meet the changing needs of the pupils they serve. As a result, pupils receive a good quality of education, which is complimented with an abundance of opportunities beyond the classroom.

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The curriculum is ambitious for all pupils and is sequenced to build on knowledge from Year 7 to Year 13. It highlights the key concepts and skills that pupils need to learn and how they will learn these so that they can become experts in their subjects. The delivery of the curriculum is supplemented with educational visits. For example, in art, as part of the ‘cultural decoration project’, pupils visit The British Museum to strengthen their understanding of Japanese and African artefacts.

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Staff have expert subject knowledge in the areas they teach. They know their pupils well and use a range of activities to check that pupils have a secure understanding of the key concepts. When pupils do not understand, teachers help them to close any gaps in knowledge and alleviate any misconceptions. This helps pupils to build on their knowledge over time and deepen their understanding. As a result, pupils progress well.

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The school accurately identifies pupils with SEND and puts in place bespoke additional support. Staff effortlessly adapt their teaching to meet the needs of all pupils. There has been a recent focus on engaging with the families of pupils with SEND through ‘SEND clinics’ and remote meetings. This is helping to keep them informed about the strategies in place to support their children.

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The school has put in place ample support for pupils who struggle to read. It accurately identifies which pupils need extra help and provides a bespoke programme for pupils to improve their reading skills. Sixth-form students listen to their younger peers reading, and staff who are trained to teach phonics support those pupils who are still at an early stage of reading. This is working well to improve pupils’ confidence and fluency when reading. The texts that pupils read are purposeful and insightful and include topics such as refugee camps, current affairs and LGBTQ+ awareness.

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There are high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. In lessons, pupils are focused and keen to contribute to class discussions. When pupils’ behaviour falls short of the expected, they are given the support they need to regulate their behaviour. As a result, most pupils behave well and learn from their mistakes. However, a small minority of pupils do not receive the support they need to improve their behaviour. As a result, they often receive suspensions, which are not having the desired impact.

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The school’s wider development programme is taught through ‘culture and character’ lessons. Pupils learn about topics, including mental health, healthy relationships and how to keep themselves safe. There are extensive pupil leadership opportunities, such as ‘student president’, being a part of the charity committee and the student council. Sixth- form students raise money for charities through fundraising events, such as teacher dance battles and selling tickets for the Christmas show, which they have choreographed and written. This helps pupils to play an active role in society and teaches them the importance of kindness and charity. 30 and 31 January 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The needs of a very small minority of pupils are not always met as well as they need to be. These pupils are often suspended repeatedly, which is not having the desired impact. The school should continue to implement and review a range of strategies to engage with these pupils and ensure that staff are supported effectively to do this.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Kineton High School, to be good in September 2017.

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How can I feed back my views?

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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, 30 and 31 January 2024

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 30 and 31 January 2024

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provision

Number of pupils on the school roll 1,031

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form

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Stowe Valley Multi-Academy Trust.  The school uses three registered alternative providers and one unregistered alternative provider.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.  Kineton High School converted to become an academy school in September 2019. When its predecessor school, Kineton High School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall. 30 and 31 January 2024

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, the chief education officer, governors, trustees, and other senior leaders.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: art, geography, mathematics and modern foreign languages. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the

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Information about this inspection

extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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Inspection team

Sultanat Yunus, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Peter Gilbride Ofsted Inspector 30 and 31 January 2024

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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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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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