Canary Wharf Secondary

Inspection of Canary Wharf College Crossharbour 7 Selsdon Way, London E14 9GL

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The interim headteacher of this school is Geoff Roberts. The school is part of Canary Wharf College 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 (CEO), Joanne Taylor, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by John Afolayan. 9 and 10 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school places a strong emphasis on its ethos, encouraging pupils to focus on six ‘character strengths’. Pupils are typically polite to adults and each other. Behaviour around the school is generally orderly. The school has introduced a new approach to managing behaviour, which sets out high expectations. While this is having a positive impact, there are some inconsistencies in how the agreed systems are applied.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum is typically ambitious and well designed. While many pupils achieve well, the support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those at the early stages of learning to read is not sufficiently robust. As a result, these pupils are not well supported to achieve highly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All pupils benefit from a wide range of timetabled enrichment activities through the school’s ‘floreat’ programme. Pupils also benefit from visits to extend their learning, for example to the theatre, local businesses and places of worship.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school in which pupils are kept safe, and leaders are managing the complexity of working within a complex site. However, some pupils report not feeling safe in areas of the school. They are not fully confident in reporting their concerns and are unsure whether they would be listened to.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ experiences have been affected by recent changes of leadership at both school and trust level. Staff turbulence has also had an impact on pupil and parent and carer confidence in the quality of education being provided.

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better?

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum that matches the aims of what is expected nationally. Subject leaders have thought carefully about the knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which it is taught. This helps pupils to secure their understanding before moving on to more complex work. For example, in mathematics, pupils learn how to find equivalence between fractions and percentages. Older pupils apply this knowledge when calculating tax, interest rates and percentage change. Similarly, in English, younger pupils are taught to express their ideas in writing with increasing complexity. This enables older pupils to consider genre and historical context when analysing fiction texts.

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better?

Much thought has gone into making sure that pupils understand the component knowledge they need to remember in the long term so that they can achieve well. However, activities are not consistently adapted in an appropriate way to help pupils with SEND access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers. This limits these pupils’ achievements and readiness for the next stage of their education, employment or training. 9 and 10 May 2024

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Support for pupils that cannot read well is at the very early stages. There is no comprehensive programme in place to identify and support these pupils. Similarly, reading across the curriculum has not been sufficiently prioritised. As a result, those at the earlier stages of learning to read struggle to access learning in different areas of the curriculum.

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Leaders have worked hard to improve the procedures for supporting pupils that do not attend regularly, resulting in improved attendance. Behaviour systems have been reviewed and tightened so that there is greater clarity for pupils and staff. The high expectations set by the school are not being consistently applied by staff. For example, a significant number of pupils report that bullying happens and, when reported, staff are not consistent in their approach to resolve it.

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The programme for personal, social, health and economic education is detailed and designed to help pupils to understand important issues such as the importance of equality, democracy and the rule of law. Pupils have been taught how to stay safe online. However, pupils’ understanding of these issues is limited. There is a student council that meets regularly, although pupils do not always feel their voice is heard when changes are made to the school. The school’s careers programme is being developed. While pupils benefit from work experience placements, there is more limited advice and guidance available for younger pupils about choosing subject options.

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Many staff feel well supported by leaders to develop professionally and that their well-being is a priority. However, there are concerns amongst some staff at the impact of recent changes on their workload. Parents have mixed views of the school’s work. While some are supportive of recent changes, others are unhappy about the impact of recent turbulence in staffing, including, for example, on the provision for pupils with SEND. Leaders, including those responsible for governance, have a limited collective understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. As a result, they do not always share an agreed common set of priorities that are understood by all stakeholders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are kept safe. However, some staff who arrive mid-year have not received appropriately detailed safeguarding training in a timely way. This limits these staff’s knowledge and understanding of how to fulfil their duties to keep pupils safe.

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Safeguarding

Records of incidents, including those involving bullying and/or discriminatory behaviour, are not well managed. The information gathered is not used effectively to analyse any patterns or trends in behaviour. As a result, actions are not taken swiftly enough to address these incidents. This includes ensuring that there is adequate adult supervision across the school site. 9 and 10 May 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school and trust do not have a collective understanding of the current strengths and weaknesses. This means that plans for improvement are not fully established, and priorities are unclear to many staff. The school and trust should ensure that systems are established that enable them to fully understand the school’s strengths and address weaknesses. They should also take further steps to communicate, implement and uphold their vision consistently throughout the school.  Some arrangements for safeguarding are not sufficiently robust. Staff have not all had up-to-date training. This limits their understanding of the school’s reporting procedures. Similarly, record-keeping is not comprehensive, including about bullying or discriminatory behaviour. This risks important information being overlooked. The school should ensure that staff are fully trained to implement the school’s agreed systems. It should also ensure that concerns reported are

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

sufficiently detailed, and outcomes appropriately documented. This will better support the school in analysing and acting on any patterns or trends in behaviour.  The provision for pupils with SEND and those at the early stages of learning to read is not sufficiently coherent and systematic. This is preventing some pupils from accessing the full curriculum and achieving as well as they should. Leaders should make sure that pupils with SEND and weaker readers receive the additional help they need.  Parents have mixed views of the school’s effectiveness. While many are supportive of the school, some have concerns about the impact of recent turbulence on the quality of education, including for pupils with SEND. This means that some lack confidence about decisions being made by the school and trust. The school should heighten engagement opportunities so that the views of all stakeholders, including pupils and parents, are considered and any actions are

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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. 9 and 10 May 2024

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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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 9 and 10 May 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection 19 and 20 March 2019

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Canary Wharf College multi-academy trust.  The interim headteacher took up post in February 2024.  The school makes use of two registered alternative providers.  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.

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 9 and 10 May 2024

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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 the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspection team completed deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, science, and art and design. To do this, they met with subject leaders to discuss the curriculum, visited lessons, had discussions with staff and pupils and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Other subjects were also considered as part of the inspection.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The views of pupils, parents and carers, and staff were considered through

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discussions and looking at information collected from Ofsted’s online surveys.  Inspectors spoke with leaders about the provision for pupils with SEND.  Inspectors met with the CEO of the Canary Wharf multi-academy trust and held discussions with the chair of the trust board.

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Inspection team

Robert Grice, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Christian Hicks His Majesty’s Inspector 9 and 10 May 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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