Setting

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

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Rhiannon Chantler Acting headteacher Werneth School Harrytown Romiley Stockport Cheshire SK6 3BX

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Werneth School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 6 November 2024 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 have serious weaknesses following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in October 2023.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Werneth School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key judgements, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Werneth School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other senior leaders, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Education Learning Trust, other staff, trustees, members of the academy governing body and 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 visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ work, met with pupils and staff and reviewed a range of documentation. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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

necessary for the school to no longer be judged as having serious weaknesses.

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

The school should take further action to:  ensure that there is clarity of the school’s vision and that this is communicated effectively with staff, pupils, parents and carers so that they fully understand the changes that are necessary to improve the school.

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The school has not had a stable journey towards the removal of serious weaknesses. Since the previous inspection, the school has had to contend with many barriers to its improvement, including instability in staffing, leadership changes and financial constraints. Further to this, there have been several changes to headship since the previous inspection. In spite of the instability in staffing, particularly at senior level, the trust and school have ensured that there is sufficient expertise and support to address the areas of weaknesses across school. Even though the school has redefined roles of the leadership team, the school is at the early stages of stabilising the positions of leadership.

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On this first monitoring inspection, there was a focus on how well the school is working to improve pupils’ behaviour and rates of attendance. In addition, there was a review of changes to the curriculum design, assessment strategies, support for those pupils who struggle with reading and the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has a realistic and shared understanding of the magnitude of the challenges that it is facing to overcome historical weaknesses. As such, there is a cautious and measured approach to the prioritisation of actions for improvement.

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With the help from the trust, the school has implemented a phased approach to school improvement. The primary focus has been to improve behaviour and attendance. The previously high levels of truancy and misbehaviour have been tackled through various changes to the behaviour management systems. For instance, the school has restructured lessons to help engage pupils, it has renewed roles of leaders and it has increased its vigilance on pupils who are out of class. This new approach is supporting pupils to settle into lessons better. It has also reduced the number of pupils missing lessons. Most pupils live up to the raised expectations of their behaviour. Classrooms are calmer than they have been in the past, and this means that pupils’ learning is not frequently disrupted. Most pupils behave sensibly during social times and while moving around the school. Nonetheless, some pupils have concerns over how behaviour is managed. Furthermore, at

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times, the emotional and behavioural needs of pupils are not understood and met as well as they could be. As a result, some pupils continue to display negative attitudes towards learning and school.

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The school has strengthened the attendance team and appointed an attendance champion and a strategic attendance lead. This has helped the school to enhance how it reviews trends for attendance. The school is better tailoring its approach to addressing barriers to attendance. For example, the school has refined its systems to address day-to- day absence issues. This has been somewhat effective in raising attendance of some pupils. Nonetheless, attendance rates remain considerably lower than the national average. Many pupils continue to miss vital learning. This impedes how well some pupils achieve.

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The school has developed a well-considered programme to help pupils to better prepare for life in modern Britain. Life-learning lessons are used by the school to increase pupils’ understanding about differences between people and how to manage risks in the community. However, pupils have limited opportunities to celebrate different cultures and faiths. This is because the school has not fully addressed the weaknesses in the school’s previous programme to support pupils’ personal development. As such, some pupils do not develop some of the knowledge that they need for their lives as modern British citizens.

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The school has begun to carry out effective work to improve the design of the curriculum. It is beginning to identify the essential subject knowledge that pupils should learn. This is providing increasing clarity to teachers about what pupils should be taught and when this learning should take place. However, in many subjects, this work is at the very early stages of development. Furthermore, the work to improve how teachers check pupils’ learning is not fully developed. Some teachers move on to new learning without fully identifying and addressing gaps in knowledge. Consequently, some pupils do not build their knowledge securely over time.

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The school has recognised the importance of improving the support that it provides to older pupils with reading. Pupils who struggle to read are increasingly being supported well. Subsequently, pupils feel confident with reading different texts. Most pupils enjoy reading.

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The steps taken to improve the identification and support of pupils with SEND have been slow and, at times, ineffective. Following training and improved guidance to staff, some teachers are growing in confidence in how to support pupils with SEND. Even so, the additional needs of some pupils with SEND are not met consistently well. Consequently, some pupils with SEND do not access the curriculum as well as they should.

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At the time of the previous inspection, the governors and the trust were providing insufficient challenge and support to address the high levels of behaviour incidents and absences. Work in this area has picked up pace. The trust has begun to strengthen the governance and accountability systems to ensure that there is close monitoring of the schools’ improvement work. For instance, governors now regularly receive detailed information. This means that governors are better situated than in the past to understand the school’s weaknesses and to hold leaders to account.

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At times, the school has not shared its vision clearly with staff and pupils. In addition, some of the recent changes to behaviour processes have not been communicated well. This has hampered how well the school has addressed some of the improvement priorities. The trust and school understand the importance of engaging positively with parents and carers. They have set up a parent and carer forum to help establish a stronger engagement with the community. However, due to various changes in leadership, some of this work has not picked up pace. Some parents continue to have negative perceptions of the school and the changes that it is making. This is because they are not informed or consulted on some of the decisions that the school makes. The governors are aware of this and acknowledge that more needs to be done to rekindle positive relationships with stakeholders.

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The school has secured support from the local authority and a local trust. It has used the additional expertise to redesign policies and practices to tackle the weaknesses outlined at the previous inspection. For example, the school has used members of a local trust who have expertise in behaviour management to enhance the behaviour policy. The trust has been receptive of external feedback. It has ensured that through careful review, the school’s resources are deployed effectively to address the shortcomings across school.

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

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