Flegg High Ormiston Academy

Inspection of Flegg High Ormiston Academy Somerton Road, Martham, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR29 4QD

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 February 2025

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

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The senior principal of this school is Simon Gilbert-Barnham. This school is part of Ormiston Academies Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Tom Rees, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Julius Weinburg. 11 and 12 February 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe at school and are generally happy. They know who the safeguarding team are and trust adults to follow up any worries. Pupils appreciate things like counselling and the holiday helpline phone number, which supports mental health and well-being. The school and trust make regular checks to make sure the safety and well-being needs of pupils are met.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour has improved significantly since the previous inspection. Pupils now behave well. They are generally polite and want to learn. Where pupils do make a wrong choice, this is dealt with calmly through reflection. This enables pupils to understand the issue and rectify it. Pupils are attending increasingly well. This is because the school diligently follows up absences and promotes good attendance.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are increasingly high expectations for pupils’ achievements. The trust has taken decisive action to improve how well these are realised. Although the school’s actions are bearing fruit, the quality of education pupils receive is not of a consistently high enough standard.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils appreciate the wide range of activities, trips and clubs that are open to all. They particularly value that the leadership is involving their voice so extensively in the changes being made to the school.

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

The school ensures that pupils access a broad curriculum. The school uses the trust subject curriculums, which are ambitious. These set out clearly how pupils build important knowledge. For example, in English, understanding of important themes such as comedy and tragedy are built through reading a wide range of appropriate texts. Sometimes, teachers do not use assessment well enough to check what pupils know or the quality of work they produce. They also do not consistently promote opportunities to think through and discuss the subject matter being taught. This means that pupils do not always expand or deepen their thinking as well as they should. The school and trust are working to improve this by providing training support from expert staff.

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

Literature and books are a theme of the curriculum. Staff use these to develop pupils reading comprehension effectively. Pupils also have opportunities to read during form time and access the library. However, a general love of reading for pleasure is not widespread. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do get some targeted support where they have barriers to being able to read fluently but this is not always comprehensive or precise enough.

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

Pupils with SEND are included and supported to access the curriculum because teachers identify their key needs and take account of them. The school has recently revised and improved SEND systems and processes. However, because this work is relatively recent, staff do not always provide adjustments to learning that are matched precisely enough to pupils’ needs. This means that they do not always achieve as well as they might. 11 and 12 February 2025

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The school has made rapid progress with improving behaviour. Staff and pupils are clear on expectations and positive relationships exist across the school. Pupils talk and chat pleasantly at lunch and enjoy the variety of clubs that are on offer such as football on the new artificial pitch. Although not high, attendance is improving. The school prioritises good attendance. It carefully tracks each absence and does all it can to enable pupils to get back into school.

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Personal development is promoted well including through a comprehensive programme of personal, health, social and economic (PSHE) education. There are a wide range of enrichment opportunities. These include ski trips, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, coaching with competitive sports teams and trips such as the debating trip to county hall. There are a range of pupil leadership opportunities, such as house and sports captains. Pupils get comprehensive careers guidance across the school, including post-16 fairs and work experience. This means that pupils are able to make well-informed choices about their next steps.

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The school faced a period of leadership turbulence. The trust identified this and put in place suitable plans to address it. This included the establishment of a team of educational experts, who formed an interim advisory board. This replaced the local governing body. Further to this, the school has been partnered with a high-performing school. The principal of this school has taken on the leadership of the school. Leaders’ actions are helping to stabilise and improve the school. Staff feel that they are being consulted with and are part of the improvement journey. This is supporting their well- being and workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes teachers do not use assessment well enough. As a result, misconceptions are not always identified thoroughly, or where work is not of high enough standard, this is not always addressed as well as it should be. The school should ensure that teachers use assessment diligently to identify misconceptions and pick up and address any work that is not of a high enough standard.  Sometimes the pedagogical choices teachers make do not promote the opportunities pupils need to discuss the subject matter being taught. This means that some pupils do not always deepen their understanding or expand their thinking well enough. The school needs to ensure that teachers make pedagogical choices that engage pupils with discussion and give them the opportunities they need to deepen and expand their thinking.  Staff do not always cater precisely enough for the needs of pupils with SEND. This means that although pupils with SEND are supported to access the curriculum, they

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would achieve more consistently well if staff were more precise in the adaptations they made for pupils’ needs. The school should ensure that staff regularly review and are precise in how they cater for the needs of pupils with SEND so that they are supported to achieve as well as possible.

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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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 11 and 12 February 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 18 and 19 May 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 An interim advisory board is in place, which currently has responsibility for local governance. This is chaired by the chief executive officer of the Diocese of Ely multi- academy trust.  The school has a partnership with Ormiston Venture Academy. This was formalised when the existing principal of Ormiston Venture Academy took up post as the senior principal at Flegg High Ormiston Academy in January 2025, following the departure of the previous principal. This is also the case for some members of the senior leadership team at Ormiston Venture Academy, who also work across both schools.  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.  The school uses one unregistered alternative provider. 11 and 12 February 2025

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

◼ Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. ◼ Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. ◼ The lead inspector met with representatives from the interim advisory board, including the chair. This includes representation from the trust national leadership group. ◼ Inspectors met with two trust regional directors of education, the senior principal, the senior leadership team, the special educational needs coordinator and other staff. ◼ Inspectors conducted further meetings with staff regarding safeguarding, special educational needs provision, attendance, part-time timetables and use of alternative provision, elective home education and personal development. ◼ Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, science, physical education, geography and languages. For each deep dive, inspectors held

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Information about this inspection

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. ◼ Inspectors also considered the curriculum in other subjects. This included PSHE education. ◼ Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, around school and at social times. ◼ 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. ◼ Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey and Ofsted’s staff survey. They considered responses to the confidential online survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments. 11 and 12 February 2025

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Inspection team

James Chester, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Sue Child Ofsted Inspector 11 and 12 February 2025

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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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