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

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David Lee Headteacher Sunbury Manor School Nursery Road Sunbury-on-Thames Surrey TW16 6LF

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Sunbury Manor School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 25 and 26 March 2025, 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 on 30 April and 1 May 2024.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Sunbury Manor School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key and (where applicable) provision 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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Special measures monitoring inspection of Sunbury Manor School

During the inspection, Louise Agley, Ofsted Inspector, and I discussed with you and other senior leaders, other staff, trustees 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. We also visited lessons, observed the start of the school day, visited tutor time, observed breaktimes and lunchtimes and reviewed parents’ and carers’ responses, including comments to Ofsted Parent View. We also met members of staff and spoke to groups of pupils. We reviewed the responses to the staff survey, reviewed the school’s single central record, scrutinised documents relating to safeguarding and reviewed various documents, including the school’s action plan. 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 requiring special measures.

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The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be

considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.

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The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be

The school should take further action to:

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The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be

 Ensure that strategies to improve pupils’ attendance are sustained and effective in all year groups.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You took up your post in June 2024, following the previous inspection. Since then, you have strengthened the school’s leadership capacity to enable you to focus on making the necessary improvements. In September 2024, you appointed an additional deputy headteacher, who is also the designated safeguarding lead (DSL). An assistant headteacher, who is also the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), took up their post in July 2024. Initially, this role was on a part-time basis and became full time in February 2025. You have also appointed a data manager and inclusion manager. In addition, you have reduced the number of temporary staff at the school, and most staff are now employed permanently. However, you recognise there is still more work to do to ensure that staff have the expertise to deliver the curriculum effectively.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Since your appointment, you have quickly set out to improve pupils’ experiences of school. When the school was last inspected, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance were the most significant concerns. Also, inspectors highlighted concerns about the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Therefore, during this first monitoring inspection, we focused inspection activities on these key aspects of the school’s work.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have acted swiftly to improve the school’s work around safeguarding. Leaders make sure that the welfare and safety of pupils are key to their work. The school has provided appropriate training to ensure that leaders and staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Consequently, staff know what to do if they have concerns about pupils’ welfare and safety. There is now a clearer oversight of safeguarding cases, and more robust and effective systems are in place. This ensures that there is absolute clarity around the processes for safeguarding pupils throughout the school. Leaders know pupils well. They share information about pupils’ attendance and safeguarding more rigorously than before when making decisions about either. Any concerns are acted on swiftly. The safeguarding team meetings are focused effectively to ensure that all required actions are completed in a timely manner. Consequently, safeguarding is now effective.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have taken decisive action to review how the school uses alternative provision. The new systems are well considered, and communication between the school and alternative provisions is regular and robust. This provides assurances that pupils who access alternative provisions are safeguarded effectively. You recognise the need to keep these placements under review and to ensure that pupils successfully reintegrate into the school at the end of their placement.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have begun the process of improving the provision for pupils with SEND. Leaders have worked diligently to ensure that these pupils’ needs are identified accurately. Teachers have received professional development on the most effective ways of adapting teaching to meet the needs of pupils, including those with SEND. However, it is too soon to see the impact of this work. You have ensured that statutory duties are fulfilled in relation to pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans. Leaders have translated pupils’ long-term targets into short-term achievable steps, and this information has been shared with staff. This includes guidance about what strategies and provision are needed for these pupils. However, this work is in its infancy, and these processes are not yet in place for pupils with SEND who do not have EHC plans. As a result, you acknowledge that pupils with SEND are not yet supported well enough. Rightly, you are giving priority to

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

strengthening this provision and intend to maintain close oversight of this aspect of the school’s work.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have prioritised improving pupils’ behaviour, including creating a more positive learning environment. One significant improvement is your work to reduce pupils’ use of mobile phones during the school day. The school has introduced a new behaviour policy that pupils understand. Staff have received training on the policy so that they are clear about how it should be implemented. However, the school’s revised behaviour expectations and behaviour systems are not used consistently by all staff. Nonetheless, there are signs that behaviour is improving. Largely, classrooms are now calm, and low- level disruption is much less common. Despite this, the number of pupils receiving a suspension for poor behaviour remains high, and for some groups of pupils, this has increased. However, they are being used appropriately. You acknowledge that the behaviour approaches need to embed further to ensure that there is a stronger culture of

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

learning and that pupils demonstrate more positive attitudes to school.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You have put in place robust strategies to tackle incidents of discriminatory behaviour. Pupils are taught about the importance of behaving respectfully towards others in ‘life skills’ lessons, in assemblies and through the tutor time ‘character education’ programme. Pupils know how to report any worries they may have. They know that the school does not tolerate any forms of discrimination, and they feel confident that staff will act if it happens. The school tackles discriminatory behaviour as soon as it occurs.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

Rightly, you are shining a spotlight on pupils’ attendance. There are now robust procedures to track and monitor attendance. Truancy has been reduced significantly. Pupils are now in lessons, unless they have a valid reason for being elsewhere. Leaders work closely with families to better understand the reasons why pupils do not come to school. That said, the attendance of too many pupils remains stubbornly below the school’s expectations. While Year 7 pupils’ attendance is markedly higher, this is not the case across the rest of the school. Also, pupils who are disadvantaged and pupils with SEND attend school less frequently than their peers. Although there are some improvements, too many pupils still miss school regularly.

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The progress made towards the removal of special measures

You are ambitious to improve pupils’ experiences of school. Leaders have moved swiftly to take the right actions, in the right order and at the right pace, to address the identified weaknesses. Improvement plans are focused on the right aspects of the school’s provision and are helping the school to make progress against these priorities. However, at times, leaders focus on the actions taken instead of checking precisely enough how close the school is to meeting their ambitions for all pupils. Furthermore, the school’s improvement plans would benefit from a review to identify clearer success criteria to measure the impact of leaders’ work. Trustees hold school leaders to account for the actions they are taking to make sure that they make the improvements as intended. The work that leaders have carried out over the last year is starting to show impact. However, you are fully aware that there is still much more work to do for the school to come out of a category of

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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 Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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