Lammas School

Lammas School

Address: 150 Seymour Road, Leyton, London, E10 7LX Unique reference number (URN): 145708

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders prioritise attendance and use information about absence well. For example, they review patterns weekly and act quickly when concerns emerge. Early contact with families is purposeful and builds understanding and a shared responsibility. Leaders help pupils in different ways depending on what they need. For example, they carry out home visits and organise daily check-ins to support pupils who struggle to attend. For others, examples of support include using personalised timetables or later starts that build up to attending full days as confidence grows. Leaders’ actions are having a positive impact. Overall attendance is better this year than it was last year. However, leaders understand that attendance must remain a priority in order to sustain this improvement.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have high expectations for pupils' behaviour. They have created a calm and orderly environment. Staff apply routines consistently, and pupils respond with polite, settled behaviour in lessons, corridors and social spaces. Leaders ensure that staff use the clear procedures in place for managing behaviour. This includes, for instance, using a structured approach for pupils to reflect on what they could do better and to put things right. Leaders act swiftly when unkind behaviour or bullying occurs. Pupils say that issues are resolved quickly. This approach enables pupils to feel safe, included and ready to learn.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have created a welcoming culture. They identify pupils’ additional needs accurately and quickly, using, for example, assessment information, staff insight and specialist support from the trust. Staff understand the needs of disadvantaged pupils, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils known to children’s social care. They know how to help them. Pupils say they feel well supported. Parents and carers are involved in their children's school experience through positive relationships and effective communication with staff.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders reduce barriers to learning through a range of well-researched and effective strategies. These include, for instance, targeted support for reading, numeracy and social and emotional development, as well as structured pastoral help. Staff make reasonable adjustments for individual pupils as needed, such as personalised routines and the use of social stories. This enables pupils to feel safe, settled and ready to learn. Staff are well trained to help pupils with a range of barriers to learning, including communication, literacy and emotional challenges.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders monitor pupils’ progress and check the impact of support. They have effective oversight of alternative provision, ensuring it is appropriate and that pupils continue with their essential learning. Leaders ensure staff use information about individual pupils to offer them tailored assistance. Additional funding is used effectively. Leaders track disadvantaged pupils’ progress and participation to ensure their needs are met and they are supported.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have an accurate and honest understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. They are open about the challenges they face and act promptly to address them. Their recent work has focused sharply on improving behaviour so pupils can learn and thrive. This has been effective. Leaders have refined systems following reviews, strengthened induction for pupils who join mid-year and improved support for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Behaviour is now more stable and predictable. Leaders are rightly shifting their focus to improving teaching and targeted support for pupils who need extra help. The trust has provided practical support, for example by deploying experienced leaders. This has strengthened assessment, early identification and staff training, particularly for vulnerable pupils and those with SEND.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors and trustees meet their statutory responsibilities well. They provide effective challenge alongside appropriate support. The improvement board brings strong expertise in school improvement. It holds leaders to account through careful monitoring and well-judged actions focused on pupils’ outcomes. Leaders work closely with governors, the local authority and external agencies to sustain effective safeguarding and build capacity with inclusion. Staff wellbeing is prioritised. Leaders protect time for professional learning and listen to staff concerns. Staff report that workload is manageable. They feel valued and well supported and would recommend the school as a place to work.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Some areas still require further development. Curriculum quality and teaching are not, at present, consistent in all subjects. Teachers' confidence in embedding adaptive teaching in their practice is also developing. However, leaders are addressing these issues with urgency. The impact of their work is increasingly evident across the school.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders have a clear focus on promoting pupils' personal development and wellbeing. Pupils benefit from a personal, social and health education programme that supports their knowledge and understanding of the world. It helps pupils to think critically about beliefs, morality and respect for others. This is evident in the confident way that pupils discuss sensitive topics such as consent, coercion and forced marriage. For example, pupils can explain clearly how unhealthy relationships limit freedom and choice. Teaching through tutor time, assemblies and themed days reinforces key messages about equality and diversity. Pupils understand why fairness matters. Leaders also ensure that pupils learn how democracy works and why active citizenship is important. Structured opportunities for discussion help pupils to listen carefully and debate issues that are relevant to them.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders provide a broad range of enrichment opportunities. These include sports, creative clubs, competitions and educational visits. Participation is monitored carefully. Leaders identify pupils who are less likely to take part and support them to be involved. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, participation is becoming increasingly inclusive. Staff know the pupils well, and pupils typically trust adults who work with them. They value the help they receive with managing worries and repairing friendships. This support strengthens pupils’ confidence and sense of belonging.

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Needs attention

The relationships and sex education curriculum is well planned and age appropriate. It meets statutory guidance. Pupils' knowledge of healthy relationships is particularly secure. Pupils use accurate language and apply learning sensibly. Pupils also understand how to identify online and offline risks and what to do to keep themselves safe.

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Needs attention

Careers education is coherent and carefully sequenced. Pupils learn about different employers and pathways and receive individual guidance. Pupils explore options and next steps thoroughly and understand what they need to do to achieve their goals.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils do not achieve as well as they could. Achievement across year groups and subjects is not secure. For example, some pupils struggle to recall earlier learning and do not develop confidence and accuracy in recording their thinking in writing, especially with longer pieces of text. Over several years, pupils' attainment and progress have remained below national averages in examinations. Although for vulnerable groups, achievement is more positive overall, it is still lower than it should be.

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Achievement Needs attention

Leaders’ recent work to strengthen reading is having a positive effect. Pupils new to speaking English as an additional language gain confidence quickly. Similarly, those pupils with gaps in phonics knowledge or vocabulary make clear strides in their learning. Targeted support in early reading, comprehension, vocabulary and mathematics helps pupils to make steady progress from their starting points.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils do well in some areas of learning. However, this success does not happen routinely or consistently enough across the school. As a result, pupils are not fully ready for the next stage of their learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The quality of the curriculum and teaching is uneven across the school. In some subjects, curriculum plans do not clearly identify the key knowledge pupils must learn and when. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to discuss and practise new learning. This means that pupils do not secure knowledge effectively over time. Sometimes, pupils' errors, for example in writing and spelling, are not addressed quickly or consistently enough.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have a clear understanding of what needs to improve. They have implemented a structured training plan for staff to address these weaknesses. This is beginning to show a positive impact. For example, teachers consistently recap prior learning at the start of lessons and explain new concepts with growing confidence.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have ensured that pupils access a suitably broad curriculum. They have prioritised appropriate knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics, and the curriculum for these areas is typically implemented well. Staff typically demonstrate secure subject knowledge. Across many subjects, leaders have identified what should be learned first so pupils can access more complex ideas later. Leaders have communicated appropriate adaptations to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities to staff. When these are used consistently, they have a positive impact on pupils’ progress. Nevertheless, there are times when these adaptations are not as embedded in teaching approaches as the school expects.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils experience a calm, orderly and welcoming school. They are kept safe. Staff supervise corridors, playgrounds and social spaces closely and maintain structured routines across the school. Pupils understand and live up to the expectations that teachers and pastoral staff have for their conduct. Many pupils describe how much behaviour has improved over time. Routine starts to lessons and calm transitions with polite greetings at the classroom door help pupils to settle quickly and be ready to learn. Bullying or unkind behaviour is rare. Pupils know that staff take any concerns seriously and deal with issues promptly.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils enjoy many aspects of school, particularly where lessons are clear, well explained and build on what they have learned before. Some pupils, including those new to speaking English as an additional language, talk positively about the support they receive. This includes, for example, specific reading and language interventions to help pupils to access learning. Pupils also describe how careers guidance gives them confidence about their next steps. While there have been improvements across curriculum subjects and teaching, some pupils’ experience of day-to-day learning remains uneven. These pupils find it difficult to recall earlier knowledge, which affects how well they achieve over time.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils feel that they belong here. They speak warmly about trusted adults and pastoral staff who know them well. Pupils value the many ways they can be helped with their wellbeing, such as through counselling and mentoring. Many pupils take part in clubs, sports events and cultural and academic visits. Disadvantaged pupils receive the support they need so that they can join in too. Pupils understand fairness, respect and healthy relationships, and they talk thoughtfully about important matters, including consent and equality. They are proud of how things are improving across the school, both academically and in their relationships with peers and staff.

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Next steps

Leaders should secure consistent implementation of the school’s agreed approach to teaching across all subjects and phases in order to secure the necessary improvements in pupils' achievement. This includes embedding the agreed inclusion strategies for pupils with additional barriers, as well as time for pupils to practise and apply learning with increasing independence. Leaders should improve and develop the school's work to ensure that pupils who are still developing foundational skills, especially in English and writing, consistently receive appropriate and effective support, and in turn achieve well.

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Team inspectors:

Gareth Cross, Ofsted Inspector Lisa Smith, His Majesty's Inspector Debbie Lebrett, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Griffin Schools Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Anne Powell, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Michael McCreedy.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with representatives from the trust and others involved in governance, including the chief executive officer and members of the school improvement board. They also spoke with school leaders, staff and pupils during the inspection.

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About this inspection

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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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school makes use of 2 registered alternative provisions.

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About this inspection

The school has closed its sixth form since the last inspection.

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About this inspection

Executive headteacher: Mark Bland This data is from 10 March 2026

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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English and maths GCSE

Percentage of pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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national average

2023/24 (final) 36.9% 45.9% Close to average

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Attainment 8

A measure of pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Progress 8

How much progress pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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national average

2024/25 (revised) 17.5% 25.8% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (final) 20.8% 25.8% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (final) 19.5% 25.2% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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national average

2024/25 (revised) 33.0 34.9 Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (final) 35.5 34.6 Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Destinations after 16

Percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4).

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A-level average point score

The average points that students achieved per A-level entry.

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A-level value added

A score showing students’ progress between the end of key stage 4 and the end of their academic qualification studies.

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national average

2024/25 (revised) -0.1 0.0 Close to average

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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national average

2024/25 (2 term) 8.6% 8.1% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 8.3% 8.9% Close to average

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 24.2% 25.6% Close to average

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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

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