Up Holland High School

Up Holland High School

Dates of inspection: 21 – 24 January 2002

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Up Holland High School

Short inspection carried out under Section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Up Holland High School 2 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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Up Holland High School

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Up Holland High School i

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Sandbrook Road Orrell Wigan

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mr R J Foster

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: October 1996 Up Holland High School ii

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Team members

4492 John Ashton Registered inspector 9895 Roger Williams Lay inspector 10361 Frank Evans Team inspector 27503 Marie Foulds Team inspector 30996 Anne Higginbotham Team inspector 24887 Yvonne Salmons Team inspector

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Team members

Westminster Education Consultants Old Garden House The Lanterns Bridge Lane London SW11 3AD

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Team members

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to:

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Team members

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Up Holland High School iii

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 1

Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Pupils’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Up Holland High School is an average sized, 11 to 16 comprehensive school. Situated in the county of Lancashire but on the edge of the metropolitan boroughs of Wigan and St Helens, it draws pupils from all three authorities. There are 918 pupils on roll, a few more than at the time of the last inspection, and with slightly more boys than girls. A broadly average proportion of the pupils is eligible for free school meals. The school's intake at age eleven covers the full range of attainment, and is close to average levels of attainment overall. Less than one per cent of pupils are of a minority ethnic background, almost all of whom are fluent English speakers. There are 103 pupils on the school's register for special educational needs, including 50 at the higher stages (stages 3 to 5) of the special needs code of practice. Their needs in the main are either specific or moderate learning difficulties, plus a small number

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

Up Holland High School is a successful school. Its pupils achieve well through a combination of good teaching and very strong and determined leadership and management. The school provides very good value for the monies it receives, but needs to improve further its provision for information and communication technology as well as some aspects of its provision for pupils’ welfare.

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL

• Pupils achieve well by making good progress throughout their time at the school, particularly in English. • The implementation of the Key Stage 3 National Literacy Strategy is having a very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are enthusiastic about it. • Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one lesson in five is very good. • Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be bright and/or hard working at Up Holland High School. • The school’s leadership and management systems are strong and efficient. • Provision for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) is good.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

• Provision for information and communication technology (ICT), though much improved, is not yet good enough. • Although pupils are well cared for overall, a few aspects of their welfare could be improved. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan. Up Holland High School 5

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

The school has made satisfactory progress, overall, since its last inspection in 1996. Its approach to spiritual development is more clearly defined. The marking of pupils’ work is used more effectively as a means of promoting effective learning and progress. Procedures for assessing the value for money of spending decisions are more refined than they were. Standards of attainment at the end of each key stage are higher than at the time of the last inspection. The overall quality of teaching and learning remains a strength and has improved further.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

Provision for the development of pupils’ information and communication technology (ICT) capability is better than it was, but with room for improvement still. There is also still room for improvement in the quality of the provision for religious education. Whole school development planning has improved since the last inspection, in that it now explicitly covers pastoral as well as academic development. However, the written plan is lacking in detail of costings, time scales, prioritising, named persons and review dates.

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STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved at the end of Years 9 and 11 based on average point scores in national tests and GCSE examinations.

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in:

1999 2000 2001 2001 End of Key Stage 3 tests B B A A*

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Key

well above average A above average B average C below average D well below average E

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Key

On entry to the school in Year 7, the average attainment level of pupils is close to the national average.

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Key

By the end of Year 9 in the Year 2001, the proportions of pupils attaining the expected Level 5 or above in National Curriculum tests have improved to well above the national average in English, and to above average in mathematics and science. When compared to the results of similar schools the proportions are well above average in mathematics and science and very high (in the top five per cent of schools in the country) in English.

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Key

Overall GCSE results have improved steadily over the last five years, in line with improvements nationally, and have been generally above the national average for all schools and well above average for similar schools. The school achieved its performance targets for GCSE in 2001.

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Key

Pupils’ achievement is good overall in relation to their attainment on entry to the school. Boys’ results are usually better overall when compared with boys’ results nationally than girls’ results, in comparison with their national peer group. Up Holland High School 6

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Positive on the whole, although some pupils have a good number of ideas on how the school could be better. Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Very good overall. There is occasional restlessness or inertia in those few lessons where the teaching is not as challenging as it could be. Personal development and relationships Relationships are good. Opportunities are being missed to widen the role of prefects. Attendance Above average. Punctuality is also good.

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Teaching of pupils: Years 7 – 9 Years 10 – 11

Quality of teaching Good Good Inspectors make judgements about teaching in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. ‘Satisfactory’ means that the teaching is adequate and strengths outweigh weaknesses.

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Teaching of pupils: Years 7 – 9 Years 10 – 11

All but two of the 63 lessons seen were at least satisfactory and four out of every five lessons were at least good. One in every five lessons was very good. Good teaching was seen in virtually every subject in the school, and very good teaching took place in English, mathematics, science, modern foreign languages, design and technology, history, physical education and music. Only two lessons were unsatisfactory, one each in religious education and ICT. The skills of literacy are very well taught and those for numeracy are taught satisfactorily across the curriculum. The result of the largely good and very good teaching, across virtually every subject area, is good quality learning at a productive pace, and good progress throughout the school.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum Broad and balanced overall but with areas for further development, for example, in the provision for ICT, religious education and drama. Very good strategies for improving literacy and satisfactory ones for improving numeracy. Provision for pupils with special educational needs Good. Well qualified staff. Pupils’ learning needs are carefully identified. All records are well kept and stored centrally, and the efficient, regularly reviewed support programme ensures that pupils with SEN are given full access to the National Curriculum. Provision for pupils with English as an additional language Good. Two afternoons each week of good quality language support from the local authority, plus good support from the school. Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Satisfactory overall. Improved personal, social and health education, but some limitation in the provision for pupils’ social

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Aspect Comment

development, in the form of, for example, a school council. Collective worship does not take place every day.

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Aspect Comment

How well the school cares for its pupils The care is good overall, but more needs to be done to cater for those pupils who wish to stay indoors during cold and wet weather. Up Holland High School 7

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Clear and determined leadership from the headteacher. Strong senior management team. All subject faculties and most subjects are well led. Pastoral leadership is good.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Governors are knowledgeable, supportive, well informed and fulfil almost all of their legal responsibilities well. The exception is in not ensuring that pupils receive a daily act of collective worship. The school’s evaluation of its performance Good in most respects. The school is very aware of its relative performance from year to year, compared to other schools. The relative subject strengths within the school are also thoroughly analysed. Whole school development documentation is insufficiently detailed. The strategic use of resources Good overall, but some computer stock needs urgent upgrading, and there is need of major refurbishing in certain areas.

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Aspect Comment

The school applies well the principles of best value in the comparison of its performance with other schools, in its cost effective in-house catering and the good value for money of recent computer purchasing. There is room for improvement in its consultation of both parents and pupils as to what the school community expects of the school.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

At least 87 per cent of the 309 parents who responded to the questionnaire think that their children: • are well taught; • are expected to work hard; • make good progress at the school and; • are helped to mature. 27 per cent of those who responded (81 parents in total) think that the school does not provide an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 24 per cent (71 parents) think the school does not work closely enough with parents. 23 per cent (69 parents) think the school does not keep them well enough informed about their children's progress.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspection team agrees with the parents’ positive comments. A wider range of extra activities are provided than some parents are aware of. The parent-teacher association has ceased to exist due to lack of support. The school would do well to explore ways of improving its links with parents. The school has useful data on pupil progress that it shares with parents on a regular basis, gathered for example, by a ‘screening’ process which detects any weakness in pupils’ progress in time to for it to be put right. Up Holland High School 8

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Pupils achieve well by making good progress throughout their time at the

1. The average levels of attainment of pupils entering Up Holland High School in Year 7 are close to the National average overall, according to standardised tests administered and collated by the local education authority.

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Pupils achieve well by making good progress throughout their time at the

2. In 2001, pupils’ average point scores in the National Curriculum tests in English, mathematics and science at the end of Year 9 were well above the national average, and improved on previous years’ results. They were very high (in the top five per cent of schools in the country) compared to similar schools. Similar schools are those with equivalent proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals. English results were particularly strong, and much improved upon those for 2000. The overall trend in recent years in the national tests is in line with the rising national trend but it is better than that in English, especially over the past three years. There are no major differences between the relative performances of girls and boys, but boys attain better compared to boys nationally, than girls do against their national peers.

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Pupils achieve well by making good progress throughout their time at the

3. By the end of Year 11, GCSE results, in terms of average point scores, are above average compared to all schools nationally and well above average when compared to similar schools. This equates to good achievement, compared to their attainment on entry to the school. The local education authority's value-added data shows Up Holland school consistently in the top group of schools overall in the county. Particularly successful departments include English, history, geography and resistant materials, where county rankings (against the 86, and more recently 121 other secondary schools in the system) are often high. As in the Year 9 national tests, boys’ GCSE results are usually better overall when compared with boys’ results nationally than girls’ results in comparison with their national peer group.

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

4. The school has concentrated on improving pupils’ literacy for many years.

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

5. The National Literacy Strategy in the school builds very well upon the good practice of the English department and gives it additional focus on pupils acquiring and developing literacy skills. This builds up their confidence and enthusiasm for learning. A cross-curricular working party has raised staff awareness and produced some interesting initiatives. The strategy is now in place in Years 7 to 9 and is influencing the work of Years 10 and 11.

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

6. A staff working party chaired by the Literacy Co-ordinator has adopted some practices of the English department as being useful for the whole school. Thus, the ‘corrections policy’ used by the English department is now spreading across other Up Holland High School 9 curriculum areas, so that pupils encounter the same expectations in all of their subjects. The very professional approach of the head of English and the Key Stage 3 co-ordinator, along with the support of the senior management team, have all contributed to the successful implementation of the Strategy.

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

7. The preparation for and implementation of the Strategy has had a significant effect on the teaching of English. The philosophy is now one of a skills-based approach. Lessons follow the ‘starter-development-plenary’ pattern with clear references to key words and spellings. Teaching is very direct, with lots of good interaction between teachers and pupils. The long-established practice in the English department of providing their own in-class support has given added strength to the Literacy Strategy.

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

8. Pupils take great care when drafting and redrafting their written work. English staff report that the Strategy helps lower-attaining pupils to grasp the concept of planning their work instead of just writing a stream of consciousness. Pupils concentrate well, sometimes for most of the lesson, because the short, sharp activities keep them interested. Pupils in the `progress groups` make gains in learning because they feel secure and are challenged to learn

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

9. The ‘catch up’ programmes for pupils still at Level 3 of the National Curriculum are proving very effective. Pupils like the security and purposeful atmosphere of the small groups; they get involved and learn effectively.

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very good effect on standards across the school, and departments are

10. Good ‘literacy’ work was seen, not only in history and geography, but also, for instance, in science. Here there is lots of extended writing, where pupils are expected to use their own words; some teaching, about adjectives, for instance, is explicitly aimed at improving their literacy skills as well their knowledge and understanding of science.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

11. Both the quality of teaching and the quality of learning are strengths across the school, as they were at the time of the last inspection.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

12. The main inspection focuses in this inspection were upon the subject areas of English, mathematics, science and modern foreign languages, the main specialist areas of the inspection team. Almost every other subject was sampled but with a particular focus on information and communication technology (ICT), a designated weakness at the time of the last inspection.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

13. Virtually every teacher was observed at least once and many were observed twice. All but two of the 63 lessons seen were at least satisfactory. Almost four in every five lessons were at least good, and just less than one in five were very good. No lessons were poor.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

14. Good teaching was seen in virtually every subject in the school, and there was very good teaching in English, mathematics, science, modern foreign languages, design and technology, history, physical education and music.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

15. This good teaching is characterised by teachers’ very secure subject knowledge, their thorough preparation, high expectations of every pupil in each group, clear objectives, shared with the pupils, and good use of marking to let pupils Up Holland High School 10 know what they need to do to improve further. Sometimes the teaching is good in spite of difficult circumstances. This was the case in the Year 8 mathematics class where the pupils achieved a good understanding of databases, despite the teacher having to use obsolete computers, which are shortly to be replaced.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

16. The very good teaching has all of the characteristics of the good lessons but also has pace and flair. Not a minute is wasted. No pupils are unsure of what they have to do, as the teachers inspire and enthuse their classes. A Year 9 English group studying the novel ‘Across the Barricades’, was kept interested and thoroughly on task by teaching which ensured that they understood what it must be like for individuals to be trapped by the expectations of the different communities in Northern Ireland. Pupils in a Year 8 swimming class made very good progress due to the teacher's very effective use of good swimmers to demonstrate to other pupils what they needed to do to improve their technique. Pupils in a Year 11 Spanish class were very well extended, particularly in speaking and listening, through the teacher's fluent oral reaction to their contributions, and by a rapid recording of their responses

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

on the board as a reinforcement of the spoken language in written form. The pupils in three science classes in years 7 and 9 were very well taught and achieved particularly well as a result of very good class management. The calm but firm approach and very encouraging manner of the teacher in a Year 7 music class ensured that pupils made very good progress in their ability to perform Pachelbel’s Canon on their key boards, reinforcing their music-reading skills at the same time.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

17. Notable also were the way these and other teachers encouraged pupils to take responsibility for much of their own learning and the teachers’ very good relationships with pupils. The sheer enthusiasm of some of this teaching, its good involvement of pupils, very good questioning skills and the good use of appropriate homework to build on and extend the work begun in class were all notable factors in the success of these lessons.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

18. There were just two examples of unsatisfactory teaching, one in each of religious education and ICT. In both cases the main weaknesses were the lack of sufficient challenge or interest generated for some pupils in the groups, and the over- pedantic methods of class-control, counter-productive because they caused irritation in the pupils, many of whom in consequence made too little progress in the lessons.

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Pupils, on the whole, are well taught, and the teaching and learning in one

19. The result of the largely good and very good teaching, across virtually every subject area, is good quality learning at a productive pace and good progress throughout the school. In other words, good ‘added value’ in relation to pupils’ attainment on entry to the school.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

20. Pupils told inspectors that they chose to attend Up Holland High School for a variety of reasons but mainly because their brothers or sisters went there, their friends did so, its results are high, or because the teaching is good and the teachers are friendly.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

21. Behaviour in class and around the school is good. It is particularly civilised in the dining rooms and in the assembly hall. Pupils change lessons more often than they do in most schools in the inspectors` experience, but they do so briskly and promptly. Where there is restless behaviour in class it is usually directly related to the quality of the teaching in that lesson. On the rare occasions when teachers do Up Holland High School 11 not take sufficient account of the wide range of attainment of a particular group, the attention of some pupils wanders, other pupils become inert and yet others channel their energies in inappropriate directions. Normally, however, pupils are seen to be well motivated and keen to learn.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

22. Relationships with each other and with their teachers are generally very good. No obvious differences in the responses of boys and girls are seen. They are equally keen to make good progress. Even in Year 7, pupils were seen, for instance in an English ‘catch up’ lesson, to be confident and secure enough to ask the teacher for further explanations. They are becoming more interested in language, and are enjoying ways of remembering words. This is just one example of the growing success of the National Literacy Strategy in the school.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

23. The pupils are very well turned out, something the school is proud of and which took a great deal of effort to achieve and no little determination to maintain. School uniform standards are high, even in Year eleven with the oldest pupils.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

24. Sufficient pupils want to learn for there to be a strong work ethic in the school. It is acceptable at Up Holland to be a hard worker, to be seen to be knowledgeable or to have a particular skill. Pupils in assemblies are pleased about the success of other pupils in the school, or in their year group. Pupils in ICT lessons, for example, willingly share their expertise with each other in the completion of a spreadsheet or the solution to a graphical problem.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

The school’s leadership and management systems are strong and efficient.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

25. There is a clear link between the efficiency and good organisation of the senior management team and the success of the pupils. The school’s senior staff are effective in establishing and maintaining the overall tone, the high standards of discipline, good order and well-turned-out appearance of the pupils. This they achieve by constant vigilance and by making sure that other staff and senior pupils are also well organised and care about the reputation of the school.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

26. Policies and most of the paperwork and general administration are exceptionally well carried out. An exception to this is to be found in the school’s written development plan, however. It lacks detail and does not reflect the good level of undocumented planning which takes place in the school shown, for example, in the minutes of the governors’ committees. A cohesive team of able and experienced professionals, the senior team run a very tight ship, as a result of which the teachers are able to teach well in an atmosphere that supports effective learning.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

27. The school is well served by knowledgeable and hard working governors who are clear about the division of responsibilities between the school’s professional staff and the governing body in its role as ‘critical friend’.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

28. The meticulous annual analysis of the relative performance of each subject department is a strength of the senior management, helped enormously by the detailed comparative information provided by the local education authority about all its schools. The ‘screening’ system for identifying pupils who are performing particularly well, or those who are potential causes for concern, is another other good example of the school’s effective organisation. The promptness with which pupils arrive at assembly for eight minutes past nine o'clock, and yet still leave that assembly with two minutes to spare to reach their first lesson at twenty minutes past nine, illustrates well the school’s efficient use of time. Up Holland High School 12 Provision for pupils with special educational needs is good.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

29. The special education needs (SEN) section has well qualified staff, including one full time and two part time specialist teachers, and three teaching assistants. These work effectively with subject teachers to enable pupils with a range of learning needs to be fully integrated into lessons.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

30. The department identifies learning needs carefully by drawing on a range of assessment information in Year 7, including results from primary schools. Individual education plans are in place for all pupils at stages one to five of the special needs Code of Practice. These include both general and specific targets to enable pupils to achieve well, especially in the literacy-based subjects of English, history and geography. The targets are clear, challenging and yet attainable, and SEN staff and subject teachers review these together twice yearly for all pupils with learning needs.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

31. The quality of learning support is a strength of the department; all pupils at stages three to five, and most at stages one and two, receive support in lessons from SEN staff. In addition, pupils with statements of SEN are given extra lessons on an individual basis, which enables them to improve rapidly their reading and writing skills.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

32. Support staff work very well with subject teachers in a range of roles, for example, giving close supervision to pupils having difficulties with punctuation, spelling and sentence punctuation; team teaching; helping some pupils to concentrate on demanding tasks, such as scanning texts for information. In one Year 9 English lesson, seven pupils with SEN in literacy successfully reorganised the sequence of a text as well as did their peers, thanks to the very good guidance from a support teacher.

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Pupils’ attitudes, behaviour and appearance are good. It is acceptable to be

33. All records are well kept, and stored centrally, and the efficient and regularly reviewed support programme ensures that pupils with SEN are given full access to the National Curriculum.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

Provision for ICT, though much improved, is not yet good enough.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

34. Despite the good progress since the last inspection, there are weaknesses still in the quality of some of the teaching, the lack of co-ordination across the curriculum, the quality of some of the hardware and software and in the ceiling level of accreditation offered to pupils.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

35. Pupils when they enter the school may not be used to this school’s particular computers, to the constraints of working with networked machines or to some of the programmes used at Up Holland, but they certainly enter with well-developed ICT skills. This is due to their reaching higher levels of knowledge and understanding at primary schools than used to be the case. Many, possibly most, pupils at the school have computers at home, almost always, according to pupils questioned, with a higher specification than many of those in school.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

36. The technology faculty builds well upon this relatively good starting point. With effective organisation and good planning, it takes groups of Year 7 pupils to the stage of being able to produce individually designed newsletters of such good quality and so well illustrated that some would be fit to post out to parents. Up Holland High School 13 37. Yet all pupils, three and four years further on in their time at the school, have as their current ceiling of accreditation the basic Computer Literacy and Information Technology (CLAIT) course. Pupils in Year 11 are working through the same workbooks as those in Year 10, albeit at a faster pace. Although, in some cases, it is apparent that the unit being studied is not too simple for some pupils, others accomplish the tasks quickly and are clearly capable of more demanding work.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

38. Teachers and pupils in some other lessons, Year 8 mathematics lessons for example, are patiently and systematically working through data logging exercises with computers and software which are now obsolete.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

39. The provision of equipment and computer software has improved significantly since the last inspection in 1996. The numbers of good quality PC computers are increasing rapidly. There are now three computer rooms, plus an increasing number of machines around the school. Staff training is progressing well, and is now such that limits to staff expertise will soon cease to be a limiting factor on pupils’ progress. The employment of a skilled and experienced non-teaching network manager has already had a very good effect upon the deployment, security systems and general layout of the computers across the school.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

40. Staffing difficulties have prevented the replacement so far of a teacher to act as ICT co-ordinator. It is difficult to ensure that all pupils receive their full National Curriculum entitlement across other curriculum areas of the school without such a co- ordinator.

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Although pupils are well cared for overall, a few aspects of their welfare could

41. Pastoral care is well led by a deputy head and heads of year with their teams of form tutors. There is much that is good about the care and guidance that pupils receive in the school. Notable amongst these are the increasingly useful personal and social education provision, the well-praised careers guidance, and the school’s secure child protection procedures.

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Although pupils are well cared for overall, a few aspects of their welfare could

42. There are a few areas, however, where there is room for improvement, anomalies in an otherwise good picture.

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Although pupils are well cared for overall, a few aspects of their welfare could

43. There is no formal mechanism for consulting pupils about how the school might be improved. The present system of the head boy and girl taking the results of informal soundings to a deputy headteacher is a poor substitute for some form of more structured process, such as a School Council. This could give more pupils the opportunity to exercise initiative in representing their class colleagues and to discuss their learning conditions with other pupils across the school, as well as with staff.

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Although pupils are well cared for overall, a few aspects of their welfare could

44. Cold and wet spells are difficult times for some pupils at Up Holland. In theory, they are allowed into some parts of the school, but in practice too few such areas are open to them, and some of these have restrictions which make it not worth the effort.

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Although pupils are well cared for overall, a few aspects of their welfare could

45. A great deal of sterling work is carried out by Year 11 prefects in their major role of guarding the various entrances to the school buildings at break and lunch times. But, as one prefect expressed it, he would prefer not to be seen merely as a policeman, and would like instead a more positive relationship with younger pupils. Some older pupils do indeed carry out more constructive roles, for instance, in paired Up Holland High School 14 reading with slower readers. There is, however, much room for improvement in the encouragement of pupils to come in from the cold and the wet; into more rooms where it would be acceptable for them to take part, for instance, in a range of organised activities, or even merely to socialise with each other. Up Holland High School 15

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

46. The school's staff and governors are in a strong position to remedy the areas for development identified in this inspection. They should:

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• Improve further, provision for information and communication technology (ICT) by:

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

* eliminating unsatisfactory teaching in this area; * improving the co-ordination of the subject across the school; * replacing the remaining obsolete computers and software; * allowing some pupils in Years 10 and 11 to take the subject to a higher level than is presently possible.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

• Improve further the overall good quality of pupil care, by

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

* providing more areas for pupils to use within school, particularly during periods of wet and cold weather; * deploying prefects more imaginatively and more positively; * involving and consulting pupils more about their learning and recreational facilities. Up Holland High School 16

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Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of lessons observed 63 Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 29

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Poor

Number 0 14 35 12 2 0 0 Percentage 0 22 56 19 3 0 0 The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about teaching. Care should be taken when interpreting these percentages as each lesson represents more than one percentage point.

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Pupils on the school’s roll Y7– Y11

Number of pupils on the school’s roll 918 Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 134

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Special educational needs Y7– Y11

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 17 Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 103

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pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 1

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pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 19 Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 27

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% %

School data 8.7 School data 0.3 National comparative data 8.1 National comparative data 1.1 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Up Holland High School 17

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 3 (Year 9)

Year Boys Girls Total Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 3 for the latest reporting year 2001 111 78 189

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National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

Boys 97 86 88 Girls 76 58 55 Numbers of pupils at NC Level 5 and above Total 173 144 143 Percentage of pupils School 92 (70) 76 (75) 76 (74) at NC Level 5 or above National 64 (63) 66 (65) 66 (59) Percentage of pupils School 62 (37) 48 (45) 43 (40) at NC Level 6 or above National 31 (28) 43 (42) 34 (30)

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Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

Boys 84 81 86 Girls 69 54 59 Numbers of pupils at NC Level 5 and above Total 153 135 145 Percentage of pupils School 81 71 (72) 77 (66) at NC Level 5 or above National 65 (64) 68 (66) 64 (62) Percentage of pupils School 48 (41) 51 (43) 42 (35) at NC Level 6 or above National 31 (31) 42 (39) 33 (29) Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 4 (Year 11)

Year Boys Girls Total Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 4 for the latest reporting year: 2001 89 90 179

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grades A*-G

Boys 45 88 89 Girls 50 89 90 Numbers of pupils achieving the standard specified Total 95 177 179 School 53 (55) 99 (97) 100 (97) Percentage of pupils achieving the standard specified National 48 (47) 91 (91) 96 (96)

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grades A*-G

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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score

School 43 Average point score per pupil National 39.0 Figures in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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rate

School 0 N/A Number studying for approved vocational qualifications or units and the percentage of those pupils who achieved all those they studied National N/A N/A Up Holland High School 18

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Permanent

Black – Caribbean heritage 0 Black – Caribbean heritage 0 0

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Permanent

Black – African heritage 0 Black – African heritage 0 0

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Permanent

Black – other 0 Black – other 0 0 Indian 3 Indian 0 0 Pakistani 0 Pakistani 1 0 Bangladeshi 0 Bangladeshi 0 0 Chinese 0 Chinese 0 0 White 914 White 77 3 Any other minority ethnic group 1 Other minority ethnic groups 1 0

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Permanent

This table gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded.

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Y7–Y11

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 52.98 Financial year 2000 -2001

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Y7–Y11

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 17.3:1

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£

Total number of education support staff 8 Total income 2,434,397.00

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£

Total aggregate hours worked per week 257 Total expenditure 2,324,750.00

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Y7 – Y11

Percentage of time teachers spend in contact with classes 76.9 Balance brought forward from previous year 25,636.00

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Y7 – Y11

Balance carried forward to next year 135,283.00

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Y7 – Y11

FTE means full-time equivalent. Up Holland High School 19

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 13

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 11

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Recruitment of teachers

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 2

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) FTE means full-time equivalent. Up Holland High School 20

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Questionnaire return rate

Number of questionnaires sent out 918 Number of questionnaires returned 309

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know

My child is making good progress in school. 40 52 5 1 2

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know

Behaviour in the school is good. 30 56 9 1 4

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know

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 24 58 13 4 1

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know

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 25 50 19 4 3

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know

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 44 42 9 4 2

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know

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 52 41 5 0 2

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know

The school works closely with parents. 22 48 18 6 7

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know

The school is well led and managed. 29 52 6 4 9

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know

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 30 57 6 3 4

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know

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 19 43 18 9 12

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