Park View School

PARK VIEW ACADEMY

Dates of inspection: 25 - 28 November 2002

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PARK VIEW ACADEMY

Full inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 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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PARK VIEW ACADEMY

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. Park View Academy - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Langham Road Tottenham London

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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: Dr Edgar Neufeld

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: N/A Park View Academy - 4

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responsibilities

Mark Woodward Registered inspector How high are standards? a) The school’s results and achievements How well are the students taught? How well is the school led and managed? Catherine Stormonth Lay inspector What sort of school is it? How high are standards? b) Students’ attitudes, values and personal development How well does the school care for its students? How well does the school work in partnership with parents? John Barton Team inspector Turkish (sixth form) 8216 Geoffrey Binks Team inspector English English (sixth form) Raymond Cardinal Team inspector Special educational needs Religious education How good are the curricular and other opportunities offered to students?

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responsibilities

Elizabeth Charlesworth Team inspector Music Park View Academy - 5 Ron Cohen Team inspector Business education Mary Cureton Team inspector Geography

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responsibilities

Lawrence Denholm Team inspector Information and communicatio n technology Information and communicatio n technology (sixth form) Alan Giles Team inspector Physical education David Gutmann Team inspector Business education (sixth form) Peter Harle Team inspector Art

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responsibilities

Bob Hartman Team inspector Mathematics Mathematics (sixth form) Susan Jackson Team inspector History

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responsibilities

4373 Peter McKenzie Team inspector Modern foreign languages Laurence Moscrop Team inspector Educational inclusion English as an additional language Citizenship 1990 Graham Preston Team inspector Design and technology Geoffrey Price Team inspector Drama

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responsibilities

The inspection contractor was: Park View Academy - 6 Cambridge Education Associates Ltd

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responsibilities

Demeter House Station Road Cambridge CB1 2RS

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responsibilities

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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responsibilities

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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responsibilities

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Park View Academy - 7

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REPORT CONTENTS

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 Students’ 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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REPORT CONTENTS

The school’s results and students’ achievements Students’ attitudes, values and personal development

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REPORT CONTENTS

HOW GOOD ARE THE CURRICULAR AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED TO STUDENTS? 22

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REPORT CONTENTS

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS STUDENTS? 29

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REPORT CONTENTS

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS? 32

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REPORT CONTENTS

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED? 34

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REPORT CONTENTS

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER? 39

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REPORT CONTENTS

PART D: THE STANDARDS AND QUALITY OF TEACHING IN AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES IN KEY STAGES 3 AND 4 46

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REPORT CONTENTS

PART E: THE STANDARDS AND QUALITY OF TEACHING IN AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES IN THE SIXTH FORM 70 Park View Academy - 8

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT

Park View Academy opened in September 1999, replacing a failing school that was situated on the same site; it is an average-sized comprehensive school, serving 1,107 students aged 11-18. The students have diverse ethnic heritage, including Turkish, Kurdish, Somali, Bengali, Albanian, Black-Carribean and Black-African. Around 75 per cent of the students have English as an additional language (EAL), which is very high, and around 25 per cent are at an early stage of learning English, which is also very high. Around 32 per cent of the students are on the register for special educational needs (SEN) which is above average, and nearly 2 per cent of students have Statements of SEN, which is broadly average. The proportion of students who join or leave the school at non-standard times is well above average. Socio-economic circumstances in the local community are well below average and 60 per cent of the students are eligible for free school meals, which is well above the

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT

national average. The school is a focus of the local regeneration programme, which has attracted substantial government funding. The standards achieved by the students on entry to the school are well below average.

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT

The school has made remarkable progress over the past three years. Owing to the dynamic leadership of the headteacher and the commitment and skill of other managers, staff and governors, it is now a school in which students can achieve their potential. A culture of achievement and personal development has been developed which needs continual reinforcement for it to be fully established. Standards are well below average, reflecting standards on entry to the school. They are rising as indicated by recent test and examinations results; work seen in the school suggests that they will continue to rise. The quality of teaching is good, while students’ learning is satisfactory. The difference between teaching and learning reveals the continuing challenge for managers and teachers to consolidate the learning culture. The school provides satisfactory value for money.

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What the school does well

• The leadership of the headteacher and governors has ensured that the school has improved substantially over the past three years. • Standards are rising and students achieve particularly well in music, drama, physical education, modern foreign languages and media studies. • The quality of teaching is good. • All students have full access to educational opportunity as a result of very good inclusion strategies, including those for promoting racial equality. • Senior and middle managers are leading and managing well. • Child protection procedures are excellent. • A wide range of support staff are very effective in performing their challenging roles.

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What could be improved

• Standards in most subjects, and particularly those in science and religious education. Park View Academy - 9 • Attendance and punctuality. • Curriculum time for history, geography and religious education. • The behaviour of a minority of students, particularly outside the classroom. • The accommodation and its management, including health and safety procedures. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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What could be improved

HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

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What could be improved

This is the first full inspection for Park View Academy. Over the past three years inspectors (HMI) have visited the school on three occasions. Their reports plus evidence about the school when it first opened in September 1999 form the benchmarks against which improvement has been measured. The reputation of the previous school was poor, mostly owing to low standards and concerns about the quality of teaching and the behaviour of the students. HMI observed improvements in all of these areas but the most recent visit in May 2002 raised concerns about whether the school was improving fast enough - it is. Many issues have not been fully resolved, as the detail in this report identifies; however, in the face of enormous challenges, the school is making very good progress. STANDARDS

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What could be improved

The table shows the standards achieved by students at the end of Year 11 and sixth form students at the end of Year 13 based on average point scores in GCSE and A- level/AS-level examinations.

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schools

2000 2001 2002 2002 above average average B C GCSE examinations E* E E C below average well below average D E

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schools

Standards are well below average at the end of Years 9 and 11 as they are when students arrive at the school; the achievement of the students is satisfactory. Test and examination results are rising from a very low base. In 2002, the proportions of students gaining Level 5 (the minimum target level for students nationally) in the National Curriculum tests at the end of Year 9 rose by 18 percentage points in English, 11 points in mathematics and 9 points in science compared with results in 2001; the school nearly met its challenging targets. Far more girls than boys gained Level 5 in English in 2002 while the reverse was the case in mathematics. The 2002 results indicate that pupils made good progress compared with the results that they gained in the National Curriculum tests in Year 6. Standards in ICT are well below average. GCSE results have risen each year; in 2002 the proportion of students Park View Academy - 10

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schools

gaining at least one GCSE grade was above the national average compared with 80 per cent in 2000, and a much higher proportion now gain 5 A*-G grades. The proportion of students gaining 5 A*-C grades is rising steadily but not at a fast enough rate. The school recognises this and sets challenging targets to tackle the issue. Over the past two years it has not reached its targets for higher grades but has met its targets for lower grades. The 2002 GCSE results show that students made above average progress in relation to their Year 9 National Curriculum test results compared with students nationally.

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schools

The achievement of students is: very good in music, drama and physical education; good in modern foreign languages, design and technology and media studies; unsatisfactory in science and in geography and history in Years 7 to 9; and poor in religious education. In all other subjects it is satisfactory. Students from Turkish and Kurdish heritage tend to make less progress in developing their English and literacy skills and this inhibits their progress in all subjects. The poor attendance of a minority of students means that they do not achieve as well as they should. Students with SEN, EAL and more able students make satisfactory progress.

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Satisfactory. Attitudes to the school have improved considerably. Attitudes to learning are mostly positive but a significant minority of students rely on teachers to provide the guidance and incentives to help them learn.

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Aspect Comment

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Satisfactory. Behaviour is better in lessons than around the school. In the great majority of classrooms students behave well and this enables learning to take place. Around the school the atmosphere is lively but orderly. A minority stretch boundaries with over-energetic physical behaviour and shouting, particularly in the area around the canteen.

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Aspect Comment

Personal development and relationships Good. Teachers and students have good relationships. Relationships among students are also generally good. Students respond well to the school’s good work in promoting their personal development. Park View Academy - 11 Attendance Poor. Although attendance and punctuality are improving, they remain a concern. This is one of the key reasons for the underachievement of some students.

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Years 7 – 9 Years 10 – 11 Years 12 – 13

Quality of teaching Good 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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Years 7 – 9 Years 10 – 11 Years 12 – 13

The quality of teaching and learning is improving as a result of the dedicated work of both teachers and managers. The grades awarded for teaching during the inspection were slightly higher than in most secondary schools. The diverse experiences, expectations and learning of the student body provide a challenge greater than that faced by most teachers; they have responded well. Good practices have been developed, which most apply well. Within this framework teachers provide students with individual learning experiences, which are enabling them to make at least satisfactory progress. Students learn best in response to lively and challenging teaching, as seen, for example, in the performing arts. The quality of teaching is very good in music, drama, and physical education; good in English, modern foreign languages, design and technology, ICT, history, geography, art, business and media studies; and unsatisfactory in science. In all other subjects it is satisfactory. The

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Years 7 – 9 Years 10 – 11 Years 12 – 13

teaching of literacy is good; much valuable work is done to raise students’ literacy standards and this is having a beneficial impact on standards achieved in all subjects. The teaching of numeracy is satisfactory.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum Satisfactory. The curriculum is satisfactory in Years 7 to 9 and good in Years 10 and 11. The very positive elements of the curriculum, such as the provision for students with SEN and EAL, are balanced by weaknesses, for example, in religious education, history and geography.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for students with special educational needs Good. Support for literacy is appropriately the major priority and it is taught in a variety of ways to support individual needs. Students with Statements of SEN are supported well as are those with behavioural difficulties. The work of learning mentors is very effective.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for students with English as an additional language Good. Effective support is offered through a withdrawal programme which targets those with the weakest skills in English and through in-class support. Park View Academy - 12 Provision for students’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Good. The ethos of the school helps students to enhance their personal skills. It has been a key plank in the school’s improvement. Students are given good opportunities to develop respect for themselves, for each other, for adults and for those in authority. The diversity of culture within the school is celebrated, for example, through the performing arts.

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Aspect Comment

How well the school cares for its students Good. The pastoral provision is very strong. Year teams are well led and are strengthened by the skills and experience of non-teaching staff, some of whom are effective assistant year heads. Child protection procedures are excellent.

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Aspect Comment

The school works very hard to give educational opportunity to all its students. Support structures are very strong; staff are committed to students’ welfare but that does not mean that they give them an easy ride. Hard messages are often communicated by both teachers and support staff; these are usually accepted because of the respect that the staff have earned from the students. The procedures to promote good behaviour are very good.

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Aspect Comment

The school offers a very broad language provision and very good opportunities in the performing arts. These are major enhancements to the curriculum. Statutory curriculum requirements are not met in religious education in Years 10 to 13 or in design and technology. The school has worked hard to win the confidence of parents; it is succeeding because more are choosing to enrol their children and it is now full in Year 7. While most parents are keen for their children to make good progress, a minority do not support the school’s work well enough. Parents are kept well informed through regular newsletters and other communications, many of which are translated. Community workers speaking a range of languages enhance communications.

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Very good. The headteacher provides excellent leadership and is well supported by senior and most middle managers. Non-teaching managers are also very effective.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Good. The governors are knowledgeable, skilled and committed and they are very well led. They have played a key role in helping the school to improve.

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Aspect Comment

The school’s evaluation of its performance Excellent. Decisive and effective action has been taken to tackle weaknesses that caused the previous school to fail. Further improvement is necessary but the progress made in the past three years has been impressive.

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Aspect Comment

The strategic use of Good. Financial planning is carefully linked to improvement Park View Academy - 13 resources priorities and the substantial resources available to the school are well used.

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Aspect Comment

There is a good match of teaching and support staff to the demands of the curriculum. This is a major achievement given the national shortages of staff. Learning resources are satisfactory but despite some very good new facilities the overall quality of the accommodation is unsatisfactory. Much new building is taking place as part of a private finance initiative; this has improved the quality of the accommodation considerably but too much management time is spent tackling issues connected with the building work. The contractors are responsible for many aspects of health and safety on the site and the inspection raised serious concerns about a number of health and safety issues, the details of which have been passed on to the school. Although financial planning is good, the school has not fully adopted best value practices.

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Aspect Comment

PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

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improved

• Students like going to school. • Students are expected to work hard and achieve well. • Parents feel comfortable about approaching staff with questions or problems. • The improvement of the school in recent years. • The leadership of the headteacher. • The quantity and quality of homework. • The information about students’ progress. • The extent to which the school works closely with parents. • The accuracy of attendance records.

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improved

Most evidence was gathered from the 49 questionnaires returned and the 49 adults who attended the pre-inspection meeting. As this is a small sample of all parents, their views are not necessarily representative. Inspectors agree with parents about the strengths identified. They also agree that the arrangements for afternoon registration result in inaccurate attendance records and that there are weaknesses in some progress reports. Inspectors feel that the school is working hard to draw parents into a constructive relationship and that homework arrangements are satisfactory. Park View Academy - 14

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ANNEX: THE SIXTH FORM PARK VIEW ACADEMY

The sixth form serves 57 students, which is much lower than the size of an average sixth form; there are similar proportions of girls and boys. Only around a fifth of the students from Year 11 continue into the sixth form; many choose to attend colleges that offer a much broader range of courses. The school is part of a consortium of schools in Haringey which was created to broaden post-16 provision. No students at Park View take courses at any other school, although two study a critical thinking programme at Middlesex University. The proportion of students who remain in education after Year 11 is substantially lower than the national average. The school offers A-level and AS-level courses in Turkish, Vocational A levels in ICT and business, GNVQ courses in ICT and GCSE re-sit courses in English and mathematics. Students enter the sixth form with below average GCSE results.

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ANNEX: THE SIXTH FORM PARK VIEW ACADEMY

The school has not developed an adequate long-term strategy for the sixth form; the short-term strategy of expanding the sixth form by offering good provision in a narrow range of courses has worked well. The teaching of ICT, business and Turkish courses is good and this is reflected in students’ learning; the courses give students good opportunities to make further educational progress. Students, apart from two who attend the critical thinking course at Middlesex University, have not been attracted by the Nexus provision in Haringey, which invites them to put together a programme of courses from those offered by all the schools and colleges; the breadth of provision offered by the school is therefore unsatisfactory. Standards are well below average overall; standards in Turkish are above average.

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Strengths

• The quality of business, ICT and Turkish provision, including teaching. • The pastoral provision and guidance offered by the head of sixth form, tutors and teaching staff. • The positive attitudes of the students.

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What could be improved

• The strategy for the development of post-16 provision. • The breadth of the curriculum. • Examination results. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan. Strengths and areas for improvement in individual subjects are identified in the sections on individual subjects in the full report.

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What could be improved

I am of the opinion, and HMCI agrees, that the school has an inadequate sixth form in terms of paragraph 1 (2) of Schedule 7 of the Learning and Skills Act because it is failing to give students over compulsory school age an acceptable standard of education.

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What could be improved

THE QUALITY OF PROVISION IN INDIVIDUAL CURRICULUM AREAS Park View Academy - 15 The table below shows overall judgements about the provision in the subjects and courses that were inspected in the sixth form. Judgements are based mainly on the quality of teaching and learning and how well students achieve. Not all subjects in the sixth form were inspected.

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Curriculum area Overall judgement about provision, with comment

Mathematics Satisfactory. Provision is for students to re-take GCSE. Standards are below average, reflecting the capabilities of the students; levels of achievement are satisfactory. The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory.

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Curriculum area Overall judgement about provision, with comment

Business Good. Students are following a vocational A-level course. Standards are below average and the achievement of students is satisfactory. The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Curriculum area Overall judgement about provision, with comment

ICT Good. Students are following vocational A-level and GNVQ intermediate courses. Standards are below average and the achievement of students is satisfactory. The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Curriculum area Overall judgement about provision, with comment

Turkish Good. Students are following A and AS-level courses. Standards are above average and the achievement of students is good. The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Curriculum area Overall judgement about provision, with comment

English Satisfactory. Provision is for students to re-take GCSE. Standards are below average, reflecting the capabilities of the students; levels of achievement are satisfactory. The quality of teaching and learning is good.

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Curriculum area Overall judgement about provision, with comment

The curriculum for more able students is enhanced by a critical thinking skills course at Middlesex University. Provision for personal, social and health education is good but provision for religious education is unsatisfactory. The key skills programme is satisfactory. Numeracy is taught as a separate subject while the communication and ICT elements are offered through other courses. The community service programme gives students good opportunities to work with others and develop problem-solving skills. The Young Enterprise programme enables students to develop business and people management skills.

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Aspect Comment

How well students are guided and supported Students are well supported by tutors and the head of sixth form. Good arrangements, including a two-week induction programme, ensure that they adjust to the expectations of sixth form work well. Careers provision includes aptitude Park View Academy - 16 testing and advice, which students value and appreciate. All students make a contribution to the life of the school community through, for example, supervising lunchtime in the canteen. Assessment, target-setting and progress monitoring procedures are all good.

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Aspect Comment

Effectiveness of the leadership and management of the sixth form The lack of a long-term strategy for the sixth form is a major weakness, which is largely caused by the uncertainty over the evolution of the Haringey strategy for post-16 education. The new head of sixth form is leading and managing day-to-day provision well and is appropriately considering, alongside other senior managers, the opportunities for expanding the curriculum for 2003. Equality of opportunity is offered within the restricted range of the sixth form’s work. Communication with parents is good. Heads of department are accountable for raising standards in conjunction with the head of sixth form and other senior staff.

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What they feel could be improved

• The quality of the courses. • They enjoy being in the sixth form. • They did not want to move to another school or college after Year 11. • The way that they were supported when they joined the sixth form. • The good quality of the teaching. • The range of sixth form courses. • The sixth form common room. • More ICT facilities.

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What they feel could be improved

Forty questionnaires were returned by the students and other discussions took place during the inspection, both formally and informally. All the responses to the questionnaire were positive except from one student on one question; this represents an unusually high level of satisfaction. Inspectors endorse most of the comments made by the students. Students have good access to ICT resources and sixth form facilities are satisfactory and will improve once the current phase of building work is complete. Inspectors took note of students’ concerns about the Nexus provision and the reluctance of some of them to transfer to other schools and colleges.

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What they feel could be improved

COMPARING PROVISION IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

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What they feel could be improved

Inspectors make judgements about provision in subjects and courses, and about leadership and management, in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. Excellent and very good are equivalent to the judgement “outstanding” in further education and sixth form college reports; poor and very poor are equivalent to “very weak”. Park View Academy - 17

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PART B: COMMENTARY

The school’s results and students’ achievements

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PART B: COMMENTARY

1. Although standards are well below average, they have risen and are continuing to rise. To encourage teachers to aim high, very challenging targets have been set. This is a good strategy which is beginning to pay off. Targets for the proportions of students gaining 1 A*-G GCSE grade have been met over the past two years from a very low level achieved by students in previous years. National Curriculum test targets were narrowly missed in English and mathematics in 2002, having been missed by some margin, except in mathematics, in 2001. So far, targets for the proportion of students gaining 5 A*-C GCSE grades have been missed by significant margins; the school is taking very positive steps to improve this position in 2003.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

2. The headteacher is right to believe that the students can achieve much higher standards. Most of the students are fluent in two languages. This is a considerable intellectual achievement and a very persuasive indicator of capability. The rapid rise of standards in drama, for example, also indicates that, with very good teaching, students learn well and can make very fast progress. The challenge of equipping students with literacy skills that enable them to achieve a spread of high examination results remains critical.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

3. Students join the school achieving standards that are well below average. In 2002, for example, 52 per cent of Year 7 students arrived having gained Level 4 in English in the National Curriculum tests at the end of Year 6 (the expected level for students to have reached by this age). This compares with 75 per cent of students reaching this level nationally. Standards are rising on entry.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

4. On entry boys have achieved higher standards than girls. The results of different groups of students at the end of Years 9 and 11 show that the boys continue to outperform girls at the end of Year 9 but by a smaller margin, while by the end of Year 11 results are similar, although in 2001, girls achieved considerably higher results than boys. Conclusions from this evidence are suspect as different groups of students are being compared.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

5. Poor attendance seriously damages the progress of a minority of students. Attendance problems increase as students pass through the school and so the issue becomes most pressing in Years 10 and 11. The proportion of students leaving the school with no or very few qualifications has fallen substantially since 2000, which indicates the success of the school in raising expectations.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

6. National Curriculum test results rose substantially between 2001 and 2002. In English the proportion of students achieving Level 5 rose from 29 per cent to 47 per cent; in maths it rose from 36 per cent to 47 per cent and in science from 27 per cent to 36 per cent.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

7. Pupils made good progress between the National Curriculum tests that they took in their previous schools in Year 6 and the tests taken in Year 9 in 2002. Park View Academy - 18 This is a strong indicator of the improvements that have been made in the quality of teaching and learning.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

8. Analysis of the 2002 National Curriculum tests indicates that students made most progress in mathematics and least progress in science. The school analyses performance by gender and ethnicity. This reveals that boys perform less well than girls in English but better than girls in mathematics. It also indicates that Black Caribbean, Turkish and Kurdish students make relatively lower progress in English, a pattern that is not repeated in mathematics. Inspection evidence confirmed that standards in English are lower among students from Turkish and Kurdish heritage largely because more of them are at an early stage of learning the language. The school’s strategies to tackle this issue are working well and the students are making at least satisfactory progress. The students who receive a high level of support are making good progress.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

9. GCSE results are rising as a result of the rise in the quality of teaching and learning. The full impact of improvements in the school is not yet reflected in examination results but the trend is clear. GCSE results should be higher again in 2003 with a larger rise expected in 2004 based upon the standards of work seen in the current Years 10 and 11.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

10. The proportion of students entered for GCSE examinations has risen substantially since the school opened; almost all students gain at least one GCSE qualification. Literacy issues have a detrimental impact on the progress of some students, particularly those at an early stage of learning English; students from Turkish and Kurdish heritage are among those most at risk of not gaining examination results that fully reflect their academic capabilities. The school has made good provision to tackle this issue.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

11. Compared with the results of students in similar schools (based on the proportions of students eligible for free school meals), GCSE results were average in both 2001 and 2002. Very few students gain A* or A grades except in Turkish.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

12. The achievement of students in the 2002 GCSE examinations was satisfactory when compared with the same students’ results in the National Curriculum tests that they took at the end of Year 9. Making the same comparison in the core subjects, students made good progress in English, satisfactory progress in mathematics and unsatisfactory progress in science.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

13. Over the past two years, students have achieved relatively better results at GCSE in drama, modern foreign languages, English literature, food, graphics, mathematics and media studies than in their other subjects; results have been relatively worse in business studies, science, geography, history and ICT.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

14. Students achieve very well in music and drama because of the high quality of teaching and learning. Teachers are highly skilled at stretching and motivating the students; they plan tasks which enable students of all ability levels to progressively develop their knowledge, understanding and skills. The impact of these subjects on developing the school’s positive learning culture is high. Park View Academy - 19 15. The achievement of students in science is unsatisfactory. The department has not been well managed and, as a result, structures that have improved standards in other subjects have not been implemented. Some lessons are well taught with students benefiting from, for example, effective question and answer sessions that reinforce their learning. However, a high proportion of teaching is unsatisfactory mainly because of weaknesses in lesson planning and organisation, scientific knowledge and classroom management.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

16. Students with SEN make satisfactory progress. In 2002, 14 of the 18 students on the SEN register achieved at least one pass grade at GCSE; 9 achieved five or more passes, including one student whose results were all at higher grades (A*-C). Rates of progress vary depending on teachers’ planning. In design and technology, for example, students are given good literacy support and help with the sequencing of tasks; this has a marked impact on their progress. In contrast, work is not well enough matched to students’ learning needs in modern foreign languages.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

17. Literacy standards are low throughout the school, with writing skills weaker than reading skills. The school addresses this by placing more emphasis on teaching writing skills in English than was done previously and by involving all teachers actively in developing language skills. Students whose first language is not English receive effective support to help to them participate fully in lessons.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

18. Students’ recall of basic number facts is often poor. Instances of finger counting are not uncommon. Least able students have difficulty recalling simple multiplication tables. The vast majority of students are, however, able to use calculators appropriately and with reasonable efficiency. There is no evidence that levels of numeracy skills significantly slow or block progress in any subject. Park View Academy - 20 19. The school has already completed two half-day whole-school numeracy training days. However, there is not at present a school numeracy policy or handbook. The latter would result in making all teachers aware of the mathematical vocabulary students are accustomed to use and graphical conventions, together with some indication as to what mathematics might reasonably be expected from them.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

20. The school runs a very limited programme of courses in the sixth form. Examination results have been too low but standards seen during the inspection were higher and reflected the good quality of teaching and learning taking place. The quality of provision in the sixth form is improving.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

21. The only subject offered at A and AS-levels is Turkish. AS-level results in this subject were above average in 2002 and were higher than the results achieved in 2001.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

22. ICT is offered as a vocational A level and at GNVQ intermediate level. Results for 2002 have yet to be confirmed by the examination board following an appeal. Preliminary results indicate below average performance.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

23. In 2001, advanced GNVQ courses were examined in business, ICT, art and performing arts. The results were well below average with an overall pass rate of 62 per cent; this was an unsatisfactory level of achievement. Intermediate level courses were offered in business and ICT, the overall pass rate of 72 per cent having risen from 32 per cent in 2000. Foundation level courses were offered in business and ICT, the overall pass rate being 33 per cent. Around two-thirds of the students completed the advanced and intermediate courses that they took in 2001, which was broadly in line with national completion rates, but only a third completed foundation courses, which was well below the national completion rate.

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PART B: COMMENTARY

24. A GCSE re-sit programme is offered in English and mathematics. Results over the past three years have been well below average.

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Students’ attitudes, values and personal development

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25. Attitudes and behaviour are satisfactory overall with a range of strengths and weaknesses. Students confirmed that they enjoy school and feel that the rigorous behaviour management procedures are firm but fair. These have created order and better relationships and an improving and more positive ethos. This was aptly summed up by a Year 11 pupil who said that he ”wished he could start school again with a school as good as this”.

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26. The attitudes of the majority of students in lessons are good. Some of the best attitudes were seen in music, physical education, drama, art, and design and technology lessons and reflect some of the best teaching. When teachers are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the subject being taught, students respond keenly. Inspirational teaching in most music lessons helped students to have much greater confidence and a determination to master skills such as Park View Academy - 21 playing and singing to a Samba rhythm. In an outstanding ICT lesson using spreadsheets for repetitive calculations, students were given clear instructions and were enabled to understand the processes so well that they worked quickly and accurately and produced some excellent results. The attitudes of a minority of students are less positive and, when teachers have less secure classroom management skills, they can disrupt the learning of others; this is particularly

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evident in Years 7 to 9. The school has good procedures to tackle these situations.

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27. The attendance of a small minority of older students is poor, an indication of their disaffection with school. Many students have unsatisfactory attitudes to punctuality on arrival at school and to lessons. The large amount of litter is also an indication of some negative attitudes.

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28. There were too many lessons where behaviour was unsatisfactory, especially in Years 8 and 9. These were not confined to any particular subject but there was a higher incidence in science. Some teachers manage their classes well but a minority are less skilled and not sensitive

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enough to the learning needs of the students; for example, in a science lesson technical language was not explained well enough and this led to the students becoming frustrated and restless.

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29. Behaviour around the school is satisfactory, especially when there are high supervision levels. Unsupervised, students tend to be less self-disciplined. Behaviour within the school building is often noisy; students are lively and often communicate loudly with each other. Because of its acoustics, this can make ‘the street’ a particularly noisy place. At lunchtime the canteen is orderly, with sixth formers and lunchtime supervisors helping canteen staff to maintain a good atmosphere. Lunchtime supervisors are very skilled at managing students’ behaviour; they are well respected because they are both sympathetic to the students and firm when necessary. Appropriately, they try hard to avoid referring incidences of poor behaviour to teaching and pastoral staff; in most cases they successfully defuse situations themselves. Boys play football and enjoy the exercise in a generally good-natured way. Older

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students, who go out of the school for lunch, usually behave well.

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30. As in all schools, some bullying takes place but, when reported, it is dealt with effectively. Persistent bullies are well known and support systems try to help them mend their ways. The school is racially harmonious, although tensions sometimes arise. The school is knowledgeable about the causes for these and any discrimination detected is treated seriously and not tolerated. All forms of other harassment are dealt with appropriately. The number of serious behaviour incidents has decreased sharply in the past year. Effective systems such as positive lunchtime supervision, the “on call” system, mentoring and more explicit advice from the school policeman have helped volatile situations to be prevented or diffused effectively. This has also helped to reduce the rate of exclusion. Park View Academy - 22 31. Relationships between students and staff are good. Teachers speak positively to students and value their efforts and talents and there is obvious mutual

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respect. Pastoral staff show very high levels of commitment to students, particularly those who have a range of difficulties. Students are usually friendly, helpful and courteous. Relationships between students are satisfactory. Most students enjoy being with one another in a lively school community. The majority of students from diverse ethnic heritage confirmed how comfortable most are, that others recognize and admire their differences and that they learn a great deal about the rich range of cultures represented in the school. Name- calling damages relationships between a small minority of the students.

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32. Personal development is satisfactory with both strengths and weaknesses. The school’s priority to make students more accountable for their own learning is beginning to achieve results. Students are much more aware of their strengths and weaknesses given at their recent academic review day and recognise the need to improve weak areas. Most do their homework but there is inconsistent use of planners to organise this work. More able students are given some good opportunities to develop their independent learning skills when they are challenged to apply their knowledge in new situations and when they are set tasks involving research. In other lessons, especially where behaviour slows progress, there is tight control and this restricts the opportunities for students to be able to use initiative and gain independence in learning. The Year 11 independent learning programme is very good and helps students focus on the

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important aspects of their study skills in preparation for GCSEs. The residential trip to Woodhouse High House includes some very demanding intellectual and physical challenges and a range of new learning experiences away from home.

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33. There are some good opportunities to take on responsibility; Year 11 students act as leaders, Year 10 students act as buddies to Year 7 students and Year 8 students act as receptionists and hosts for the day. The School Council is well established and gives students a “voice” in the school and a forum for raising issues with the senior management. Work experience placements are organised by students themselves and debriefs show that students have a wide range of experiences that extend their personal experience well. Students really benefit when they take part in clubs, sports, music and drama activities. Students were seen rehearsing for the next big production of “Westside Story” and were thoroughly enjoying performing and taking part.

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34. Attendance is poor and is well below the national level. Unauthorised absence is more than six times the national rate and is unacceptably high. The attendance of the oldest students in Years 10 and 11 gives greatest cause for concern when in some weeks more than a fifth of students are absent and much of this is unauthorised. Girls have a significant amount more unauthorized absence than boys. Improving attendance is a high priority for the school and effective action has resulted in some recent improvement. Absence, however, remains a serious issue and one of the most important factors resulting in low attainment levels of too many students.

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35. Some families are transient and do not tell the school about their movements and there are a significant number of students who are still on the school’s roll but have hardly attended. These clearly depress attendance and the school is Park View Academy - 23 trying hard to locate families and clarify the schooling arrangements. Some girls have poor attendance and punctuality, which is condoned by some families who do not attach enough importance to education. The taking of term time holidays also accounts for a significant amount of absence. The small number of extended holidays disrupts the continuity of learning for the holiday takers.

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36. Punctuality on arrival at school is poor. A large number of students are persistently late. Many older girls are frequently late when they take younger siblings to school. Some students also are in no hurry to get to the next lesson and can be up to ten minutes late. This causes lesson disruption and hinders learning. There is evidence of a small amount of truancy and effective steps are being taken to stamp it out. The new ”on call” system has virtually eradicated internal truancy and this is highly commendable.

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37. The behaviour and attitude of students with EAL is good overall. They show an interest in their work and they are keen to learn.

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38. Students are very positive about the sixth form and the teaching and the support they receive from their subject teachers. Attitudes to learning and behaviour in lessons are usually very good. Students are keen to learn and work hard. Students are co-operative and willing to help each other in lessons. They listen with respect to one another’s views and, when engaged in discussion, put forward salient and considered arguments to support their case. Most show good levels of independence in their studies and show initiative when given case studies and coursework involving extensive research. The majority of students want to continue with their education and are thoughtful and reflective about their future careers. They clearly value education and the doors it can open for them.

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39. There was a 70 per cent response to the student questionnaire and all aspects questioned elicited overwhelmingly positive responses. In discussions, students confirmed that they would like to have a permanent common room, although they are enjoying the facilities the new learning resource centre provides. They enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, being treated as young adults and trusted to go home and study.

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40. Personal development is satisfactory. There are strengths in the very good working relationships with the head of the sixth form and subject staff. Students act as prefects and have supervision duties around the school, which they carry out well, and act as good role models. The “classroom assistant” programme is considered the best option to extend personal development and most participants are happy to help their younger peers. They help in ICT lessons, reading, physical education lessons in Year 7 and some language classes. They act as translators and help out at parents’ meetings and a few mentor students who are having difficulties in school. The mini-enterprise pottery scheme was largely successful for the students who were involved. Park View Academy - 24 HOW WELL ARE STUDENTS TAUGHT?

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41. The quality of teaching is good. In the 159 lessons seen, the proportion of satisfactory or better teaching was broadly typical for a secondary school, while the proportion of good or better teaching was higher than average, particularly during Years 10 and 11. This represents a major improvement in the quality of teaching since the school opened and an improvement on the quality seen during inspections by HMI and the local education authority. Part of the explanation for the improvement since recent external evaluations is that lesson observations during these visits were often targeted at areas of concern whereas the inspection covered a broad sample of lessons in all subjects.

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42. The quality of learning is satisfactory. A learning culture has developed over the last three years which is enabling students to achieve higher standards. Teachers have to work particularly skilfully to ensure that students learn because a significant proportion of the students lack confidence in their abilities.

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43. In lessons where students are given tasks that interest and challenge them, they make good progress and behave well; there is a close correlation between enterprising teaching, effective learning and good behaviour. This can be seen clearly in music and drama. Here, students are invited to use instruments and their voices to explore ideas and create compositions and performances. They relish this opportunity, behave very well and achieve standards that are broadly in line with national standards. The skill of the teachers harnesses the energy and vitality of the students and channels it productively. This shows that the students can behave well when given freedom to express themselves in the classroom; they do not have to be tied down by restrictive tasks.

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44. In the most effective teaching, strategies are specifically modified to meet the needs of individuals in particular groups. This is a strong feature of physical education lessons; for example, carefully planned approaches to literacy help the GCSE group in Year 11 cope with the demands of the theory syllabus. Tasks are pitched at different levels to match the understanding and skills of the students and this helps them to make progress at appropriate rates. The same attention to detail is seen in practical physical education lessons where students are prepared well for activities, given challenging tasks such as executing tactics in game situations and encouraged to assess and improve their own levels of performance.

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45. The improvement in teaching and learning is due to a range of factors. Particularly important is the constant emphasis by the headteacher and senior staff on the development of good teaching practice to promote effective learning. Good guidance is given to teachers on strategies to make their teaching successful, which the great majority apply well and adapt to the particular learning needs of their classes.

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46. Good progress has been made since the previous inspection visit to strengthen the school’s focus on improving literacy across the curriculum. Inspectors found clear evidence in lessons in drama, geography, history, ICT, mathematics, modern foreign languages and physical education that most teachers are Park View Academy - 25 contributing to the improvement of students’ standards of literacy and spoken English. In almost all lessons there are clear, shared learning objectives and displays of key words appropriate to the current topics. Almost all lessons begin with a revision of skills or a recapitulation of previous work before moving on to the main learning activity. Lessons end with a plenary summing up or a report back involving students in speaking and listening. Sometimes a quiz is used to revise previous learning.

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47. Particularly good practice was observed in drama and physical education. In drama, early stage English learners and students with below average language skills use large font scripts to make reading easier and they are given starts to sentences to assist written responses. Physical education teachers use learning logs with students as part of their self-evaluation work. They give guidance on sentence construction and develop key concepts and vocabulary well for all students. Much use is made in both these subjects of clear oral communication between teachers and students and in whole group discussion.

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48. In modern languages, teachers make good use of similarities between languages to aid learning and to develop understanding of meanings. Within French, German, Spanish and Turkish lessons, students are encouraged to compare language structures with English. There is reinforcement here of students’ understanding of parts of speech. In lessons in English, geography, history and science, teachers make efforts to model appropriate language structures to encourage the full answering of questions. At times, for some students, teachers

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provide word frames for guidance. Opportunities are given regularly in English to write at length for different purposes. Extended writing of a good standard was seen in history in Year 8 where students had produced moving writing from the perspective of a slave on the ‘middle passage’.

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49. Students’ speaking skills are promoted well in many lessons; for example, the sociology class in Year 10 eagerly explore complex issues through class discussions. The teacher encourages their participation well and enjoys the challenge of helping them to develop logical arguments. Good balance is maintained between debate and ensuring that the subject’s knowledge base is covered appropriately.

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50. Students in all year groups have opportunities to apply and practise their numeracy skills; for example, in history, these are written into individual lesson plans. In science, students record observations, take accurate measurements and present data in the form of graphs and tables. Numeracy is supported and drawn upon in design and technology, and in music. Students in German lessons are asked to perform written calculations in German. Students practise their geometrical skills in art and exploit their statistical skills in geography to draw scatter graphs and other types of statistical displays. Graphical and measuring skills are made use of and built on in physical education. The mathematics curriculum includes the development of appropriate numeracy skills. Park View Academy - 26 51. The quality of teaching in science is unsatisfactory. Teaching was unsatisfactory or poor in nearly a quarter of the 18 lessons seen during the

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inspection, with students’ learning only being satisfactory or better in around 60 per cent of these lessons. In the least effective teaching, lessons were not planned well enough and, as a result, students did not clearly understand what they were being told or what they were being asked to do. Tasks did not follow sequentially and, on occasion, teachers gave incorrect scientific information. The outcome was that students did not make very much progress and became restless and unruly.

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52. The teaching in the school is very inclusive. All teachers have information in the form of a list of the students who are most at risk of not being able to make the most of the learning offered to them in the lessons. This information is used to support students who might, for example, have SEN or who might be refugees and have experienced emotional trauma prior to coming to the school. A large body of classroom assistants also ably supports the students who are most likely to become disaffected and not involve themselves as best they might in the activities of the lesson.

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53. The teaching and learning of students with SEN are good. Learning is good in withdrawal work. Two students with statements, one with a specific learning difficulty and one with literacy skills well below average, were observed to make good progress. Lessons contained a series of linked activities that were well matched to their needs and gave them opportunities to succeed and see their own progress. Learning mentors make a valuable contribution including withdrawal work sessions that give students very good opportunities to reflect on a range of issues that impact on their learning. This work is reinforced well by mentors supporting students in lessons and observing progress in areas discussed in withdrawal sessions. In the great majority of lessons seen, support staff were well used and, where appropriate, they supported individual students very well. In art lessons support was very effective in keeping students on task

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in lessons observed. The expertise of support staff assisted learning well in an English lesson, with staff having good knowledge of the Shakespeare text being studied, and in a mathematics lesson where the support teacher was appropriately sensitive to not giving an individual too much support.

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54. In a minority of lessons there are missed opportunities to involve support staff, for example during “starter” activities. In some lessons support staff are not deployed to their maximum effectiveness when working alongside the teacher in whole-class activities, where they could be more fully utilised in working with groups. In some class teaching the seating of students with SEN is a key factor in determining their involvement in lesson activities. In one lesson two students were seated in front of the teacher in the middle of other students. The two students played a full part in class discussion. In another lesson two students and a support assistant were seated behind the teacher for much of the lesson and played little part in discussion.

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55. Overall, the teaching for students with EAL is good. There is strong expertise in the department. Lessons are well prepared and a good range of materials and methods are used to put across the content of the lessons in an effective way. The pace of the lessons is good and the expectations are high. The Park View Academy - 27 teachers encourage the students to develop a range of skills including discussion and writing. Occasionally, more detailed planning beforehand for specific lessons would be of benefit to the students’ learning, even if it is only a list of key words. Sometimes the EAL teachers use the black/white board to highlight key ideas and concepts while the class teacher is presenting the lesson. This is very effective but it is not consistently used by the department. The behaviour and attitude of the students is good overall. They show an interest in their work and they are keen to learn. Overall, the progress of the

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students who get support is at least satisfactory and sometimes it is good. The very high numbers of EAL students in the school mean that it is not possible for all students to get the support they need, particularly the students who are at the higher levels of language acquisition. Classroom teachers have yet to be trained to help with these students.

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56. The quality of teaching and learning in the sixth form is good. Students are taught well in ICT, business and Turkish, the three courses that are offered at A level or vocational A-level standard. In all of these courses, students are given appropriate learning experiences that enable them to make good progress. All of the teaching seen during the inspection was at least satisfactory with nearly three quarters of a good standard or better.

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57. Students’ learning is enhanced by the good access they have to ICT facilities in the Learning Support Centre. This is particularly important for students who are not able to use computers outside school.

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58. Learning in business is supported by participation in the Young Enterprise scheme. This is a well-organised programme that attracts a high level of participation around the country. The competitive dimension of the programme motivates students to achieve high standards. Students at Park View are just coming to terms with the demands of the programme and it is stretching their skills in collaborative working and decision-making. Teachers guide students well but they do not tell them what to do. This means that students learn by experiencing the consequences of their actions at first hand. By participating in the programme, students are learning how business theory works in practice and this supports their academic studies well.

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59. The teaching of GCSE re-sit programmes is good in English and satisfactory in mathematics. Some of the students currently in Year 12 had initially enrolled on courses at a further education college but had returned to Park View because they felt better supported.

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60. The teaching of key skills is satisfactory, numeracy being taught as a separate course, while other elements, such as ICT skills, are taught through the other courses that students take and through additional elements such as the community service provision.

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HOW GOOD ARE THE CURRICULAR AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED TO STUDENTS? Park View Academy - 28 61. The curriculum is satisfactory in Years 7 to 9 and good in Years 10 and 11. The current stage of the school’s development has had an impact on the overall shape of the curriculum. Four key features that have affected curriculum planning are the imbalance in year group numbers (with significantly more younger students now joining the school), the school’s current bid for language college status, the emphasis on providing a supportive transition from primary to secondary education for younger students and the disruption caused by the major re-building programme. Several aspects of the curriculum are in a “pilot” phase with a major review planned for this school year. Overall, the quality of learning opportunities is enhanced by the school’s emphasis on maintaining small teaching group sizes. In some areas of the curriculum there are

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additional courses that broaden the experiences of students. There are, however, imbalances in the allocation of time to subjects that limit the quality of some learning experiences.

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62. The time allocated to the curriculum overall is below average. In religious education and design and technology statutory requirements are not fully met. The school does not meet the requirement for a daily act of collective worship. The lack of ICT provision is a significant weakness in science and in art and its use in English is limited. Weaknesses in curriculum planning in science are being addressed, although some remain, especially in Years 9 and 11.

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63. The curriculum for students in Years 7 to 9 includes all the subjects of the National Curriculum plus religious education and personal, social and health education. It is further enhanced by the provision of ICT as a separate subject, by the addition of drama and by the additional opportunities for students to study a second language. Carousel arrangements give students blocks of time in some curriculum areas during which they study different subjects at different times in the term. This reduces the number of times students need to move around the school during the week and this helps younger students become used to the more frequent movement necessary in secondary school compared with primary school. However, these arrangements are unsatisfactory in world studies because the overall time allocation for geography, history and religious education is insufficient. In art, similar arrangements affect continuity and

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64. There are very good opportunities to study different languages. In Year 7 there is a language awareness course plus taster courses in French, German, Spanish and Turkish. This leads on to the possibility of studying two languages in greater depth from Year 8. The timetabling of languages has an impact on the time allocations for some mathematics, English and world studies classes and to group sizes in some world studies classes. The effectiveness of these arrangements needs to be evaluated in terms of both the impact upon other subjects and the extent to which the breadth of experiences in different languages impacts upon the depth of understanding achieved.

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65. The curriculum in Years 10 and 11 provides a good range of courses and opportunities for all students to broaden their experiences. National Curriculum requirements are met, except in design and technology, where the take up is significantly limited by staffing constraints. Statutory requirements are not met Park View Academy - 29 in religious education, where there is no course currently on offer. Option choices including Turkish, drama, media studies, performing arts and sociology provide additional breadth. Accreditation other than GCSE is used well to extend opportunities for different groups of students, including GNVQ intermediate courses in ICT and performing arts. A qualification in EAL can be taken at a variety of levels. Alternative courses are being developed to provide motivation and support for students with additional needs. There is some alternative provision for a small group of Year 11 students but the focus of this

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development is in Year 10. There are plans to extend the provision to include younger students. The programme offers a broad range of opportunities including off-site activities, although students do not follow a science course. The choice of modern languages is enhanced by the provision of after school French and Spanish classes leading to GNVQ accreditation. Relatively few students take two languages despite the numbers of younger students taking more than one language. The time allocation for the science course followed is below average.

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66. There is a good provision of extra-curricular opportunities to enrich the curriculum. In physical education weekly coaching sessions in netball, basketball and football are very well attended. The department has recently begun to expand the list of fixtures with other schools. Notable local and national success has been achieved in football and basketball, with boys’ and girls’ teams. These new arrangements are having a significant impact on students’ motivation. In art all students visit an art gallery at least once a year, with students in Years 10 and 11 visiting more frequently. In modern languages there are weekly revision clubs and ICT clubs that combine with a study of languages.

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67. There is a developing programme of visits and links with other countries including France and Turkey. The school’s planned production of West Side Story is providing very good opportunities for students with a wide range of talents and abilities and these opportunities will be further enhanced by the study of related themes within subject areas. Other performing arts activities include a choir and a samba band plus a wide range of drama workshops and theatre visits. Very good spiritual opportunities are provided by daily prayer and talk sessions during the month of Ramadan. One lunchtime session was observed during the inspection, with over fifty students attending. The learning mentor team provide a good range of clubs including homework, drama, dance and table tennis clubs plus a breakfast club, which is successfully helping to improve attendance. There is good provision for study support, with, for

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example, Year 7 students attending a ten week course to develop literacy and numeracy skills and Year 11 students attending a week long course aimed at raising target grades and developing study and life skills.

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68. The school is committed to promoting and providing equal opportunities for all and provision is good. Systems and structures work very well to give attention to individuals and at the same time cover a very wide range of needs. The work of the inclusion panel is a central feature of the school’s approach. A weekly meeting of this group gives all staff very good opportunities to register their concerns about any student. Referrals may include gifted and talented students as well as students with SEN. Park View Academy - 30 69. The level of support staff is very high. Staff provide a wide range of support for individuals including language and literacy support, mentoring and counselling. Inclusive class lists provide teaching and support staff with a wide range of information about students’ individual needs. Literacy needs are supported well on entry to help younger students with various levels of need access the

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curriculum. The co-ordination of provision for gifted and talented students has been combined with “Excellence Challenge”. This initiative targets under- achievers in Years 10 and 11 who are potentially high achievers.

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70. Provision for gifted and talented students is satisfactory. Students are identified in each year group and there is a good range of additional activities, including a science and mathematics summer school, and a variety of regular club activities, including pottery, languages, and web design and “so you want to be a doctor”. Students are given good opportunities to learn from a variety of adults other than teachers, for example by working with a musician in residence and by listening to a university graduate speaker. Provision within curriculum areas is less well developed. Appropriate priorities have been identified. A review of strategies used throughout the curriculum is taking place with the aim of establishing consistency in planned provision by the end of the school year.

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71. Provision for students with SEN is good. There is a very high level of staff support. Students are supported according to their individual needs, in small groups and in whole-class groups. Students with statements are appropriately prioritised for support. The support provided is very varied, including literacy, behaviour and language support and support from a strong team of learning mentors. The deployment of support to individual students is regularly and carefully monitored through meetings of the school’s inclusion panel. Curriculum planning appropriately recognises literacy provision as a key priority with a variety of programmes to support individuals, small groups and whole- class teaching. These programmes provide students with a great variety of needs including those with very low literacy levels, those who are much closer to the national average and those with specific learning difficulties.

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72. Provision for students with SEN in curriculum areas is variable. It is very good in music and physical education, and good in ICT, drama and art. It is satisfactory in other areas of the curriculum except in science, modern foreign languages and religious education. It is unsatisfactory in science and modern languages because the information provided centrally on individual students is not well used in planning. It is poor in religious education because of the lack of curriculum time. Additional provision is developing well in Year 10, with plans for further extension.

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73. The study support centre currently supports Year 10 students with attendance problems and those at risk of exclusion; the majority of those involved have SEN. Some Year 11 students are also involved in the programme and there are plans to extend the provision to include younger students. Its focus is on literacy and numeracy as well as activities which build up confidence and self- esteem. It also has an emphasis on the development of inter-personal skills and seeks to help the students who find it difficult to relate to others. Park View Academy - 31 74. Links with partner institutions are good. Links with feeder primary schools have been successfully re-established since the opening of the school. The annual summer school programme is planned jointly with primary schools. In 2002 students and parents expressed a high level of satisfaction with the various summer school courses, although some of them were under-subscribed. A

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good evaluation of the 2002 summer school identifies a number of strengths and issues for improvement which have been incorporated into planning for the 2003 programme.

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75. Pupils from Years 5 and 6 receive lessons from the school’s modern foreign languages team. ICT developments have linked the school’s network with mini- networks in local feeder schools. There are very good links with a local special school, with students from both schools joining together for extra-curricular activities including ice-skating. These links are well established and in previous years special school students have attended courses at the school. The headteacher meets regularly with other secondary heads to oversee planning for future joint sixth form provision. There are good links with local universities to support students in Years 10 and 11, for example, university students mentoring high achievers.

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76. The school’s links with the community are satisfactory and are developing rapidly. After some recent successful trials of family learning classes, these will be extended shortly and will have wide appeal to many sections of the community including literacy for parents. Already the parents who currently attend classes are able to support their children’s learning more effectively. Links with the local business community are improving and these have benefits for “real learning” in the business studies and ICT courses. The good links with local football and basketball teams have encouraged some inspirational coaching and high standards particularly in basketball where two students are under 15 national team players. Links with local external agencies are very good and used well to support the many students and their families. Personal, social and health education is enlivened by local experts in drugs education

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77. The number of students who have EAL is very high. There are about 750. About 40 of these are at the earliest stage of acquisition. Four specialists EAL teachers provide for their language needs and there are also 4 community workers who make an input. The range of needs of the students is very wide. Some have had previous schooling in their first language and so they have the skills necessary to learn another language quickly. Other students do not have this background and so take much longer to learn.

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78. All students are tested on their arrival at the school to accurately ascertain their level of need. This testing includes an initial assessment at the admission interview and a more formal test several days later. The testing covers the four major skills of listening, speaking, writing and reading.

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79. It is not possible for the EAL staff to support all the students with EAL and so decisions of priority are made on the basis of general background and linguistic experience, as well as the students’ actual knowledge of the English language. The support takes two major forms: general support in lessons and support in a Park View Academy - 32 withdrawal group called the Induction Programme. Support in the lessons is usually arranged in conjunction with the class teacher beforehand and material prepared accordingly. Sometimes the class teacher and the EAL teacher teach as a team. In the Induction Programme, the students are withdrawn from lessons for about five hours a week for intensive tuition. They return to the full curriculum once their language skills have significantly improved.

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80. Class teachers receive information about the EAL students via the Inclusion Form. This enables them to identify the EAL students and help them when a support teacher cannot be in the lesson. The progress of students is monitored by means of the common writing assignments set by the English department. Reports of the progress of the students is sent to the LEA about twice a year.

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81. Provision for improving students’ literacy skills is good. Effective contributions are made in English and almost all other subjects, together with specialist programmes for students with SEN and EAL. Small groups of Year 7 and Year 8 students, and a few older students, receive regular ‘catch up’ lessons in reading, writing and spelling with support assistants three times a week. Records show that students who attend regularly make satisfactory progress within a commercially produced programme of work. Most students enjoy the sessions and feel that they are making progress. The programme would be improved by having a wider selection of more interesting reading books to encourage the students to read for themselves. Similarly, as the new library develops, it will be helpful to widen the range of books suitable for early stage English learners of eleven and above. At the moment there are a few books in

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Turkish but none were seen in other languages spoken at home by students. The summer school literacy programme for incoming Year 7 students is helpful to those students who participate.

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82. The planned provision for numeracy and the teaching of numeracy skills within subjects is satisfactory. Subjects have, in their schemes of work, references to the application or development of numeracy. This planning means that students’ experiences are not left to chance.

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83. Overall, the provision for students personal, social and health education (PSHE) is good. The subject is taught in tutor time and during the timetabled one period a week for all students. It also includes some aspects of citizenship. There are clear policies and units of work on sex education, drugs education and racism, as well as on bullying. The other work is very wide ranging. In Year 7, for example, students study safety in the community, personal hygiene, relationships, responsibility, nutrition and general health. In years 8 and 9, the work includes issues about crime, employment, decision making, environmental responsibility and dealing with anger. In years 10 and 11 the work includes stereotypes, safety, current issues and consumer protection. Overall, the teaching seen during the inspection was good, with some satisfactory and very good elements. The particular characteristic of the lessons is the relevance the

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topics have to the students’ own lives and experiences. In the main, the students respond well to the lessons and their learning is good. Their attainment is at least in line with national expectations as they understand the issues which they are taught and can relate them to their own lives. As a Park View Academy - 33 result, the students can make many appropriate choices based on good knowledge.

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84. Careers education and guidance is good. Students start to learn about “living in a real world“ in Year 7 and this is followed in Year 8 by many useful aspects of citizenship where students become increasingly familiar with the work of the many local services. Students in Year 9 are given some good information about the range of subject options for Years 10 and 11 and how to make choices. They have booklets, “a prospects” presentation, careers assembly and a careers advisor presentation. All Year 9 students have individual interviews and parents are consulted to ensure that students’ choices satisfy and suit their strengths and aspirations. The arrangements for work experience are good. Year 10 students organize their own placements and the debriefs indicate some very good and worthwhile experiences.

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85. All Year 11 students have an interview to help them make plans for further education and/or careers. Students also are given tests to help them decide which careers would best match their skills and interests. The resources for careers education are adequate with strengths in the access to computers with a range of useful software. Students with special education needs and those students who have EAL are catered for well and all the statutory requirements are met. Commendably, the careers teacher and careers advisor make themselves available for three “drop in” sessions each week and the take up for these is good. Students confirmed confidently that they had good advice for their post school lives.

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86. The school’s provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Provision for spiritual development is good. There are some very good features, such as the ways in which the cultural diversity and range of faiths in the school is celebrated. Assemblies and linked ‘thought for the day’ provision are carefully devised to make them accessible to all, with the built in opportunity for reflection allowing all students to pray in the context of their own faith while sharing a common concern with those around them. A cornerstone of the school’s work in building a high quality learning ethos is the celebration of multi-faith cultural diversity and the development of tolerance and understanding; the celebration of Ramadan is a very good example of this approach. The assemblies seen during the inspection also showed these principles in action at a very intense level.

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87. Visitors from the community play an important role in these developments, and a local gospel group is involved in pupil mentoring. All sixth form students are expected to spend an hour a week on the community service programme. The visit of the local Imam attended voluntarily by 38 boys and 14 girls provided a very powerful spiritual experience. The very good programme of gallery visits in art helps to inspire students and to widen their horizons; some of the best work in Year 7 art is from a boy with SEN. However, provision in religious education is inadequate to support spiritual development, since the time allocation up to Year 11 is low, and non-existent with the sixth form. Students in Year 10 rated the contribution of English, mathematics, science and sociology highly in terms of their spiritual impact. In an English lesson Year 11 students were studying Ben Johnson’s ‘Epitaph on the death of his seven year old child’, and

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Park View Academy - 34 discussing its implications for their own world. Music builds an ethos of achievement, and encourages students to show an appreciation of beauty and aesthetics.

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88. Provision for moral development is good. It also reflects the cultural make up of the school since it is based on the common features concerning morality of the faiths represented in the school. Right and wrong are thus clearly taught, and there are clear expectations of good behaviour with strategies to improve matters where behaviour falls short of expectations. Links to morally responsible behaviour in the wider community are made clear. The draft guidelines use published criteria against which to judge the quality of provision, and the next stage in defining a school policy is to carry out a whole-school audit plus full consultation with the senior policy making forum.

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89. There are active School Council and year councils. Students are supported in attaining the best work of which they are capable through strategies which include support classes, especially in Years 9 and 11. Sixth form students accept their moral responsibility by acting as classroom assistants. A school bank encourages responsible attitudes to money. Ethical issues are addressed in geography, and the promotion of social responsibility is a core element of the PSHE programme. Relationships and the moral stances lying behind them are central to pupils’ work in drama; for example, in the study of good and evil in Dr Faustus with Year 10. The modern foreign languages department encourages mutual respect by the way in which language teaching is approached, and in English, moral issues such the those concerning the use of capital punishment are addressed. The school celebrates students’ success in a wide variety of

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ways and this encourages them to take more responsibility for their learning and personal development; for example, through the publication of the Year 9 poetry anthology and the school calendar. Students from Year 10 said that assemblies, tutorial time and drama work on stereotyping all had a major impact on their moral development and attitudes.

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90. Provision for social development is good. During the inspection week the thought for the day, for example, addressed the influence we have on others and the way in which we treat them. The immediate impact on students was almost tangible, especially at the moments in assembly where time was given for reflection. More than a fifth of students were in last year’s school production, which was well supported by parents; it acted as a powerful motivator for many students. The draft policy uses published guidelines, and its section on sources of evidence will help staff in their audit of provision in subjects.

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91. The school works hard to combat local ethnic tensions, and the impact of this input is seen by the improvement in attitudes towards each other as students grow older. There are many extra- curricular opportunities, and a breakfast club provides a mutually supportive start to the day for many students. The summer schools provide worthwhile opportunities for those involved to grow as people, and to broaden their horizons. The sixth form takes part in a team building week at a residential centre, and a range of social activities is planned.

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92. The assemblies, PSHE, citizenship and tutorial periods overview for this term indicates that the school addresses social issues in all of them, and particularly Park View Academy - 35 in PSHE. The PSHE and citizenship programmes address issues such as social responsibility in all years.

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93. The enormously wide range of languages and cultures represented in the school is celebrated in provision for cultural development, which is very good. The value staff at all levels place on this diversity is obvious, and clearly understood by students. The draft policy is building on practice which is already very good, and the final statement in the draft (“We respect the religious beliefs and practice of all staff, students and parents, and comply with all reasonable requests relating to religious observance and practice”) underpins the principle of mutual respect. The assemblies seen used the Koran, read by students in both Arabic and English, and a parable from the New Testament read by the Headteacher, and the cultural diversity of the school is both demonstrated and celebrated.

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94. This linguistically rich environment is being celebrated by the school’s application for language college status. The focus on performing arts recognises pupils’ strengths and builds on them. The film project, the partnership with a theatre group, the girls’ football team, and staff learning the flute alongside students all show the breadth of provision. The wide use of languages other than English around the school fits well with the promotion of racial harmony. The sixth form are involved in young enterprise as well as going on theatre visits and a study visit to Germany.

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95. The HMI report of 2001 recognised that this is a vibrant community celebrating diverse cultures. Talent is celebrated in art, and the role of art across the world in defining cultural identity is studied. The range of cultures in the school is represented in library stock. The celebration of a multiplicity of cultures is most clearly recognised by students in art and music. The school’s African and Caribbean students who demonstrate academic excellence have this recognised in the Haringey Academic Excellence Awards, and the numbers gaining such awards are growing. Drama includes aspects of English culture, such as Victorian melodrama, and the wide diversity of cultures is clear in music; an excellent example is the Trinidadian carol sung at last year’s carol service which was taught to the teacher by a Year 7 pupil, and sung by all.

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96. The school’s aim has been to develop a solid foundation in its sixth form curriculum provision as a basis for further development. Numerically the sixth form is growing, with 57 students this year compared to 37 last year. However, the current size is small and about one third of the national average.

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97. A consortium (Nexus), including the Park View Academy, other local schools and Middlesex University, offers students the opportunity to study a range of courses in East Haringey while remaining based at their original school. The area-wide inspection of February 2002 concluded that there was “no joint curriculum planning within the consortium and little movement of students between schools.” At Park View, no students are currently following courses at any other schools and only two pupils take a course at Middlesex University. Park View Academy - 36 The Nexus provision is being re-organised but plans have not yet been finalised.

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98. As students do not have access to a broad and well–planned curriculum within the school or at other local institutions, the sixth form curriculum is unsatisfactory; students’ learning needs are not met. Although the individual courses are well matched to employment opportunities in the region there is not a satisfactory range of courses for students wishing to continue their studies at the end of Year 11. Many students are reluctant to take part in the Haringey Nexus arrangements, as they indicated in the inspection questionnaire, and some students return to the school after failing to settle in other institutions. The overall result of the inadequate curriculum arrangement is that far fewer Park View Academy students remain in education after Year 11 than do so nationally. At the end of 2001, for example, 87 per cent of 16 year olds were in full time or part time education nationally compared with 69 per cent of those

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99. Individual courses have satisfactory group sizes and the school has successfully established viable groups in curriculum areas that are strengths within its overall provision. Apart from re-sit courses in English and mathematics the range of options available is limited to three areas only – ICT, business studies and Turkish. GNVQ and AVCE courses are offered in ICT plus an AVCE course in business studies. The offer of both GNVQ and AVCE courses is well matched to progression from a broad range of GCSE achievement, but in one subject only. The business studies course builds well on GCSE business studies, with at least half the students on the course having taken GCSE in the subject. A and AS-level courses are offered in Turkish.

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100. There is additional enhancement for the gifted and talented, with students following a critical thinking skills course at Middlesex University. In addition there are good opportunities to develop interview skills through the support of local business. Individual students with language needs and with SEN are appropriately supported within the curriculum, including the deployment of support staff. Provision for religious education is unsatisfactory and relies upon relevant themes being covered during assembly time. Provision for key skills is satisfactory, with separate provision made for numeracy and with communication and ICT integrated into other courses. The community service programme operating within the school gives students good opportunities to develop wider skills including problem solving and working with others. The excellent links with the local business partnership enhance the opportunities

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provided for students taking ICT and business studies courses. There is a Young Enterprise group, with Year 12 and Year 9 students working together to run their own business. There is a good range of links with higher education, with students attending talks and summer schools.

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101. Provision for the students personal, social and health education in the sixth form is satisfactory. All students in Years 12 and 13 have a single period a week for study. The topics include expectations, personal progression, careers, higher education, an introduction to UCAS, study skills and examination preparation. The work also includes work on some aspects of citizenship. Examples of this are an examination of such questions as ‘Who am Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 37 I?', and problems associated with cultural differences. The teaching seen during the inspection was broadly satisfactory and the behaviour and attitudes of the students was good. The standard of attainment is at least in line with what would be expected at this stage of the year.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS STUDENTS?

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102. The school is a caring community underpinned by a very strong pastoral system that ensures that each pupil is known very well. There are clear and well thought out procedures and practices to provide high levels of support for individuals in an inclusive community. Racial equality and harmony are promoted well. There is also consistent application of practice and good use of rewards and sanctions to promote good attendance, good behaviour and good work habits. There are, however, weaknesses in the way that health and safety is managed.

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103. The procedures for monitoring and improving attendance are good. The introduction of the Bromcom electronic registration system has enabled better tracking of students and has reduced truancy. The configuration of the system, however, inflates the level of unauthorized absence when students are very late on arrival to school or late for the afternoon registration and the system access time to explain absence is too short. Absences generate messages which are automatically sent to parents by the electronic registration system; this is a valuable strategy. The school based Attendance Officer and new multi-lingual personal advisor follow up attendance very well and have established some good links and clear communications with families; there is evidence of improvement with some students who have the poorest attendance. The education welfare officer is conscientious about her work and is effective in

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supporting the school in raising attendance. She has too little time and can only focus on the main priorities. Parents are urged not to take extended holidays but some do not heed this advice. Tough sanctions are imposed for persistent lateness and this acts as a deterrent for some students. There are still too many students who have poor punctuality both on arrival at school and to lessons. The school’s aim to improve attendance in Year 7 is paying off as students are maintaining above average attendance levels and any faltering attendance is rigorously followed up.

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104. The procedures for monitoring and promoting good behaviour are very good and are a real strength of the school. The behaviour policy is consistently enforced, and expectations in the classroom are clear. The “on call” system for dealing with misbehaviour in lessons is very good. Learning disruption is minimised and “on call” incidents are managed and dealt with very effectively. Behaviour elsewhere is often boisterous and the lunchtime supervisors in particular play an important role in keeping areas calm, defusing potentially volatile situations; interventions are cheerfully positive. For persistently challenging behaviour, acceptable behaviour contracts are agreed between school, parents and pupil to help modify behaviour. These are usually successful. In more extreme cases, there is formal mentoring and support and guidance is specifically targeted. The school policeman helps to deter students

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by showing them the outcomes of violence and criminal activity. Visits to local Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 38 prisons help both girls and boys to understand the consequences in a most graphic and effective way. There is evidence of improvement in most cases. The school takes effective steps to eliminate all forms of oppressive behaviour and this is reflected in the big reduction in recorded incidents and subsequent drop in exclusions in the past year. The new racial equality policy meets the latest requirements to consider opposition to all forms of discrimination. When racist incidents occur they are treated very seriously and are simply not tolerated.

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105. The pastoral team is a very dedicated group who care passionately for students and go beyond normal bounds to help and support those who have difficulty in coping with many aspects of school life. The arrangements for the identification of needs, the speed of deciding on the best course of action by the inclusion panel and the quality and effectiveness of support given are outstanding. This is an example of good practice. There is strong evidence that when staff, particularly learning mentors, help to address the wider educational, social and emotional needs of students, their attendance, behaviour, learning performance and the quality of their lives improves significantly. This is highly commendable. The Year 10 students who have a special range of difficulties are taught in the study support centre where they are able to work more effectively under excellent supervision with very good teaching. These students feel valued and

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their confidence and self-esteem are restored.

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106. The arrangements for child protection are excellent and meet all requirements. The designated person ensures that staff are familiar with the procedures. The school is vigilant and all cases are carefully monitored. The arrangements for students in foster care and those living with relatives other than parents are also good. The school goes out of its way to ensure that personal education plans are in place and has established effective links with the main carers. All students’ medical conditions are well known and catered for. When students are ill or injured they receive a good level of care and attention from the Welfare Officer. Welfare record keeping and resources are good. Parents expressed concern at their meeting about the standard of toilet provision. These have been upgraded recently but only meet the minimum requirements.

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107. Responsibility for health and safety is shared by the PFI contractors and the school; the management of this key area is poor. Despite the schools efforts to ensure students’ safety, there is an urgent need for a whole school health and safety management system and a full risk assessment to be carried out as soon as possible. The contractors’ systems for addressing issues, record keeping and communicating with the school are inadequate. The school has been notified of health and safety issues raised during the inspection.

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108. The procedures for monitoring and supporting students’ personal development are good. Students stay with the same tutor and year co-ordinator throughout their time at school and relationships are very good. Tutors keep good records of each pupil for a range of attributes such as behaviour and attitudes, appearance, attendance and punctuality and homework and these are reported in school reports. There are clear lines of communication for tutors and other pastoral staff. Personal development information is shared well and tutors are able to help and guide students under their tutelage well. Students confirmed Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 39 that their termly academic tutoring sessions were helpful and made them think carefully about how they could improve their academic performance and personal development. Arrangements for the induction of new pupils are very good. Students are helped to find their way around the school and get used to the timetable until they feel ready to cope.

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109. There are strong links with feeder schools with the full involvement of key staff in transition arrangements, including the SEN co-ordinator and learning mentor team. These links greatly assist the process of identifying needs as early as possible. The process is further enhanced by the use of a range of testing procedures on entry. The school accumulates a good knowledge of students’ needs to inform planning; for example, it has identified writing as a key weakness through the administration of an additional test. Statutory reviews for students with statements fully meet requirements. Similar procedures are used well to review the progress of students at “school action plus”. Individual Education Plans for both statemented and “school action plus” students are reviewed regularly in accordance with the recommendations of the code of practice. The inclusion panel fulfils a key role in the school’s procedures. Its

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weekly meeting includes reviewing the progress of individual students and reviewing the level of support received. It also has an assessment role in recommending further assessment when warranted. It therefore gives added strength and rigour to the school’s review and assessment procedures. Another strong feature of provision is the ‘profile of need’, which gives staff detailed information on students’ needs and suggested strategies. Individual Education Plans are a weaker area. Targets are not precise and do not provide a sufficient benchmark against which the extent of a student’s progress can be measured. Target setting procedures for students at “school action” do not fully meet the recommendations of the code of practice and the school’s database still records the now outdated stages of the former code of practice. 110. The monitoring of students’ progress is a central aspect of the inclusion

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programme. On the basis of the information gathered, remedial action is planned for those underachieving. The school is a very caring community and it ensures that different groups of students who are likely to feel isolated, such as the very large number of students who have EAL, are integrated and feel valued. The way that members of the EAL department and learning mentors make themselves available to students on a ‘drop-in’ basis, particularly at lunch-times, makes a significant input to this.

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111. The overall monitoring of students’ progress is good. The school is very aware of the need to fully understand the needs and capabilities of the widely different students who come to the school. In many instances it does not always know the prior attainment of students, many of whom come from outside the immediate area and often from overseas. Initial assessments in Year 7 are now very thorough; they take account of primary school assessments in the core subjects and supplement them with a mix of ability and reading tests as students’ social, economic and linguistic backgrounds. This provides a good baseline by which to judge students’ subsequent progress.

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112. The school makes effective use of ICT to monitor pupils’ progress through a specially devised database that enables teachers and others to have almost immediate access to data showing the progress of individual students as well Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 40 as other groups and sets. The database incorporates facilities for teachers to assess, record and comment on individual progress and if at times the progress reports are succinct they are nonetheless regular, with reporting taking place three times a year.

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113. Monitoring and support of pupils’ progress occurs in other ways such as the weekly individual progress checks and target setting by the tutors and by the annual academic achievement day. On this day the school timetable is suspended so that tutors can carry out more detailed academic progress checks and target setting with students and this provides a good opportunity for parents to be involved in the process. In the last academic year, nearly two- thirds of parents participated in that process.

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114. In later years the school increasingly makes use of national data, which are combined with earlier assessments to establish challenging targets for end of key stage assessments in Year 9 as well as GCSE outcomes in Year 11. The senior managers play an important and effective role in working with the different curriculum leaders to embed these good practices in the different subject areas. Most developing practice is good and, on occasion, very good, though where the subject leadership is ineffective, as in science, monitoring and target setting is less effective. Practice is also less developed in the provision for those students with SEN. Despite the otherwise effective support for those students, their Individual Education Plans, including targets, are less well identified.

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115. Procedures for assessing students’ attainment and progress are good. In most subject areas, teachers carefully explain and illustrate the different levels of attainment and how students can make progress. The procedures are very good in modern foreign languages, music, physical education and drama. Good practice is also evident in mathematics, design and technology, ICT and art. In all other subjects procedures are satisfactory except in science where they are poor. Where assessment practice is good students know the level they are working at and the targets they are aiming for. Frequently these targets are very ambitious and if sometimes over-optimistic, nonetheless reflect the school commitment to improving standards.

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116. Most subject areas make at least satisfactory use of assessment data to improve their practice. Those curriculum areas that assess well are also good at reflecting on their teaching and learning schemes in the light of students’ progress and examination results. At a whole-school level, assessment data is used to identify those students in need of additional support or enhancement in order to make good use of the learning mentors. Assessment data is also being used by the school as part of an ongoing curriculum review that includes the development of more work-related education. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 41 Sixth Form

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117. The school provides very effective support and guidance for sixth form students starting at the end of summer term Year 11. Students are identified as potential sixth formers and they are interviewed and given some individual and impartial guidance about sixth form options, both at Park View and elsewhere, to suit their talents and aspirations. A further careers advisor interview, after aptitude test results are analysed, helps to effectively confirm the suitability of students’ choices. Students were impressed by how much individual attention they received and how helpful it was. Information in the Nexus consortium booklet is clear and backed up by further information from the school on courses. The new, well-written sixth form prospectus will be available shortly. Two sixth form “taster days” at the end of Year 11 also gave students a real flavour of student life.

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118. The induction programme is very good and part of it is based on a key skills communications assignment and some team building challenges that help students to know each other better and “bond” as sixth formers. During those first two weeks students are well versed in how to manage themselves and take responsibility for private study, managing time and coping with the various pressures. The school evaluation of the induction arrangements showed some very positive feedback from students as a great way to start their further education.

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119. Relationships with staff in this small sixth form are very good and students get good quality advice on how to improve their work on an “ongoing” basis. Staff know their students so well that they can detect difficulties and loss of motivation and help them to take action to resolve problems, even those of a personal nature. Students receive good advice when they have their subject half termly reviews and when they consider their own targets and set their own goals. The school has instituted an academic review day throughout the school including the sixth form. Students felt that it helped to consolidate students’ understanding of how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve. The careers education and advice is good. The careers teacher and careers advisor are readily available each week and sixth formers do seek individual advice when they need it. Tutors ensure that career action plans are followed.

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Those students who apply to university get some high quality and individual assistance in completing their applications.

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120. The overall monitoring of students’ performance in the sixth form is good. The recently appointed head of sixth form is in the process of establishing a more robust system of student monitoring and target setting based on national comparative data. However, with most students following vocational courses in either business or ICT, there are already in place tracking systems used by the vocational awarding body. These are used effectively to monitor progress and help students towards successful completion. Students comment very Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 42 positively about the individual support they receive from both the tutorial system and the vocational education tutors.

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121. Assessment practice in the different sixth form courses is good largely because of the clear and structured assessment procedures of GNVQ and advanced vocational (AVCE) courses. The assessment procedures for the mathematics and English GCSE and key skills courses are less rigorous, though satisfactory. Within the vocational courses, staff work with students in using interim assessments to both identify areas where students could further improve their work and modify learning activities to better meet student needs.

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HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

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122. The school has an effective partnership with parents. As the school continues to improve and grow in confidence, parents have become more supportive as they see the benefits the raised standards have caused and see the “fresh start” as a new era for the school. The school’s popularity is increasing and the current Year 7 was oversubscribed. A large number of prospective parents attended the recent open evening.

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123. The response to the parents’ questionnaire was very low. Attendance at the pre-inspection parents’ meeting, however, was adequate to gauge opinions. The majority of parents have positive views of the school and are pleased that their children like school and work hard. They feel that the teaching is good and the school is approachable and well managed. The areas that concern parents include: homework, information about progress, the accuracy of attendance records and the effectiveness of the school in working closely with parents. The inspection team investigated parents’ issues and found that homework arrangements are satisfactory and homework is an active part of current learning. The quality of information parents receive, particularly about progress, is also satisfactory. The school wants to work more closely with parents and sees a true working partnership as fundamental to driving up standards further. Registration arrangement in the afternoon were found to

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have shortcomings. Records indicate that there is a great deal of parental contact about issues relating to attendance, punctuality and behaviour. Students were pleased to say how much reporting of positive progress and good effort was also done and how much families appreciated this.

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124. The partnership with parents is effectively forged in the first interview at the school when information is exchanged and during the induction evening. Reassurance is given that, if there are any language barriers, these will be resolved. The “stepping up” booklet is in five languages and the well-written Year 7 newsletters explain in good detail to new parents about all the special arrangements to help students settle quickly. The school’s recent hard work to improve the partnership with parents has been rewarded by parents contacting the school more readily about issues relating to their children’s education. There are a large number of other letters and communications about issues and general information. The booklet “attendance matters” emphasizes the law and reminds parents of their legal obligations. Other booklets give full and “parent friendly” information on option choices for GCSE and GNVQ courses

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 43 and preparation for National Curriculum tests. Community workers who speak a variety of languages also enhance communication between the school and parents. Parents with EAL are well supported by this service.

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125. The quality of information provided for parents is satisfactory overall. The arrangements for consultation are good and parents have two formal opportunities for this: an academic achievement day and a parents’ evening. Useful booklets explain what to expect and a checklist of what to ask about to maximise parents’ time. Parents are also supplied with an academic achievement record, an easy to understand one page summary of attainment. Further action and targets are negotiated and agreed and signed by pupil, parents and tutor. The full year school reports have strengths in Year 11 when progress on mock GCSEs is reported very well. The one page end of year summary reports for the rest of the school are unsatisfactory and do not contain enough information to give parents a full picture of progress. The space for subject comments is simply too small and some subjects are summarised in as little as three words. These do not meet statutory requirements. The governors’

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annual report to parents and prospectus do not contain all the required information. Other information is generally good. The weekly newsletters and the half termly year group newsletters keep parents fully in touch with all the latest news, information, dates for the diary and how to contact the school directly. There are other opportunities to come to the school, which are being taken by increasing numbers of parents; for example, attending meetings such as the Year 9 options evening, school productions, concerts and sports activities. Attendance levels at parents’ evenings are also rising.

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126. The impact of parents’ involvement on the work of the school is also satisfactory and has both strengths and weaknesses. The Parents’ Association is a small recently formed group who are already trying to gather support for an ambitious international evening to celebrate and share the range of cultural diversity in the school through costume, food, music and dance. No parents currently do any voluntary work in school and parents’ skills are not widely known and used to benefit learning. There are plans to start some parent support groups and some ambitious plans for adult community education in the learning support centre. Not many parents are currently involved in school life and the high number of parents who are difficult to contact or who show little interest or support for their children’s education diminishes this aspect of the partnership they have with the school. There are regular contacts with the

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parents and carers of the students who are most at risk of being educationally excluded and there is regular liaison

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with other community bodies which are in a position to give the most effective support. Links with parents of students with SEN are satisfactory but the information provided to parents on targets, provision and progress is not sufficiently detailed.

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HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED? Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 44 127. Evidence from documents, students, staff and parents clearly indicates that the previous school was not effective in educating students in West Green. With this history, the challenge for Park View Academy was considerable but, three years on, tremendous progress has been made. While the battle to create and secure a successful school has not yet been won decisively, the school now offers students the opportunity to achieve well.

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128. The process of change has not been an easy one; many staff have left, some as a result of their failure to meet the quality thresholds of the new organisation. The good quality of teaching and non-teaching staff and the very good relationships among the staff suggest that the action taken by the headteacher and governors to improve the quality of staff has been successful and justified. The report leading to the award of ‘investors in people’ status revealed that the headteacher enjoys the support and respect of staff.

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129. The headteacher has played the key role in the improvement of the school. He has steered it in a firm and decisive way, winning support for his approach and gradually shifting the expectations of both students and staff. One Year 11 student, who had been disaffected in previous years, was fulsome in her praise of how the headteacher had improved the school and how this had given her the chance to re-appraise her life and her opportunities.

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130. The key achievement of the headteacher is to have embedded good practice within the culture of the school and thereby secured its future. He has been the driving force behind the school’s vision and development but the good practice is also evident in the work of the senior management team and the great majority of middle managers and staff. The school’s further development is therefore not dependent on the power of personality of one individual.

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131. The mission statement is ambitious. It is ‘to create an outstanding, popular school with a distinctive pioneering identity and a success culture which encourages all students to achieve their potential’. The school is now oversubscribed, it has a very individual character and students and staff are expected to be successful. Academic performance does not yet reflect the culture but work seen during the inspection suggest that standards, including test and examination results, will continue to rise.

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132. The vision and aims of the school are also being realised. The school is becoming a focus for the wider community, students are challenged to achieve well and the diversity of the school community is celebrated.

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133. The school is enriched by the high proportion of students who have fluency in two languages (a great intellectual achievement). The cultural and academic benefits of this are recognised and celebrated by the headteacher and the whole school community. The imminent application for language college status is thoroughly appropriate; students achieve well in languages and the leadership of the school and of the modern languages department are excellent.

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134. The headteacher has been imaginative and creative in recruiting and appointing staff. A good example of the effectiveness of this approach has been Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 45 in the success of non-teaching staff in managerial as well as non-managerial posts. Some of the assistant year tutors are non-teachers and they have added many valuable skills and perspectives to pastoral teams’ work.

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135. The governors are very well led. The Chair has a passionate interest in helping young people to achieve well, whatever their cultural or intellectual background. He gives huge commitment to the school and his skills have been very valuable in supporting its improvement.

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136. The governing body is strong. It includes representatives from the local community, parents, teachers, business and the public sector. Governors have a wide knowledge of the school and the issues that it faces. They are able to explain why the strategic decisions have been taken and have a clear view of the school’s direction. They have made a major contribution to the school’s improvement. Raising achievement is at the top of the governing body’s agenda as illustrated by the creation of two committees whose role is to monitor students’ achievement through Years 7 to 9 and Years 10 and 11.

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137. A strong self-evaluation culture has developed under the leadership of the headteacher. His style is clear from his pre-inspection statement. This is full of realistic judgements about the quality of the school and the progress that it has made. It openly addresses achievement issues and the school’s strengths and areas in need of improvement.

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138. Quality issues are tackled through a formal line management structure in which all middle managers are accountable to the team of senior managers, who in turn are accountable to the headteacher. The structure works well. Issues are tackled directly; for example, in science. This is a subject in which students have not achieved as well as they have done in other subjects. To deal with the problem, managers of the department and teachers have been given a great deal of support. This has not had sufficient impact and so recently, changes in the subject’s leadership and management have been made. The line management structure also works well for non-teaching staff.

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139. The senior management team is performing well. It includes a mixture of experienced and relatively inexperienced staff, some of whom have been recently appointed. Collectively they are making a good contribution to the leadership and management of the school. One of the deputy headteachers has responsibility for ensuring that all students are receiving good educational provision. She has skilfully integrated a very large team of teachers and support staff around a range of initiatives and leads them very well. More recent appointees to the senior management team are enhancing its work through the quality of their ideas, their management of other staff and their drive.

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140. Leadership and management are: excellent in modern foreign languages and music; very good in design and technology, ICT, physical education and drama; good in English and mathematics; satisfactory in history, geography and art; unsatisfactory in religious education; and very poor in science.

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141. The administrative team perform their tasks effectively and are very well led and managed. The head of the team is also the focus of communication within Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 46 the school. She thrives on being at the hub of the school, offering vital support to the headteacher and other managers and staff. At the meeting for parents before the inspection, some parents specifically recognised her efficiency and helpfulness.

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142. Educational inclusion is a strength of the school. The appointment of a deputy headteacher with the brief to develop an inclusive learning strategy has ensured that it is at the heart of the school’s agenda. Consequently, there has been considerable investment to ensure that the many different groups of students represented in the school are challenged to succeed. The deployment of a body of skilled support staff has been central to this effort and it is having an impact on many important areas of school life. In particular, it is having a significant impact on the students’ attitudes, values and personal development; the many different racial groups generally behave well in lessons and respect each other’s cultural traditions.

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143. The strong commitment of the school to ensure that no students or groups of students are excluded from its activities is evidenced by the activities of the Inclusion Panel. The work of the panel covers a very wide range of needs. Its weekly meeting acts as a point of referral for all staff and enables the deployment of valuable staffing resources to be reviewed on a regular basis. Panel members are in touch with a wide range of support agencies so that a multi-agency approach can be utilised to obtain the most appropriate support for the needs of individual students. The co-ordination that was previously lacking has now been addressed. A deputy head is line manager for all key staff and members of the school’s inclusive learning team link with all faculties and year teams. The governing body has taken a clear lead in these developments with the formation of an inclusion sub- committee. Governors are very well informed on a wide range of SEN issues.

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144. The team of support staff are a significant strength in the overall provision. Senior management together with the governing body have been very effective in creating a very high level of support where the historical distinction between “teaching” and “non-teaching” roles has been removed but where individuals fulfil a variety of specialist roles very well. The contribution of support staff is clearly evident in the positive responses from students.

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145. Some recommendations of the revised Code of Practice have not yet been fully implemented. Overall progress from previous monitoring reports has been good.

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146. The very detailed inclusive learning handbook is further evidence of the strong commitment the school has in ensuring that all groups of students achieve to the best of their ability. The handbook contains sections on general policy and practice, literacy, SEN, study support centre, ethnic minority achievement and learning mentors.

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147. Overall, the provision for students who have EAL is good. The department is well led and there is good documentation, including an appropriate development plan. The staffing is very good. The accommodation is very good but the use of ICT is limited due to the location of the building. The resources Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 47 are very good. The department makes a significant contribution to the students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development in the sense of worth and value that it gives to the students.

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148. The school has experienced some lack of continuity in financial administration. This has led to some inaccuracies in reporting income and expenditure, although good housekeeping has been maintained over recent months, when the temporary bursar re-modelled the monitoring systems. With these systems and a new experienced bursar in post, there is every confidence that the trend of good administration will continue.

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149. The school’s basic budget is very significantly increased through specific grants. Good procedures are applied to the monitoring of the use and effectiveness of this funding. Similar good information is available to budget holders for learning resources in curriculum areas.

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150. The school has built up a surplus over the last two years of £155,000. This has been placed in reserve to provide for furniture and fittings in the accommodation block currently under construction and for which no allocation was made in the building contract. Much improvement has been made to the school buildings as part of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. As a result, the whole of the facilities management has been transferred to this contract but there have been some significant problems, especially with the buildings maintenance and health and safety. Some of these issues are unresolved and the time spent by senior management overseeing the contract detracts from their core job of assuring the quality of education in the school.

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151. The most recent internal audit of the school’s finances took place in 2000/1 as part of a group audit process. There was only one recommendation made and that has been complied with.

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152. Governors have a good understanding of financial issues and of the relationship of budget planning with the identified needs of the school. Their committees, as well as a finance, personnel and premises committee, include groups targeted at the main areas for improvement. This enables them to ensure that this work has planned funding. However, they have not yet established a best value policy, nor ensured satisfactory consideration of all aspects of best value in the school.

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153. Despite the very high cost-per-pupil, the funding has been successful in substantially raising the quality of education offered. The school, therefore, provides satisfactory value for money.

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154. The headteacher and governors have been successful in establishing a relatively stable, appropriately qualified body of staff and an effective senior management team. A significant proportion of the teaching staff have overseas qualifications; this is not detrimental to the quality of their work. Effective means of broadening the area of working of support staff have been developed which have enhanced the school’s provision. Some have managerial roles in the pastoral teams, which they perform well. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 48 155. The school gained the Investors in People award recently - at the first assessment - demonstrating the quality of established procedures. The school in-service co-ordinator maintains a log of in-service training that has taken place. Training is appropriately targeted at improvement plan objectives and the uptake of training is monitored effectively. The co-ordinator is prioritising school-based training either by making use of expertise within the school or by bringing experts in; this is a well-conceived strategy. There is an in-service training support group consisting of representatives from different areas of the school, although there are too few representatives from the non-teaching staff.

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156. The recent literacy training for teachers and the helpful support given by the school literacy co-ordinator within subject departments has clearly been beneficial in improving classroom practice. Very helpful information sheets have been circulated to all teachers to give a guide to what is good language teaching practice.

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157. Very good systems are in place for the induction of staff and the support of newly qualified teachers; this represents an improvement on the position observed by the Investors in People assessor. An assistant in-service training co-ordinator has been appointed, who is overseeing the newly qualified teachers’ programme; this is sensibly allowing professional development for this colleague and has lightened the load of the co-ordinator. There is a comprehensive newly qualified teacher’s support booklet and an effective monitoring programme, which has recently been reviewed.

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158. The rate of staff absence has fallen and as a result the school has not had to employ as many temporary staff. This has raised the quality of teaching and saved a significant quantity of money. Owing to the long-term absence of a science technician, the other science technicians have too much work to do.

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159. The school is situated on a long but narrow stretch of land in the heart of West Green. Until recently the buildings were in a poor state of repair but, owing to the substantial re-building and re-modelling programme financed through the Private Finance Initiative, they have improved considerably. Nevertheless, the accommodation remains unsatisfactory because of: deficiencies in history, geography, music and religious education; disruption caused by the building programme; and health and safety issues (which have been reported separately to the headteacher and governors).

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160. Some of the new facilities are of a very high quality. They have substantially improved the learning environment, for example in modern foreign languages and ICT. The investment in new facilities is having a beneficial impact on students’ attitudes to learning.

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161. Car parking facilities are totally inadequate. Cars have to be parked nose to tail in a very small car park at the front of the school or else park some distance away owing to restricted ‘on-street’ parking. This results in much wasted time and staff frustration.

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162. Overall, the quantity and quality of resources are satisfactory. The school has enjoyed a high level of investment in ICT, which has resulted in a very Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 49 favourable pupil to computer ratio of 4:1. Even so, mainstream curriculum departments have difficulty in accessing computers. The provision of learning resources in all subject areas other than science, which lacks some teaching materials and apparatus, ranges from satisfactory to very good. A current area of weakness that impinges on all subjects is the library. This is located within the Learning Resource Centre and is currently managed by an external agency, after a six-month closure. Before the resignation of the previous school librarian, a sound development plan had been drawn up. The school is now reviewing aspects of that plan which would involve expanding the current limited book stock, improving access and augmenting the library skills programme. The development of a multimedia collection is dependent on improvements in security, as the current site is open to the public.

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163. The leadership and management of the sixth form on a day-to-day basis is good. The head of sixth form has good knowledge of students’ learning and pastoral needs and works effectively alongside the team of tutors. Good support is also offered by heads of subjects involved in sixth form courses.

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164. A successful short term strategy for the sixth form has been developed to offer good quality provision in ICT, business education and Turkish and opportunity for students to re-take GCSE English and mathematics at GCSE. This has been an appropriate tactic given the very small size of the sixth form and the Haringey ‘Nexus’ arrangement, which envisages students travelling between institutions to enable them to study a broad range of courses.

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165. The strategy has run its course because the Nexus provision has not succeeded in offering a broad and well-planned curriculum to the students. The school is now lacking a coherent long-term vision for its sixth form provision. The next stage of the Haringey Nexus plan is to build a central institution to which all students in East Haringey travel for most of their courses; it is likely to be at least three years before this becomes available. Currently, students who leave Park View at the age of 16 move to a range of colleges or schools, except for a significant proportion (much higher than the national average) who leave education altogether. Students in Years 12 and 13 indicated that they had opted for the restricted provision at Park View because they did not want to follow the Nexus plan. The loss of students to education represents a failure of the system to provide appropriate learning opportunities for all young people.

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166. Education for 16 to 18-year-olds and vocational provision for over 14-years-olds is overseen by the Learning and Skills Council. The mission of the Learning and Skills Council is “to raise participation and attainment through high-quality education and training which puts learners first”. It aims to increase demand for learning by both young people and adults and equalise opportunities through better access to learning. One of their objectives is for 80 per cent of 16 to 18- year-olds to be in structured learning by 2004.

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167. The school needs to develop a strategy for sixth form provision that adequately meets Learning and Skills Council objectives. The school is at the heart of the distinctive West Green community and is therefore readily accessible to a wide range of young people and adults. All year groups will soon be over 200, and more and more adults are being drawn into the school through its developing community provision; this further increases the size of the potential student body. Teaching in the school is good, students have positive attitudes and the curriculum has key strengths, particularly in modern foreign languages and the performing arts, together with the existing sixth form strengths in ICT and business.

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Resources Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 51 168. The sixth form has a small number of students. However, a combination of the small number of courses offered and the high level of funding throughout the age-range means that the sixth form attracts sufficient money to fund its activities and provides satisfactory value for money.

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169. Teachers and support staff are well matched to the needs of the curriculum. Resource levels are satisfactory and sixth form accommodation is good. The accommodation is set to improve further when the new building is complete. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 52 WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

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170. In order to raise standards and improve educational provision, the headteacher, governors and staff should:

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(1) Take steps to raise standards in most subjects and in particular in science and religious education by:

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• ensuring that all staff expect students to produce their best work; • improving the quality of teaching and learning in science; • allocating sufficient curriculum time to religious education so that the demands of the locally agreed syllabus can be met.

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(2) Improve attendance and punctuality by:

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• ensuring that all staff consistently apply pressure on students to attend and to be punctual both at the start of the day and to lessons; • developing a method of recording afternoon attendance accurately; • setting up the attendance software so that it differentiates between punctuality and unauthorised absence more accurately; • pressing the local education authority for more time from the education welfare officer; • enabling tutors to have longer access to attendance profiles in order to record reasons for absence.

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(3) Increase the curriculum time for world studies so that students are able to achieve well in history, geography and religious education during Years 7 to 9.

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(4) Improve the behaviour of a minority of students by ensuring that all staff apply the very good behaviour management procedures consistently.

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(5) Improve the management of the accommodation and health and safety procedures by:

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• agreeing more effective strategies with the contractor for maintaining the building which result in less management time being used to chase outstanding issues; • ensuring that a comprehensive health and safety policy is created and implemented; • conducting a full-scale risk assessment of the site and of subject areas; • tackling immediately the health and safety issues reported to the school following the inspection.

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The school improvement plan identifies issues 1, 2, 4 and 5.

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Sixth form Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 53 (1) Develop a long-term strategy for the sixth form that improves educational opportunities for students and the local community in West Green by meeting their learning needs more effectively.

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(2) Broaden the curriculum by offering courses that build on the good provision made in Years 7 to 11.

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(3) Raise standards by ensuring that the good teaching and learning seen in sixth form classes is reflected in higher examination results. Park View Academy - 54

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of lessons observed Years 7 – 11 145

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and students 64

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentage 0 14 57 29 0 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 the percentages for the sixth form as each lesson represents more than seven percentage points.

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Students on the school’s roll Y7 – Y11 Sixth form

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of students on the school’s roll 1,050 57

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of full-time students known to be eligible for free school meals 650 N/a

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Special educational needs Y7 – Y11 Sixth form

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Number of students with statements of special educational needs 20 0

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Number of students on the school’s special educational needs register 351 0

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English as an additional language No of students

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Number of students with English as an additional language 751

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Pupil mobility in the last school year No of students

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Students who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 84

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Students who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 121 Park View Academy - 55 Attendance

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

National comparative data 7.8 National comparative data 1.2 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year.

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Attainment at the end of Years 7 to 9 (Year 9) Year Boys Girls Total Number of registered students in final year of Years 7 to 9 for the latest reporting year 2002 101 84 185

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Boys 41 53 37 Numbers of students at NC level 5 and above Girls 42 34 29

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentage of students School 47 (29) 47 (36) 36 (27) at NC level 5 or above National 66 (64) 67 (66) 66 (66)

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Percentage of students School 9 (4) 26 (16) 10 (11) at NC level 6 or above National 32 (31) 45 (43) 33 (34)

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Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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Boys 49 50 41 Numbers of students at NC level 5 and above Girls 52 37 31

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Percentage of students School 52 (25) 47 (36) 38 (25) at NC level 5 or above National 67 (65) 70 (68) 67 (64)

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Percentage of students School 14 (6) 25 (10) 14 (0) at NC level 6 or above National 32 (31) 44 (42) 34 (33)

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Park View Academy - 56 Attainment at the end of Years 10 and 11 (Year 11) Year Boys Girls Total Number of registered students in final year of Years 10 and 11 for the latest reporting year 2002 65 54 119

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GCSE results 5 or more grades A* to C 5 or more grades A*-G 1 or more grades A*-G

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Boys 11 55 70 Numbers of students achieving the standard specified Girls 9 39 53

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School 18 (14) 77 (80) 98 (97) Percentage of students achieving the standard specified National 50 (48) 91 (91) 96 (96) Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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Average point score School 24 (26) per pupil National 39.8 (39) Figures in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Vocational qualifications Number % success rate

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number studying for approved vocational qualifications or units and School 34 53[N/A] the percentage of those students who achieved all those they studied National 65

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Attainment at the end of the sixth form (Year 13) Number of students aged 16, 17 and 18 on roll in January of the latest reporting year Year Boys Girls Total who were entered for GCE A-level or AS-level examinations 2001* 0 1 1

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

For candidates entered for GCE A / AS / Advanced GNVQ / VCE examinations

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Average point score per candidate 3.6 4.4 4.2

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

National Average point score per candidate 16.9 18 17.5

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

For candidates entered for GCE A / AS examinations For candidates entered for Advanced GNVQ / VCE examinations

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of candidates 16 25 41 2 5 7 School

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Average point score per candidate 4.1 4.3 4.2 0 4.8 3.4

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National Average point score per candidate 16.9 17.9 17.4 9.8 11.4 10.6 Figures in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

* The difference between number of candidates aged 16, 17 and 18 entered for examinations and the number of examination entries is because most students entered for Turkish were aged under 16. Park View Academy - 57 Ethnic background of students Exclusions in the last school year

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Categories used in the Annual School Census No of students on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

White – any other White background 393 36 3

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Mixed – White and Black Caribbean 31 1 0

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Mixed – any other mixed background 1 1 0

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Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 6 1 0

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Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 44 3 0

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Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 37 0 0

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Black or Black British – Caribbean 159 18 1

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Black or Black British – African 172 28 0

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Black or Black British – any other Black background 10 13 2

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The table gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of students excluded.

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Teachers and classes Financial information

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Qualified teachers and classes: Y7 – Y11

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 68.5 Financial year 2001-02

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Number of students per qualified teacher 15.9

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total number of education support staff 17 Total income 4,539,184

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Total aggregate hours worked per week 582 Total expenditure 4,505,642

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PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Deployment of teachers: Y7 – Y11 Expenditure per pupil 4,645 Percentage of time teachers spend in contact with classes 72% Balance brought forward from previous year 0

p.57

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Average teaching group size: Y7 – Y11 Balance carried forward to next year 33,542

p.57

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Years 10 and 11 19.3 FTE means full-time equivalent. Park View Academy - 58 Recruitment of teachers

p.57

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 45

p.58

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 58

p.58

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 8.5

p.58

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 7.5

p.58

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 1 FTE means full-time equivalent. Park View Academy - 59 Results of the survey of parents and carers

p.58

Questionnaire return rate

Percentage of responses in each category

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

Strongl y agree Tend to agree Tend to disagr ee Strongl y disagr ee Don’t know

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

My child is making good progress in school. 28 48 7 4 13

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

Behaviour in the school is good. 23 45 21 3 8

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 17 37 30 14 3

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 28 35 17 11 8

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 42 46 7 3 1

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 61 31 4 3 1

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

The school works closely with parents. 27 48 13 7 6

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

The school is well led and managed. 32 49 4 4 10

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 38 44 3 4 11

p.59

Questionnaire return rate

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 46 38 4 3 8 Park View Academy - 60

p.59

THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES IN KEY STAGES 3 AND 4

Overall, the quality of provision in English is good.

p.60

THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES IN KEY STAGES 3 AND 4

Strengths • Teaching is good. • The analysis of the progress of different groups of students is good. • Planning of lessons and units of work to match students’ prior attainment is done well, especially in Years 7 to 9. • Relationships between students and teachers in lessons are good. • Performance in English Literature in GCSE is better than in most other subjects.

p.60

THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES IN KEY STAGES 3 AND 4

Areas for Improvement • More regular assessment and recording of students’ levels of attainment throughout the school year. • Greater use of ICT for writing. • Quicker marking of first drafts of writing for students whose first language is not English.

p.60

THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES IN KEY STAGES 3 AND 4

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Well below

p.60

average

Park View Academy - 61 Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Students’ performance in the National Curriculum tests at the end of Year 9, in 2002, was well below average compared with schools nationally and average compared with similar schools. Standards are improving as shown by rising National Curriculum test results and the work of students in the current Year 9 in lessons and the samples of writing. The pupils who took the National Curriculum tests in 2002 made good progress when the results are compared with the same pupils’ results in the Year 6 National Curriculum tests. GCSE results in English were well below the national average in 2001 for the proportion reaching A* - C grade; the proportion achieving a graded pass A* - G was similar to the average for all schools nationally. The proportion of students gaining A* - C passes in 2002 was slightly higher, but

p.61

average

still well below national levels. The written work of the current Year 11 suggests that this level will be maintained. Results in GCSE English Literature are better than they are in English, although they are also still well below national levels; performance in English Literature is better than in most other school subjects. Students’ speaking and reading skills are better than their writing skills on entry to the school. The reading and writing skills of students in the higher-attaining groups are at or near to the levels expected for their age group. Girls’ attainment in English at the end of Years 9 and 11 is higher than that of boys, as it is nationally. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.61

Good Good

Students’ behaviour Good Good Park View Academy - 62 ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year

p.61

Good Good

How well students achieve Satisfactory Satisfactory

p.62

Good Good

Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): Progress in lessons is good for all students because teachers plan lessons well and make clear demands on students. The school’s tracking of progress shows that students enter the school with levels of English well below the national average and that they make progress which is at least satisfactory by the age of fourteen. There is no marked difference between the progress of girls and boys, although test and examination results show that the overall attainment of girls is higher than that of boys. Poor attendance prevents some students from achieving as well as they could. Some students, particularly some of those for whom English is not their first language, make good progress as their understanding and familiarity with English increases. The school’s detailed analysis of students’ achievement in English shows that there

p.62

Good Good

are some discernible differences in the progress of students from different ethnic minority groups. In the analysis completed in 2002, just under half of the students from Kurdish, Turkish and Black Caribbean origins did not achieve their targets by the age of 14, while students from Bangladeshi, Somali and Black African origins made better than average progress. The focus on teaching of writing skills is particularly helpful for raising achievement in English as this is the weakest of the language skills for most underachieving students. The emphasis on linking oral discussion to written language structures helps to build students’ accuracy in constructing sentences.

p.62

Good Good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year

p.62

Good Good

Quality of Teaching Good Good Quality of the curriculum Good Good

p.62

Good Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision Good Quality of assessment and progress monitoring Good

p.62

Good Good

Leadership and management Good Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality Good Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Good

p.62

Good Good

171. Good progress has been made to improve the English curriculum since the previous inspection. New well-planned schemes of work, some adapted from the progress units of the National Literacy Strategy, are used well to help to improve students’ writing. The analysis of students’ performance in national Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 63 tests and examinations is now thorough but the department needs to standardise and improve procedures for assessing and recording students’ progress after the completion of units of work.

p.62

Good Good

172. In all the lessons observed the objectives were made clear to students and there was a shared sense of purpose. All lessons incorporated a language starting exercise, a development and activity section and a plenary evaluation of what had been learned. The quality of teaching and learning ranges from satisfactory to very good, reflecting differences in experience and skill of teachers. In the most successful lessons teachers model clear standard English speech patterns well and encourage responding students to practise using complete sentences and phrases in both oral and written answers. Marking is done regularly and helps students to understand mistakes and to improve. Some students at the early stage of learning English and some students with SEN would benefit from having first drafts of writing checked more quickly than is done at present. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 64

p.63

Good Good

Overall, the quality of provision in mathematics is satisfactory.

p.64

Good Good

Strengths • Relationships with and belief in the students, coupled with a commitment to bring out the best in them. • Rising National Curriculum test results. • Improvements since the last HMI visit, such as developing new schemes of work. • The detailed gathering and analysis of assessment data.

p.64

Good Good

Areas for Improvement • Examination and test results. • Improve the extent of planned ICT and literacy provision, so as to increase standards and widen students’ learning experiences. • Increase the extent to which members of the department share good teaching practice to change satisfactory teaching into good teaching. • Implement and develop further plans to increase the extent to which students are involved in their own assessment. • Review the organisation of the written development plan so that its overall direction and thrust is crystal clear to all readers.

p.64

Good Good

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Well below

p.64

average

Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Students enter the school with well below average levels of attainment. Improvements in care and presentation of work are apparent several weeks after starting at the school. At the end of Year 9 and at the end of Year 11 standards are similar to those in English and higher than those in science. National Curriculum test results were well below the national average in 2002 but are steadily rising. The results were well above average compared with similar schools in 2002. The pupils who took the National Curriculum tests in 2002 made very good progress when the results are compared with the same pupils’ results in the Year 6 National Curriculum tests. Students have low standards of numeracy. Boys’ standards are slightly higher than those of girls. GCSE results in 2002 were broadly similar to those in 2001.

p.64

average

Boys significantly outperform girls at GCSE. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.64

Satisfactory Satisfactory

Students’ behaviour Satisfactory Satisfactory Park View Academy - 65 ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 How well students achieve Satisfactory Satisfactory Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): There are no significant differences in achievement between different ethnic groups during Years 7 to 9. Students with SEN and gifted and talented students achieve as well as their peers during Years 7 to 9 but the small amount of information regarding students’ attainments at Year 6 makes comparisons difficult. Support teachers for students with SEN have a good knowledge of their individual needs and this enables the students to understand the work and make progress. During Years 10 and 11, Black Caribbean boys and Kurdish and Turkish girls make less progress than other groups. Teachers manage students well and this creates a positive working climate in

p.64

Satisfactory Satisfactory

which satisfactory learning takes place. Teachers do not always give students enough feedback on what they need to do to improve the quality of their work and this slows down their progress. SEN students’ and gifted and talented students’ levels of achievements are the same as the overall achievements of other students during Years 10 and 11. The quality of teaching and learning are improving, particularly as a result of good lesson planning and this is raising standards. Poor levels of attendance and punctuality have an adverse impact on standards. The limited use of ICT to help pupils learn impedes their progress.

p.65

Satisfactory Satisfactory

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 Quality of Teaching Satisfactory Satisfactory Quality of the curriculum Satisfactory Satisfactory

p.65

Satisfactory Satisfactory

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.65

Satisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.65

Good

Leadership and management Good Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.65

Good

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the previous HMI visit Good

p.65

Good

173. Improvements in teaching and learning are beginning to have a positive impact on standards throughout. This is a result of the commitment of staff and their leadership. These improvements may be confidently expected to have an increasing effect on standards. Staff act with the highest professional standards when managing challenging students. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 66 SCIENCE

p.65

Good

Overall, the quality of provision in science is unsatisfactory.

p.66

Good

Strengths • Decisive action is being taken by senior management to tackle weaknesses in the subject. • The technician supports teachers well.

p.66

Good

Areas for Improvement • Standards; particularly examination and test results. • The quality of teaching and learning. • Leadership and management of the subject. • Effective use of assessment data to target pupils’ learning needs.

p.66

Good

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Well below

p.66

average

Standards on entry of the current Year 7 were below average; in previous years they were well below average. National Curriculum test results were in the lowest 5% of school nationally and well below national averages for similar schools in 2002; they were higher than the 2001 results. Standards are lower in science than they are in English and mathematics. Standards achieved by boys and girls are similar. GCSE results are also well below national averages; boys and girls achieve similarly. The comparative achievement of students in science is below that of most other subjects. Students of all ability profiles have not grasped key scientific concepts because they have not been taught well enough. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.66

Satisfactory Satisfactory

Students’ behaviour Satisfactory Satisfactory

p.66

Satisfactory Satisfactory

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 How well students achieve Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Park View Academy - 67 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): The quality of teaching is uneven; a relatively high proportion is unsatisfactory and the head of department has not developed effective procedures for raising its quality. When teaching is unsatisfactory students do not learn well and this is the key reason for underachievement. The other key reason for underachievement is that schemes of work have not been planned well enough; improved schemes have recently been produced but have yet to have an impact on students’ learning. The teaching of some lessons is good and students in these classes make good progress. Some teachers skilfully use question and answer techniques to reinforce students’ understanding. There is no significant difference between the achievement of boys or girls.

p.66

Satisfactory Satisfactory

The progress of students is not monitored well enough and this means that work is not planned to meet individual learning needs. In some lessons students were given incorrect scientific information. Students are not taught how to conduct investigations properly and as a result they do not make appropriate gains in understanding during these sessions. Display is poor and this gives negative messages to the students about the value of learning. Poor punctuality disrupts the start of lessons and reduces teaching and learning time. Educational Provision Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 Quality of Teaching Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Quality of the curriculum Satisfactory Satisfactory

p.67

Satisfactory Satisfactory

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision Unsatisfactory

p.67

Satisfactory Satisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.67

Leadership and management Very poor

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.67

Very poor

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Satisfactory

p.67

Very poor

174. The post-holder of head of science has recently left, leaving a very poorly managed department. Almost all areas of management have been neglected. A science consultant and team of local authority personnel have recently made very significant contributions to the work of the department and have set in place structures that will allow further improvements to take place. There are personnel in the department with commitment and skills who are ready to be led effectively. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 68 175. Schemes of work for Years 7 and 8 are now in place, that for Year 9 needs further work. A scheme has been imported for Year 10 and the GCSE syllabus has been changed to match this. Money has been spent on text books; however, there is a need for a greater number of these so that students can take them home for learning. Low cost revision texts would also help raise standards. The provision for ICT is inadequate; the ICT aspects of the National

p.67

Very poor

Curriculum cannot be effectively taught.

p.68

Very poor

176. The technical support available for the department is currently inadequate due to the long-term absence of a member of staff. The routine inspection and management of the health and safety aspects of the science department have been neglected.

p.68

Very poor

Overall, the quality of provision in art is good.

p.68

Very poor

Strengths • Excellent use of the support assistant. • Programme of gallery visits. • High quality work from some students with SEN.

p.68

Very poor

Areas for Improvement • The need to focus on art as a creative subject in all topics. • ICT in art. • Review the impact of the Year 7 carousel on standards in art. • The use of images drawn from students’ own cultural heritage.

p.68

Very poor

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Well below

p.68

Average

Attainment on entry is well below the national average. Assessments at the end of Year 9 show the proportion of students gaining Level 5 and above is well below the national average. Some excellent work was seen in the aboriginal project with Year 7 students, and a pupil with SEN produced an exciting painting in the aboriginal style using colour in a vibrant and exciting way. GCSE results in 2001 were well below the national average for both grades A*/C and average point score. They have improved in 2002. Work seen in Years 10 and 11 indicates that the improvement in standards already happening will continue. Sketch books and portfolios of work are extensive and much work is of high quality. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.68

Good Good

Students’ behaviour Satisfactory Satisfactory Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

p.68

Good Good

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 69 ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10/11

p.68

Good Good

How well students achieve Satisfactory Good Students, including those with SEN, make satisfactory progress in all years. There is no significant difference between the attainment of boys and girls, or of any ethnic groupings. More able students who take advantage of extension activities make good progress, and students with SEN often attain at least as well as their peers. The curriculum covers National Curriculum requirements, but some topics are not sufficiently focused on the creative needs of art. The quality of the teaching has improved and this is raising standards. The planning of lessons is good; activities are well structured enabling students to progress logically through a series of tasks which develop their learning. Students are introduced to the specialist language of the subject and this helps to develop their literacy skills. Good relationships with the students enables teachers to develop a constructive

p.69

Good Good

learning environment. The programme of gallery visits provides a significant extension to the curriculum for all students and helps to raise standards.

p.69

Good Good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.69

Good Good

Quality of Teaching Good Very good Quality of the curriculum Satisfactory Satisfactory

p.69

Good Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.69

Good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.69

Good

Leadership and management Satisfactory Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.69

Good

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Good

p.69

Good

Overall, the quality of provision in design and technology is good. Park View Academy - 70 Strengths • Students in Years 7-10 are increasingly achieving well. • Teaching is good overall. • Curriculum and assessment planning are very good. • There is very good leadership of a developing team.

p.69

Good

Areas for Improvement • The school does not meet the National Curriculum requirement for design and technology in Years 10 and 11. • The strong teaching and assessment schemes are not fully embedded in all practice. Park View Academy - 71 Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Well below

p.70

Well below average

Teacher Assessments at the end of Year 9 indicate standards to be well below average. Standards at the end of Year 9 have improved recently because of the good teaching and very good learning schemes that have improved students’ knowledge and skills. GCSE results rose in 2001, with around a quarter of students gaining A*-C grades; a similar proportion gained A*-C grades in 2002. Students who failed to gain a GCSE did so because of poor attendance. Standards are highest in food and resistant materials. Standards in graphics are too low. Standards in Year 11 continue to be adversely affected by previous problems in provision but students in Year 10 demonstrate design and make skills that are stronger. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.71

Good Good

Students’ behaviour Satisfactory Satisfactory

p.71

Good Good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.71

Good Good

How well students achieve Good Satisfactory Park View Academy - 72 In Years 7-9, the explicit use of literacy improvement activities such as key word and sequencing tasks helps students make progress in aspects of design and planning; this is particularly beneficial to the high proportion of students with SEN and for whom English is an additional language. Students are also able to make good progress in their practical skills by working with a wide variety of materials including metal, wood, textiles, plastic and food. As part of this the students gain some basic understanding of systems through simple mechanical and electronic assembly. Increasing ICT use is also helping students improve planning and presentation. Teachers plan lessons well; for example, by using effective starter activities which help focus students on the main lesson tasks. Teachers manage students well and this creates a constructive and safe working

p.71

Good Good

environment. Effective question and answer sessions enable teachers to reinforce students’ learning. Most students are interested and involved in their work, though there is a significant minority who make less effective progress through poor attitude and application. Overall pupil progress in Years 10-11 is satisfactory, though this masks considerable differences between the two years. Year 11 students have had a more disrupted experience with periods of unsatisfactory provision in earlier years. Attendance is often lower and this affects work on the major design and make project. Teachers are making considerable efforts to ensure that Year 11 students make sufficient progress to reach GCSE standards broadly line with the most recent years. Progress of Year 10 students is good and much of the work is comparable to much of that found in Year 11

p.72

Good Good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.72

Good Good

Quality of Teaching Good Good Quality of the curriculum Good Satisfactory

p.72

Good Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.72

Satisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.72

Leadership and management Very Good

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.72

Very good

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Good

p.72

Very good

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 73 177. The dedicated and hard working subject leader sets high standards and has had a major impact on improving provision. With the help of her more experienced colleagues, she has provided very effective support to a new team of specialists leading to the development of a very good curriculum and potentially excellent assessment procedures. The subject leader has been active in establishment of a new design and technology area and the teachers, with the support of a very good technician, have created an attractive area with excellent displays. Joint activities with other subjects and public displays have also been effective in raising the profile of the subject.

p.72

Very good

178. Although the subject has made good progress recently, the school does not meet the National Curriculum requirement for all students to take a design and technology course unless they follow a more appropriate and alternative provision. Furthermore, the new accommodation includes only one food technology workroom - modest given the increasing size of the school - and resources for such a new facility are only just adequate. Equipment for computer aided design and manufacture is limited and there is a lack of powered tools for cutting and shaping materials.

p.73

Very good

Overall, the quality of provision in geography is unsatisfactory.

p.73

Very good

Strengths • The consistently good standard of teaching and learning in all lessons seen. • Assessment and monitoring of students’ work in Years 10 and 11. • Good schemes of work available to teachers and students on the intranet well support lesson planning and students’ independent learning.

p.73

Very good

Areas for Improvement • Too little curriculum time in Years 7, 8 and 9. • Too little progress in these years. • Standards are too low.

p.73

Very good

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Below

p.73

Well below average

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 74 Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Teachers’ Assessments at the end of Year 9 show standards in line with the borough average, but below national averages. Students were tested for the first time this year. This test was not sufficiently stringent because school standards were not compared carefully enough with national standards. In Years 7, 8 and 9 standards are well below what they should be because students do not get enough lessons to study the subject widely enough or in sufficient depth. GCSE results rose in 2002 but from a very low base; they were well below national averages. In 2001 and 2002, GCSE results were lower than the results students gained in most of their other subjects. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.73

Good Good

Students’ behaviour Good Good Park View Academy - 75 ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.74

Good

Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): The quality of teaching has improved and this explains the good achievement of students in Years 10 and 11 compared with previous years’ GCSE results. All students respond to the good teaching and learn well in lessons. This is because the high standard of lesson planning includes all the students in a class, whatever their ability. Books and learning materials were entirely appropriate in all lessons seen. During Years 7, 8 and 9 students do not acquire enough knowledge and basic skills to form a strong foundation upon which to develop successful GCSE study. Teachers are authoritative and present the subject in an interesting way. All lessons fully support the weak literacy skills of some of the students, allowing them to make the same progress as the rest. Activities are carefully adapted for those with SEN and this helps them to learn.

p.75

Good

Extension work is routinely set for gifted and talented students. Homework is regularly set and helps achievement.

p.75

Good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.75

Good

Quality of Teaching Good Good Quality of the curriculum Poor Good

p.75

Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.75

Satisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.75

Satisfactory

Leadership and management Satisfactory Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.75

Satisfactory

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Satisfactory

p.75

Satisfactory

179. The newly appointed subject co-ordinator has made a good start in raising achievement. Detailed and well-developed schemes of work, which are posted on the intranet, now fully support teaching and help students to learn independently. The assessment of work and the monitoring of students’ progress in Years 10 and 11 is a developing strength which is already leading to improved standards.

p.75

Satisfactory

HISTORY Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 76 Overall, the quality of provision in history is unsatisfactory.

p.75

Satisfactory

Strengths • The quality of teaching is good overall. • Lessons are very well planned to meet the needs of a diverse group of students. • The department recognises the importance of developing literacy skills.

p.76

Satisfactory

Areas for Improvement • Insufficient curriculum time is accorded to history, and this is reflected in low levels of achievement and attainment across the range. • Assessment practices. • Target setting for individual students. Park View Academy - 77 Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Below

p.76

Below average

Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Students in Years 7 to 9 have good oral skills, but analytical skills and, to a greater extent, writing skills are less assured. Students have a basic understanding of the major historical events and personalities. They appreciate that history is based on evidence. Most students can distinguish between fact and opinion; they understand that the past has been interpreted in different ways. In 2002, 28 per cent of students attained grades A* to C at GCSE, which was well below the national average. These results followed a similar pattern of low results in 2001 and 2000. Students achieve lower GCSE results in history than in their other subjects. No significant differences were seen in standards between ethnic groups or between girls and boys. Standards of work seen in Years 10 and 11 show more able students interpreting

p.77

Below average

evidence effectively to produce fluent and well reasoned arguments. Lower- attaining students, whilst using sources to support their narratives, can draw only simple conclusions. The majority of students participate intelligently in class, demonstrating satisfactory to very good levels of recall. Irrespective of ability, some students show less diligence in maintaining written work, in attending school regularly and thus in organising themselves to succeed in the final examination. By the end of Year 11, many students have not yet developed independent working habits. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.77

Good Satisfactory

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.77

Satisfactory

Park View Academy - 78 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): Students arrive at the school from a multiplicity of backgrounds with few skills in history. They make satisfactory progress in lessons largely due to good teaching of basic skills, including literacy, and the careful selection of topics which promote active interest. However, the overall progress and attainment of all students is seriously limited on account of the constraints imposed by the school timetable. The provision of history lessons is currently insufficient for Years 7 and 8, and for three out of five groups in Year 9. The limited provision at Years 7 to 9 means that students begin the GCSE course at a disadvantage, and may explain the low numbers opting to continue to study the subject in Year 10. School value added tables from Years 7 to 9 show that progress is less than

p.78

Satisfactory

expected in history. The good teaching, which is continuing to improve, enables students to make satisfactory progress in Years 10 and 11. Lower-attaining students and those with SEN, including EAL, make similar rates of progress to their peers because of focused support from their teachers and the high quality of differentiated teaching materials, such as writing frames and scaffolding, which are used in class. More able students are also well served by a very good range of extension activities.

p.78

Satisfactory

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.78

Satisfactory

Quality of Teaching Good Good Quality of the curriculum Unsatisfacto

p.78

Satisfactory

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.78

Satisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.78

Satisfactory

Leadership and management Satisfactory Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.78

Satisfactory

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Unsatisfacto

p.78

ry

Improvement since the last inspection Satisfactory 180. Aspects of provision in history are improving. There are positive features to the department, in particular to short and long-term planning. Lessons are very well planned, clearly structured and purposeful. Teachers have appropriate expectations in the classroom and select clear learning outcomes, which they share with students. There is a good blend of exposition, practical tasks and individual consolidation through application. Excellent use is made of open, targeted and differentiated questioning to elicit critical responses from pupils. Good practice was observed in the setting of extended writing exercises and in the structured approach to the teaching of literacy. Programmes of Study also Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 79 provide opportunities for the development of numeracy and ICT skills. Topics of study reflect the ethnic diversity of the classroom and help towards the

p.78

ry

development of moral and social understanding. The policy on assessment is still developing. The quality of marking remains variable. Teachers differ in their approach to correcting errors in literacy and the quality of constructive feedback they give to students. There are also inconsistencies in the monitoring of class work. There is no clear policy of targeting for individual improvement. Some opportunities are lost to enhance the present poor accommodation by raising the standard of display to celebrate pupils’ achievement.

p.79

ry

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

p.79

ry

Overall, the quality of provision in information and communication technology is good.

p.79

ry

Strengths • Quality of teaching: strong core of experienced and fully qualified staff. • Developing quality of pupils’ achievement, and some very good coursework. • Very good departmental management, targeted on curriculum and achievement. • Good processes for feedback to students and encouragement to improve their work. • Good use of ICT in major curricular areas. • Development of the school’s intranet as a key learning resource. • Implementation of GNVQ programmes in Years 7-11 and VCE in 6th Form.

p.79

ry

Areas for improvement • Standards of attainment remain well below national average throughout. • Pupil behaviour and behaviour management in some lessons. • ICT entitlement for all students and numbers choosing the specialist option in Years 10 and 11. • Access to ICT teaching resources for all departments.

p.79

ry

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11

p.79

ry

Tests and Examinations Below average Well below average Seen during the inspection Well below

p.79

Well below average

Park View Academy - 80 Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Teacher Assessments are well below national averages. Most students enter the school with levels of attainment well below the national average. In addition, many are working in a second or even third language. Comparisons with national norms can therefore be misleading, and obscure the very real progress that is being made by students within a context of good teaching and outstanding resources. GCSE results were well below average in 2002 and fell compared with results in 2001. Students did relatively less well at GCSE in 2002 than they did in their other subjects. Standards seen were higher than GCSE results indicate, reflecting improvement in the quality of teaching. Of the 33 students who took intermediate level GNVQ in 2002, 58% passed the examination compared with 68% nationally.

p.80

Well below average

All students are able to use a variety of software packages, including desktop publishing software, spreadsheets, databases and control technology. More able students are able to make good use of the sophisticated database functions.

p.80

Well below average

Students’ attitudes to the subject Satisfactory Students’ behaviour Satisfactory Park View Academy - 81 Achievement and progress Year 9 Year 11 How well students achieve Good Satisfactory Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): The quality of teaching is improving, which is the main reason why levels of achievement are rising. The school offers extension work in ICT for gifted and talented students and there is equally strong help for those with SEN where the inclusion register ensures that all staff are aware of and can respond to issues for individuals. Some teachers do not manage the students well enough particularly in Years 10 and 11 and this has a negative impact on learning. The use of learning assistants to work with non English speakers ensures that they make good progress; the quality of such provision is particularly good for speakers of Turkish and Kurdish.

p.80

Well below average

Learning is enhanced by teachers’ good planning, which results in a range of approaches being used to meet the learning needs of all the students. Deficiencies in teachers’ classroom management prevent some students from learning as well as they could. In the development of literacy, excellent wall displays contribute to the learning of specialist vocabulary.

p.81

Well below average

Educational Provision Years 7 to 9 Years 10 and 11 Quality of Teaching Good Satisfactory Quality of Learning Good Satisfactory Quality of the curriculum Very good Good

p.81

Well below average

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision Good

p.81

Well below average

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.81

Leadership and management Very good

Effectiveness of action to improve quality Very good

p.81

Leadership and management Very good

Adequacy of resources Very good Adequacy of accommodation Very good Improvement since the last inspection Very good

p.81

Leadership and management Very good

181. There is a clear sense of direction from the subject leadership on strategies to improve achievement. Development planning ensures that resources and training are targeted on key issues of attainment, with well-developed procedures to monitor their impact. The school was late to take advantage of NOF training, but that is now well established and beginning to make an impact. There are now good procedures for ensuring that National Curriculum ICT requirements are embedded in all departments’ schemes of work, and for tracking the attainment of students in those components (such as data logging and control technology) which cannot be delivered in discrete ICT lessons. Faculty meetings are not purely administrative, but focus on the production and Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 82 evaluation of teaching materials and the sharing of good practice and information and also ensure that colleagues have a shared understanding of

p.81

Leadership and management Very good

the core assessment criteria. The contribution of the ICT technician to robustly operating networks is especially useful.

p.82

Leadership and management Very good

Overall, the quality of provision in modern languages is good .

p.82

Leadership and management Very good

Strengths • Leadership of the department and the capacity to improve further. • Procedures for assessing students’ progress.

p.82

Leadership and management Very good

Areas for Improvement • Provide work in reading and writing which is better suited to individual learning needs. • Improve the use of ICT as tool for learning. Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Below

p.82

Average

Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Teacher Assessment at the end of Year 9 is below national averages. French GCSE results are below national averages. Students achieve higher results at GCSE in French than they do in most of their other subjects. Turkish GCSE results are very high compared with national results. Students in Year 10 are making good progress in French. Small number of GCSE entrants in six other community languages with a high level of success. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.82

Satisfactory Good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Y7 - Y9 Y10 - Y11 How well students achieve Good Good Park View Academy - 83 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): Students with EAL have previous experience of learning an additional language and make good use of their skills. Lack of work specifically matched to their abilities restricts the progress of students with SEN and gifted and talented students. Insufficient in-class support slows the progress of pupils with SEN. In some lessons unsatisfactory behaviour by boys restricts learning. Teachers set clear lesson objectives and review progress at the end of lessons well. Assessment and progress monitoring is a significant strength and has a major impact on improving students’ learning. A wide range of resources are successfully used by teachers to enliven their teaching. The breadth of curriculum provision enhances opportunities for all students to

p.82

Satisfactory Good

achieve well in languages. Teachers teach using the language rather than through English and this enhances students’ progress. Teachers high language skills provide strong role models for the students.

p.83

Satisfactory Good

Educational Provision Y7 - 9 Y10 - 11 Quality of Teaching Satisfactory Good Quality of the curriculum Good Very good

p.83

Satisfactory Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.83

Satisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.83

Leadership and management Excellent

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.83

Excellent

Adequacy of resources Very good Adequacy of accommodation Excellent Improvement since the last inspection Good

p.83

Excellent

182. The newly appointed curriculum team leader is highly skilled and has significantly improved the quality of the department’s work in a very short time; she is an outstanding role model within the department and the school. Good schemes of work have been developed together with high quality lesson plans; very good assessment and progress monitoring arrangements are in place; the quality of teaching and learning is monitored carefully; and strong teamwork has been established. Innovative planning such as the teaching of French in feeder schools is at an early stage, but it has the potential to enhance language learning in the future. This development shows the department’s commitment to raising standards and to involving the community in its work.

p.83

Excellent

MUSIC Park View Academy - 84 Overall, the quality of provision in music is very good.

p.83

Excellent

Strengths • Achievement of students throughout the school is very good. • Students join in enthusiastically with music both in class and after school. • Teaching is very good and recognises the cultural richness of the students. • Provision for personal development is very good. • Leadership is excellent.

p.84

Excellent

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Average None taken Seen during the inspection Average Average Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Students’ work is strongest in performance, but they are developing a good level of vocabulary of technical musical terms, which they use well to describe both the music they listen to and their own performance. There have been no GCSE classes in recent years; there are groups currently in both Years 10 and 11. Standards of work seen in both years are above average in performing and composing but lower in listening and appraising, in line with students’ lower standards in written work generally. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.84

Very good Very good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.84

Very good Very good

How well students achieve Very good Very good Park View Academy - 85 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): All students, however long they have been in school, including those with special educational needs, achieve very well throughout the school. Because the richness of their cultural background is valued by teachers, all students are making very good progress in becoming mature and responsible musicians. One girl from Trinidad taught her music teacher a Christmas song from her island, which was then learnt by the whole school. More able musicians are given more demanding parts to play in class ensembles and this enhances their progress. Other students follow their lead and this helps weaker musicians also to play a full part in an ensemble. Teachers are very good musicians themselves and many students find this a source of inspiration in their own music-making.

p.84

Very good Very good

In the schemes of work great emphasis is given to developing language, and through learning correct terminology and through the words of songs, music is playing a vital part in helping students to become more fluent in English. By emphasising accuracy in instrumental and vocal technique teachers are giving students a solid foundation and this is at the heart of the success of the department.

p.85

Very good Very good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 Quality of Teaching Very good Very good Quality of the curriculum Very good Very good

p.85

Very good Very good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.85

Excellent

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.85

Leadership and management Excellent

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.86

Excellent

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Unsatisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Very good

p.86

Excellent

183. Very good progress has been made in establishing the music department at the heart of the school. Success and diversity are celebrated on a daily basis and this makes a very strong contribution to racial harmony in the school and wider community.

p.86

Excellent

Overall, the quality of provision in physical education is very good.

p.86

Excellent

Strengths • Very good teaching, including excellent expectations of learning. • Use of literacy strategies to enhance students’ learning. • Leadership and collective will of the department/faculty to improve further.

p.86

Excellent

Areas for Improvement • Further variety of teaching tasks to match already identified learning outcomes to all levels of abilities. • Complete all schemes of work and policies and identify appropriate action plans to monitor their implementation.

p.86

Excellent

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Average Well below average Seen during the inspection Average Below average Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Video evidence shows that Year 11 non-examination students maintain the standards achieved in Year 9. Projected GCSE grades are considerably higher than 2002 results. The present Year 10 and 11 GCSE students are achieving above the national averages in their practical work. Effective literacy strategies are helping students in the groups with very poor writing skills. The progress being made by a small number of SEN and EAL students is hampered by a lack of in-class support. Standards in basketball are very high in comparison to national standards. Many boys and girls achieve district and national representative honours in basketball. There are also high standards produced in football and netball.

p.86

Excellent

Standards are rising quickly from a previous low base. High expectations for students to plan and evaluate their work are also improving standards. Students’ attitudes and commitment to the subject are another major reason for the rapid progress being made. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 87 Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.86

Very Good Very Good

Students’ behaviour Very Good Very Good Park View Academy - 88 ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 How well students achieve Very Good Very Good Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): The majority of students are making very good progress. Teachers have very good knowledge of their students’ needs so there is similar progress across all abilities, ethnic minorities and between boys and girls. Black students particularly perform well at district and national level basketball. Girls are beginning to transfer their basketball expertise to the newly introduced netball Programmes of Study. All students have learning booklets, which are improving their writing and reading skills and their understanding of tactics in games. Expectations that require students to plan and evaluate their performances are dramatically improving speaking and listening skills.

p.87

Very Good Very Good

A good extra-curricular programme is improving standards further, particularly in basketball, football and netball. Very high standards of coaching from community specialists enhance this work. Well-structured lessons result in students responding very positively to the challenges set for them. Assessment procedures are beginning to be used to improve the standards of targeted groups of students. Further variety of teaching tasks to match already identified learning outcomes to all levels of ability is needed to raise standards further. This is especially the case for the many gifted and talented students in the department. A new certificated course for students between the ages of 14 and 16 is giving students opportunities to experience more advanced strategies and tactics within their performances.

p.88

Very Good Very Good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.88

Very Good Very Good

Quality of Teaching Very Good Very Good Quality of the curriculum Good Good

p.88

Very Good Very Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.88

Very Good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.88

Very Good

Leadership and management Very good Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.88

Very Good

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Very good

p.88

Very Good

184. The new head of department and his staff are effectively implementing the necessary department structures that have been missing until recently. The recent success is part of faculty-wide measures to improve aspects of teaching Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 89 and learning. There is a provisional action plan in place to continue the good work in the department. However, a consideration is now needed of how future changes will be monitored and reviewed appropriately. The department is aware that the present arrangements for the use of the specialist accommodation are at times hindering the Programmes of Study. Resources for learning are not always best used because of a breakdown in communication in response to the departments’ risk assessments.

p.88

Very Good

Overall, the quality of provision in religious education is poor.

p.89

Very Good

Strengths • Students achieve good breadth in their study of individual topics. • There is a wide range of information on the faculty database that supports lesson planning well.

p.89

Very Good

Areas for Improvement • There is insufficient time allocated to the subject in Years 7 to 9. • No planned provision is made in Years 10 and 11 to meet the requirements of the locally agreed syllabus. • Planning lacks a subject specific focus and has been severely limited by the lack of a curriculum strategy for the subject. • Assessment is not used to inform future planning.

p.89

Very Good

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations None None Seen during the inspection Well below

p.89

None

At the end of Year 9 there is a satisfactory balance between students’ learning about religion and their learning from religion. Students’ attainment does not meet the requirements of the locally agreed syllabus because there is insufficient time given to the subject. Lower attainers are able to describe their personal responses to real life case studies whilst higher ability students write a well reasoned response to the statement that “euthanasia should be legalised in Britain”. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.89

Satisfactory No evidence

Students’ behaviour No evidence No evidence

p.89

Satisfactory No evidence

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 – Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.89

Satisfactory No evidence

How well students achieve Poor No evidence Park View Academy - 90 There are no differences between the achievements of different groups of students. Achievement is poor in Years 7 to 9 because of the time allocation to the subject. There is insufficient time for students to develop a satisfactory understanding of the key concepts and beliefs associated with the different religions that are specified in the locally agreed syllabus. There is similarly insufficient time for students to develop the wide range of skills specified. In Years 10 and 11 the majority of students do not achieve to any degree because there is no planned provision in the curriculum although some students do develop their understanding indirectly through other subjects, for example the small number of Year 11 students studying beliefs and values as part of the Asdan course. The subject was not taught during the week of the inspection and there is

p.89

Satisfactory No evidence

insufficient evidence to judge the standard of teaching.

p.90

Satisfactory No evidence

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year 9 Year 10 - Year 11 Quality of Teaching Insufficient

p.90

No evidence

Quality of the curriculum Poor Very poor

p.90

No evidence

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.90

Unsatisfactory

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.90

Leadership and management Unsatisfactory

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.90

Unsatisfactory

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Unsatisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Unsatisfactory

p.90

Unsatisfactory

185. Leadership and management are unsatisfactory because the requirements of the locally agreed syllabus have not been addressed as part of a whole-school strategy. Staff, who are non-specialists, have made every effort to modify schemes of work so that lessons follow the locally agreed syllabus but within an inadequate time allocation. Staff support each other well with a database that provides a wide range of information to inform lesson planning. Long-term planning, including addressing subject specific priorities, has not occurred because of the uncertainty of the subject’s future position in the curriculum. Accommodation, albeit temporary, is also unsatisfactory with a lack of storage space for resources and with access to one room through another. Assessment procedures have developed satisfactorily with some use made of subject specific levels of attainment. This needs to be developed further as it does not

p.90

Unsatisfactory

yet include the use of assessment to inform planning.

p.90

Unsatisfactory

Overall, the provision for citizenship is satisfactory. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 91 Strengths • The school works hard in helping the students to develop the skills of participation and responsible action. • The school works hard in helping the students to challenge prejudice and discrimination.

p.90

Unsatisfactory

Areas for improvement • Audit the whole school, particularly subject departments, to determine where specific contributions to citizenship can be made. • Train staff on the teaching of citizenship. • Monitor the teaching of citizenship.

p.91

Unsatisfactory

186. The development of citizenship within the school is in its early stages. Some citizenship is taught as specific units of work in the personal, social and health education programme and in tutor times. These include topics on responsibility in the community, safety in the community, rights and responsibilities and the criminal system. Otherwise, citizenship is not taught as a discrete subject within the school. Some of the three major areas of citizenship are developed through individual subject departments in the general work that they do in their teaching. As yet, however, an audit of how subject departments are specifically contributing in this way and how they could develop citizenship further has not been done. Nevertheless within subject departments and in the more general activities of the school, some of the elements of citizenship are already present.

p.91

Unsatisfactory

187. Students are learning to become informed citizens through visitors to school such as the Police. World studies includes work on the work of religious leaders and non-violent direct action, as well as work on stereotypes and discrimination. A number of moral issues are also covered in these studies, such as capital punishment and euthanasia. Work related learning also helps the students to be better prepared for life outside of school.

p.91

Unsatisfactory

188. The students are developing their skills of enquiry and communication in the various councils in which they can be involved. Some subjects, such as the tutorial time, allow the students to develop their verbal skills and they can analyse some information on topical issues such as drugs, racism and the environment in personal, social, and health education. Modules of work in English encourage students to write to persuade.

p.91

Unsatisfactory

189. The general ethos of the school has a significant input to citizenship, particularly the development of the skills of participation and responsible action. The school works hard in this area. The staff also set good examples and various systems and opportunities, such as the Buddy system, reception scheme, canteen duty and student leaders, all help the students with this aspect of their development.

p.91

Unsatisfactory

190. No specific teaching of citizenship was seen during the inspection other than that which was done during the tutor time and in the personal, social, and health education lessons. Overall, this teaching was good and students are making good progress. It is not possible to make judgements about the overall standards of attainment at this early stage. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

p.91

Unsatisfactory

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 92 191. Clearly there are strong elements of citizenship in the school. These, however, have yet to be identified in a more formal way, drawn together into a coherent whole and checked against the requirements laid down in the citizenship guidance document. Plans for this are in place. The management and leadership of the subject are shared. Training for staff on citizenship has yet to take place.

p.91

Unsatisfactory

Overall, the quality of provision in performing arts is very good.

p.92

Unsatisfactory

Strengths • Students achieve very well. • Teaching is very good.

p.92

Unsatisfactory

Areas for Improvement • The inclusion of dance in the faculty.

p.92

Unsatisfactory

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 11 Test/Examinations None Seen during the inspection Average Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.92

Very good

Quality of Teaching Very good Quality of the curriculum Very good

p.92

Very good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.92

Excellent

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.92

Very good

Leadership and management Very good Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.92

Very good

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Very good Park View Academy - 93 192. Students are taking performing arts GNVQ for the first time in 2003; there are groups in both Years 10 and 11. Many students also take GCSE drama or music so this is a very good opportunity to strengthen their skills and understanding. The course is very good for helping students to develop their critical faculties, and they are gaining an accurate assessment of their own abilities. The students have visited local theatres and arts centres and produced some good work on the aptness of different venues for their purpose, supported with diagrams and illustrations. However, practical work is of a higher standard than written work, reflecting the low literacy skills of many of the students. The course is designed to integrate very well with extra-curricular activities. The faculty is embarking on its most ambitious project so far and

p.92

Very good

rehearsals are just beginning to get under way for West Side Story. This is an ideal vehicle for giving students the opportunity to show off their vocal skills: the leading singers are all members of the examination groups.

p.93

Very good

Overall, the quality of provision in drama is very good.

p.93

Very good

Strengths • Teaching that is consistently very good ensures that all students learn very well. • The head of department provides very good leadership that helps drama to be successful throughout the school. • Students are enthusiastic in lessons and enjoy challenging tasks. • Teachers are very effective in helping students to develop their basic English language skills.

p.93

Very good

Areas for Improvement • The quality of written work does not match that of practical work. • Extra-curricular activities do not include sufficient opportunities for off-site experience of drama, such as theatre visits.

p.93

Very good

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Above

p.93

Above average

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 94 Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: GCSE results for 2002 were by far the best in the last three years but were still below the national average. Students gained higher GCSE results in 2002 than they did in their other subjects. Work seen for the majority of students in Years 10 and 11 is currently of a higher than average quality. Overall standards are continuing to rise and by the end of Year 11 are now above average. Work seen for students in Years 7 to 9 is consistently above average. Overall standards are also above average by the end of Year 9. For many students English is an additional language. Activities that depend on English language skills, and especially written work, are often less refined than those emphasising non-verbal skills. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.93

Very good Very good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.94

Very good Very good

How well students achieve Very good Very good Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): All students make rapid progress in lessons because they are expected to produce work of a high standard. Students are fully involved in all lessons and enjoy the tasks; some of the most challenging students in the school take the subject and behave very well. Students with SEN, and especially those with EAL, are very well supported by excellent literacy strategies. Teachers’ high subject knowledge and expertise results in confident and effective teaching which inspires the students. Teachers choose tasks and materials that offer appeal and challenge to all students so that they achieve very well. Very good schemes of work focus on objectives for learning. They build on earlier progress so that teachers and students are strongly aware of developing skills, knowledge and understanding.

p.94

Very good Very good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.94

Very good Very good

Quality of Teaching Very good Very good Quality of the curriculum Good Good

p.94

Very good Very good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.94

Very good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.94

Leadership and management Very good

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.95

Very good

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Good

p.95

Very good

Overall, the quality of provision in media studies is good.

p.95

Very good

Strengths • Teaching and learning are consistently good. • Monitoring of students’ progress is very good.

p.95

Very good

Areas for Improvement • Accommodation needed to provide a base for the subject. • Time for the co-ordinator to manage the subject.

p.95

Very good

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations Average Seen during the inspection Average Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: The high standard of assessment allows the teacher to track accurately the good progress students make. The curriculum fully supports the requirements of the GCSE examination. The good teaching reflects the up-to-the-minute knowledge of a rapidly developing discipline. Students find this immediacy a powerful motivator, and they are prepared to concentrate and work hard in order to learn. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.95

Very good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.95

Very good

How well students achieve Good Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): All students respond to the good teaching and learn well; this is because the high standard of lesson planning includes all students in the class, whatever their ability. The very good assessment procedures allow the teacher to set appropriate well- focused activities which move the students on. Literacy is well taught, and this enables students who speak EAL to make the good progress that they do. The good curriculum provides a well considered balance between practical tasks and theory, leading to good progress for all. Park View Academy - 96 Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.95

Very good

Quality of Teaching N/A Good Quality of the curriculum N/A Good

p.96

Very good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.96

Good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.96

Leadership and management Very good

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.97

Very good

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Unsatisfactor

p.97

y

Improvement since the last inspection N/A

p.97

y

Overall, the quality of provision for business education is good.

p.97

y

Strengths • Teaching is good. • Students achieve well in Years 10 and 11. • Students in class respond well. They remain on task and sustain concentration. • The head of department leads the development of the subject very well.

p.97

y

Areas for Improvement • The results in students’ performance at GCSE are well below national averages. • The lack of literary skills holds back the progress of many students. • There is insufficient access to ICT to help learning.

p.97

y

Standards (at the end of Key Stages) Year 9 Year 11 Test/Examinations N/A Well below average Seen during the inspection N/A Below Average Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: GCSE results are well below national averages but standards seen in Years 10 and 11 suggest a potential rise. Standards of work seen in Years 10 and 11 are higher than GCSE results suggest because students lack the appropriate examination techniques. Weaknesses in literacy lower performance in examinations. Insufficient use of information and communication technology exacerbates this situation. Students have difficulty in retaining facts for examinations. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.97

Good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.97

Good

Park View Academy - 98 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): Students, including those with special educational needs, achieve well. Girls produce better written work than boys, but boys produce higher quality oral contributions to lessons. More able students make good progress; there is a maturity of understanding of business theories, which is reflected in the presentation of work. Teachers’ good knowledge and good humoured management of the classes lead to good learning and good progress by students.

p.98

Good

Educational Provision Year 7 - Year Year 10 - Year 11

p.98

Good

Quality of Teaching N/A Good Quality of Learning/ N/A Good Quality of the curriculum N/A Good

p.98

Good

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.98

Good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.98

Leadership and management Very good

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.98

Very good

Adequacy of resources Satisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Satisfactory

p.98

Very good

193. The provision for business studies has improved since the time of the last inspection. Good teaching has laid the foundations for good learning and good progress. Standards of work seen in class and in students’ work are much higher than the GCSE results show. Lack of wider reading and poor literary skills remain barriers to higher standards in public examinations. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 99

p.98

FORM

In the inspection, five subjects and courses were inspected and are reported on in detail. Work in other courses was sampled and contributed to the overall picture of teaching and learning in the school.

p.99

FORM

The table below shows entry and performance information for courses completed in 2001.

p.99

FORM

GCE AS level courses Subject Number entered % gaining grades A-E % gaining grades A-B Average point score

p.99

FORM

School England School England School England

p.99

FORM

GCE A level and AGNVQ courses Subject Number entered % gaining grades A-E % gaining grades A-B Average point score

p.99

FORM

School England School England School England

p.99

FORM

Number entered % gaining distinction % gaining merit % gaining pass

p.99

FORM

Intermediate vocational qualifications Qualification No in final year % gaining qualification % gaining merit % gaining distinction

p.99

FORM

School England School England School England

p.99

FORM

Information Technology - Intermediate 23 72 55 0 15 0 1

p.99

FORM

Information Technology - Foundation 2 33 56 0 15 0 1

p.99

FORM

SUBJECTS AND COURSES GROUPED IN CURRICULUM AREAS

p.99

FORM

Comprising Year 12 GCSE re-takes, and Application of number key skills course, which is available up to Level 3 for all those who are not taking GCSE re-takes.

p.99

FORM

Overall, the quality of provision in mathematics is satisfactory .

p.99

FORM

Strengths (of both courses) • Teachers’ knowledge of the subject and the various examination specifications. Park View Academy - 100 • Good relationships between teachers and students. • Good planning, shared with students, so that they know in some detail the year’s programme of work. Park View Academy - 101 [ Areas for improvement (for both courses)

p.99

FORM

• Examination results. • Ensure that students attend lessons on time, to maximise their learning opportunities. • Increase opportunities for the use of ICT and other out-of-class resources to enhance students’ skills as independent learners.

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average

Seen during the inspection (for both courses)

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Average

Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: The increased timetabled provision for both courses coupled with their improved structure (including detailed course time lines given to students) is beginning to improve standards. The work seen in classes during the inspection supports this. Students are now more aware of what is expected and this motivates them. The current Year 12 was given a greater degree of guidance as to which course (GCSE or Application of number) was best suited to individual students. In the 2002 GCSE few students achieved a C grade or above, because the GCSE course was too demanding for them – the Application of number course would have better reflected their capabilities and achievements. A certain amount of anecdotal evidence suggests that in the previous year students’ attendance and punctuality was not as high as it should have been in

p.101

Average

order to ensure a good rate of progress and high standards. This was reflected in high drop out rates for both courses. Attendance records suggest that this state of affairs is improving. Some Year 13 students are doing further work on their Year 12 Application of number coursework files and are hoping to re-submit them in order to gain higher levels. This looks likely to produce some positive results. The external moderator for Application of number commented positively on the school’s effective internal moderation of students’ work. Students’ attitudes to the subjects

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Good

Students’ behaviour Good Development of personal and learning skills

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ry

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 11 - Year 13 How well students achieve Satisfactory Park View Academy - 102 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): Since Year 12 students have had only just over half a term following the Application of number course, there have been no external assessments against which to judge attainment and progress – only work books. The number of students following the GCSE re-sit course is about ten. Scrutiny of work books shows that these students are making satisfactory progress but does not allow the making of sound judgements regarding the progress or attainment of different groups. Teachers share clear lesson objectives with the students and give them good guidance on when they need to have learnt particular elements of the syllabus; this improves the focus of teaching and learning.

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ry

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

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ry

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

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ry

Park View Academy - 103 [ Leadership and Management Satisfacto

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ry

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

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ry

Improvement since the last inspection Satisfacto

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ry

Overall, post-16 mathematics is in an improving situation. Previous experience has been learnt from and expertise is increasing. This should make itself felt in the future raising of standards.

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ry

Overall, the quality of provision in AVCE business and finance is good.

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ry

Strengths • Very good relationships between teachers and students. • Teaching is good: well planned lessons are interesting. • Marking and assessment of students’ work is thorough.

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ry

Areas for improvement • Low standards, with many students not writing in enough depth. • Students’ use of work placements and visits to local businesses is under- developed.

p.103

Standards

Examinations Well below average Seen during the inspection Below average Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: The AVCE (Advanced Vocational Certificate in Education) has only recently been established at the school and, though it leads on well from GCSE in business studies, the course is open to all. Students combine AVCE modules in business and finance and ICT. Although standards are well below national expectations (there were no entries in 2002 and entries in 2001 were too small for valid national comparisons), students achieve satisfactorily overall from very low GCSE starting points. About half of students who attend lessons regularly complete homework, have satisfactory literacy skills and achieve well; standards are beginning to show improvement. Good teaching helps students make good progress in lessons and develop very good attitudes to the subject.

p.103

Very good

Park View Academy - 104 Students’ behaviour Very good Development of personal and learning skills

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Good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 11 - Year 13 How well students achieve Satisfactory Statement about any differences in progress between students (female/male, SEN, most able, EAL): Girls’ written work is neater and more organised than boys’ but girls take less part in oral discussion in lessons; this is partly due to differences in cultural expectations. There is no difference between the progress of students from different ethnic backgrounds or of students with EAL. Well-organised teaching enhances students’ progress. Activities chosen for students are interesting because there are many opportunities for students to use computers to research businesses on the web and work in groups to present their findings. Lesson objectives are clearly understood by the students and teachers review learning well at the end of each session. The good subject and practical knowledge of the teachers broadens students’ understanding.

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Good

Teachers encourage very good use of ICT but some students do not yet make enough use of it; for example, to draft definitions of concepts for discussion and presentation to the rest of the class. The Young Enterprise scheme enhances students’ knowledge, understanding and skills. It also develops their independent learning skills well. Whilst good local business links have been built up, and there are promises of support from local consortia and business partnerships, visits and work placements are not yet linked to specific AVCE units for students to enrich the quality of their work.

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Educational Provision

Quality of Teaching Good Quality of the curriculum Good Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

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ry

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

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ry

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

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ry

Adequacy of resources Good Adequacy of accommodation Good Improvement since the last inspection Not

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to judge

Park View Academy - 105 194. The strong staff team has only recently been appointed, so overall leadership and management are satisfactory at this early stage of the newly-established AVCE course. The majority of students benefit from their previous learning on GCSE courses in business and ICT, and some successfully move to AVCE from GNVQ intermediate courses. It is difficult to monitor individual students’ progress in the large Year 12 AVCE class, from which a significant number were absent from lessons seen. With further development of strategies to develop students’ key skills and work placement opportunities, the subject has good potential for further improvement.

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to judge

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

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to judge

Information and Communication Technology - Post 16

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to judge

Overall, the quality of provision in information and communication technology is good .

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to judge

Strengths • High standard of teaching. • Well qualified teaching staff and excellent staff/student relationships. • Appropriate choice of courses at AVCE. • Good standards of coursework. • Coherent course planning and design.

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to judge

Areas for improvement • Range of curricular provision. • Delivery of Key Skills.

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Standards

Examinations Not yet available Seen during the inspection Below average Commentary, including explanations for differences between exam/test results and standards seen: The first cohort of students have yet to sit final external examinations, but preliminary module results suggest appropriate achievement. There is some very good project work, with advanced use of database facilities such as relational tables and navigation by the use of macros.

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Standards

Students’ attitudes to the subject Good Students’ behaviour Very good Development of personal and learning skills

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11-Year 13

How well students achieve Satisfactory Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 106 Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): Work seen during the inspection confirmed that most students are placed on an appropriate course and making good progress. Year 13 vocational courses offer a useful progression route from Years 10 and 11 and build on pupils’ achievements. VCE courses make particularly good use of skills developed in GNVQ intermediate ICT in research, design and software usage. Teachers expect students to produce a high standard of work. Students have very good access to ICT facilities and this enhances their learning. Lessons are very well planned drawing on the high level of teachers’ subject knowledge. Despite positive attitudes to the subject, students’ learning skills are not well developed and this hampers their progress.

p.105

11-Year 13

Educational Provision Quality of Teaching Good Quality of the curriculum Good Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.106

Good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.106

Leadership and management Very good

Effectiveness of action to improve quality Good

p.106

Leadership and management Very good

Adequacy of resources Very good Adequacy of accommodation Very good Improvement since the last inspection Very good

p.106

Leadership and management Very good

195. Students report high levels of satisfaction with their course and with the quality of help offered by their teachers. Feedback forms and cue sheets are extensively used to support learning, guide students through their coursework, set targets and record and monitor performance and students welcome the help this offers to keep them on track.

p.106

Leadership and management Very good

196. Sixth form students doing independent study have excellent access to terminals in the Learning Resource Centre, the sixth form centre and occasionally to vacant terminals in IT classrooms. Good extra-curricular activities have included a business-focused trip to the John Deere factory in Germany and there are excellent links with local business partners. Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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Leadership and management Very good

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 107 HUMANITIES

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Leadership and management Very good

There is no religious education course provided in the sixth form. Assembly themes include areas of study outlined in the locally agreed syllabus. In one assembly seen during the inspection there was a lively discussion on “money as the root of evil”. Assembly time alone is not sufficient to meet the detailed requirements of the locally agreed syllabus. The syllabus refers to concepts to be learned and to producing schemes of work showing how attainment targets are to be achieved.

p.107

Leadership and management Very good

The focus was on A-level and Advanced Subsidiary level Turkish. It was not possible to see lessons because the teacher was absent. However evidence was collected in a meeting with six students representing the full ability range. In this meeting students’ work was discussed and analysed in detail. Time was made available for work scrutiny and there were discussions with the head of modern languages, the headteacher and the assistant headteacher who is in temporary charge of the subject.

p.107

Leadership and management Very good

Overall, the quality of provision in Turkish is good.

p.107

Leadership and management Very good

Strengths • Improving A-level results. • Good achievement by students. • Very positive attitudes by students.

p.107

Leadership and management Very good

Areas for improvement • The monitoring and evaluation of the subject’s performance. • Documentation for the subject does not provide clear guidance for teachers. • Learning resources are inadequate.

p.107

Standards

Examinations Above average Seen during the inspection Above average Park View Academy - 108 Standards in Turkish are above average. In 2001 results at A-level were broadly average in comparison with performance of students nationally in all foreign languages; at Advanced Subsidiary level, the pass rate was below average. There was a distinct improvement in 2002 at both A and A/S level when 56 out of the 58 entries were at pass level with more than a third of students achieving the higher grades. A high number of students study Turkish beyond GCSE level and the figure is increasing steadily. Many students are entered for A and A/S level in Years 10 and 11. Standards of work seen during the inspection confirm this improving trend. All students are fluent speakers of Turkish; many are native speakers for whom English is an additional language. Standards of writing are above average. All students write fluently and accurately in Turkish. They make virtually no

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Standards

grammatical errors and only the occasional spelling mistake. They write well for different audiences. They express and justify opinions and present arguments effectively. High attainers, for example, were able to present a written analysis of Attaturk’s attitude to art; low attainers were able to discuss underachievement by Turkish students in English schools. The difference between high and low attainers is about the quality of ideas rather than levels of language ability. Students show varying ability to translate from one language to the other depending on their level of English. Most convey meaning accurately but low attainers have problems with English idiom. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.108

Very good

Students’ behaviour Very good Development of personal and learning skills

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ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 11 - Year 13

How well students achieve Good Students achieve well at A/S and A-level. Performance is often very good by comparison with students’ average performance in all GCSE examinations. Moreover, for many students, their A-level results are an improvement even on the good results they achieved at GCSE level in Turkish. Students, for whom English is an additional language, make good progress and achieve success in A-level Turkish because of the effective individual support that they receive from their teacher and from fellow students. Students display very positive attitudes towards the subject. They have a genuine enthusiasm for their language and culture and were keen to engage in discussion about topics for the A-level examination. Many of the students, both high and low attainers, have a strong desire to succeed. They have clear plans for the future and are very well motivated. During the absence of their teacher, for example, many of them meet regularly to discuss their

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ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 11 - Year 13

work and support each other. Students are developing good oral communication skills in English. Even those students for whom English is an additional language try hard to express their views on complex topics. Students regularly use ICT to draft and re-draft their work.

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Educational Provision

Park View Academy - 109 Quality of Teaching Good Quality of the curriculum Satisfactory Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.109

information

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.109

Leadership and management Satisfactory

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.109

Satisfactory

Adequacy of resources Unsatisfactory Adequacy of accommodation Satisfactory Improvement since the last inspection Not enough

p.109

information

197. It was not possible to observe any lessons because the teacher was absent at the time of the inspection. However, all students were very appreciative of the support given to them by the teacher. In particular, they said that they were given individually-prepared work, which was thoroughly marked. Students were very clear about how well they were doing. They knew what grades they were expected to achieve and what skills and knowledge they needed to demonstrate in order to achieve it. Evidence from the scrutiny of students’ work show that marking is thorough and often gives clear indication to students about what they need to do to improve the quality of their work The time allocation for Turkish in Year 13 is below average. However, students are entered for the A-level examination in Years 10, 11 and 12, as well as in year 13, and there is clear evidence that students receive a lot of individual support

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information

outside the classroom. Students are supportive of each other and members of their community. Some Year 11 students who have already completed their A- level studies, for example, regularly visit local primary schools to support bi- lingual students.

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information

198. Leadership and management in the subject are satisfactory. There is a clear sense of direction for the subject as its role in the school changes. The new head of department has a good understanding of the changing needs of students in Turkish. Plans for the development of Turkish in departmental documentation and in the bid for Language College status are clear. However, there are current weaknesses in the management of the subject. There is, for example, a lack of clear written guidance for teachers of A-level Turkish and schemes of work do not yet ensure consistency of approach. This is particularly significant at the moment because the successful teacher of Turkish is on long-term absence. The subject does not yet evaluate its performance effectively. Learning resources for Turkish are inadequate.

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information

Overall, the quality of provision in English is satisfactory.

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information

Strengths Formatted: Bullets and Numbering

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information

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 110 • Very good relationships between tutor and students. • Well planned lessons with clear objectives.

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information

Areas for improvement • The provision is limited to a repeat of the GCSE English course. • The setting of targets for individual students.

p.110

Standards

Examinations Below average Seen during the inspection Below average Commentary, including explanations for any differences between exam/test results and standards seen: Students’ attainment was below Grade C level in GCSE English in 2002. In the lesson seen students interpreted the banquet scene from Macbeth dramatically showing that they understood its significance to the plot and the main theme. In this activity understanding is in line with expectations for the course. Writing is below the national average overall. Students’ attitudes to the subject

p.110

Very good

Students’ behaviour Very good Development of personal and learning skills

p.110

Good

ACHIEVEMENT/PROGRESS Year 11 - Year 13 How well students achieve Satisfactory Statement about any differences in progress between students (girls/boys, SEN, most able, EAL): The sample of writing seen indicates that students are working satisfactorily towards the examination objectives on the personal writing component. Course work indicating potential grades between E to C level in GCSE was presented. The understanding of the plot and the motives of main characters in Macbeth also represents satisfactory achievement. There is no discernible difference in progress between male and female students, almost all of whom are additional language learners. The lesson observed was well-planned and contributed effectively to pupils’ development of speaking, listening and analytical skills. Students have positive attitudes to the course and this was evident in the positive way that they approach lesson tasks.

p.110

Educational Provision

Quality of Teaching Good Quality of the curriculum Good Spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision

p.110

Good

Quality of assessment and progress monitoring

p.110

ry

Effectiveness of action to improve the subject’s quality

p.111

ry

Improvement since the last inspection Satisfacto

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ry

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Park View Academy - 112 199. This course exists to meet the demands of students who wish to improve their English and to retake the GCSE English course. It meets this need satisfactorily and extends student’s personal development by introducing them to drama techniques to explore the Shakespeare component more thoroughly. Three students indicated that they enrolled on courses at an FE college but left to join this course which suits their stage of English learning better. They feel that they are supported better here and that it complements well their business studies and ICT course. Teaching is thoroughly planned and helps students to learn in a pleasant social environment. The setting of individual targets for all students could be improved.

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