2 November 2007 Mr W Chatwin Headteacher Elmete ... - Ofsted

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SPECIAL MEASURES: MONITORING OF ELMETE WOOD BESD SILC Report from the second monitoring inspection: 31 October – 1 November 2007 Evidence Inspectors observed the centre’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the principal and other senior leaders, a group of pupils, five members of the governing body, four representatives from the local authority and a national leader of education, who is working with the school in a consultancy capacity. Context In conjunction with Education Leeds, the school has been largely successful in a campaign to recruit staff. All but one teaching post has been filled and there have been appointments of a learning mentor and a parent and family support adviser. Promoted posts have been given to two higher-level teaching assistants and a lead behaviour support worker. Interviews are being held later this week for eight behaviour support workers. A post as data manager and two administrative staff positions are still to be filled. The governing body has been bolstered with the appointment of seven governors, including three new parent representatives. The number of Year 7 pupils joining the school in September 2007 was limited, as the local authority made temporary provision elsewhere for Year 7 pupils who might have come to the school whilst it is reviewing its provision for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Achievement and standards Staff have benefited from training in judging the National Curriculum levels at which the pupils are working. All the pupils have been re-assessed to give a baseline measure and a calendar of regular assessments has been established. Positive strides have been taken in ensuring the accuracy of assessments but, as the results of the first round of regular assessments are yet to be collated, staff are not in a position to be definitive about the amount of progress being made. The progress of pupils was good in just under a half of the lessons observed and satisfactory in about half. It was inadequate in a small number of lessons The number of pupils achieving five or more external accreditations is on the rise. Five pupils achieved GCSE grade D: two in mathematics, two in art and one in English, and this too represents an increase on the previous year. Courses leading to external accreditation are commencing earlier with some pupils gaining entry-level qualifications in Year 9 and GCSE qualifications in Year 10. An increasing range of GCSE courses is being offered this year, with information and communication technology (ICT), music and religious education being added to current GCSE courses in English, mathematics, science and art. There are early indications that an increasing number of pupils are going into further education, training or employment when they leave school. Page 2 of 6
Personal development and well-being The attendance of the pupils, overall, is stubbornly low at 70%. It is much lower at the Stonegate Road site. The school is making strong efforts to tackle this, but feels it has been hampered by staffing issues in the local authority’s attendance service. Each pupil now has an attendance target and the school’s attendance policy has been reviewed. The number of fixed-term exclusions and the number of pupils receiving exclusions is high, but reflects the firm stance being taken by the school in setting out its stall with regard to what is and what is not acceptable behaviour. Generally, the attitudes and behaviour of the pupils in lessons are satisfactory. The sporadic challenges posed by individual pupils are managed effectively. Nevertheless, there are a few other pupils who display low-level disruption in the lessons which are not managed successfully by some staff. In these cases, expectations as to what is acceptable and what is not are not conveyed clearly enough to the pupils at the outset of the lesson. Equally, there is insufficient reference made to behavioural targets and the recently revised ‘bonus’ system during the lesson in order to curb this behaviour. However, the bonus system is applied consistently at the end of lessons and the pupils are responding well to the points and raffle tickets they can earn. The school has begun to gather data on the issuing of points and incidents of misbehaviour but has not enough yet for it to be analysed thoroughly. Quality of provision Clear systems are in place to develop a consistent quality of teaching and learning across all subjects. These are beginning to have an impact on assessment, the matching of work to pupils’ needs and the academic targets for pupils. There are areas of well-developed practice, but variability remains. There is a routine for explaining what pupils are expected to learn within lessons and then discussing how far they have progressed at the end of the lesson. In some lessons, such as science and music, teachers’ plans identify the skills and concepts individual pupils should master. Teachers are referring to boundaries between different levels of response when they talk to pupils and encouraging them to aspire to the next level. As yet, pupils see the next steps more in terms of behaviour or concentration rather than on mastering skills or concepts. The very strong relationships and good role models provided by staff are more influential in ensuring good behaviour than the attractiveness of the work. However, in more lessons teachers are exploiting a range of learning styles and using technology – film clips for example – to make the tasks more appealing. There is still some lack of confidence in ICT on the Elmete Lane site and technical difficulties are inhibiting the use of ICT at the Stonegate Road site. This is hampering attempts to make the work more engaging. Teachers make good use of praise to encourage and motivate pupils and work well with behaviour support workers to maintain momentum within lessons. When faced with significant resistance on the Stonegate Road site, the adults are calmly persistent and find every opportunity to draw pupils into cooperating. In some lessons teachers are not providing enough challenge. Sometimes this is because they devise tasks which keep pupils busy in order to reduce opportunities Page 3 of 6
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2 November 2007 Mr W Chatwin Headteacher Elmete ... - Ofsted

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