INSPECTION REPORT WILLOWGARTH HIGH SCHOOLedsjlc/ict/ofsted/...Willowgarth High School serves the...

INSPECTION REPORT

WILLOWGARTH HIGH SCHOOL

Grimethorpe - Barnsley

LEA area: Barnsley

Unique reference number: 106652

Headteacher: Mr W R Beswick

Reporting inspector: Mr T W M Comer15109

Dates of inspection:

Inspection number: 199569

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

© Crown copyright 2002

This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided thatall extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date

thereof are stated.

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, theschool 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.

[ Willowgarth High School ] - 3

INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Type of school: Comprehensive

School category: Community

Age range of pupils: 11 – 16

Gender of pupils: Mixed

School address: Brierley RoadGrimethorpeBarnsley

Postcode: S72 7AJ

Telephone number: 01226 711542

Fax number: 01226 711560

Appropriate authority: The Governing Body

Name of chair of governors: Mr P Doyle

Date of previous inspection: March 1998


INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Team membersSubject

responsibilitiesAspect responsibilities

15109 Mr T Comer Registered inspector Equalopportunities

What sort of a school is it?

How high are standards?

How well are studentstaught?

How well is the school ledand managed?

13762 Mr N Shelley Lay inspector Pupils’ attitudes, valuesand personal development.

How well does the schoolcare for its students?

How well does the schoolwork in partnership withparents?

30941 Mr K Brammer Team inspector English

English as anadditionallanguage

10308 Mr J Paddick Team inspector Mathematics

21866 Dr D Tracey Team inspector Science

Mr P Redican Team inspector Art and design

11966 Mr J Clay Team inspector Design andtechnology

Information andcommunicationstechnology

23926 Mr D Howorth Team inspector Geography

12897 Mr M Mealing Team inspector History

3793 Mr J Ratcliffe Team inspector German How good are thecurricular and otheropportunities offered tostudents?

27665 Mrs A Lees Team inspector Music

27803 Mr J Clark Team inspector Physicaleducation

Social andeducationalinclusion

3930 Mr R Pitcher Team inspector Religiouseducation

Specialeducational needs


The inspection contractor was:

North West Education ServicesCheshire House164 Main RoadGoostreyCheshireCW4 8JP

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

The Complaints ManagerInspection Quality DivisionThe Office for Standards in EducationAlexandra House33 KingswayLondon WC2B 6SE


REPORT CONTENTS

Page

PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 7

Information about the schoolHow good the school isWhat the school does wellWhat could be improvedHow the school has improved since its last inspectionStandardsPupils’ attitudes and valuesTeaching and learningOther aspects of the schoolHow well the school is led and managedParents’ and carers’ views of the school

PART B: COMMENTARY

HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS? 11

The school’s results and pupils’ achievementsPupils’ attitudes, values and personal development

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS OR STUDENTS TAUGHT? 13

HOW GOOD ARE THE CURRICULAR AND OTHEROPPORTUNITIES OFFERED TO PUPILS OR STUDENTS? 15

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS? 18

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK INPARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS 19

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED? 19

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER? 21

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION 22

PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS 24

PART D: THE STANDARDS AND QUALITY OF TEACHING INAREAS OF THE CURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES 28


PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT

INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Willowgarth High School serves the former mining village of Grimethorpe and the surrounding district. It is a smallsecondary school which educates 717 boys and girls in the 11-16 age range. Only one pupil is from an ethnicminority background and has English as an additional language. All pupils are fluent in English and none needsspecial help. Many of the children are from socially and economically disadvantaged areas and the locality ranksamongst the poorest 10 per cent of the entire European Union. The proportion claiming a free school meal is abovethe national average. An above average proportion of the children is on the school’s register of special educationalneeds and the proportion of those with formal statements of need is also above average. The great majority of thesechildren have moderate or severe learning difficulties, emotional or behavioural difficulties. The pupils’ overallattainment on joining Year 7 is well below the national average. The school receives considerable help from the localEducation Action Zone (EAZ) and from the Excellence in Cities initiative. Social and educational inclusion receivehigh priority as does partnership with parents and with the school’s community. Distinctive features associated withthe EAZ are specially funded curricular arrangements for literacy and numeracy, and extension classes for the moreable pupils and those who are gifted or talented. Two-thirds of Year 11 pupils remain in education or training post-16.Pupil mobility is quite high: 29 pupils left and 21 joined at times other than Year 7 entry during the course of the pastyear.

HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

This is an effective school which aims to provide an equally good education for all of its pupils regardless of theirbackground or ability. Standards achieved by the oldest pupils are below average but the GCSE results areimproving. The teaching enables pupils to achieve well in Years 10 and 11, although the girls achieve higherstandards than the boys. The school’s success is mainly due to its purposeful leadership and management, and tothe dedication of the teaching staff. The school is efficient and gives good value for money.

What the school does well• The teaching is particularly good in Years 10 – 11.• By Year 11, the most successful subjects are art and design, design and technology, history, physical

education and GNVQ courses.• The provision for pupils with special educational needs is good.• The leadership of the school is very good and the school is well managed.• The more able pupils and those who are gifted or talented receive effective extra tuition.• The school looks after its pupils well.• The school provides a very good and wide range of extra-curricular activities.• The school benefits greatly from its association with the EAZ and other external agencies.

What could be improved

• Basic skills of literacy and numeracy need to be tackled more urgently and consistently.• Boys are not achieving as well as girls, especially at GCSE.• The accommodation is in poor condition.The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTIONThe school has improved well since the previous inspection in March, 1998. The GCSE results are much better andthe school has achieved a national award for this improvement. The school has made satisfactory overallimprovement with the issues of the previous inspection.


STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved at the end of Year 11 based on average point scores in GCSE examinations.

Compared with Key

Performance in: All schools Similarschools Well above average A

1999 2000 2001 2001 Above averageAverage

BC

GCSE examinations E E D A Below averageWell below average

DE

Pupils’ attainment is well below average when they join Year 7 and they have particular weaknesses in literacy andnumeracy. Pupils make satisfactory overall progress in Years 7 and 8 but standards are still well below average byYear 9. In relation to their low starting points at the outset of Year 7, pupils’ overall achievement is satisfactory butpupils are held back by the weaknesses in basic skills of literacy and numeracy which persist throughout the school,especially amongst boys. The results of national tests taken at the end of Year 9 in 2001 were well below the nationalaverage in each of the three subjects and were below average in comparison with those of similar schools. Theresults are improving, but more slowly than the national trend and indicate that boys achieve significantly lowerstandards in English and science than the girls. There is little difference in the performance of boys and girls inmathematics. Standards of the current Year 9 pupils are below average in English, and well below in mathematics andscience. Pupils achieve their highest standards in ICT. Pupils are underachieving in German because staffingproblems in the past have meant that no pupils are currently learning a foreign language in Year 7.

Standards are below average in Year 11 but are improving. The girls achieve very well and boys’ achievement issatisfactory. Standards are below average in English and science and well below average in mathematics. Theexamination results are improving overall and exceeded the governors’ targets in 2001. The girls’ GCSE examinationresults are improving rapidly and were close to the national average in 2001 but the boys’ results have not kept pacewith those of the girls and are still well below average. The GNVQ results were above average overall. The strongestsubjects are history, art and design, design and technology, physical education, religious education, and the GNVQvocational subjects. As in Years 7 – 9, the recent difficulties in staffing of German have led to underachievement.

Pupils with special educational needs make good progress throughout the school. Gifted and talented pupils makevery good progress because they are clearly identified and extension classes are available for them in most subjects.

PUPILS’ ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Good. Pupils enjoy school and do what is expected of them.

Behaviour, in and out ofclassrooms

Satisfactory overall and generally good in lessons. The number of temporaryexclusions from school is high but falling. Permanent exclusion is rare.

Personal development andrelationships

Good. Relationships between teachers and pupils are good. There is very littlebullying and such incidents are handled effectively. Pupils are keen to takeresponsibility, for example, as prefects.

Attendance Over the past several years, attendance has greatly improved. However, theattendance rate (88.3%) over the past year (2000-01) was still well below thenational average (90.9%). The rate of unauthorised absence was above average.


TEACHING AND LEARNING

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

Quality of teaching Satisfactory Good

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

The teaching meets the needs of the pupils well, overall, but especially so in Years 10 – 11, when pupils are workingtowards examinations, and when they begin vocational courses in which the teaching is very effective.Consequently, pupils make faster overall progress in Years 10 – 11 than in Years 7 – 9. The strength of teaching liesin the teachers’ dedication to their work, their effective management of the pupils and their good lesson planning.Pupils work well, they are co-operative and concentrate on their work; they generally do what is expected of them andunderstand the progress that they are making. The teaching of literacy and numeracy is satisfactory and the schoolhas made a good beginning in its teaching of these basic skills in Year 7 but needs to work harder still to improvethem throughout the rest of the school.

The teaching of English, mathematics and science is satisfactory in Years 7 – 9. In Years 10 and 11, teaching issatisfactory in English and mathematics but good in science and the teaching of practical science is a particularlygood feature.

Teaching and learning in other subjects are at least satisfactory, generally good, and are especially good in GCSEhistory and the GNVQ courses. The teaching of gifted and talented pupils is also a very good feature; many pupilstake an extra GCSE examination in science in Year 11 and many also take GCSE a year early in mathematics.

OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Aspect Comment

The quality and range of thecurriculum

Satisfactory. The provision for gifted and talented pupils is very good. Careerseducation is very good. However, no Year 7 pupils are taught a modernlanguage because of recent long-term absence of teaching staff. The Year 11pupils who took GCSE mathematics in Year 10 are no longer taught the subjectbecause of staffing difficulties. The school provides a very good and widerange of extra-curricular activities.

Provision for pupils withspecial educational needs

Good, especially in Years 7 – 9. These pupils’ progress is monitored veryeffectively. Teachers work well with learning assistants in lessons.

Provision for pupils withEnglish as an additionallanguage

The school has only one such pupil who is fluent in English and is makinggood progress.

Provision for pupils’ personal,including spiritual, moral,social and culturaldevelopment

Very good overall. Spiritual and cultural development is good and moral andsocial development is very good.

How well the school cares forits pupils

Good overall. The school’s arrangements for pupils’ welfare are good. Pastoralcare is effective. The school insists on good behaviour and has very goodprocedures for assessing and monitoring pupils’ progress and their personaldevelopment.

The school’s partnership with its parents is satisfactory and improving.


HOW WELL THE SCHOOL IS LED AND MANAGED

Aspect Comment

Leadership and managementby the headteacher and otherkey staff

Very good overall. The most important strength of the school is its leadership.The headteacher and senior staff set a very good example to other staff andprovide clear educational leadership and direction. Subjects and the individualneeds department are well managed. The school needs to monitor the progressof its strategies for literacy and numeracy in all subjects.

How well the governors fulfiltheir responsibilities

Very good. Governors have a clear understanding of the school’s strengthsand weaknesses and fulfil their duties well. Statutory requirements are metexcept those for daily collective worship.

The school’s evaluation of itsperformance

Very good. The school uses a range of data, such as test and examinationresults to compare its performance with that of others both locally andnationally, and takes effective action to improve. Planning for development iseffective.

The strategic use ofresources

Financial management is very good. The budget is balanced and money isspent wisely. When making purchases and placing contracts the schoolensures that best value is achieved.

Staffing is now satisfactory although long-term absence of teachers in the recent past has adversely affected pupils’progress. Learning resources are good. The accommodation is poor and has serious deficiencies. There is plenty ofspace but, overall, the accommodation is depressing and difficult and expensive to clean, heat and maintain. The sitesuffers from poor drainage and the floors of the buildings are muddy and wet in rainy weather. Much of theaccommodation is in poor repair and decorative condition. Roofs leak, and there is considerable dampness. Theschool needs to draw up a costed, medium and longer-term plan for repairs to the buildings.

PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• Their children like school.• The teaching is good and their children make good

progress.• The school is well managed and is approachable.

• Some parents would like more information ontheir children’s progress.

• Some parents think that the home-schoolpartnership could be stronger.

• The buildings are in poor condition.

Parents have generally good opinions of the school’s work and the inspectors agree with their positive views. Theinspectors agree with parents about the buildings. Inspectors investigated the school’s provision of informationabout children’s progress and found it at least satisfactory. Parents receive annual reports. Parents of Year 7 childrenreceive additional ‘settling-in reports’ and parents of Year 11 receive reports about performance in the mock GCSEexaminations. Consultation evenings (family reviews) are held regularly, and parents’ attendance at these meetingshas improved and is now good. The inspectors find that the home-school partnership is satisfactory and improving.However, some parents do not fulfil their obligations to ensure that their children attend school every day.


PART B: COMMENTARY

HOW HIGH ARE STANDARDS?

The school’s results and pupils’ achievements

Standards in Years 7, 8 and 9

1. Pupils’ overall attainment when they join Year 7 is well below average for pupils of this age.Weaknesses in literacy and numeracy are very marked and many of the pupils begin secondary schoolwith an inadequate foundation of basic skills. Pupils make satisfactory progress over Years 7 and 8 but byYear 9 overall standards of work are still well below average. Boys make slower progress than girls,especially in English. In relation to their starting points at the beginning of Year 7, pupils’ overallachievement by Year 9 is satisfactory. The school has implemented national strategies to raise standardsin literacy and numeracy and these are beginning to have positive effects on standards and progress;however, these weaknesses in basic skills need to be tackled with still greater urgency in all subjects.

2. The results of the 2001 national tests taken by the previous Year 9 pupils in English, mathematics andscience were well below average in each subject and below average in each in comparison with similarschools. The pattern of the boys’ results over time shows that they are behind girls to a similar degree inEnglish and science. There is no significant difference in girls’ and boys’ performance in mathematics.The trend of improvement in the results over the period 1997-2001 is upward but below the national trend.

3. Standards vary considerably between subjects in Years 7 – 9. By Year 9, standards are highest in ICTand are lowest in mathematics, science and geography. Pupils are underachieving in German, the onlyforeign language taught, because recent staffing problems have meant that the subject is not presentlybeing taught to Year 7 pupils. Staffing difficulties have also led to some underachievement in English andmathematics.

Standards in Years 10 and 11

4. Pupils begin their GCSE and GNVQ courses in Year 10 with well below average overall attainment.They make good overall progress and generally achieve well, although standards are still below average byYear 11, as is reflected in the pattern of the examination results. In 2001, the overall results were belowaverage but were well above average for similar schools and improved strongly over the five-year period1997-2001, beating the national trend, and exceeded the targets set by the governors. The boys’ results arebetter than they were but are still well below average. The overall improvement in the results is duelargely to the girls – their results have improved more strongly than those of the boys and are now close tothe national average. It will be important for the school to work to close this gap.

5. Standards of the present Year 11 pupils’ work are highest in the vocational courses (GNVQ courses inICT, Hospitality and Catering, and Health and Social Care) in which they are above average. There arecurrently no weak subjects. Pupils reach average standards in art and design, design and technology,history, and physical education and pupils are achieving particularly well in these subjects. Standards arelowest in mathematics and geography, in each of which they are well below average but improving. Giftedand talented pupils achieve well because they have many opportunities to do so, for example, in extensionclasses.

Standards in English, mathematics and science

6. In English, results of Year 9 tests in 2001 were well below average and boys’ results were lower thangirls’. Standards are still below average in the current Year 9, but are now rising because of a successfulintroduction of the National Literacy Strategy. The standards of Year 9 pupils’ written work representsatisfactory achievement given the low levels of pupils’ attainment on entry to the school. Reading is well


below average overall but shows considerable improvement by Year 9, not least because of the recentwhole school emphasis on developing literacy. The GCSE results for English are below the nationalaverage and the boys’ results are well below. Standards reached by the present Year 11 pupils are belowaverage but standards of speaking and listening are improving because more planned discussions now takeplace in lessons. Overall standards of writing are still low in Year 11, especially those of boys, althoughthey represent satisfactory progress since Year 9. By Year 11, pupils can extract information fromtextbooks and other sources for their examination coursework. Standards of speaking and listening areaverage and are better than those in reading and writing, and pupils make the greatest gains in this area ofliteracy.

7. The school's results in mathematics in the national tests at the end of Year 9 in 2001 were well belowaverage and there was no significant difference between the performance of girls and boys. GCSEresults have improved rapidly since the previous inspection. Although relatively few pupils achieve thehigher GCSE grades, the proportion passing the examination is broadly average and many more pupils aretaking the examination than was seen at the time of the previous inspection. Although girls’ GCSE resultswere better than those of the boys in 2001, there is no consistent pattern of difference over time in thissubject.

8. Standards of work are well below average in mathematics in Year 9 but pupils’ achievement issatisfactory and the higher attaining pupils achieve well. Standards are highest in statistics but often weakin arithmetic. Pupils need to show their working more clearly in their written work. The lowest attainingpupils are still insecure with subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals.Standards are well below average in Year 11 but achievement is satisfactory overall. 17 Year 10 pupilshave already passed their GCSE in mathematics, all gaining grades in the range A*-C; however, theyhave now ceased learning mathematics because of the recent staffing difficulties, and this is a lostopportunity to prepare for further work at AS or A-level. The higher attaining pupils generally achievewell; their investigative work is often of well above average standard, and their written work is very good.Weaknesses in numeracy amongst other pupils restrict their progress. The school is just beginning to co-ordinate the teaching of numerical topics in other subjects and this is urgently needed because many pupilsexperience difficulties when they need to apply their mathematical knowledge. In geography and science,in particular, weak numerical skills and the inability to handle formulae, scale and graphs hinder pupils'progress.

9. In science, overall standards by Year 9 are well below average and by Year 11 they are belowaverage. Girls outperform boys in the national tests. Pupils’ achievement is satisfactory over the firstthree years but they make better progress in their GCSE course and achieve well. Investigative work andpractical science are relative weaknesses in the first three years but these improve rapidly in the GCSEyears to become broadly average. Weak numeracy and literacy skills impede progress. The GCSE resultsin 2001 were below the national average and girls again performed better than boys. In 2001, a fifth of theYear 11 pupils took an additional GCSE biological science examination through their extension study. Allpupils taking the extra subject passed and two thirds achieved a grade in the range A*-C, which wascommendable. The girls’ results tend to be higher than those of the boys.

Pupils with special educational needs

10. Pupils with special educational needs generally make good overall progress throughout the school,especially in English. Year 7 pupils quickly settle into carefully planned routines and receive effectivesupport both in mainstream lessons and when withdrawn for special help. By the end of Year 11, nearly allpupils are competent in literacy to a basic degree but less so in numeracy. Virtually all gain recognisedqualifications in a number of subjects.

Pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development


11. Overall, pupils’ attitudes, values and personal development are good. These are similar findings tothose of the previous inspection.

12. Most pupils enjoy school and participate enthusiastically in the various curricular and extracurricularactivities arranged for them. They value the support and guidance they receive from their teachers andother adults. The attitudes of pupils towards learning are generally positive; although a small minority ofpupils show little interest in learning, the attitudes of many of these pupils improve over time as they cometo value the opportunities available. The influence of the school’s learning mentors, who are funded by theExcellence in Cities initiative, is particularly beneficial in this respect. Pupils develop sensible attitudestowards moral and social issues.

13. Behaviour is satisfactory overall. In the great majority of lessons, behaviour is good because of theeffectiveness of teachers’ management of the pupils and their consistent application of the school’s codeof discipline. Occasionally, pupils do misbehave and they are liable to become restless if a lesson does notinterest or challenge them sufficiently. The school has its share of difficult pupils who are disaffected anduninterested in their education, and also some who have difficulty coping with the normal classroomsituation and who can, at times, cause disruption to the lesson. The school plans to introduce a learningsupport unit especially to help these pupils.

14. Relationships between pupils are good. Pupils of all backgrounds work and play together harmoniouslyand amicably. Pupils understand the different points of view of others and respect them. Their conductout of lessons is sometimes boisterous but there is very little aggressive or threatening behaviour. Fewinstances of bullying are recorded and pupils say that they feel safe in school. The numbers of temporary,fixed term exclusions and detentions are quite high; however, this is as a result of rigorous enforcement ofthe school’s expectations and its code of discipline. As a consequence of firm discipline the number ofpermanent exclusions is below average for secondary schools and is declining.

15. Most pupils make good progress in their personal development. Although many pupils lack self-confidence and rely on their teachers for direction and approval, others become mature and independentand assume responsibility for their own learning with minimal direction.

16. The pupils with special educational needs respond well to the carefully planned support and teachingwhich they receive. They enter into the spirit of the school’s positive discipline strategy and try to meet thetargets set for them. The teachers and the class support assistants defuse problems which pupils withbehavioural and social difficulties may have. Some pupils who have been ‘school refusers’ in the past nowaccept highly personalised tuition.

17. Pupils accept responsibility willingly and prefects set a good example to other pupils and contribute tomaintaining good order around the school. Pupils enjoy visits and trips out of school, for example, tocolleges, outward-bound centres and the countryside, and these excursions help to broaden pupils’personal development. Pupils are helped to develop appropriate attitudes towards employment throughwork experience.

18. A number of Year 9 pupils help new Year 7 pupils to settle into school during their first term.However, such opportunities for responsibility are too few and could usefully be extended, as some Year11 prefects suggested. These senior pupils said that they could, for example, help staff manage, organiseand supervise wet weather routines. The new school council should enable pupils to make their viewsknown, and should help them to influence the school to make changes in their best interest.

19. Attendance is well below the average for secondary schools. This is attributed to a lack of supportfrom a significant number of parents for the school’s efforts to improve attendance, and many parentstake their children on holiday during the school term. There is also some truancy, the incidence of which isabove average. Some pupils who join the school during the course of the school year already have arecord of unsatisfactory attendance. However, attendance has improved well over time, and more


recently as a result of the help given by the learning mentors. Pupils arrive punctually for the start of theschool day.

HOW WELL ARE PUPILS TAUGHT?

20. Teaching is good overall and it was predominantly good in the lessons observed. It is satisfactory inYears 7 – 9 and good in Years 10 and 11. Consequently, pupils learn more effectively and make morerapid progress in their examination courses than in the early years, and this accounts for the difference inthe pupils’ achievement between the two stages of education.

21. The teachers are committed to their work and to raising standards. The strengths of the teaching areeffective discipline in lessons, good management of the pupils, and thorough preparation of lessons. Pupilsrespond well to firmness and settle down to work and generally do what is expected of them. They knowhow well they are doing and have a reasonable understanding of what they must do to improve.Homework is regular and adequate to support pupils’ learning in class. In a number of subjects, such asmathematics, science, physical education and ICT, teachers make good provision for pupils to extend theirwork outside lesson time. This leads to greater achievement, especially amongst the higher attaining pupilsidentified as gifted and talented.

22. The teaching of pupils with special educational needs is consistently good. The small classes, exceptin mathematics, good ICT provision and effective paired reading are significant contributory factors inthese pupils’ learning. Teaching has improved since the previous inspection. Also the teaching of theolder pupils following the Youth Award scheme enhances their motivation.

23. The teaching of English is satisfactory overall and pupils’ learning is therefore satisfactory also.There is some very good teaching in Year 7 where pupils are making good progress because of thecareful planning and implementation of the national literacy strategy. This is founded upon the teachers’and learning support assistants’ effective teamwork. Pupils enjoy these lessons because the teaching isoften imaginative and engages their interest. However, lesson objectives are sometimes unclear so thatthe pupils do not always know what they will be learning. On occasions, too much time is spent on low-level activities, such as copying from the board, and pupils are sometimes expected to listen to the teacherfor too long.

24. The teaching of literacy is satisfactory and the school’s strategy is very effective in Year 7. Overall,the school needs to tackle weakness in reading and in written work with greater urgency throughout theschool. Subject teachers have been well trained in the teaching and development of literacy, andstandards are beginning to show signs of improvement, which can be seen clearly in English in Year 7. Assubject teachers become more experienced and aware of the strategy’s advantages to pupils’ learning,they are starting to adapt the Year 7 framework to other years, but it is too early yet to see or quantifygains in pupils’ skills beyond Year 7. Literacy is well supported by the EAZ and is co-ordinated well atthe planning stage but the monitoring of literacy teaching throughout the various subjects has not yet beenintroduced. Although key words are displayed in classrooms, and there are also dictionaries andthesauruses in many rooms, teaching needs to be more consistent in the different subjects. Literacy istaught well in history and teachers’ marking of written work deals not only with history, but more generallyit tackles presentation, spelling and grammar. Although some incidental literacy work was seen in religiouseducation lessons, few demands are made on pupils’ extended writing. Many subjects make good use ofthe library facilities and the expertise of the librarian, and some have produced guided ‘writing frames’ toenable pupils to improve their extended writing but a more concerted, whole-school effort is needed toraise overall standards.

25. In mathematics, teaching and learning are satisfactory overall in Years 7 to 11. However, theteachers covering temporarily for absent staff sometimes have inadequate knowledge of the subject andthis obviously leads to unsatisfactory learning. Lessons are usually well planned, logically sequenced, and


proceed at a brisk pace. The marking of pupils’ written work usually enables them to see their mistakesand how to improve; however, some of the marking is still not good enough. Discipline is effective and thework of learning assistants helps pupils who lack confidence to make progress. Learning is usually betterin the higher attaining classes because the pupils are especially co-operative and keen to work hard. Insome of the weaker lessons, teachers are too ready to allow pupils to use calculators for simple work,which ought to be done mentally. Some classes in Years 7 to 9 are far too large to allow the teacher togive sufficient attention to all of the pupils and the effectiveness of their learning suffers in consequence.

26. The teaching of numeracy is satisfactory. The school is just beginning to work towards co-ordinatingthe teaching of numerical topics across the curriculum and numeracy needs to be tackled with greaterurgency. In geography and science, in particular, weak numerical skills and problems with rearrangementof formulae, scale and graphs often restrict pupils' understanding and progress.

27. In science, teaching and learning are generally good overall but are clearly better in Years 10 and 11than in Years 7 – 9 because the lessons for older pupils are more clearly structured so that pupilsunderstand better what they are to learn than the younger pupils. Teachers have a sound understanding oftheir different science disciplines. Practical activities are well managed and safe. The teachers are makingsome efforts to teach literacy skills, for example, with the use of key words and writing frames but writingskills need to be tackled much more radically because even higher-attaining pupils have difficulty with thespelling of scientific terms. Better use needs to be made of ICT in science lessons but the school lacksessential data-logging equipment.

28. Amongst other subjects, the most effective teaching is found in history, art and design, design andtechnology, information technology, physical education and religious education throughout the school, andin the GNVQ courses in Years 10 and 11. There are no subjects in which teaching is unsatisfactory.

29. The success of history, in particular, is due to a number of good features of the teaching. Pupils learnto take a pride in their work and this leads to good progress. Teachers ensure at the outset that pupilsdevelop an interest in the subject and its methodology and develop their literacy skills well. Teachersencourage pupils to write in a range of styles, from poetry to letters using language from different periods.In return, pupils are interested in the subject and work hard to succeed. Because the pupils enjoy history,they are attentive and respond enthusiastically to the tasks set for them. Classrooms are bright anddisplays have a strong and interesting subject focus.

30. In the GNVQ courses, which are offered at Foundation and Intermediate levels, the teaching isconsistently effective and underpins the pupils’ good progress. Particular features are consistently goodmarking of written work, development of literacy skills, and pupils’ understanding of their progress andwhat they must do to improve.

31. The teaching of German is satisfactory overall, and almost half the lessons seen were good. Thelanguage is used to good effect in lessons and this accounts for the relative strength of pupils’ speakingand listening. A lack of ICT facilities is a weakness and there is no opportunity for pupils to use ICT tosupport their learning in German, although the teachers have the necessary ICT skills to teach the pupils.

32. The quality of teaching and learning in physical education is good throughout the school, especiallyteaching of the girls. Pupils learn correct techniques and improve their performance and are often setchallenging goals. However, pupils’ learning would be accelerated if pupils were encouraged to take moreresponsibility for analysing and planning their work. For example, the warm-up sessions at the beginning oflessons are nearly always led and directed by the teacher.

HOW GOOD ARE THE CURRICULAR AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED TOPUPILS?


33. The curriculum has a number of very good features but it also has some areas for improvement.

34. At the time of the inspection, Year 7 pupils had not begun learning German, and the teaching ofGerman to some Year 9 pupils had been abandoned because of difficulties in recruiting appropriatelyqualified teachers.

35. The highest attaining pupils in mathematics are entered for GCSE a year early, whilst in Year 10.These pupils, having passed their GCSE examination in mathematics, are not being taught the subject inYear 11 but instead are concentrating on other examination subjects. Again, this situation arises becausethe school has difficulty in recruiting appropriately qualified mathematics teachers. The pupils are notwasting their time and there is no breach of statutory requirements. However, this situation isunsatisfactory because of the gap in the pupils’ mathematical education, and because of the missedopportunity to capitalise on the pupils’ achievements and to extend their work in mathematics.

36. The time given for the teaching and learning of religious education, which was found to be insufficientat the time of the previous inspection, has been increased so that the Barnsley Agreed Syllabus is nowcovered in satisfactory depth in Year 10. However, the time given to the subject in Year 11 is only onehour over the two weeks of the timetable which is not enough to sustain the good progress made in Year10.

37. The school has satisfactory strategies for raising standards of literacy and numeracy and these aresupported financially through the EAZ. However, they need to be implemented with greater urgency andconsistency in order for them to be fully effective. The school has made a virtue out of necessity,organising basic skills courses for the three Year 9 classes for whom no teacher of German was availablewhen the timetable was constructed.

38. Pupils with special educational needs are very well supported in their learning during their first threeyears in the school, and continue to receive good support in Years 10 and 11. All pupils have a fluentcommand of English and all have equal access to the curriculum. Pupils with special educational needsreceive their full curriculum entitlement but it is adapted to meet individual needs. For example, in Years10 – 11, 66 pupils follow the Asdan Youth Award Scheme which is vocational and social in its structure.The school provides units of work in Year 9, which precede the Youth Award and are designed tomotivate the pupils concerned. The range of experiences which this presents is appropriate and wellreceived. In literacy and numeracy a highly structured ICT program provides a core of study whichindicates the personal progress of pupils.

39. Gifted and talented pupils have been identified and benefit from extension classes in some subjects.The Extension School is a good feature which provides a range of enhanced opportunities before school,after school and at lunchtimes, on condition that pupils commit themselves to the activity and promise tofulfil any associated examination requirements. Each year group takes part for one day each week, afterordinary lessons. Participation is voluntary, and about half of all of the pupils take part, which is veryimpressive. Many of these activities have a strong focus on the application of ICT, with supervised accessto the internet, but the range is wide and activities include, for example, a GCSE course in expressive arts(dance) for Year 10, and a project for Year 8 on the management of a pop group. A mixed abilityapproach to some of the groups ensures that the provision is widely inclusive of the full range ofattainment and interest. Years 7–9 are improving their practical work in science through CognitiveAcceleration through Science Education (CASE). In Years 10 and 11, approximately one fifth of thepupils take an extra GCSE science course, in human physiology and health, in lessons after school as partof the Extension School provision.

40. Since the previous inspection in 1998, the school has made good progress developing the skills neededto teach ICT, and to improve computer resources, both of which were found at that time to beunsatisfactory. Teachers have received training and the school has increased its number of computersuites from one to three, with one more planned. All pupils now take an examination course in ICT in


Years 10 and 11. These improvements have come about with the financial assistance of the EAZ andhave enabled the school to provide well for ICT at examination level (GCSE and GNVQ).

41. Extra-curricular provision is very good. It is particularly good in physical education and extends toactivities on both Saturday and Sunday, as well as after school and at lunchtimes. Trampolining, badminton,volley ball, fitness classes, and lower school rugby, as well as football for boys and girls all find a place inthe weekday routine, with competitive sports at weekends. A special strength is outdoor pursuits whichcomprise a very full range of activities at weekends and in holidays and are complemented by annualresidential opportunities for Years 7, 8 and 9. There is also an annual skiing trip. There is also a range ofmusical activities, which includes opportunities for performance in a Christmas pantomime, involving agirls’ choir. Fifty pupils are learning to play musical instruments, and one of them, a gifted violinist, ismaking exceptional progress. Also, the German department has twice in the last three years organisedtrips to Hamburg and to Aachen.

42. Personal, social and health education is good; it is well planned and taught by specialists in the subject,with good support from outside agencies, such as the nursing service. It provides equally well for girls andboys and includes sex education and drugs awareness. The school has anticipated requirements for theteaching of citizenship. All Year 10 pupils are trained to administer first aid.

43. Careers education is very good. Two major conferences for pupils are held each year - one on equalopportunities for Year 9 and another, for Year 10, a two-day event in connection with employment andindustry.

44. Very good arrangements ensure smooth transition from the junior schools to Willowgarth. Events takeplace throughout the year, with staff visits to the primary schools and groups of Year 6 pupils, 10 at a time,visiting Willowgarth. Various planned activities help to familiarise the new pupils with their prospectiveworking environment.

45. Arrangements for transition onward from Willowgarth are also very good, especially with the localcollege of further education. Links with the college greatly assist the school in its very good provision forwork-related education. These links enable pupils who have taken one or other of the school’s establishedGNVQ courses, for instance, in hospitality and catering, to progress smoothly to AVCE courses and manypupils move onwards to vocational degree courses at the college in vocational subjects which they beganat Willowgarth. Many of the college staff visit the school in connection with careers education for Year 11pupils and the school benefits considerably from this. There are good opportunities too for workexperience under the Trident programme, mostly in Barnsley but with some opportunities locally.

46. Effective measures provided by the local authority help to keep disaffected pupils in education. Theseinclude Tri-Out which is a programme of extended part-time work experience for 25 pupils. Furtherprovision is made by the local authority, for example, so that pupils can achieve vocational qualifications inthe fields of retail, engineering, construction or catering. The school uses its financial resources well tomake these opportunities available to pupils but the local community also does a good deal to assist theschool; for example, instrumental tuition for pupils is provided free of charge by the Grimethorpe collierybrass band. Overall, there is a very strong commitment to the education of young people by businesses,professional agencies and by voluntary organisations in the wider community which greatly benefits thepupils.

47. Provision for the personal development of pupils is very good, overall, with particular strengths inprovision for moral and social development of pupils. There has been a good improvement in the provisionfor pupils’ spiritual development since the last inspection. The school freely explores spiritual issues suchas prayer and the existence of God. Spiritual matters are explored in art, English, science, history andreligious education lessons. However, the school still fails to comply with the legal requirement for dailycollective worship for all pupils. A book of readings and thoughts has been made available to formteachers to enable them to meet this requirement but not all teachers use them. The school works closely


with the local churches and excellent assemblies were seen during the inspection, led by a local ministerand former pupils of the school. Despite the failure to provide consistently for daily worship, the overallprovision for pupils’ spiritual development is good.

48. The provision for pupils’ moral and social developments is very good. Teachers set good examplesfor pupils to follow. Moral guidance is clear and is one of the most notable features of the school,permeating its work at all levels. The PHSE programme underpins the school’s moral and social values,for example, in dealing with issues such as bullying, relationships and responsibility. Fund-raising fornational charities, such as Children in Need develops pupils’ sense of social responsibility. Pupils’ moraland social education benefits considerably from links with outside agencies.

49. The provision for pupils’ cultural development is good and has improved since the previous inspection.Local artists have worked with pupils to produce large-scale murals. Pupils take responsibility for theproduction of an annual pantomime performance and make theatre visits as part of their work in English.A wider cultural view has developed through involvement with the Comenius Education Project acrossEurope, and in particular Holland, Germany and Belgium. At present, the pupils’ learning about the culturaldiversity of modern Britain is narrow and teachers need to clarify the pupils’ understanding of theirheritage.

HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL CARE FOR ITS PUPILS?

50. The school’s arrangements to ensure pupils’ welfare are good. Parents are satisfied with the qualityof care and support that is provided. Satisfactory procedures for child protection are in place and theschool’s policy and practices to ensure health and safety are also satisfactory. The provision for first aid isgood.

51. The Individual Educational Needs department cares well for pupils with special needs. Theiracademic and personal developments are monitored almost daily.

52. The monitoring of pupils’ academic and personal development is good overall. The procedures forassessing pupils’ attainment and progress are good and have improved since the previous inspection,particularly in mathematics and modern foreign languages. Assessment is accurate and gives a clearindication of the pupils’ attainment at important points in their school career. The school uses this dataeffectively to compare its performance with schools, both locally and nationally, and also to compare therelative performance of subject departments in order to show where standards can be raised.

53. Assessment data are used effectively to set realistic targets for pupils in nearly all subjects. Pupilsknow their targets and understand how well they are doing in their studies. The senior staff makeeffective use of assessment data to guide the planning of the curriculum and to organise pupilsappropriately in classes commensurate with their levels of attainment.

54. Pupils’ attendance is efficiently recorded through the use of an electronic data system and parentsreceive a full year’s attendance report with the annual school report. The school employs severalstrategies to improve pupils’ and parents’ attitudes towards attendance. Disaffected pupils are providedwith alternative courses, which are attractive to them and relevant to their needs and are having abeneficial effect on these pupils’ attendance. The school makes effective use of competitions to motivatepupils to keep their personal attendance rates high. When an absence occurs, the school contacts parentsimmediately to ensure that the absence is authorised. Learning mentors appointed through Excellence inCities work hard to ensure that pupils become more positive about their education. These efforts areeffective in the case of disaffected pupils and persistently poor attenders, and are helping to raise overallattendance levels. However, the improvement is marginal because the most significant element in the wellbelow average attendance rate is casual absence condoned by some parents, and absence through takingholidays during term time.


55. Considerable efforts have been made to improve behaviour. Teachers consistently and effectivelyapply the school’s policy of assertive discipline. The strategies to recognise and reward good behaviourhave positive effects on the pupils’ overall motivation to work at their studies and to please their teachersand their parents. The sanctions used to correct unsatisfactory behaviour are very effective and rigorousenforcement of rules of behaviour has led to a substantial reduction in the numbers of exclusions andrecorded disruptions to lessons. Many privileges and opportunities for responsibility are conditional uponthe achievement of personal behaviour and attendance targets.

56. The school deals effectively with bullying but such incidents are rare because pupils do not hesitate toreport them to teachers and other adults. Teachers know their pupils well. Some pupils exerciseresponsibility, for example, as prefects, ‘befrienders’ and receptionists. However, these duties could beextended further. Personal, social and health education, involvement in extra-curricular activities, andcharitable giving all contribute to pupils’ personal development.

57. Local and national initiatives and agencies, such as Excellence in Cities and the National Society forthe Prevention of Cruelty to Children, make important contributions to the school’s own efforts to supportpupils’ personal needs. At present, the school lacks a managed sanctuary for pupils who experiencedifficulties from time to time in coping with the normal pressures of the classroom.HOW WELL DOES THE SCHOOL WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS?

58. Parents generally have positive views of the school. They are pleased with the quality of education itprovides and the progress that their children make. Although some parents believe that the home-schoolpartnership could be stronger, the inspectors find that the school does what it should to maintainsatisfactory links and collaboration with them. Parents generally support enthusiastically the events thatdirectly involve their own children and a few parents occasionally take part in lessons and other schoolactivities. The Friends of Willowgarth High School works hard to organise social events and to raise funds.The school tries hard to involve parents in the work of the school and their children’s education but doesnot always receive the response it deserves. In particular, a significant number of parents fail to ensurethat their children achieve full attendance.

59. The school diligently contacts parents about individual difficulties that their children experience,absence, achievement and welfare, in order to inform parents and to seek their co-operation. The parentsfind that the school is very approachable. It has changed the organisation of consultation evenings toaccord more with the parents’ wishes and attendance at these meetings has improved as a result. Almostall parents who do not attend these meetings are contacted by form teachers to ensure that parents hearimportant messages about their children’s progress.

60. The co-ordinator for the education of pupils with special educational needs goes beyond the normalrange of formal links with parents and fosters frequent informal links with them.

61. Communication with parents is generally effective. The school has developed a very informativeInternet website which has won a national award. Local newspapers report matters relating to the schoolregularly. Homework diaries are checked weekly by parents and form teachers. Although some parentsare dissatisfied with the quality of information they receive about their children’s progress the inspectorscannot agree with them. The annual school reports are satisfactory and parents have many otheropportunities to discuss their children’s progress with teachers and senior staff.

HOW WELL IS THE SCHOOL LED AND MANAGED?

62. The school is very well led by the headteacher and senior staff and it is also well managed. Theheadteacher, staff and governors are committed to providing a good education equally for all their pupilsand are determined that the school will do its best for them. The effectiveness of the work of the


headteacher and senior staff, their tireless commitment to the pupils and the dedication of the staff, are themost important strengths of the school. The aims of the school are well understood and are underpinnedby a very strong emphasis on the pupils’ personal development, and preparation for continued participationin further and higher education. The senior team has established a good ethos and climate for learningwhich reflect high expectations for effort and achievement.

63. The senior management team work together closely and its members have obvious individualstrengths. Because of staffing shortages, all of the senior staff, including the headteacher, teach for muchof the weekly timetable. Although the pupils benefit considerably from this teaching, the management ofthe school is short of a deputy headteacher. Nevertheless, the teachers are supported very well in theirlessons by the senior team’s ‘on-call’ system.

64. A system of performance management is fully in place. It is good and enables the headteacher tomonitor the performance of individual teachers at first hand and to set them targets for improvement. Theheadteacher has been set challenging targets by the governors. The senior staff monitor both the students’achievement and the quality of teaching and learning, and are clear about where the strengths andweaknesses amongst subjects lie. They now need to take more vigorous action to raise standards achievedby boys.

65. Subject management responsibilities are carried out well and heads of subject also monitor the qualityof teaching to show how improvements can be made. However, the implementation of the literacy andnumeracy strategies is not yet monitored by the respective co-ordinators. The individual needs departmentis very well led and managed and makes good use of ICT to accelerate pupils’ learning but needs toimprove its teaching of numeracy and to improve its use of the school library.

66. The school compares its performance with that of other schools, both locally and nationally. Forexample, GCSE performance is compared with that of similar schools and with national averages. Targetsare set for all subjects and for individual pupils, and teachers work hard to ensure that these targets aremet.

67. The governing body supports the work of the school very well and governors often visit the schoolinformally. Governors represent their community very well, have a good grasp of the school’s strengthsand areas for improvement, and they fulfil their responsibilities effectively. They receive the subjectmonitoring reports and they set statutory targets for GCSE, which are achievable yet challenging. Thegovernors’ work is particularly beneficial in financial management. All statutory requirements are metexcept those for collective worship: though collective worship is provided, for example, in assemblies, it isnot provided daily for all pupils.

68. The school’s development plan provides a good framework for raising standards and improving theoverall quality of teaching and learning and is linked to appropriate training for staff. The planning spansone year and includes costing, evaluation and accountability. Although a short-term plan, it is neverthelessstrategic, concentrating on strategies to raise standards. However, a longer-term view is needed to planfor important and necessary improvements to the teaching accommodation. Subject plans are integral tothe overall plan and these all follow a common format and are linked to five main priorities. These areappropriate to school’s improvement: literacy and numeracy, ICT, extension school activities and a newsystem for reporting to parents.

69. Although the plan includes an increased emphasis on the teaching of literacy and numeracy, theseneed to be tackled with greater urgency because poor basic skills are the greatest weakness in pupils’achievement. The school has also taken action to raise the attendance figures but improvement has beenmarginal and attendance continues to be a priority for the school.

70. Staffing is unsatisfactory and pupils’ progress is adversely affected by the school’s inability to recruitsuitable teachers for some subjects to cover for both long and short-term absence. This situation has


persisted for some time and has actually improved since the previous inspection but the effects of recentdifficulties in staffing German are that German cannot be taught at all in Year 7 and only to a minority ofYears 8 and 9. There have also been recruitment problems in English and mathematics, although thesehave now been solved. The teacher turnover is quite modest. Nine left and eight were appointed over thepast two years. Four temporary teachers are filling posts. The pupil- teacher ratio is unremarkable andsome class sizes are quite small. However, some mathematics classes are too large.

71. The school has accommodation surplus to its needs. The overall condition of the accommodation isvery unsatisfactory and many of the buildings are in a poor state of repair. The condition of theaccommodation indicates that it has deteriorated over some years and funding the necessary work will beexpensive. Roofs and window frames leak, and plaster is peeling from the walls. This means that somerooms are too damp to use as classrooms. Covered walkways are dilapidated and offer little protectionfrom wind and rain. In addition, the natural drainage of the site is poor, and paths flood with mud andwater when it rains. This results in mud being carried into the buildings and makes it very difficult to keepthe accommodation clean. Litter is unsightly and blows around the exposed and windy hilltop site. Theschool library is light and well furnished, with a good number of workspaces available. However, for themost part, the internal decoration is dingy, and buildings are unwelcoming. The school does its best tomake the most of this situation and there are some colourful displays in subject areas, for example, art anddesign, history and geography, which are bright and interesting and make a significant contribution to thevisual quality of the environment.

72. The quality of the accommodation for the different subjects varies widely. In information technology itis very good, and the teaching rooms have been recently refurbished to a high standard. In mathematics,whilst the accommodation is satisfactory overall, the rooms are dispersed, and this makes it difficult for thesubject head to supervise the supply teachers who are currently in post. In music, the rooms are in a verypoor state of repair. In physical education, the accommodation is poor. Heating in the sports hall andgymnasium is inadequate, and the roofs leak. Playing fields are poorly drained and waterlogged. The tenniscourts flood easily, their surfaces are slippery, and the nets are damaged.

73. The provision of learning resources is good, and has improved significantly since the previousinspection. The library is used effectively for pupils’ benefit, especially at breaks and lunchtimes, and theatmosphere is busy, welcoming and lively. Pupils use the library for reading for pleasure, to do theirhomework, and use computers to extend their learning. A classroom attached to the library is used byclasses when their teachers wish them to have easy access to books, especially for English, physicaleducation and religious education. The size of the bookstock is good, although not all are in good conditionand some need to be discarded. The quality of learning resources varies amongst the different subjectsbut is always at least satisfactory. The ICT resources are very good but access to the computers isdifficult in some subjects, such as design and technology, modern foreign languages and music. Theprovision of subject textbooks has improved since the previous inspection, for example, in German andmathematics.

74. Administration runs smoothly, contributing effectively to the overall efficiency of the school. ICT isused very effectively to support the school’s administration.

75. The budget was in balance with a hefty six per cent of funding carried forward to this year.Projected and earmarked spending will diminish this but the budget is expected to remain in balance with aprojected, unremarkable three per cent surplus. Financial management is efficient and funding for specialpurposes, such as special educational needs, is spent as designated. The senior staff and governors workhard to ensure that the school obtains best value and that money is well spent when placing contracts forservices and making purchases. External consultancy has been used to make wise decisions about theprovision of catering. Parents’ views are canvassed about matters such as consultation evenings. Thecost of educating a pupil is on the high side because the buildings are expensive to heat, clean andmaintain, and the school does not benefit from economies of scale that a larger roll, and commensurateincome, would allow. Nevertheless, within the context of the school, and with regard to the quality of


teaching, the students’ achievement in relation to their prior attainment, the school’s strong leadership andits effective management, its very good ethos and efficient use of its resources, the school is effective andgives good value for money.

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

76. In order to improve the school’s performance further, the governors, headteacher and senior staffshould take the following action.

(1) Tackle the weaknesses in the basic skills of literacy and numeracy morevigorously and urgently throughout the school, for example, by

• monitoring the teaching and learning of basic skills more rigorously through all subjects,• rewarding individual pupils for significant improvements.

(paragraphs 1,6-9,24-27,65,69,98-113,132,135,139 and 181)

(2) Work harder to raise standards achieved by boys, especially at GCSE, forexample, by

• ensuring that boys are equally represented with girls in the top classes• raising the standard of boys’ written work to equal that of the girls.

(paragraphs1-9,64,77,84,87,88,112-114,117,120,125,133,138,145and 178)

(3) Take action to bring the accommodation up to a satisfactory standard, for example,by

• making an action plan, prioritising the most important areas for improvement,• securing the necessary funds and budgeting for the improvements over a medium-to-long

term.(paragraphs 68 and 71-73)

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION

77. The school’s inclusion policy commits governors and teachers to provide equally for all pupils. Verygood procedures identify different groups of pupils, such as those with special gifts and talents, or thosewith learning or behavioural difficulties. Once the needs of different pupils are known, a range ofstrategies follow to ensure that these needs are usually met. The school has tried to tackle the differencebetween boys’ and girls’ achievement, for example, through providing single-sex classes, though thesewere not successful.

78. Pupils are targeted who for one reason or another are disinterested in school and education. The Tri-Out scheme for Years 10 and 11 pupils provides a week’s residential course at an outdoor pursuits centre,followed by a programme of work-related activities and vocational ‘taster days’ offered one day a weekat the local college of further education. Extended work experience is also made available to these pupils.Pupils are helped and supported through a scheme provided in conjunction with a university, and the localYouth Development Agency provides opportunities for pupils to study for a vocational qualification in anumber of practically based areas. As a result of these initiatives, many pupils who would otherwiseachieve little are deriving maximum benefit from what the school can give them.

79. The school sees it as especially important to identify pupils with low aspirations and who are likely todrop out of education when they leave Willowgarth so that they can be motivated to remain in education,up to and including university. These strategies are effective and are leading to a higher post-sixteenparticipation rate and, in particular, more pupils are going on to further education. In connection with the


initiative, Excellence Challenge, pupils visit the local further education college, and attend lectures andpractical sessions; they make day visits to universities and attend a one-week’s residential summer school.Master-classes are held at the college one night a week and on Saturday mornings when pupils samplecourses such as Catering and Hair and Beauty.

80. Every lunchtime, the school’s ‘drop-in centre’ is open to pupils who wish to speak confidentially withdrugs workers, school nurses, teenage health workers or representatives from the NSPCC. Workingstrictly within the school’s guidelines regarding child protection, volunteers provide pupils with opportunitiesfor confidential and specialist advice and many pupils take advantage of this provision. The Friday NightFever project, which involves Year 9 pupils trained in puppetry, runs workshops with Year 6 pupils fromlocal primary schools to help raise their awareness of the dangers of smoking, drugs and alcohol abuse.This very successful initiative, supported by local police and youth workers, is funded with a grant from anational bank.

81. Provision for pupils with special educational needs is good and it is very good for gifted and talentedpupils. Each special group of pupils is the special responsibility of a named member of staff and policiesand procedures are in place to ensure that these groups of pupils achieve as highly as possible. Pupils withemotional and behavioural difficulties have individual timetables and, when appropriate, are supported bythe local pupil referral unit and spend some time at the college of further education and in work placement.In order to improve in-house facilities for these pupils, a learning support manager has been appointed anda support unit is to open soon. Learning mentors are in place to provide advice and one to one support.Partly as a result of these initiatives, the rate of pupil exclusions is falling. Pupils who are underachievingare identified and supported by mentors from the local Business Education Partnership.

82. For gifted and talented pupils there are extension classes, summer schools and a range of outsidevisits to broaden horizons. The Head’s Challenge offers all pupils the opportunity to demonstrate theirtalents, learn new skills and show initiative.

83. Although the school, through its PHSE and religious education teaching programmes, endeavours toprepare pupils for living in a diverse and increasingly interdependent society, this is an area for furtherdevelopment, specifically to challenge pupils to address issues of racism, sexism and other forms ofdiscrimination.


PART C: SCHOOL DATA AND INDICATORS

Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of lessons observed 127

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 40

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

Number 3 24 52 44 3 1 0

Percentage 2 19 41 35 2 1 0

The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements aboutteaching.

Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Y7 – Y11

Number of pupils on the school’s roll 717

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 248

Special educational needs Y7 – Y11

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 36

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 142

English as an additional language No of pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 1

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 29

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 21

Attendance

Authorised absence Unauthorised absence

% %

School data 10.0 School data 1.8

National comparative data 8.1 National comparative data 1.1

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


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

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 3 for the latest reporting year 2001 91 71 162

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

Boys 23 38 39

Numbers of pupils at NC level 5and above

Girls 43 32 34

Total 66 70 73

Percentage of pupils School 41 (40) 43 (38) 45 (31)

at NC level 5 or above National 64 (63) 66 (65) 66 (59)



Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

Boys 22 34 41

Numbers of pupils at NC level 5and above

Girls 38 33 35

Total 60 67 76





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

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

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 4 for the latest reporting year 2001 66 85 151

GCSE results 5 or more gradesA* to C

5 or more gradesA*-G

1 or more gradesA*-G

Boys 14 53 62

Numbers of pupils achieving thestandard specified

Girls 37 75 82

Total 51 128 144

Percentage of pupils achieving School 34 (25) 85 (85) 95 (93)

the standard specified National 48 (47) 91 (91) 96 (96)

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

GCSE results GCSE point score

Average point score School 33 (29)

per pupil National 39.0 (38.4)

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


Vocational qualifications Number % success rate

Number studying for approved vocational qualifications or units and School 114 97

the percentage of those pupils who achieved all those they studied National n/a


Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

No of pupils Fixed period Permanent

Black – Caribbean heritage 0 Black – Caribbean heritage 0 0

Black – African heritage 0 Black – African heritage 0 0

Black – other 0 Black – other 0 0

Indian 0 Indian 0 0

Pakistani 0 Pakistani 0 0

Bangladeshi 0 Bangladeshi 0 0

Chinese 1 Chinese 0 0

White 716 White 62 2

Any other minority ethnic group 0 Other minority ethnic groups 0 0

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

Teachers and classes Financial information

Qualified teachers and classes: Y7 – Y11

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 42.8 Financial year 2000-01

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 16.8

Education support staff: Y7 – Y11 £

Total number of education support staff 13 Total income 2209621

Total aggregate hours worked per week 289 Total expenditure 2079655

Deployment of teachers: Y7 – Y11 Expenditure per pupil 2807

Percentage of time teachers spend incontact with classes

77.0 Balance brought forward from previous year 0

Average teaching group size: Y7 – Y11 Balance carried forward to next year 129966

Key Stage 3 25.2

Key Stage 4 21.0

FTE means full-time equivalent.

Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 9

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 8

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 2

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 3.7

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 0

FTE means full-time equivalent.


Results of the survey of parents and carers

Questionnaire return rate

Number of questionnaires sent out 717

Number of questionnaires returned 23

Percentage of responses in each category

Stronglyagree

Tend toagree

Tend todisagree

Stronglydisagree

Don’tknow

My child likes school. 52 44 0 4 0

My child is making good progress in school. 74 22 0 4 0

Behaviour in the school is good. 39 44 4 4 9

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 39 48 9 4 0

The teaching is good. 48 44 4 0 4

I am kept well informed about how my child is gettingon.

44 30 22 4 0

I would feel comfortable about approaching the schoolwith questions or a problem.

61 26 13 0 0

The school expects my child to work hard and achievehis or her best.

61 26 4 9 0

The school works closely with parents. 44 26 26 4 0

The school is well led and managed. 52 35 13 0 0

The school is helping my child become mature andresponsible.

44 39 13 4 0

The school provides an interesting range of activitiesoutside lessons.

35 35 17 0 13


PART D: THE STANDARDS AND QUALITY OF TEACHING IN AREAS OF THECURRICULUM, SUBJECTS AND COURSES

ENGLISH

Overall, the quality of provision in English is satisfactory.

Strengths• Leadership and management ensure clear educational direction.• Pupils with special educational needs make very good progress.• Pupils’ literacy skills are being well developed in Year 7.• Pupils’ speaking and listening skills are improving.

Areas for development• Standards can be raised, particularly of boys.• Literacy needs to be tackled more vigorously in other subjects.• ICT is not used enough to improve pupils’ learning.• More pupils, especially boys, should be entered for GCSE in English literature.• The accommodation is poor.

84. Overall attainment on entry to Year 7 is well below average. The results of Year 9 tests are still wellbelow average, and also below those achieved by schools taking pupils from similar backgrounds. Boys’results are lower than girls’ and have shown a declining trend over the past three years. Overall resultsare similar to those achieved in mathematics and science.

85. Overall standards of work of the present Year 9 are below average but improving. The introductionof the National Literacy Strategy (NLS), with its emphasis on structure, variety and pace, is ensuring thatpupils of all abilities are making good progress in English.

86. The standard of Year 9 pupils’ written work is below average, but represents satisfactoryachievement given the low levels of pupils’ attainment on entry to the school. Lower attaining pupils canwrite simple stories, letters, character studies and some interesting personal and descriptive accounts, butthese are often undeveloped and beset by poor presentation, limited vocabulary and inadequate spellingand punctuation. Higher attaining pupils show a growing ability to use complex sentences and some areadventurous and individual. Their creative writing is often enlivened because of their willingness to useexamples of the figurative language which they study and to experiment with vocabulary. Some goodexamples of personal poetry writing were seen entitled Bonfire; and there were some effectivediscussions, and illustrations, on the main features of slapstick comedy. Although pupils of all abilitiesrespond well to plot and character in literature, in their study of The Ghost of Thomas Kempe andMacbeth, for example, they are unaware of writing as a craft and do not refer to authors or their style intheir answers, or consider the purpose of the writing. Many have difficulty in constructing and supportingargument, especially in their analyses of literature and media texts, and it is this weakness which ispreventing more pupils from achieving the higher levels in the National tests.

87. The GCSE results for English are below the national average and the boys’ results are well below. InGCSE English literature, there is a similar picture, with pupils’ attainment below the national average andgirls outperforming boys by a greater margin than they do nationally, and fewer than half of the boys areentered for the examination.


88. Standards reached by the present Year 11 pupils are below average. In Year 10, because manypupils have difficulty answering the media section of their GCSE examination, the department is nowensuring that all have the technical vocabulary and the necessary experience of using it successfully.Additionally, standards of speaking and listening are improving as a result of the department’s revision ofits planned lesson activities to ensure that there are frequent opportunities for pupils to engage indiscussions.

89. Standards of writing in Year 11 are low, especially those of boys: however, they do representsatisfactory progress since Year 9. In both Years 10 and 11, pupils’ creative writing is better than theirpersuasive or informative writing. Lower attaining pupils often have difficulty understanding and using avariety of formal writing conventions and styles because their vocabulary and experiences are limited tocolloquial forms. They respond personally to what they read, but answers are often undeveloped andbrief, and opinions are not supported by clear evidence. Middle ability pupils have limited criticalawareness: they often retell a story or write about characters as real people, instead of considering howwriters, such as Shakespeare and Steinbeck, create and use them to influence their audience or readers.Higher attaining pupils can usually write at length when required and know how to analyse texts, thoughnot in depth. Many are interested in acquiring biographical and historical information, though theysometimes introduce it unnecessarily into their critical essays. They also know that they should usequotations to illustrate and support their opinions and argument, but these are not always well chosen andare often paraphrased, rather than analysed.

90. Reading attainment varies considerably between Years 7 and 11 and is low overall. By Year 9, manywho earlier had very poor skills have made progress which is at least satisfactory because of the recentwhole school emphasis on developing literacy for all pupils. Most can read to gain information and boththe department and the librarian encourage pupils to read for pleasure, though there is a gradual reductionin this as they move through the school. The highest attaining pupils in all years can make somedeductions, inferences and predictions based on their class reading of fiction, media and non-media texts,such as biography and travel writing. By Year 11, they know how to select appropriate information froma variety of sources to justify their responses and interpretations in examination and coursework, but suchevidence is rarely well used. In their courses, pupils study a wide variety of poetry, short stories, novels,plays and media texts; and pupils of all ages and abilities readily volunteer to read them aloud in class.Pupils are encouraged to take some responsibility for their own reading development in Years 7-9 bycompleting personal reading diaries which are monitored by their teachers.

91. Standards of speaking and listening are average and are better than they are for reading and writing.Most pupils are willing to participate in class and group discussions and, although many do not have thevocabulary or fluency of language to make sustained or incisive contributions, they do listen to and supporteach other well. Paired discussion in a low ability Year 7 class studying The Highwayman led tointeresting and appropriate moral judgements about the main character; whilst in Year 10, small groupdiscussions about film trailers helped all to develop their ideas and knowledge about how films arepromoted. A lesson given by a visiting drama teacher to Year 9 pupils who are studying Macbeth fortheir National test, demonstrated very well the important contribution to pupils’ self confidence andesteem, their co-operative and social skills and their understanding of literature and the many issues whichit explores, that can be achieved through drama. These pupils worked well together and made excellentprogress in speaking and listening. Unfortunately, the school is currently unable to appoint a dramateacher owing to a lack of applications.

92. Pupils with special educational needs are making very good progress because of the close co-operation and support provided by subject teachers and the classroom assistants. This is particularlyevident in Year 7 in which additional, high quality support is being provided, through additional fundinggranted because of the school’s status as an Educational Action Zone (EAZ). This is allowing theintroduction of team teaching and small group tutorials and is thereby helping considerably in thedevelopment of literacy across the curriculum. Pupils who entered the school with standards which werewell below the National average are working confidently and making good progress in Year 7.


93. Although some teachers make good use of information and communication technology (ICT) in theirlessons, for the planning and drafting of stories and essays or the writing of newspaper articles, forexample, not all pupils use it in English. This is due rather to teachers’ lack of experience and confidencethan to the unavailability of resources or a serious lack of access. As there is no statement of ICTentitlement for pupils in English, some are denied valuable learning opportunities. A class of Year 11pupils, however, was observed using ICT during the inspection to complete coursework assignments, withword processing and desk top publishing software, and a low ability Year 8 group was using an interactivecomputer programme to improve their reading and develop their independent learning skills.

94. Pupils’ attitudes and behaviour in class are usually good and help their learning, though a few boys, inYears 9 – 11, have difficulty concentrating for very long and make little effort to contribute positively tolessons or to take some responsibility for their own learning. Additionally, the poor attendance of asignificant group of pupils in the upper school means that they do not complete sufficient coursework andthey therefore rule themselves out of entry for the GCSE examinations. Generally, pupils enjoy goodrelationships with their teachers and support each other well in class and group work. Staff effectivelymonitor

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