Addey and Stanhope School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher is an inspirational leader who shares her aspirations successfully with staff, pupils, governors, parents and carers.

Since her appointment in 2015, the headteacher has employed new leaders and, subsequently, changed how the school works. This has strengthened the capacity of senior leaders to reform the school. Evidence of the impact of her 'whatever it takes' approach is the good and improving outcomes for pupils in Years 7 to 11.

However, occasionally the action taken by teachers is inconsistent because expectations agreed by leaders are not always formally recorded. The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is g...ood. Leaders' ability to analyse pupils' performance information has improved, and is strong.

These changes mean swift action is being taken to address gaps in pupils' learning so they make good progress. Current Year 7 to 11 pupils make good progress in lessons in a range of subjects. However, work completed by pupils with high starting points is sometimes not sufficiently challenging.

Additionally, a small number of teachers move some pupils' learning forward before they are ready. Pupils' behaviour in lessons is good and promotes a positive and safe learning environment. The school's work to develop pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding, and supports pupils to exemplify the school's inclusive values.

Nonetheless, the number of fixed-term exclusions, although rapidly reduced, remains above the latest national figure. The committed governing body supports and challenges leaders and managers to improve teaching, learning and pupils' outcomes. Governors and leaders work together to ensure that the curriculum supports pupils to have an equal chance to attain well and succeed in all aspects of their lives.

Evidence of leaders' relentless focus on promoting equality is the strong progress of disadvantaged pupils, which is equal to that of others in the school. Progress made by pupils in modern foreign languages is outstanding year on year compared to their peers with similar starting points nationally. However, this exceptional progress is not mirrored in other subjects.

Pupils learn well in the school's speech and language resource base, and make good progress from their starting points.

Information about this school

Addey and Stanhope is smaller than the average-sized secondary school and serves a diverse area in Lewisham. The headteacher has been in post since September 2015.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than average. There are more boys than girls. The school had a sixth form until the summer of 2017, and is in the final stages of the formal process required to close the sixth form.

The school did not offer 16 to 19 study programmes, and did not have post-16 pupils on the school roll at the time of this inspection. The school has a speech and language resource base on-site, which educates 24 pupils. Some pupils attend alternative provision.

The alternative provider used is Lewisham College, which is within the local borough. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is well above average. More than three out of five pupils are entitled to the support of pupil premium funding.

This is well above the national average The school has recently been assigned support through Atlas Teaching School Alliance, which supports Lewisham schools in partnership with the local authority. The school did not meet the government's floor standards in 2017, which set the minimum expectation for pupils' progress. The school meets the DfE's definition of a coasting school, based on key stage 4 academic performance results in 2015 to 2017.