Ormiston Endeavour Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Ormiston Endeavour Academy continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Ormiston Endeavour Academy is a harmonious and safe place where pupils trust the staff to look after them.

Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy coming to school. They enjoy positive relationships with adults who know them well. Pupils appreciate and live up to the staff's high expectations of behaviour and achievement.

Pupils are attentive in their lessons and work well. Pupils interact with each other respectfully during social times. They enjoy positive relationships with their peers.

Pupils are comfortable to report any concerns they have, including any related to... bullying. They are confident that staff will resolve such issues quickly and effectively.

Pupils benefit from a broad and ambitious curriculum.

Pupils access a good-quality curriculum that allows them to learn well, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils.

The 'Endeavour Experience' provides pupils with a wide range of clubs and activities. For example, pupils talked positively about the recent trip to the theatre in London.

Others talked about their involvement in reopening a local swimming pool.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders, including governors, have created a new, ambitious curriculum. Subject leaders have defined the essential knowledge and order of learning that pupils need to cover through their subject curriculum.

The curriculum is well organised in each subject. Teachers plan opportunities for pupils to remember, practise and build on what they already know. Pupils progress well through the curriculum.

Teachers have good subject knowledge. In lessons, teachers routinely check what pupils know and understand. Teachers address misconceptions quickly.

They ensure that pupils' learning is secure before moving on to new topics. Pupils are taught the essential knowledge well. This helps them to remember and apply their knowledge to more complex tasks or in other topics.

Teachers' use of assessment strategies during lessons is effective. Teachers use this information about what pupils know and can do to support pupils on a day-to-day basis, including those pupils with SEND. Teachers adapt their teaching well to ensure that pupils with SEND access the same high-quality curriculum as their peers.

Leaders also accurately identify pupils who find reading more difficult. Pupils, including those new to English, receive appropriate support to develop reading fluency and to access the curriculum more effectively.

However, leaders' monitoring of how pupils are faring in the curriculum and the assessment systems in some subjects are still in development.

Pupils are not always clear about how well they are progressing in these curriculum areas.

Pupils self-manage their behaviours well, and in doing so they show maturity and respect for one another. These positive attitudes mean that they can learn without disruption.

They listen and contribute well in lessons.

Pupils develop ideas of citizenship with the knowledge that they gain from the school's well-planned personal development curriculum. Pupils talk positively about their understanding of different lifestyle choices.

This includes age-appropriate relationships and sex education and health education.

Pupils benefit from a strong careers education, information, advice and guidance programme. Leaders ensure that pupils in key stage 3 have appropriate information when considering which subjects to study in key stage 4.

Pupils also have good-quality opportunities for work experience and support for applications for post-16 education, training or employment.

The trust, leaders and governors know their school well and how to fulfil their roles. In turn, staff share high expectations for pupils' academic achievement.

Staff are proud to work at Ormiston Endeavour Academy. They, like many pupils, consider it a friendly place with a family feel. The trust provides appropriate capacity and expertise to support the school's development plan.

Together, they have identified the right priorities to bring about further improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The culture of safeguarding is strong.

Staff are clear about the risks that pupils may face in or outside school. This includes county lines and peer-on-peer abuse. Staff are vigilant and know what to do to keep pupils safe.

Pupils are confident to seek help from staff when they need it. Staff report concerns about pupils in a timely manner. Leaders quickly identify whether pupils require additional support from external agencies.

They also work with vulnerable pupils and their families to get the help that they need.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have undertaken extensive work on planning and delivering an ambitious curriculum. Leaders are still working on determining how they will assess and monitor pupils against the intended learning in some subjects.

As a result, pupils are not always clear about the progress that they are making in each subject. Leaders should refine their approaches to assessment so that leaders, pupils and parents and carers are clear about the progress that pupils are making in all subjects within the well-planned curriculum.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2016.

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