Temple Moor High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Temple Moor High School Science College

Following my visit to the school on 30 March 2017 with Ofsted Inspector Stuart Cleary, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in March 2013. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has restored the good quality of education in the school following a dip in performance after the last inspection. Both governors and the local authority identified this drop in standards two years ago and were swift to challenge the decline. Following your appointment as principal, y...ou recognised that the quality of teaching and learning was not at the high level that you would expect.

You and your staff have created a purposeful and challenging culture of learning among all pupils and you have dealt effectively with a very turbulent period of staffing changes, including at senior levels. Your personal passion for improvement in both academic standards and attendance has resulted in your pupils responding well to the new direction in which you are taking the school. You have made sure that senior and middle leaders, along with your governing body, share your enthusiasm for rapid improvement and your very high expectations of behaviour and success for all.

Temple Moor High School's support for spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is resulting in young people who are more confident in themselves and tolerant of others. As a result of your desire for rapid improvement, pupils are now making better progress than was the case previously. Published results for Temple Moor High School last year do not reflect the progress currently seen in the pupils' work that my colleague and I observed during the inspection.

Middle leaders state that the outcomes in 2016 occurred, in part, because : they did not fully 'own' their roles. As a result, they did not always respond to the needs of pupils quickly enough. Not enough was done to tackle the poor achievement of some groups of pupils, such as middle-ability boys in English and disadvantaged pupils in English and mathematics.

You have quickly tackled the poor attendance of these pupils so that, overall, it is now near to the national average, and you are not letting go of the drive to improve it further. You have diligently delegated responsibility to your middle and senior leaders and are now ensuring that they are accountable for their actions and the standards attained in their departments. Leaders confront and tackle underachievement in their subject areas well and they are empowered to carry out their duties with growing confidence.

However, they all recognise that their drive to improve the progress that all pupils make cannot stop, and know clearly that there will always be more work to do to ensure that all groups of pupils succeed. This drive is already showing that disadvantaged pupils currently in school are now doing at least as well as others. The deputy principal in charge of teaching and learning has a very secure knowledge of the quality of staff's teaching and is astute at delivering support where it is needed.

The impact of improvements is more obvious in Years 7 and 8, where the new routines and foundations put in place are more securely embedded and pupils understand boundaries and the higher expectations you have of everyone. Pupils who come to Temple Moor High School are very positive about the changes you have brought about in a short period of time. They recognise the differences seen in lessons through the better behaviour of pupils and the increased challenges and higher expectations of them by their teachers.

Pupils are happy and keen to do well. Persistent absence rates have reduced significantly in the last year, particularly for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities or are disadvantaged. Your drive to improve pupils' general literacy and numeracy skills is now enabling pupils to access other subjects with more confidence.

The curriculum changes you have made have also ensured that all pupils can now access a more academic education should they choose to follow one; yet you have maintained choice for those who still want to follow a more vocational route. The few pupils who attend alternative provision to support them to return to mainstream education also now attend well and their progress and confidence are improving. In the sixth form, students reach standards in line with expectations.

Retention rates from Year 12 to Year 13 are strong. You have a clear understanding of where students who leave after just one year of study go for further study or to enter employment. Support for students wanting to go on to higher education at university is also strong.

The celebration of former students who go on to different universities helps the current sixth-form students to aspire to further academic success. Governors, with support from the local authority and yourself, have quickly strengthened their skills in challenging you and other leaders. Governors say that they appointed you in order to bring about rapid improvement.

You have quickly responded to that challenge by leading a robust restructuring that has already resulted in the improved progress and attendance of pupils. One governor is identified as a training lead for other governors and is ensuring that they are supported to keep their skills and knowledge sharp, up to date and focused. This is further enhancing their ability to drive standards higher and hold leaders accountable.

Most parents agree that things are improving, but some seem unsure as to the impact of your changes on the school. From the 57 responses by parents to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, most were positive about your leadership and also supportive about the changes you have made so far. Parents are also positive about the quality of teaching.

An overwhelming majority would recommend Temple Moor High School to others. However, not everyone is fully aware of what you are doing or why you are doing it. As a result, a very small number of parents do not have these same positive views.

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team ensures that all safeguarding requirements are met. You maintain detailed and secure records of any incidents, including bullying and racism, along with actions taken to address any issues, which are now less frequent.

The school has a strong relationship with the local authority and other good schools nearby, and uses these links to gain good-quality care and support for pupils. Your own staff receive training to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns, which include risks from radicalisation and the use of social media. The school has dealt swiftly and with vigour with any incidents of poor behaviour or language displayed by its pupils on social media.

You have successfully supported pupils to understand how to use modern technologies appropriately. Inspection findings ? You have a team of senior leaders and middle leaders who know their roles extremely well and are fully accountable for the impact they have on improving standards within their areas of responsibility. The deputy principal in charge of teaching and learning has already made significant steps in improving the quality of teaching so that progress is becoming more rapid, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

• All teachers now have embedded routines for identifying disadvantaged pupils or those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teachers are becoming more skilled at targeting different approaches to maximise the progress these pupils make. This was securely evident in the Year 11 English class I observed with you.

Scrutiny of work carried out by my colleague and myself during our observations in other classes demonstrates that disadvantaged pupils are now making progress that is at least as strong as their peers in class. Middle-ability boys' progress in English is now similar to that made by other groups. ? Subject leaders have become enthused and empowered by your early challenge to them and by your model of accountability.

They can confidently describe the progress being made by groups of pupils. For example, current assessment for Year 11 disadvantaged pupils shows that, in the last six months, standards have risen by more than half a full GCSE grade in many subjects, including English and mathematics. This has been further verified through moderation and standardisation by external providers.

Progress information now demonstrates secure and strong progress for these pupils in the last year. Despite this, the gap in progress made by disadvantaged pupils compared with that of their peers nationally remains wide, but is closing. Leaders recognise that this is a clear focus for the school in the years ahead.

• The attendance of pupils currently in the school has improved this year as a result of your swift actions. There have been impressive reductions in the overall figure of persistent absence. For example, the rate of persistent absence for disadvantaged pupils has reduced by over 12% and for those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities it has reduced by 27%.

Attendance is now close to the national average. ? Governors were quick to challenge leadership for the drop in standards and progress after the last inspection. As a result of the turbulence in staffing that followed, swift action was required to stabilise and regain an improvement in pupils' attendance, behaviour and progress.

This is being achieved through the enthusiasm and sense of urgency you have brought and by setting higher standards and raising expectations among staff and pupils. ? You have put in place firm foundations for pupils to gain the resilience and confidence to tackle the higher expectations you have of them. This was evident in the lessons that were visited during the inspection and from the books we sampled across the day.

This strength was clearly more secure for pupils in Years 7 and 8 than it was for a few pupils in Years 10 and 11. Middle leaders recognise that there is more work to do to ensure that the engagement seen in lower year groups is fully replicated in other years. ? Fixed-term exclusions have risen slightly as a result of your high expectations for better behaviour from pupils.

Pupils' behaviour around school is generally good and they appear courteous to visitors, staff and their peers. This is as a direct result of the clear boundaries and high expectations you have put in place. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? middle leaders accelerate the progress made among all groups of learners within their areas of responsibility, particularly disadvantaged pupils, so that achievement gaps narrow quickly ? they further embed and build upon the rapid improvements made by all groups of learners in their attendance, behaviour and progress ? they enhance communications with stakeholders, particularly parents, so that stakeholders are fully aware of the actions being taken to improve standards overall.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Leeds. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Colin Scott Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection my areas of focus included: ? the impact of any improvements in teaching, learning and assessment on the progress made by pupils since the last inspection ? the actions taken by leaders to increase attendance rates and reduce persistent absence by pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities ? the success leaders are having at narrowing the achievement gaps recently seen in published information by middle-ability boys in English and those pupils who are disadvantaged in English, mathematics, science and modern foreign languages ? the extent to which leaders challenge inappropriate behaviour, particularly that on social media and through the use of modern technology.

I held meetings with you and with senior and middle leaders. I also met with six governors and two representatives from the local authority. My colleague and I spoke with pupils and students throughout the day, including formally in a meeting and informally as part of lesson observations.

We visited a number of classrooms with you and your deputy principal and also on our own. I took into account responses to online questionnaires from parents, pupils and staff and I considered recent minutes of governing body meetings and your school improvement plan. I also spoke to you about your self-evaluation and to other leaders about the impact of their work in school.