Hatch End High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Hatch End High School

Following my visit to the school on 27 March 2018 with Ofsted Inspectors Catherine Davies and Elizabeth Jeanes, 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 November 2013.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Published examination results confirm that learning has remained strong across the school, particularly in the sixth form.

Your checks on learning are wide-ranging and broadly accu...rate. Leaders identify issues clearly and their actions bring about improvement. Published results confirm strong achievement, particularly in English, mathematics and history, by the end of Year 11, and in most subjects studied in the sixth form.

The previous inspection recommended that more challenge be given to boys and the most able pupils in their learning. You and the leadership team, including governors, have made sure that these groups of pupils increasingly make the progress of which they are capable. The school has a welcoming and inclusive ethos.

Pupils say they feel part of a harmonious community. The diversity of cultures and experiences pupils bring to the school is celebrated and valued. Pupils respect different lifestyles and cultures.

One of the central reasons for pupils' success is your clear and effective promotion of their well-being. A significant number of pupils join the school mid-year, or part way through their education, from other schools and/or other countries. You make sure that their personal, social and emotional needs are considered when they join the school.

The vast majority of pupils say that they are well supported in their academic and wider needs. Pupil satisfaction and pride are echoed by parents and carers in the feedback they provide to the school. Parents highlight the individual attention and additional help pupils receive to help them succeed.

Most go on to achieve well in examinations and are ready for their next stage of study or employment. Safeguarding is effective. Pupils and staff have a strong understanding of potential risks, benefiting from extensive teaching and learning about how to keep safe from harm.

Pupils learn how to manage risks associated with, for example, using the internet, substance abuse and stress. They also learn how the law helps us to understand boundaries for acceptable behaviour. Up-to-date training for all staff, including training for leaders with responsibility for safeguarding, is supported by regular discussions about safeguarding and child protection.

Pupils say that they feel safe in school and know how to seek help. When help is requested, issues and concerns are resolved quickly. Pupils told inspectors that bullying is rare but, when it happens, it is dealt with effectively.

Inspection findings ? A focus for the inspection was to find out how you have sustained high levels of success in the sixth form. Published examination results for the past three years, and your own internal assessment information, show that students make good progress by the end of Year 13. Year 13 attainment has been significantly higher than the national average for the past three years.

By the time they leave, almost all students have secured opportunities for further study or employment. ? Leaders in the sixth form work well together. You share information about students' learning and well-being, ensuring that students receive the early support or challenge that they need.

Leaders use students' starting points to agree ambitious target grades. The curriculum motivates students and promotes their skills and knowledge development effectively. Students said that the promotion of independent learning skills helps them prepare well for future learning and work.

You have identified key actions to help bring the progress most students make in Year 12 in line with the stronger progress demonstrated by the end of Year 13. ? A second focus of the inspection was to evaluate how well subject leaders' actions have improved the progress made by pupils in the 'free-choice' GCSE subjects, such as food technology and drama. Published assessment information shows that most pupils made slower progress in these subjects by the end of 2017 than they did on other courses.

• Senior and subject leaders use assessment information well to tailor teaching more closely to the learning needs of different groups of pupils. For example, teachers identify and intervene earlier if the progress of any pupil weakens. Middle leaders have high expectations for the quality of learning of all pupils.

In Year 9 food studies, for example, we found that pupils clearly know what they are expected to understand so that they can meet course expectations more fully. Classroom activities and teachers' feedback are focused closely on these expectations. Pupils make good progress in food studies.

They learn to follow increasingly complex recipes and understand what different ingredients, such as spices, contribute to the overall taste of food. Other free-choice subjects chosen by pupils, such as drama and art, still show more variable progress. ? A third focus of the inspection related to how effectively leaders' actions are strengthening the progress of White British pupils and disadvantaged pupils.

Published examination results for 2017 indicate that these groups of pupils make slower progress than other pupils in a variety of subjects, including science, languages and geography. ? Together with leaders, you have increased the use of assessment information to support the learning of these pupils. Inspection evidence shows that differences between these two groups of pupils and others nationally are reducing in subjects such as English and history.

Pupils use their literacy skills well to explain their ideas carefully. They are also able to use evidence to support their opinions. In mathematics, pupils are able to use algebraic equations to solve complex problems and show their working out logically.

Pupils we spoke to said that the additional support you provide helps them learn well. However, improvements are less secure in geography, science and modern foreign languages. Teachers sometimes do not provide enough support or challenge for White British and disadvantaged pupils.

• The final focus of the inspection was related to pupils' progress in science and modern foreign languages. Published data for 2017 typically shows that pupils make less progress in science and modern foreign languages than in other subjects. In particular, pupils' progress in modern foreign languages has been weaker than other subjects for the last three years.

You and senior leaders have provided well-selected training and initiatives such as your 'excellence programme' for subject leaders. Leaders have recently identified that, in the past, pupils did not develop sufficient subject-specific knowledge and skills in science and modern foreign languages. Pupils' science books show a wide understanding of the curriculum that includes inquiry, mathematical aspects and writing at length.

However, some pupils make subject-specific errors and do not gain as deep an understanding of scientific ideas as they should. ? A higher proportion of pupils study modern foreign languages compared to other schools generally. In modern foreign languages, pupils learn to use an increasingly wide range of vocabulary and most are able to write accurately about events in the news.

Too many pupils lack confidence when speaking about their opinions and ideas. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? teaching in science and modern foreign languages includes a strong focus on improving pupils' subject-specific knowledge and skills to improve rates of progress ? teachers provide more clearly defined support or challenge for White British and disadvantaged pupils so that they catch up with their peers quickly. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Harrow.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Mehar Brar Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection The inspection team met with you, members of the senior leadership team and four governors, including the chair of the governing body. We also met with a group of subject leaders.

I spoke with a representative of the local authority. As well as considering the 11 responses to Parent View, Ofsted's online survey, and 13 pupil responses and 35 staff responses to Ofsted's online surveys, we considered your school's staff and parent surveys. We visited classes with senior leaders to observe learning and look at pupils' work.

We also examined a further selection of pupils' work. We evaluated a range of documentation in relation to safeguarding and looked at the school's website. We reviewed additional documentation relating to leaders' monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning, the school's self-evaluation and improvement plans, procedures for safeguarding and information about pupils' academic performance.