Linton Village College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is calm and orderly. Pupils are kept safe and free from bullying.

Pupils' personal development is good. The 'Linton Learner' develops character and promotes positive attitudes to learning. Pupils are challenged to get involved in a wide range of sports clubs, activities, and music and drama events.

Trips and visits enrich pupils' lives and add to their enjoyment of school.

Careers education, including work experience, is provided for pupils of all ages. Assemblies and personal, social and health education give pupils a good understanding of staying safe, respecting others and keeping healthy.

Results at the end of Year 11 are consistently ...high. However, not all pupils make enough progress. This is because they do not receive the support they need in lessons to help them with their learning.

Pupils who struggle to read fluently do not get the help they require. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not do as well as they could. Parents who shared their views during the inspection also felt that pupils with SEND do not get the help they need.

Despite recent changes made to the way staff manage behaviour, not all pupils behave themselves. Pupils say that in lessons their learning is often disrupted, especially in mixed-ability classes.

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

Increasingly, pupils join the school with a range of different needs and abilities.

Leaders are adapting the curriculum to deal with the challenges which these changes present. The curriculum is suitably broad but the quality of provision varies too widely.

In subjects such as science, where leaders are clear about what pupils should learn, the planned curriculum is consistently well taught, and pupils are keen to learn, work hard and achieve well.

However, this is not typical because some curriculum leaders have not identified the key foundations of learning that pupils need to build so they can extend their knowledge and skills. Learning is not matched to the needs and abilities of pupils. Older pupils do not feel well prepared for their external examinations in some subjects.

Pupils who need additional support to ensure that they achieve well in English and mathematics are not given the help they need. For example, pupils who struggle to read fluently do not get enough support. In lessons, when work provided for pupils with SEND is not well matched to meet their needs, they are then unable to access the full curriculum.

Teaching assistants work hard to support pupils with SEND but are not shown what to do by teachers. Teachers do not adapt their plans to match work to the needs of less-able pupils. Consequently, pupils with SEND do not achieve well enough across all subjects in the curriculum.

Pastoral care and support for pupils are good. Currently, fewer pupils are excluded from school. Leaders have identified accurately the barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils.

However, they do not systematically check to see if their actions to support pupils' learning are working. Funding to help younger pupils catch up is not giving them the basic literacy and numeracy skills they need. Pupils with poor attendance, particularly disadvantaged pupils, are more likely to underachieve because they miss out on their learning.

Pupils who shared their views with inspectors said that behaviour is better, following a spike in incidents of poor behaviour last year, but there is still some off-task behaviour which is distracting. They say that new rules are strict, but that their learning is often disrupted, and that teachers do not yet apply new expectations with any consistency. Some pupils, particularly boys, are resistant to the changes and are removed from lessons.

This negatively affects their learning. Records show that a large proportion of pupils are removed from lessons or given detentions. Pupils told us that they want all teachers to manage behaviour properly.

Leaders have not established a good quality of education across the school, and have not provided strong enough support where pupils are likely to underachieve. Although behaviour is regarded as a priority for improvement, the impact of the school's work is undermined by inconsistent application of policy and procedures. Some improvements have been made, but trustees and governors recognise that leaders need more challenge and support to achieve the further improvements needed.

Plans are in place to join a larger trust later this year.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The record of pre-employment checks on staff is complete and well maintained.

A team of leaders for safeguarding is knowledgeable and committed to keeping pupils safe. Regular updates ensure that staff remain alert to concerns. Records of safeguarding incidents and actions taken to resolve them are recorded systematically and stored safely.

Procedures to check the whereabouts of pupils leaving the school part-way through the year have improved. Referrals to support agencies are made in a timely way. Safeguarding training is up to date.

Assessments of the risks attached to keeping pupils safe on the school site are not fully updated.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

The curriculum does not enable all pupils to achieve well enough. There are weaknesses in mathematics and some foundation subjects.

Leaders should continue to provide subject leaders with the training and support they need to improve their curriculum planning. They should also check the impact of this training and support on the outcomes achieved by pupils. .

Some pupils with SEND do not get the support they need to help them to do well enough. Teachers do not plan suitable learning for them. The coordination of this area of the school's work lacks rigour.

This means that pupils with SEND do not achieve well. Leaders should check the quality of provision for pupils with SEND and put in place plans to improve it. .

New arrangements to improve pupils' behaviour and attitudes are leading to improvement. However, pupils do not behave consistently well enough. Senior leaders should evaluate the impact of the new arrangements to ensure that they are applied consistently by staff and they lead to good behaviour throughout the school.

Also at this postcode