Sunbury Manor School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Sunbury Manor School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a happy and welcoming school.

Pupils, staff and parents agree that it feels like belonging to an extended family. Pupils are safe, well cared for and valued. The headteacher and other staff are always there for pupils or parents to talk to.

Leaders and pupils are proud of the inclusive nature of the school. Pupils show respect for each other and for adults in the school.

Members of the school community appreciate the way the headteacher consults them about proposed changes.

They feel that their views matter. A recent change to the timings of the school day h...as been managed successfully and welcomed by all.

Pupils behave well.

There is a calm and productive atmosphere in lessons and around school. Pupils say that bullying and incidents of poor behaviour are rare.

Leaders want the very best for all pupils.

Staff know individual pupils well and work tirelessly to help pupils overcome any difficulties they face. Pupils study the full range of subjects for three years. They choose which subjects to study for GCSE from a wide range to suit their interests and abilities.

Pupils are learning more and achieving higher standards due to improved teaching at the school.

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

The school still provides a good and improving quality of education. Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to achieve well.

Pupils study the full national curriculum through Years 7 to 9. Also, pupils enjoy many visits and other activities which relate to what they have been learning. This includes trips abroad, and parents told inspectors how much these trips build pupils' confidence.

The curriculum is well designed to help pupils appreciate and understand the world. Citizenship is one of the most popular subjects. Leaders ensure that many pupils enjoy experiences which they might otherwise not have, such as going to the theatre.

Leaders have successfully created an ethos of respect and tolerance. Pupils are clear that everyone should be treated equally. Pupils want to learn, work hard in lessons and low-level disruption is rare.

Leaders have recruited more specialist teachers of languages and science, and they have provided more effective staff training. This has improved the quality of teaching. The previously high turnover of teachers has now slowed down.

As a result, achievement has improved in many subjects, including mathematics. Achievement in English has reached even higher levels than before. However, the curriculum is not as well planned and sequenced across all subjects.

Some pupils do not learn the important knowledge well enough and cannot remember it over the long term. This means that pupils' learning is variable across the school.

All pupils study three separate sciences at GCSE and have a free choice of other subjects.

A few years ago, most pupils dropped languages, so that the proportion of pupils who study the full set of EBacc subjects is lower than national levels. However, leaders are working to improve this, with more pupils now choosing Spanish due to improved teaching. Before, weaker teaching in science led to gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Teachers are now given useful training, so that science teaching is now improving, although there remains more to do to raise achievement.

Teachers understand how to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers work closely with skilled leaders and staff from the SEND specialist teams to plan lessons and resources.

They ensure that this group of pupils receive the support they are entitled to and achieve well.

The leadership of the school is driven by a strong moral purpose to help every pupil do their best. Leaders act with integrity.

Their ambitious vision is shared by the whole school community, including governors. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about leaders' concern for their workload and well-being. Leaders changed the way that pupils' progress is monitored, away from frequent tests to fewer assessed tasks.

Time previously used for testing is now better used for teaching.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding has a high profile, and there is a well-established safeguarding culture throughout the school.

Clear systems exist to identify and support pupils at risk, so that pupils are safe in school. Pupils are confident that there are trusted adults they can speak to if they are worried about something. Well trained staff know what to do if they have concerns about a pupil.

The safeguarding team use their wide expertise to provide effective support for pupils. Leaders also work relentlessly to enable families to get the support they need from other agencies

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority) Pupils' learning in a few subjects is not sequenced as coherently as others. Teachers should ensure that curriculum plans for all subjects contain the knowledge, understanding and skills that pupils should know in a logical order.

. Across the curriculum, pupils are not always able to remember or describe their learning well enough. This lack of knowledge limits their outcomes.

Leaders should ensure that pupils are enabled to recall what they have learned and explain their thinking accurately. Leaders can draw on the strong practice that exists in the school.

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 school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, 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 convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged Sunbury Manor School to be good in June 2012.

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