All Saints RC School

Mill Mount Lane

York

North Yorkshire

YO24 1BJ

Head: Mrs Sharon Keelan-Beardsley

T 01904 647877

F 01904 545220

E allsaints.school@york.gov.uk

W www.allsaints.york.sch.uk

A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18.

Boarding: No

Local authority: York

Pupils: 1363

Religion: Roman Catholic

All Saints RC School

Mill Mount Lane, York, North Yorkshire, YO24 1BJ

Inspection dates 21-23 June 2016

Overall effectiveness Ofsted raising standards improving lives

Effectiveness of leadership and management	Outstanding
Quality of teaching, learning and assessment	Outstanding
Personal development, behaviour and welfare	Outstanding
Outcomes for pupils	Outstanding
16 to 19 study programmes	Outstanding
Overall effectiveness at previous inspection	Good

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• ■ Ensure that all teaching, learning and assessment is as highly effective as the best practice in the school.

• ■ Further improve registration systems for sixth form students who arrive later in the school day.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management is outstanding

• ■ The headteacher's exceptional leadership, combined with strong leadership at all levels, has created a powerful and compelling vision and culture within the school. The school radiates a caring, compassionate ethos upon which positive relationships, high expectations and scholastic excellence are built. This is evident the moment you enter the school. Pupils thrive in this environment and both they and their parents refer to the extra lengths staff will go to in order to see children fulfil their potential. One parent spoke for many when she described her child's time at the school as ‘the best days ever'.

• ■ Staff and pupils live and breathe the created vision. Staff are passionate about the vision set for the school. They are energised and resolute that pupils should make the best possible progress. Staff also value the extent to which senior leaders consult and listen to their views. As a result, staff morale is exceedingly high.

• ■ School leaders know their school extremely well. They know what is working well and they are clear about what can be made even better. Leaders continually strive to improve provision in what is already an outstanding school. Consequently, plans for improvement focus on the right priorities and leaders have demonstrated over time that they have a proven track record for ensuring improvements are sustained.

• ■ Middle leaders are extremely committed to the school's vision and values. Through their work they make regular and effective checks on the progress pupils are making and have been instrumental in ensuring that whole-school training to further improve teaching has been consistently implemented and is having the desired impact.

• ■ The management of teachers' performance is highly effective, comprehensive and linked to salary progression. Senior leaders encourage teachers to step outside of their ‘comfort zones' and try new teaching approaches. This risk-taking is encouraged and supported by well-targeted professional development. Consequently, it is helping to further improve the quality of teaching across the school.

• ■ The curriculum is broad and balanced and leaders take great care in making sure it best meets the needs of all pupils. The curriculum provides pupils with tremendous experiences, broadens their horizons and aspirations and enables each child to be who they wish to be. The school has fully embraced the importance of providing effective careers guidance for pupils and has demonstrated this by having its own school-funded careers adviser. As a result, pupils have a very clear understanding of what pathways they can follow.

• ■ There are numerous extra-curricular activities and clubs. Breakfast club provides pupils with an effective and structured start to the day as well as helping them socialise with their friends. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is a real strength of the school and the curriculum provides great opportunities for pupils to understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Much time and effort is spent in making sure pupils are emotionally healthy. The ‘action minds' work is helping pupils better understand themselves and their mental state more effectively. Pupils across the school have a deep understanding of values such as tolerance, respect and the rule of law. The school council is a very active group and helps pupils appreciate the importance of democracy, discussion and compromise. As a result, pupils are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain.

• ■ The local authority ‘challenge partner' regularly visits the school and has an accurate view of the strengths and priorities within the school. As a result, the support provided is ‘light touch.' However, these visits provide effective levels of challenge and prove a useful opportunity for leaders to evaluate the impact of their work. Governors value the input made to their meetings by the ‘challenge partner', including the input on managing the performance and setting targets for the headteacher.

• ■ The governance of the school

• -  Governors provide exemplary strategic leadership. They have pupils' interests at the heart of what they do. They pose extremely effective questions to school leaders. Governors are not afraid to challenge and, as a result, have been highly effective partners in the school's improvement journey.

• -  Governors have also benefited from having a wealth of expertise ranging from finance to education, including a national leader of governance. This expertise has helped governors play a highly effective strategic role in self-evaluation and improvement planning. Governors receive information from a range of different people including other senior and middle leaders as well as insights from the local authority officer. They build in opportunities to question and discuss the impact leaders are having at different levels.

• -  Governors have an excellent grasp of how additional funding is being spent and the impact this is having on pupils' progress. Year 7 catch-up funding has seen pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities improve their reading scores considerably within their first year in school.

• - Governors are also forward-looking and have sensibly put into place effective succession plans for when staff either leave or retire. This leads to the school being very well placed to sustain its improvement journey.
• ■ The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Links with external agencies are excellent when reviewing safeguarding arrangements. This includes links with the police. Strong lines of communication, high-quality safeguarding training and high levels of vigilance mean that safeguarding procedures are very effective. The small numbers of pupils who attend the Danesgate Centre are safe and make very good progress given their often complex contexts.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

• ■ The headteacher and leaders at all other levels have an excellent grasp of what motivates pupils to want to learn. Considerable efforts are made to seek the views of pupils and students with regards to teaching and learning. As a result, improvements to teaching are well-planned-for and professional development is extremely well targeted and practically useful. For example, professional development is helping teachers ‘layer' the challenge for different groups of pupils so that they are equally challenged, including the most able.

• ■ Excellent teacher subject knowledge helps pupils deepen their understanding of topics being studied. Pupils describe their teachers as being ‘passionate' and this love for learning is rubbing off on them. Pupils and students thrive on this enthusiasm. Pupils told inspectors that they love ‘actively seeking challenge' rather than playing it safe with work that is too easy for them.

• ■ The most able pupils especially benefit from this high-quality teaching. Questioning is often well directed and provides these pupils with extended opportunities to think and talk through their ideas. Teachers manage discussions extremely well and use the thoughts and ideas of other pupils to challenge and extend the thinking of the most able. Examples in mathematics books show the depth of learning the most able pupils are developing around concepts such as problem-solving and reasoning.

• ■ Teachers carefully and skilfully check that pupils have understood what is being taught. Questioning often provides all pupils with opportunities to talk at length about what they are learning and helps teachers identify potential misconceptions. Pupils show great maturity in discussing and debating issues in a lively but sensitive way, including extremism, poverty and homophobia.

• ■ Teachers follow the school marking and assessment policies well. Pupils are clear how well they are doing and how they can further improve. At times, teachers provide inspirational feedback to pupils which encourages them to want to achieve even more.

• ■ Time and again pupils cited examples of how their teachers ‘go the extra mile' to help them succeed and achieve. Other adults work well with teachers to ensure pupils who need additional help are well supported. Other adults also have equally high expectations of pupils and expect them to think for themselves in lessons and avoid spoon-feeding pupils answers just so they keep up.

• ■ In a small minority of lessons, including science and geography, some teachers were too accepting of weaker presentation and there were a few examples of marking that was not fully in line with school expectations. Leaders are well aware of this and are in the process of tackling it.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare         is outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• ■ The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils are safe in the school and they feel safe. One pupil spoke for many when telling inspectors that teachers ‘really care for you.' Pupils are extremely confident in the school's ability to prevent different forms of bullying, discrimination and extremism. Any issues that are raised by pupils are tackled quickly and effectively. Leaders are keen to further improve signing in and out arrangements for sixth form students arriving later in the day. Plans are being developed to improve this area of the school's work.

• ■ Pupils are taught most effectively about keeping safe, including internet safety, ‘sexting' and online bullying. The overwhelming majority of parental responses confirmed this aspect of the school's work is outstanding.

• ■ Child protection plans are fit for purpose and ensure that vulnerable pupils are making appropriate progress. School leaders work well with other agencies to ensure a well-coordinated approach to helping and supporting these pupils to succeed.

• ■ There is an extensive range of opportunities for pupils to develop both emotionally and personally. Pupils develop a real sense of caring for others through their charity fundraising. Pupils also benefit from the wide range of trips and visits on offer including trips to Osmotherley and Bewerley Park, along with foreign exchange visits to France, Germany and Spain. As a result, the spiritual, moral, social and cultural opportunities are extensive and many pupils attend after-school clubs.

• ■ Much work and effort has been put into careers information, advice and guidance. Pupils are provided with high quality, impartial, information and guidance. As a result, the numbers of pupils not entering employment, education or training remain very low. Sixth form students are extremely pleased with the guidance and support they are given. As a result of this support and high expectations, a growing number of students are successfully progressing on to the most prestigious universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

Behaviour

• ■ The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Both in lessons and when moving around the school, pupils are calm, sensible and polite. They demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning and are confident and self-assured when working in lessons.

• ■ Breaktimes exemplify the outstanding behaviour of pupils. In a relatively small but very busy cafeteria, pupils line up sensibly to buy a drink or some food. They eat together and chat and do this without fuss or being silly. Staff confirm that this is typically the way pupils behave and it makes for a ‘lovely school feel'.

• ■ Attendance rates are improving and are now in line with national averages. Improvements to teaching, alongside highly effective systems for monitoring and tackling the first signs of absence, have significantly helped to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence, particularly at key stage 3. Leaders work hard to ensure that exclusions remain low and permanent exclusions are avoided at all costs.

• ■ The small number of pupils who attend the Danesgate Centre are well-cared-for, attend well and regular reviews and updates are provided on the progress these pupils are making.

• ■ Pupils are smart and ready to learn. School records and inspection evidence show that there is very little time wasted in lessons due to poor behaviour.

Outcomes for pupils                         are outstanding

• ■ Since the previous inspection, outcomes have continued to improve as a result of highly effective teaching. Typically, pupils start Year 7 with attainment levels above national averages. By the time they reach the end of Year 11, the proportion of pupils achieving 5 good GCSEs including English and mathematics is well above the national average. Outcomes are consistently high across most subject areas. The progress pupils make in both English and mathematics is consistently above the national average for the vast majority of groups, including the most able.

• ■ Leaders and managers with the responsibility for teaching, learning and assessment are relentless in their drive for excellence. Meticulous and frequent analysis of how well pupils are progressing means that underachievement is quickly spotted, effective interventions put in place and pupils are rapidly back on track to achieve their targets.

• ■ School leaders have a firm and accurate grasp on how well pupils are achieving. They have a track record for accurately predicting outcomes at the end of key stages. Current assessment information coupled with inspection evidence strongly suggests that outcomes are set to remain high and in some cases will improve further.

• ■ The outcomes for the most able pupils are also significantly above national averages. This group of pupils often succeeds in achieving the highest GCSE grades. The most able pupils achieve particularly well in business studies, English language and literature, geography, history, religious education, mathematics and modern foreign languages. As a result, these pupils are particularly well-prepared for the next stage of their education, employment or training.

• ■ Pupils' progress at key stage 3 also continues to improve. In-school assessment information alongside inspection evidence confirms that pupils, including the most able, disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, are making even more rapid progress across a wide range of subjects including English and mathematics, compared to pupils with similar starting points.

• ■ Additional funding is having a considerable impact on the progress of different groups of pupils. Year 7 catch-up funding has made a significant impact on helping those children improve their reading ages. This group has made considerable progress during Year 7 and such strategies have helped them become ready for key stage 3 learning. Pupil premium funding is having a considerable impact too. Disadvantaged pupils are achieving higher outcomes at the end of Year 11 than similar pupils nationally and progress gaps between this group and their peers have been completely closed in English and continue to close in mathematics.

• ■ The ‘virtual headteacher' for children looked after also makes effective and regular checks on the progress these pupils make. As a result, these checks are effective in helping these pupils make effective progress, given their starting points.

• ■ Literacy and a love for reading is extremely well developed across the school. The senior school librarian has helped make the library a place that pupils want to go to during break and lunchtimes. Well-considered book purchases have seen a significant increase in books taken out on loan and boys in particular have increased their levels of reading as a result.

• ■ Pupils who attend Danesgate Community provision make good progress given their starting points and are reintegrated into their classes successfully as a result of high-quality academic and pastoral support.

16 to 19 study programmes                  are outstanding

• ■ Outcomes in the sixth form are outstanding. Students follow academic pathways and the progress they make is strong and sustained over time. Students were keen to praise their teachers for the care, compassion and efforts to help them succeed. Regular meetings between students and their tutors enable students to have an accurate sense of the progress they are making. As a result, retention rates are high in both Year 12 and Year 13.

• ■ Sixth form leaders are highly effective in checking students' progress as well. Every seven weeks, helpful ‘data drop' checks are made and effective and timely interventions are used to make sure students achieve their challenging targets. The work in students' books and folders confirms that they are making excellent progress across their different subjects. The school's latest tracking information indicates that students in Year 12 and Year13 are on course to attain high standards in 2016.

• ■ The quality of teaching is excellent. Teachers have very high expectations of students and use their expert subject knowledge well to provide challenging and engaging learning activities. Students rise to these expectations time and again. Students demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning and they concentrate and participate well in lessons. As one student concluded, ‘We trust teachers and they trust us.' Sixth form students also act as highly-effective role models for younger pupils.

• ■ Sixth form students also benefit from the ‘enrichment' curriculum. This provides students with excellent opportunities to develop their understanding of the world further. Students are able to confidently discuss their learning of different faiths, fair trade issues, human rights and individual freedoms. As a result, students are well prepared for the next stages of their education, employment or training.

• ■ Students who have not achieved a GCSE grade C in English and mathematics are also well catered for. Additional lessons are timetabled and as a result of effective teaching, the success rates for resits are above national averages. This demonstrates the substantial and sustained progress students are making while in the sixth form.

• ■ The school provides highly effective transition from Year 11. Careers advice and guidance is extensive and provides students with a multitude of opportunities to make realistic plans for the future. As a result, once they leave Year 13, destination information shows that almost all students progress to higher education or other suitable destinations. This includes apprenticeships and other employment routes.

• ■ The school meets the 16 to 19 study programme requirements. There are a number of opportunities for students to develop their understanding about the world of work through work experience, assemblies, guest speakers and volunteering. In addition, students also undertake high-quality activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, learning an additional language, learning sign language and taking part in a variety of clubs, including choir and sporting activities.

School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

Information about this school

• ■ All Saints RC School is a larger than average secondary school.

• ■ The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is half the national average. Pupil premium funding is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children looked after.

• ■ The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds or who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.

• ■ The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average. The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is also below the national average.

• ■ The school meets the government's current floor standards that set minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

• ■ The school uses the Danesgate Centre for pupils at risk of exclusion.

• ■ The school runs a breakfast club.

• ■ The school meets the requirements with respect to the publication of information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• ■ Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence during the inspection, including through observations of teaching, some of which were undertaken jointly with senior leaders.

• ■ Inspectors looked at pupils' work during lessons and sampled a wide range of pupils' written work.

• ■ Inspectors held meetings with school staff, including the headteacher, other senior leaders and staff in charge of aspects of the school's work. Inspectors met with a group of newly and recently qualified teachers. They also met members of the governing body.

• ■ Inspectors spoke with pupils and students in the sixth form in formal interviews, during lessons and informally at lunch and breaktimes.

• ■ Inspectors considered a large variety of documentation related to the school's work, gaining the school's view of its performance and information concerning pupils' attainment, progress and attendance and improvement plans.

• ■ Inspectors scrutinised records concerning safeguarding, pupils' behaviour and the quality of teaching and learning.

• ■ Inspectors analysed 129 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also took into account 112 written responses from parents, 70 from staff and 44 pupil responses.

Inspection team

Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for students of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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