Hayes School
West Common Road
Hayes
Bromley
Kent
BR2 7DB
Head: Mr Stephen Whittle
T 020 8462 2767
F 020 8462 0329
E postmaster@hayes.bromley.sch.uk
A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18.
Boarding: No
Local authority: Bromley
Pupils: 1702
Religion: None
Hayes School (Bromley)
West Common Road, Hayes, Bromley, BR2 7DB
Inspection dates
5-6 June 2013
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Previous inspection: Overall effectiveness This inspection: |
Not previously inspected Outstanding |
1 |
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Achievement of pupils |
Outstanding |
1 |
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Quality of teaching |
Outstanding |
1 |
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Behaviour and safety of pupils |
Outstanding |
1 |
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Leadership and management |
Outstanding |
1 |
■ Exceptional leadership by the Principal and Head of School has ensured that the school has gone from strength to strength since converting to become an academy. Leaders' and governors' impact on teaching and achievement is very effective.
■ Teaching and achievement are outstanding. Consistently good and, often, outstanding teaching over time ensures that all groups of students make excellent progress. During the inspection, outstanding teaching was seen in almost half the lessons observed.
■ Teaching, the curriculum and pastoral support meet the needs of all groups of students extremely well. Students who receive some of their education in the specialist speech and language resource make excellent progress in their academic and personal development.
■ Higher proportions of Hayes students make and often exceed the progress expected in English than in other schools. Attainment at GCSE in almost all subjects is significantly above average at grades A* to A and A* to C.
■ Leaders, managers, teachers and support staff are relentless in their determination that all students should excel regardless of their starting points or personal circumstances.
■ Leaders and managers know that a small proportion of teaching in science requires improvement and have implemented a comprehensive plan, including appointing a director of science, to quickly ensure that achievement in science is as consistently outstanding as it is in other subjects.
■ The sixth form is outstanding. Rapid action to address the dip in achievement in the sixth form last year is ensuring that students currently in the sixth form are making outstanding progress.
■ Students are extremely well cared for and thrive as a result of excellent teaching combined with highly personalised pastoral support.
■ Staff, students, parents and carers and the school's governors are rightly proud of their school and the quality of education it provides.
■ Inspectors observed teaching in 46 lessons across all key stages. Of these, 19 were jointly observed with senior leaders.
■ Inspectors met with a wide range of students, including those eligible for the pupil premium, disabled students and those with special educational needs and students who had received additional pastoral or academic support from their teachers.
■ Meetings were also held with senior leaders, teachers and representatives from the governing body.
■ Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation. This included data on students' achievement, records of monitoring and the school's self-evaluation, the school improvement plan and minutes of meetings held by the governing body. Inspectors also scrutinised a wide range of policies, including the school's policy on performance management and pay progression. They also scrutinised examples of students' work.
■ Hayes School is a much larger-than-average secondary school with a large sixth form.
■ The proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds is below average.
■ The proportion of disabled students and those with special educational needs is below average. The proportions of students supported at the school action and school action plus stages are below average; the proportion of students with a statement of special educational needs is average.
■ The school has specially resourced provision for students with special educational needs for speech and language. This provision currently provides support for 13 students in Years 7 to 9.
■ The proportion of students known to be eligible for the pupil premium is below average. (The pupil premium is additional funding for those students who are known to be eligible for free school meals, those from service families and those that are looked after by the local authority).
■ Two pupils have recently completed courses in construction at Bromley College.
■ The school converted to become an academy school in April 2011. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding. It provides support for a secondary school in a neighbouring local authority.
■ The school meets the government's current floor standards that set the minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress.
■ The large majority of students join the school with above-average attainment. They make outstanding progress with the result that attainment by the end of Year 11 is high. The proportion of students attaining the very highest grades at GCSE is well-above average in nearly all subjects.
■ The proportion of students attaining five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and mathematics, is consistently high for students of all backgrounds, including those of minority ethnic heritage and those eligible for the pupil premium.
■ The proportion of students making and exceeding the progress expected in both English and mathematics is well above the national average for all ability groups.
■ Students make outstanding progress across a wide range of subjects. Their progress in humanities subjects and modern foreign languages is exceptional. Progress in science is less strong than for other subjects.
■ Students eligible for the pupil premium attain results in English and mathematics, as shown by their average points scores, far in excess of those attending other schools. In 2012, their attainment in English and mathematics was slightly below that of other students in the school. However, this contrasts with the previous year when attainment for pupil premium students was higher in English than for other students. Neverthless, these students make outstanding progress in English and mathematics from their individual starting points.
■ Students supported through Year 7 catch-up funding make rapid gains in their achievement and personal development.
■ The school has a well-considered early entry policy in GCSE mathematics and ensures that this does not stifle the most-able students' achievement.
■ Disabled students and those with special educational needs achieve exceptionally well and most students make rapid gains in their learning. Students who receive provision in the specialist speech and language resource make outstanding progress in English and mathematics and in their personal development.
■ Achievement in the sixth form dipped last year and was good rather than outstanding. This, in part, is due to weaknesses in science which are rapidly being remedied. As a result, students currently in the sixth form are making outstanding progress overall due to the excellent teaching they receive and relentless monitoring and evaluation.
■ Students who receive their education elsewhere make good progress in their vocational courses.
■ Virtually all teaching is good and much is outstanding. All sixth form lessons seen resulted in students making outstanding progress.
■ Teachers use their excellent subject knowledge very skilfully to devise lessons which stretch and challenge students of all abilities. They plan lessons carefully and thoughtfully to ensure that all groups make excellent progress.
■ Lessons promote students' enquiry and investigative skills extremely effectively and provide many opportunities for students to work collaboratively and to share and challenge each other's ideas. Teachers use high-quality questioning to probe students' emerging ideas and to challenge them when their answers are not sufficiently thoughtful.
■ Teaching in the specialist speech and language resource base is exceptional. In one lesson seen, students made stunning progress in their emotional development and achievement as they acted out Lady Macbeth's emotions through role play. The students worked extremely well together and made rapid gains in developing their vocabulary, confidence and understanding.
■ Similarly, in a Year 7 English lesson, lower-attaining students made excellent progress as they worked together to develop their skills in extended writing. The lesson was meticulously prepared, fast paced and challenging. The teacher's high expectations reflected well the school's vision that every learner should excel whatever the starting point.
■ The quality of marking has improved significantly and in some subjects, for example modern foreign languages, religious education and design and technology, marking is exemplary. Leaders and managers know that not all staff are equally skilled in providing high-quality feedback to the same standard.
■ In these and other lessons, students made excellent progress in their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They worked together extremely productively and benefited from well-planned opportunities for reflection and debate.
■ Teaching in science is less consistently good or outstanding than in other subjects. Where teaching is less effective, teachers do not pick up on students' misconceptions quickly enough, with the result that not all students make good progress. Nevertheless, inspectors did see some outstanding teaching in science.
■ All teachers are fully aware of their responsibility to ensure students develop high standards of written and oral literacy. Teachers challenge students to use standard English, for example, by challenging any oral feedback from students which is punctuated with the word ‘like'.
■ Students' behaviour is exemplary. Students are polite, well mannered and proud of their school.
■ Students' positive behaviour makes a very significant contribution to their achievement in lessons. Even in the small number of lessons seen where teaching and learning were less secure, students' behaviour was never less than good.
■ The school takes an extremely robust approach to all forms of bullying and discrimination and, as a consequence, bullying is very rare. Inspectors spoke with the small number of students who had experienced bullying; these students were fulsome in their praise of the school's approach to sorting out their difficulties and in involving their parents at every stage.
■ Students are very respectful of each other's differences, and get on very well together regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation.
■ The school has maintained students' high attendance since the last inspection. Strategies to support persistant absentees are innovative and determined. George the hamster is playing a key role in ensuring some of the younger more vulnerable students attend regularly because they know that George needs them to come to school so he gets fed.
■ Exclusion rates are much lower than average and only occasional use is made of the internalexclusion room.
■ Parents, rightly, are very supportive of the school. Of the 216 parents who completed the Ofsted questionnaire through Parent View, 96% agreed that behaviour is good in the school and 97% agreed with the statement, ‘My child feels safe at this school'.
■ Staff and students benefit from the Principal's inspirational leadership. His commitment to ensuring all students excel is underpinned by a strong sense of moral purpose which is shared by all teaching and associate staff. He is ably supported by the highly effective Head of School and an exceptionally strong leadership team.
■ Staff are fulsome in their praise of the school's leadership and provision for their own professional development. Almost all the Ofsted questionairres completed by 118 members of staff were extremely positive and many staff commented on their pride in working at the school. One middle leader, typifying the views of many others, commented, ‘The school really pushes for everyone (students, staff and leaders) to be the best that they can be' and inspectors agree.
■ The leadership and management of teaching and learning are exemplary. No stone is left unturned in the drive to constantly improve teaching, even where teaching is outstanding. Teachers relish opportunities to receive feedback and seek constantly to improve their practice. This reflects their outstanding professionalism but also the quality of the incisive, probing and developmental feedback they regularly receive. Support for newly qualified teachers, those at the early stages of their career and newly promoted staff is excellent.
■ The large senior leadership team is deployed extremely effectively to ensure that all aspects of students' education are outstanding, including provision for their social, moral, cultural and spiritual development. The appointment of a senior member of staff with specific responsibility to ensure there are no gaps in the achievement of different groups typifies the school's innovative and shrewd approach to monitoring, evaluation and improvement planning.
■ The curriculum is exciting, innovative and meets students' learning needs extremely well. It is enriched by a superb programme of extra-curricular activities, including an extensive range of sporting, music, drama and academic groups and a rich programme of visits. Carefully conceived pathways enable all groups of students to excel, for example, by enabling some students to choose a curriculum pathway that gives them more time to improve their attainment in English and mathematics.
■ Arrangements for the performance management of staff are extremely robust and ensure that pay progression is firmly linked to students' progress.
■ Leaders and managers know that standards in the sixth form slipped last year but have quickly remedied the weaknesses in provision to ensure that current students are making outstanding progress. Self-evaluation is extremely accurate and informs improvement planning very effectively. For example, the school has recognised that some students' literacy skills have not been strong enough to help them meet their potential at A level. As a result, all Year 12 students now undergo a literacy test with the results shared with staff, together with strategies to help teachers support students in overcoming any difficulties in extended writing.
■ Arrangements for the safeguarding of students are exemplary and meet all requirements.
■ The school is valued highly by parents. Of the 216 who completed the online questionnaire, Parent View, 96% said they would recommend the school to other parents.
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School |
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Grade |
Judgement |
Description |
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Grade 1 |
Outstanding |
An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils' needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. |
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Grade 2 |
Good |
A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils' needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. |
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Grade 3 |
Requires improvement |
A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. |
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Grade 4 |
Inadequate |
A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school's leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. |
Unique reference number 136644
Local authority Bromley
Inspection number 419852
This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.
Type of school Academy converter
School category Non-maintained
Age range of pupils 11-18
Gender of pupils Mixed
Number of pupils on the school roll 1645
Of which, number on roll in sixth form 445
Appropriate authority The governing body
Chair Lucy Jeffreys
Principal Kieran Osborne
Date of previous school inspection 2 March 2011
Telephone number 020 8462 2767
Fax number 020 8462 0329
Email address postmaster@hayes.bromley.sch.uk
Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed
Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 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.ofsted.gov.uk
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 learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, 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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