Hazelwick School

Hazelwick School Close

Three Bridges

Crawley

West Sussex

RH10 1SX

Head: Ms Ann Fearon

T 01293 403344

F 01293 403446

E office@hazelwick.w-sussex.sch.uk

W www.hazelwick.org

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

Boarding: No

Local authority: West Sussex

Pupils: 1793

Religion: None

Unique reference number 137263

Local authority West Sussex

Inspection number 395348

Inspection dates 13-14 June 2012

Lead inspector Joanna Beckford-Hall HMI

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

Age group  11-18 

Inspection date(s) 13-14 June 2012

Inspection number 395348

Introduction

Inspection team

Additional Inspector Andrew Baker

Additional Inspector Clifford Walker

Additional Inspector Wendy Walters

Additional Inspector Howard Jones

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors visited 50 lessons, taught by 49 teachers, including seven joint lesson observations with senior leaders. Inspectors held meetings with students, staff and senior and middle leaders, and met with the Chair of the Governing Body. Inspectors analysed the school's assessment data, self-evaluation and school improvement plans, and minutes of governing body meetings. They observed students' learning, scrutinising the quality of work and the quality of marking. Inspectors took account of the 23 responses to the online Parent View survey in planning the inspection and considered the 577 questionnaire responses received from parents and carers. In addition inspectors considered the quantitative data and comments made in 116 staff questionnaires and 188 student questionnaires.

Information about the school

Hazelwick School is larger than the average secondary school with a sixth form. The proportion of students from minority ethnic groups is above average, as is the proportion of students who leave or join the school at times other than the start of the school year. The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals is well below that found nationally. The proportion of students supported by school action plus is above the national average, but overall the proportion with a statement of special educational needs is below that found nationally. The proportion of students who speak English as an additional language exceeds 25% of the school population. The school has specially resourced provision for students with special educational needs in the form of a sensory support centre for four deaf students. It has specialist status for humanities and technology. A new headteacher joined the school in September 2011.

The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress.

Inspection judgements

Overall effectiveness                                       2

Achievement of pupils	2
Quality of teaching	2
Behaviour and safety of pupils	2
Leadership and management	2

Key findings

• ■   Hazelwick School is a good school. The quality of teaching is typically good, and some is outstanding. As a result students make good and occasionally outstanding progress, and attainment is higher than found nationally by the end of Year 11 in most subjects. The school is not yet outstanding because there is not enough outstanding teaching to ensure that all students are continually stretched to make the outstanding progress of which they are capable.

• ■   Leadership and management are good, as is the capacity for further improvement. The new headteacher, senior leaders and the governing body have a good understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement. The energetic leadership of the headteacher coupled with unwavering commitment from all her leadership team, has established a clear vision for improvement which has the full support of the staff, who feel their ideas are valued. More robust systems to monitor teaching and hold staff to account for the achievement of students, combined with good professional development, enable staff to share the best practice across the school.

• ■   Most teaching features good use of enquiring questioning, a demanding pace and a blend of independent and group work. The quality of marking is often good, but it is not always sufficiently detailed to help students know how to improve through subject-specific guidance.

• ■   The sixth form is good. Most students achieve well in Year 12 and Year 13. Pass rates in most subjects are above average and students make good progress.

• ■   Behaviour is good in lessons and around the school. Most students have good attitudes to learning, and adhere to good advice about personal safety. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers judge that their children are safe. The curriculum helps students learn about diversity in British society and the negative impact of stereotyping and prejudicial views in relation to race, disability and gender identity. It promotes students' good spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Strengthen the overall quality of teaching so that a greater proportion is consistently outstanding, by:

• -    ensuring all teachers use assessment data to plan lessons that maximise the progress of all students, consistently challenging students to exceed their targets and produce high quality work

• -    embedding greater consistency and rigour in the quality of marking throughout the school, so that all students know exactly what and how to improve through detailed subject-specific written guidance

• -    continuing to help staff to work together to share the outstanding practice in teaching and eliminate the small amount of weaker teaching.

Main report

Achievement of pupils

Students make good progress in lessons because behaviour is good and most lessons are well planned to support subject-specific knowledge and skills. Good and outstanding lessons share common features: good pace, excellent work for differing abilities, and time to engage students in critique of their ideas in written communication. Students enjoy working together in lessons. The very best teaching maximises time for reflection, consolidation and extension of students' knowledge.

From attainment on entry that is broadly average, students make good progress and a minority make outstanding progress during Key Stages 3 and 4. Students often make outstanding progress in languages and humanities. Students' attainment is significantly above that found nationally. The percentage of students attaining five A* to C passes including English and mathematics has risen over the last three years, reaching a high of 64% in 2011. The percentage of students attaining A* and A grades at GCSE is rising, with eight subjects last year scoring significantly above the national averages for A* and A grades. Leaders take immediate action to remedy issues in subject areas when students do not attain as well as expected. For example, the impact of significant improvement in the mathematics department since 2010 enabled 74% to attain A* to C grades at GCSE last year, well above the national average.

The school is providing improved support for disabled students and those who have special educational needs, and better monitoring of their progress. The resulting intervention is successfully narrowing the gap in achievement of students on the school action plus programme and their peers in school, while continuing to exceed national indicators. Deaf students who attend the sensory support centre achieve in line with their peers.

Students who speak English as an additional language, including those at early stages of English language acquisition, make good and occasionally outstanding progress. Effective use of small-group teaching and the individual tutoring of students help them quickly develop literacy skills to access the curriculum, and inspectors observed them making much good progress in lessons.

Leaders are successful ly addressing the few remaining gaps in progress between lower-ability and higher-ability boys and girls. However, the level of challenge in a few subjects for higher-ability and a small minority of lower-ability students is not sufficiently demanding to accelerate students' progress or set higher expectations for them to aspire towards.

In the sixth form, students make good progress. The percentage attaining A* and B grades is often above the national average, but there is variation in the performance of some subjects. Boys slightly outperform girls at A level. Retention is high and students receive good individual support to complement good teaching. All leavers achieve a place at university, in employment or further training.

Quality of teaching

The large majority of parents and carers rightly feel that their children are making good progress, and almost all students judge that teaching is good. Inspectors also observed some outstanding practice and good teaching of disabled students and those with special educational needs. In an outstanding Year 9 geography lesson students keenly sought out appropriate material from previous lessons and homework, showing good geographical knowledge in preparing newspaper reports about floods in Bangladesh. An encouraging atmosphere in an outstanding Year 8 art lesson quickly gave students confidence to employ mathematical principles to proportion in figure drawing, extending good skills learnt in Year 7. Excellent use of purposeful peer review helped students identify skilled work among the class to model how they could improve their drawings. Year 12 students demonstrated excellent understanding in debating use of language in Othello, exploring issues of culture, race and the impact in literature and society.

Consistently good and outstanding teaching is characterised by:

• ■   demanding pace that sustains students' motivation for learning, requiring all students to swiftly move through independent and purposeful group work

• ■   use of teachers' good subject knowledge to inspire students to deepen their subject-specific knowledge and skills, with good homework tasks that extend rather than repeat classroom learning

• ■   good integration of oral and written communication skills across the curriculum, fully supporting literacy skills for further study and employment

• ■   lesson planning that targets individual needs and uses oral feedback in lessons to continually test students' understanding

• ■   questioning that takes students beyond simplistic answers to probe and justify explanations and answers

• ■   positive working relationships between staff and almost all students.

In a small minority of lessons expectations are too low. A few students are not given sufficiently demanding work. They lose concentration and impede others' learning. However, minor interruptions are quickly addressed so that students return to learning.

The quality of marking is good overall. Teachers use detailed commentary to help students understand how to improve and guide them in refining the quality of their work. This sequential guidance is not embedded in every subject. There are missed opportunities to use marking to elicit a joint dialogue between student and teacher, to deepen learning and promote more rapid progress.

Behaviour and safety of pupils

The overwhelming majority of parents, carers and students judge the school to be a safe place. A small minority of parents and carers expressed concern that lessons are disrupted by poor behaviour. Inspectors carefully followed up these concerns, concluding that behaviour in lessons and around the school is typically good. The behaviour of a very small minority of students becomes challenging or inattentive when teaching fails to sustain their interest. Punctuality is good and movement around the school is orderly.

Attendance is above average. For students whose attendance occasionally dips, the efficient intervention of pastoral teams to ascertain reasons behind absence helps students and families deal with issues promptly. The proportion of students who are persistently absent is below the national average, and this is testimony to outstanding pastoral work with vulnerable students.

Students are well aware of the different forms bullying can take, and possess a very good understanding of types of bullying such as cyber-bullying. They know how to report any incidents and express confidence that the ‘zero tolerance' policy is effective. The inclusiveness of the school community is confirmed by the positive views of most students, parents and carers.

Students have a good understanding of personal safety. The curriculum, including themed study days, provides good opportunities for students to learn about the dangers of knife crime, substance misuse and looking after their sexual health, diet and fitness. Students have a good understanding of different faiths and cultures, and develop good understanding and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identity.

Students are unanimous in praise for the outstanding pastoral support they receive, which helps their academic progress and resilience as young people. Sixth form students are good role models in their attitudes, conduct and willingness to lead enrichment activities to bring students together in fund raising or performing arts events.

Leadership and management

The headteacher has led the communication of a more precise vision for school improvement, which is demonstrably improving staff morale and ambition. Feedback from staff is highly complimentary, typified by comments such as, ‘New management are great and have made a very positive difference to staff morale and teaching and learning.' A restructuring of senior and middle leadership roles is strengthening lines of accountability. The senior leaders have devolved more responsibility to subject leaders to improve teaching, and support this through regular joint lesson observations and learning walks around the school to standardise the grading of teaching and analyse students' progress.

The school is piloting a new teaching and learning group to disseminate best practice. ‘Sharing our passion for learning and teaching' (SPLAT) is helping staff feel confident in observing each other teach and discussing best practice. The full impact of this work is yet to be seen, but a demonstrable common sense of purpose and professional debate pervades. Whole-staff training is successfully refining core principles in teaching, for example detailed planning for individual needs, extending students' thinking through various questioning techniques, and helping staff focus on how to embed literacy, mathematical and communication skills in teaching. A small minority of teachers are not embracing more creative techniques that are not bound by specific models of planning and teaching.

Subject leaders are more demanding of staff teams. The quality of subject evaluations and action plans is improving but some are not detailed enough in evaluating the quality of teaching over time or the impact on students' achievement. Leaders rightly point to a rise in the percentage of good and outstanding teaching, but their judgement is higher than that of the inspection team. There remains too much inconsistency for teaching overall to be graded as outstanding.

The breadth and flexibility of the curriculum help students to pursue pathways in Key Stages 4 and 5 suited to their interests, aptitudes and future ambitions. Links with the local college offer good opportunities for students to take courses, for example motor vehicle maintenance and construction . Some achieve very well, others less so because of varying attendance patterns. The annual production East meets West, managed by sixth form students, celebrates diversity at the school through dance, music and a fashion display from many cultures.

The school promotes equality and diversity and tackles discrimination well. Almost all students comment that the school is a harmonious, inclusive community. The closing of the few gaps in achievement, the frequent celebration of different cultures and links with the wider local community successfully promote equality.

Leaders effectively monitor students' safety in school and through risk assessments for external events. The vetting of staff and child protection policy and training meet statutory requirements.

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

The governing body monitors the school's performance against challenging targets. The Chair of the Governing Body is forthright in leading a firm but fair agenda that leaders must raise expectations about the quality of learning and quickly address any areas of underperformance. Comprehensive debate by the whole governing body about the performance of different student groups, based on assessment data, continues to develop.

Glossary

What inspection judgements mean

Grade	Judgement	Description
Grade 1	Outstanding	These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupil s' needs.
Grade 2	Good	These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well.
Grade 3	Satisfactory	These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils.
Grade 4	Inadequate	These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

Overall effectiveness of schools

Overall effectiveness judgement (percentage of schools)
Type of school	Outstanding	Good	Satisfactory	Inadequate
Nursery schools	54	42	2	2
Primary schools	14	49	32	6
Secondary schools	20	39	34	7
Special schools	33	45	20	3
Pupil referral units	9	55	28	8
All schools	16	47	31	6

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously.

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September to 31 December 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. 

The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more freque ntly than good or outstanding schools.

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

Percentages are rou nded and do not always add exactly to 100.

Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement:	the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.
Attainment:	the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.
Attendance:	the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school's efforts to encourage good attendance.
Behaviour:	how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils' punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.
Capacity to improve:	the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.
Floor standards:	the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures.
Leadership and management:	the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.
Learning:	how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.
Overall effectiveness:	inspectors form a judgement on a school's overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.
Progress:	the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils' attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.
Safety:	how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils' freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

15 June 2012

Dear Students

Inspection of Hazelwick School, Crawley RH10 1SX

Thank you for the polite and warm welcome you gave to the inspection team when we visited your school recently. It was a pleasure to talk to you in meetings and informally around the school. Inspectors enjoyed observing lessons and hearing your views about the education you receive, including through your questionnaires.

Hazelwick School is a good school with a good sixth form. The school is led well by your new headteacher and senior leaders. The quality of teaching is good and there is some outstanding teaching, helping most of you make good progress throughout Key Stages 3 to 5. The combination of excellent pastoral care, the good breadth of the curriculum, and the ethos of inclusivity and respect which you rightly judge as bringing together students from different ethnic groups, means that most of you enjoy your education at Hazelwick School. Your good spiritual, social, moral and cultural development complements your academic achievement and supports your personal development as responsible young people.

Your academic achievement is often above standards found nationally. Inspectors judge that you could be making even better progress if the quality of teaching and guidance was consistently outstanding. To achieve this, we have asked the headteacher and governing body to:

• ■   ensure that all teachers plan lessons to stretch all students and help everyone work towards exceeding their targets and producing high quality work

• ■   continue to help staff share outstanding practice in teaching and eliminate the remaining small amount of weaker teaching

• ■   embed greater consistency and rigour in the quality of marking throughout the school, so that all students know exactly what to improve and how, through detailed subject-specific written feedback.

We wish you all the very best for the future.

Yours sincerely

Joanna Beckford-Hall Her Majesty's Inspector