Richard Hale School

Hale Road

Hertford

SG13 8EN

Head: Ian Hawkins

T 01992 583441

F 01992 503 413

E admin@richardhale.co.uk

W www.richardhale.herts.sch.uk

A state school for boys aged from 11 to 18.

Boarding: No

Local authority: Hertfordshire

Pupils: 1128

Religion: None

Inspection report

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

Age group 11-18

Inspection date(s) 28-29 November 2011

Inspection number 379431

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, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and ed ucation and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguard ing and child protection.

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe'.

Piccadilly Gate

Store St

Manchester

M1 2WD

T: 0300 123 4234

Textphone: 0161 618 8524

E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

© Crown copyright 2011

Introduction

This inspection was carried out by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors and five additional inspectors. Inspectors observed 40 lessons, taught by 40 teachers, including five joint observations with senior staff. Meetings were held with three panels of students selected by the school, the Chair of Governing Body, and with middle and senior managers. Inspectors also looked at documentation including: the school's analysis of examination results, records of exclusion and inappropriate behaviour, and key policies for safeguarding, equalities, and community cohesion. In addition to the parental questionnaire, to which 381 replies were received, inspection questionnaires were also returned by 46 staff and 151 students.

The inspection team reviewed many aspects of the school's work. It looked in detail at a number of key areas.

• ■   How consistently do students make good progress, given their starting points -including in the sixth form?

• ■   How consistent is the quality of teaching throughout the school?

• ■   How has the curriculum been strengthened and broadened since the last inspection, particularly through quality vocational courses?

• ■   Does inspection support the school's view that standards and attendance are high, and that the overall effectiveness of the school is outstanding?

Information about the school

Richard Hale School is an average-sized school of its type, with specialisms in science and applied learning. Around a third of students in the sixth form are girls. Most students are White British, with others coming from various minority ethnic heritages. Very few speak English as an additional language. The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals is below average, as is the proportion with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Inspection judgements

Overall effectiveness: how good is the school?

The school's capacity for sustained improvement

Main findings

Students at Richard Hale School achieve good outcomes in many aspects of their personal and academic development. Standards reached in GCSE examinations are high, representing good progress from above-average starting points. Attendance is also high, behaviour is good and most feel very safe at school. These positive outcomes are a consequence of an appropriately robust academic curriculum where a large majority of students study three science subjects and a modern language at GCSE. There are well-planned and successful vocational options, including in engineering, for the smaller number of students for whom these courses are appropriate. Good care, guidance and support, particularly through the house system, which is much valued by students, instil a tangible sense of self-discipline and pride in individual students and across the school as a whole.

Teaching in the main school is good overall. There is a good ethos of mutual respect in classrooms. Teachers manage lessons with authority; students work diligently and willingly in all subjects. All this helps students to achieve good grades at GCSE.

However, less time or emphasis is given to developing students' independent learning skills or engaging them in extended discussion, either with the teacher or with each other. This is a key reason why, overall, outcomes are good rather than outstanding. Students' oracy, an important skill for their future economic well-being, is not developed well enough. These underdeveloped skills do not serve students well when they move into the sixth form - a key reason for their achievement dipping at AS level. While the most able and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well known to teachers, the extent to which these students' learning requirements are met through extended or supported work in lessons is too variable for assessment to be any better than satisfactory.

Senior leadership has successfully maintained the school's distinctive ethos, which is much valued by parents and carers. There is some particularly strong and incisive self-evaluation practice among middle leaders. Wel l-targeted actions brought improvements in the 2011 examination results, particularly in English and mathematics. Since the last inspection, a comprehensive strategy for monitoring and evaluating teaching has been led ably by an assistant headteacher and there is a good understanding of the issues that require improvement. Joint lesson observations between inspectors and senior leaders resulted in complete agreement about the quality of teaching. However, in other areas of self-evaluation there is a lack of incisiveness; some management systems, including those for which the governing body is responsible (including safeguarding procedures) are not better than satisfactory and require a sharper approach if they are to be improved. Overall, improvements since the last inspection, and self-evaluation, suggest that there is good capacity for sustained improvement. However, while it continues to provide good value for money, the school is not outstanding, as proposed in its selfevaluation.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• ■   Build on teachers' strong subject knowledge to improve the quality of learning in lessons where it is not outstanding, by:

• -    facilitating more opportunities for students to develop their independent learning and speaking skills, including through classroom discussion and debate

• -    ensuring that students with higher abilities or with special educational needs and/or disabilities are always appropriately challenged or supported.

• ■   Led by the governing body, ensure that all aspects of the school's strategy for promoting community cohesion are relevant to the school's context, robustly acted upon and regularly evaluated, to promote students' outstanding spiritual and cultural understanding.

• ■   Improve students' achievement in the sixth form by ensuring that standards are consistently high in all aspects of examination results at AS and A level, including in overall pass rates, rates at the highest grades, and the average point score for each subject and each examination entry.

Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils

Students join Year 7 having attained above-average standards in their primary schools. Through excellent attitudes to learning, they make good progress to reach high standards in GCSE examinations. While this represents outstanding achievement overall, progress is not outstanding because it lacks consistency when teaching is not at least good. While remaining significantly above average, GCSE results declined in 2010. In addition to English and mathematics, results were relatively disappointing in business studies, drama, Spanish and German. However, results improved in 2011; work seen during the inspection confirmed this improvement and showed students to be attaining high standards, making good progress, enjoying their learning, and taking a noticeably mature approach to their studies throughout the school. Students with special educational needs and/or disabilities also make good progress and show similarly positive attitudes to learning.

The behaviour of the great majority of students is excellent. Nevertheless, there are a few students who do not conform to the school's high expectations and require occasional, temporary exclusion. The school is an orderly place and manners among the school community are generally excellent. Students say that they feel safe and almost all their parents and carers agree. Inspectors agreed with members of the Year 11 panel who said that they felt more could be done to build links between the youngest and oldest students; overall, however, students make very positive contributions to school activities. Their strong participation in sports, drama and music events shows a very clear understanding of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, although their take-up of healthy food is less impressive. All of these positive outcomes indicate that students make good progress in their moral and social development. Their spiritual and cultural development is less advanced. While they have good knowledge of different faiths and cultures, their understanding of these is weaker. Much of this is to do with weaknesses in the school's strategy for promoting community cohesion. Not enough opportunities are provided for students to interact and work outside of their immediate localities, and there is limited evaluation of participation in school life by students from different backgrounds.

These are the grades for pupils' outcomes

Pupils' achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning Taking into account: Pupils' attainment1 The quality of pupils' learning and their progress The quality of learning for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their progress	1   1 2 2
The extent to which pupils feel safe	2
Pupils' behaviour	2
The extent to which pupils adopt healthy lifestyles	2
The extent to which pupils contribute to the school and wider community	2
The extent to which pupils develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being Taking into account: Pupils' attendance1	2   1
The extent of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development	3

How effective is the provision?

Some teaching is outstanding with ideas presented at pace, with imagination, and discussed with great enthusiasm. In a Year 9 lesson on the causes of the French Revolution, for example, the teacher's increasingly challenging open-ended questioning encouraged students to participate in animated dialogue and develop their understanding of the subject. Dramatic role-play added further to their enjoyment and deepened their understanding. Not enough lessons are of this quality, though and teaching is some way from being outstanding, overall. Most teaching provides solid instruction and appropriate opportunities for students to learn the knowledge and practise the skills they need to achieve good outcomes in their GCSE exams. However, there are fewer opportunities for students to interact with each other during lessons and develop their independent learning skills. While this does not inhibit their good achievement at GCSE, it does not serve them well as preparation for the sixth form. It is an issue raised by students as an area for improvement, and corroborated in lesson observations during the inspection. Assessment is not better than satisfactory because not enough use is made of information about individual learning needs in planning individual lessons, either for the most able or those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Although students are well motivated and able learners, teaching, in general, does not press them to make the outstanding progress seen in the best lessons.

The school provides a strong, appropriately academic curriculum. The Key Stage 3 programme has been condensed into two years, leaving more time working towards GCSE courses and additional Level 2 vocational qualifications. Students say that they like this arrangement, and improved GCSE results from the first cohort to benefit from this change suggest that it is a success. However, more work needs to be done on individual subject's curriculum planning in Key Stage 3 to ensure that maximum use is made of this time and that all requirements are covered.

Care, guidance and support are good, overall. Parents and carers are particularly praiseworthy of transition arrangements from primary school, and of the way that the house system encourages and motivates students. The school's strong ethos of discipline, respect and high attendance is set by the example given by staff, as much as anything. While this is commendable, the behaviour, attendance and involvement of all groups of students has not been analysed and evaluated in sufficient detail for the school to be considered outstanding in the care and support that it provides.

These are the grades for the quality of provision

The quality of teaching Taking into account: The use of assessment to support learning	2   3
The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils' needs, including, where relevant, through partnerships	2
The effectiveness of care, guidance and support	2

How effective are leadership and management?

Led by the headteacher, the well-established senior team is respected by staff, students, and parents and carers. Inspectors agree that the high expectations communicated by the senior team play an important role in helping students to achieve good outcomes. Strong leadership is provided in the core subjects of English, mathematics and science, and well-targeted actions led to noticeably improved results in 2011.

Within this overall picture of good leadership and management, there are some relative weaknesses. The recently appointed Chair of the Governing Body has already made an astute assessment of the school's performance and has started to make changes to the way that the governing body is organised. He is aware that there are a number of key areas where improvements are required to governors' policy and practice. Safeguarding is satisfactory; all statutory requirements are met. To improve beyond this, recommended good practice, including for safer recruitment, should be adopted more consistently. There is very patchy planning and evaluation of the school's work in promoting community cohesion. In practice, the school promotes equal opportunities well. Students from all groups told inspectors that they feel very comfortable in school; a very firm and effective line is promoted about inappropriate homophobic and racist behaviour. However, there remain weaknesses in the governing body's strategic planning for equalities.

These are the grades for leadership and management

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement Taking into account: The leadership and management of teaching and learning	2   2
The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting the school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities met	3
The effectiveness of the school's engagement with parents and carers	2
The effectiveness of partnerships in promoting learning and well-being	2
The effectiveness with which the school promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination	2
The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures	3
The effectiveness with which the school promotes community cohesion	3
The effectiveness with which the school deploys resources to achieve value for money	2

Sixth form

In 2010, standards at A level were in line with national averages. They improved in 2011, including in the proportion of higher grades awarded. Nevertheless, value-added measures show that students still only made satisfactory progress, given their starting points when they joined the sixth form. The school recognises that improving standards at AS level is also an area for improvement; in 2011, less than one in every five AS-level grade gained was passed at the highest level. While most students complete the courses they begin, overall attendance is only average. There are considerable strengths in the contributions made by sixth form students to the school community, particularly through leadership of sport, music, drama and house activities. The significant numbers of students, including girls, who join the sixth form from other schools integrate very well and make equally good contributions to school life. The excellent care taken by all sixth form students in maintaining a smart, business-like appearance is indicative of their appreciation and respect for the school's traditional ethos.

As in the main school, teaching is characterised by teachers' good subject knowledge, but too much lesson time is dominated by teacher presentation with not enough opportunities taken to develop students' discussion and independent thinking skills. This is more significant in the sixth form, and the reason why sixth form teaching is only satisfactory. The school continues to provide a largely academic curriculum, in the context of a local consortium where other options are available to students who wish to pursue more vocational options. While this is understandable, it also emphasises the need for academic standards to improve, given the nature of the students who choose to study at Richard Hale School.

The leadership and management of the sixth form are satisfactory. Pastoral support systems are effective. There are procedures for signing in and out of school, and these are effective in ensuring that all students are accounted for. However, these are a mixture of manual and electronic systems which do not help the school to analyse and evaluate patterns of attendance.

These are the grades for the sixth form

Overall effectiveness of the sixth form Taking into account: Outcomes for students in the sixth form The quality of provision in the sixth form Leadership and management of the sixth form

3   3 3 3

Views of parents and carers

The above-average response to the inspection questionnaire by parents and carers reflects their close involvement in their children's education and their positive support for the school. Most were supportive of all aspects of the school's work. In the few negative responses, parents and carers wrote detailed reasons which resonated with other inspection evidence - for example, concerning challenging more-able students.

Overall, though, parents and carers who answered the survey presented a positive picture of the school, which is endorsed by inspection findings.

Responses from parents and carers to Ofsted's questionnaire

Ofsted invited all the registered parents and carers of pupils registered at Richard Hale School to complete a questionnaire about their views of the school.

In the questionnaire, parents and carers were asked to record how strongly they agreed with 13 statements about the school.

The inspection team received 381 completed q uestionnaires by the end of the on-site inspection. In total, there are 1127 pupils registered at the school.

Statements	Strong ly agree	Agree	Disagree	Stro disa	ngly gree
Total	%	Total	%	Total	%	Total	%
My child enjoys school	172	45	198	52	7	2	1	0
The school keeps my child safe	189	50	185	49	1	0	3	1
The school informs me about my child's progress	179	47	185	49	16	4	0	0
My child is making enough progress at this school	158	42	201	53	16	4	2	1
The teaching is good at this school	178	47	188	49	11	3	0	0
The school helps me to support my child's learning	115	30	220	58	30	8	3	1
The school helps my child to have a healthy lifestyle	118	31	220	58	29	8	2	1
The school makes sure that my child is well prepared for the future (for example changing year group, changing school, and for children who are finishing school, entering further or higher education, or entering employment)	155	41	196	52	10	3	1	0
The school meets my child's particular needs	158	42	195	51	22	6	0	0
The school deals effectively with unacceptable behaviour	189	50	167	44	16	4	2	1
The school takes account of my suggestions and concerns	98	26	223	59	32	8	2	1
The school is led and managed effectively	211	56	160	42	4	1	0	0
Overall, I am happy with my child's experience at this school	214	56	161	42	4	1	0	0

The table above summarises the responses that parents and carers made to each statement. The percentages indicate the proportion of parents and carers giving that response out of the total number of completed questionnaires. Where one or more parents and carers chose not to answer a particular question, the percentages will not add up to 100%.

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 pupils' 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	43	47	10	0
Primary schools	6	46	42	6
Secondary schools	14	36	41	9
Sixth forms	15	42	41	3
Special schools	30	48	19	3
Pupil referral units	14	50	31	5
All schools	10	44	39	6

New school inspection arrangements were introduced on 1 September 2009. This means that inspectors now make some additional judgements that were not made previously.

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 08 April 2011 and are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk).

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

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

Sixth form figures reflect the judgements made for the overall effectiveness of the sixth form in secondary schools, special schools and pupil referral units.

Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement:	the progress and success of a pupil in their learning, development or training.
Attainment:	the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.
Capacity to improve:	the proven ability of the school to continue improving. Inspectors base this judgement on what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

Leadership and management:

the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the 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. The following judgements, in particular, influence what the overall effectiveness judgement will be. ■   The school's capacity for sustained improvement. ■   Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils. ■   The quality of teaching. ■   The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils' needs, including, where relevant, through partnerships. ■   The effectiveness of care, guidance and support.

Progress:

This letter is provided for the school, parents and carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main findings from the inspection of their school.

30 November 2011

Dear Students

Inspection of Richard Hale School, Hertford, SG13 8EN

We judged that Richard Hale School continues to provide you with a good standard of education and care. You achieve high standards in your GCSE examinations, and your attendance levels are high, too. I want to say, straight away, that your excellent attitudes to learning, good discipline and willingness to participate in school life are key factors in helping you to progress well at school. These personal qualities enable you to make good use of a strong curriculum, your teachers' good subject knowledge, and the well-established support systems in school.

I have asked Mr Neate and the staff to consider three areas where the school can improve further. The school's strategy for promoting community cohesion, which is ultimately the responsibility of the governing body, is not robust enough and needs strengthening. Doing this should help you gain a better understanding of communities and cultures other than your own. We have also asked your teachers to provide you with more opportunities to develop your independent learning and speaking skills in lessons, including through more interactive discussions among yourselves and with your teachers. This will better prepare you for sixth form study which, in turn, leads me to the school's third priority - to improve AS and A Level results in the sixth form, which have not been as good as they might have been, considering the quality of your GCSE results.

Quite rightly, your school has aspirations to be outstanding; your splendidly positive attitudes and good abilities, and the excellent support of your parents and carers, can do much to help Mr Neate and his team as they work to realise that ambition.

Thank you for the help that you gave us during the inspection, particularly if you served on one of the student panels. I wish you every success with your studies and examinations over the coming year.

Yours sincerely

Mark Phillips

Her Majesty's Inspector

Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', 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.

 

The grades for attainment and attendance are: 1 is high; 2 is above average; 3 is broadly average; and 4 is low