Roundhay School
Gledhow Lane
Roundhay
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS8 1ND
Head: Mr Matthew Partington
T 0113 393 1200
F 01133 931201
E secondary@roundhayschool.com
A state school for boys and girls aged from 4 to 18.
Boarding: No
Local authority: Leeds
Pupils: 2213
Religion: Does not apply
School report
Gledhow Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS8 1ND
Inspection dates 20-21 November 2013
Overall effectiveness
Previous inspection: Good 2
This inspection: Outstanding 1
Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1
Quality of teaching Outstanding 1
Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1
Leadership and management Outstanding 1
■ Roundhay School is all about its students. Staff ensure that each one, regardless of background or ability, is given every opportunity to shine.
■ An inspirational headteacher, very strong leadership, highly skilled teachers and teaching assistants, plus dedicated support staff combine to give students a first class education.
■ Students make rapid progress and academic standards are high. The gap in attainment between students supported by pupil premium and others is closing at a remarkable rate.
■ Students are taught extremely well and given excellent verbal feedback but not all marking is of the highest quality.
■ Student and staff relationships are extremely good. Students' personal development is exceptional and behaviour is exemplary.
■ Primary provision is outstanding. Pupils make extremely rapid progress, teaching is outstanding, resources are first-rate and leadership is exceptional.
■ Support for students with special educational needs is excellent, enabling them to participate well and realise their potential.
■ The sixth form is outstanding. The quality of teaching is high and students make very good progress. Facilities are high quality and enrichment opportunities are excellent.
■ Staff training is excellent.
■ Governors use their considerable knowledge and experience to support and challenge leaders extremely well.
■ Inspectors observed 43 lessons, including three jointly with senior leaders. In addition, the inspection team made a number of short visits to lessons to look at the quality of assessment. They also visited the centre that supports students with dyslexia.
■ Inspectors met four groups of students, senior and middle leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority.
■ Inspectors took account of the 74 responses to Ofsted's on-line questionnaire, Parent View, and 91 questionnaires completed by staff.
■ Inspectors analysed examination results and scrutinised a range of other evidence, including the self-evaluation report, work in students' books, minutes of governing body meetings, records relating to behaviour and attendance and safeguarding documentation.
■ Roundhay School All-through education from 4 to 18 is a larger than average size school.
■ The proportion of students eligible for support through the pupil premium, mainly those known to be eligible for free school meals, is around average. The pupil premium is funding to support those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, those from families who are in the armed forces and children who are in the care of the local authority.
■ The proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above average and a higher than average proportion speak English as an additional language.
■ The proportion of students supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is around average but the proportion of students supported through school action is below average. The school includes a specialist unit that caters for students from across the local authority who have severe dyslexia.
■ Four students attend alternative provision full time and 18 attend courses off-site for part of each week. The school uses a wide range of providers that are quality assured and approved by the local authority.
■ The school exceeds the government's current floor standards that set minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress at the end of Key Stage 4.
■ Roundhay has become an all-through school since the last inspection. The first intake of children joined the school in September 2012 and the 120 pupils are currently split equally between the Early Years Foundation Stage and Year 1. The newly built primary campus is about a mile from the main site.
■ Attainment on entry to the main school is around average for current students but was above average for those who completed Key Stage 4 in 2013. Examination results at the end of Key Stage 4 have risen year-on -year and are significantly high. Both the proportion of students making expected progress and the proportion making better than expected progress are high compared with national figures. High ability students out-perform similar students nationally. Students of all abilities make very good progress in lessons.
■ The first intake of primary pupils entered the school with attainment that was well below average and they have made outstanding progress in their first year. They attained good levels of development that far exceeded national expectations. Pupils make excellent progress in lessons and their books contain a large volume of very high quality work. The attainment of primary pupils supported by pupil premium funding is way above average, pupils with special educational needs are achieving in line with their peers and there is no gap between the performance of girls and boys.
■ Students enter the sixth form with average prior attainment and make better than average progress. An increasing proportion of students are achieving A Level grades A* to B and a high number progress to university, including Russell group universities and Oxbridge.
■ Students who attract pupil premium funding are monitored very closely. Great care has been taken to cater for their individual needs and as a consequence, they are making exceptional progress and closing any attainment gap with their peers at a very fast rate.
■ Literacy is promoted well across the school. Reading is encouraged and literacy skills are developed well across the curriculum. The library reports an increase in the number of students borrowing reading books. Year 7 catch up funding has been used to support weak readers, helping them develop their reading skills very quickly so that they can keep up with their peers in lessons.
■ Disabled students and those with special educational needs make outstanding progress relative to their starting points. This is because teaching is very closely tailored to their individual needs and teaching assistants provide very high quality support. Students with dyslexia receive expert care and support in the specialist unit enabling them to achieve well in mainstream lessons. There are many examples of students making outstanding progress, including a student who came to the unit in Key Stage 3 unable to read and went on to achieve eight GCSE passes at grades A* to C.
■ Off-site provision is utilised well for students who have been unable to cope in full-time mainstream provision. Great care is taken to find high quality programmes that meet their individual needs. As a result, they are attending well and working towards qualifications, including English and mathematics. Many are making very good progress in their special areas of interest, such as music and sport, opening up opportunities for the future. Success in one area is having a very positive impact on the students' progress in other subjects.
■ Teaching is improving at a fast pace and a high proportion is outstanding.
■ Teachers have an infectious enthusiasm for their subject which is communicated to the students. High quality wall displays are used well to show off students' work and raise aspirations.
■ Teachers have a common sense approach to planning lessons and are not unduly influenced by the latest fads. Lessons are sequenced very well and build effectively on previous learning. In many lessons this leads to students making rapid progress and gaining advanced level skills. Examples include Year 7 mathematics students who were expertly guided to develop high level investigative skills and Year 9 history students inspired to analyse historical evidence with a maturity that belied their years.
■ The atmosphere in lessons is very positive and supportive. As one student said, ‘It is cool to want to learn at Roundhay'. Students are comfortable admitting that they do not understand a particular point and others often try to help by offering alternative explanations. Students are keen to volunteer ideas and participate. For example, middle-ability boys in a Year 10 English lesson were very keen to read aloud and contribute to discussions.
■ Group work is used well and enables students to learn from one another. Students listen carefully to each other, value all contributions to the discussion and challenge each other's thinking in a very mature way. Students of all ages, including those in the primary phase, are learning to work independently.
■ Teachers have very detailed knowledge of students and use it very effectively to plan activities that match their needs very closely. Teachers are exceptionally skilled at adapting tasks and questions so that the most able are fully stretched while the weaker students get the support and time to help them catch-up. Teachers use very subtle means that go unnoticed by students but are highly effective in making sure that everyone's needs are met.
■ Teaching assistants are highly skilled and used very well to provide extra support. Teachers are also very creative in developing strategies that overcome barriers to learning. For example, a physical education teacher used mime very successfully to communicate with a Russian student who could not understand English.
■ Learning moves at a lively pace and teachers make very effective use of mini-whiteboards and well-targeted questioning to check that everyone understands. Students are given very good verbal feedback throughout lessons but the quality of written feedback is too variable. There are examples of excellent practice where teachers have given valuable advice and students have used the suggestions to improve subsequent work. However, there are instances where marking is insufficiently detailed.
■ The core values of courtesy, cooperation and commitment permeate every aspect of the school.
■ Behaviour for learning is outstanding across the entire school and pupils and students of all ages show a maturity beyond their years. There are many examples of older students supporting others. For example, sixth formers have been trained to help younger students with their reading while other students help the primary pupils at lunchtime. Students of all ages and backgrounds work together extremely well.
■ Behaviour in lessons is exemplary. Students arrive promptly and get straight down to work. Movement around the school is extremely orderly and students show consideration and respect for each other. For example, as a student in a wheelchair manoeuvred out of a lift onto a busy corridor, a boy stepped forward and held back the stream of students. Others assessed the situation very quickly and moved aside with a smile.
■ Staff, including the headteacher, are highly visible across the site both before and after school, at break and at lunchtimes. They chat to students and chivvy them along, making them feel cared for and very safe. Students, staff and parents say that instances of bullying are rare and dealt with very effectively. Students have a very good understanding of the many different types of bullying.
■ Extensive and very well-planned support is put in place when needed and links with outside support agencies are strong and effective. Specially devised initiatives are also used to address any behaviour issues as they arise. For example, a motivational package for disaffected boys, provided by local business mentors, was extremely successful in changing attitudes.
■ Attendance is above average and the number of persistent absentees is very low.
■ The senior leadership team is very strong and effective. Senior leaders work very successfully together and know the school very well. They are monitoring all aspects of provision very closely and are very quick to take effective action to address any areas of concern as soon as they arise.
■ Middle leaders are making a major contribution to maintaining the highest standards of behaviour and driving up the quality of teaching. They play a leading role in sharing best practice across subjects and key stages. Subject and year leaders are fundamental to improving achievement and collaborate extremely effectively to monitor students' progress and intervene quickly where necessary.
■ Professional development is a strength of the school. Twilight leadership training sessions are open to aspiring leaders as well as those already in a leadership role and there are lots of opportunities for staff to take on additional responsibilities and or temporary leadership roles. The leadership of teaching is very strong and has led to rapid improvements since the last inspection. There is an excellent range of support and training to help teachers improve their practice and systems for monitoring the quality of teaching are very robust.
■ There is no room for complacency anywhere in school and both leaders and staff are unrelenting in their pursuit of excellence. Performance management is very rigorous and staff work towards challenging targets. Under-performance is not tolerated and, although excellent support is available to help staff improve, leaders take tough action where necessary.
■ Partnerships with external agencies and feeder primary schools contribute very well to the effectiveness of the school. The school works well with the local authority to share best practice across the city and the local authority has given good support with the development of the primary campus. The headteacher, as a National Leader of Education, supports other headteachers and the school is a founder member of a teaching alliance that works across four local authorities.
■ Resources are deployed extremely well and financial management is very tight. Primary school sport funding is being spent wisely on resources and to fund extra sporting activities for pupils at Roundhay and other local primary schools. Pupil premium funding is exceptionally well-targeted and making a very notable difference.
■ The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students is outstanding. Students, from a very wide range of backgrounds, work and socialise together extremely well. Students of all ages are keen to learn about other cultures and show respect for each other. For example, a Year 8 tutor group rejected a reward of sweets out of consideration for a number of students in the group who were fasting. Students are prolific fundraisers and play a very active role in the local community, for example through ‘Radio Roundhay' and ‘Friends of Roundhay' events. In lessons, every opportunity is taken to encourage students to reflect and to empathise with others in very different circumstances.
■ Exceptionally well-planned polices, robust systems and rigorous controls underpin the school's success and capacity for further improvement.
■ The school's arrangements for ensuring students' safety both on and off site meet statutory requirements and are both comprehensive and rigorous.
■ The governance of the school:
- Governance is outstanding. Governors are extremely well informed and very clear about their roles and responsibilities. They have very good informal and formal links with staff at all levels that keep them updated on different views and opinions. They monitor the quality of teaching, all aspects of achievement and the school's finances very closely. They attend parents' events and try innovative ways to reach parents from other cultures and those reluctant to visit school. Leaders can give many examples of governors asking very probing and challenging questions in the interests of the school.
School Grade Grade 1
Judgement Outstanding
Description
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.
School Grade Grade 2
Judgement Good
Description
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.
School Grade Grade 3
Judgement Requires improvement
Description
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.
School Grade Grade 4
Judgement Inadequate
Description
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 108076
Local authority Leeds
Inspection number 428832
This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.
Type of school All-through
School category Community
Age range of pupils 4-18
Gender of pupils Mixed
Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed
Number of pupils on the school roll 1782
Of which, number on roll in sixth form 411
Appropriate authority The governing body
Chair Gillian Hayward
Headteacher Neil Clephan
Date of previous school inspection 9 May 2012
Telephone number 0113 393 1200
Fax number 0113 393 1201
Email address secretary@roundhay.leeds.sch.uk
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