Titan St Georges Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Titan St Georges Academy

Following my visit to the school on 9 July 2019 with Susan Lowry, Ofsted Inspector, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in May 2015. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. By the time pupils join this school, most have had a negative experience of education and have developed low self-esteem. The school provides a caring environment.

Staff quickly develop positive relationships w...ith pupils and help them to address their lack of self-worth. Your vision 'Giving new direction' is fully supported by staff and, as a result, you are successfully re-engaging pupils in education. Pupils and their families value the support you give to them.

A typical comment from a pupil was: 'The teachers care for us here. They listen to us.' Since the last inspection, there have been significant changes to the leadership team and the governance of the school.

In November 2018, you joined with a local free school pupil referral unit to form the Titan Education Trust. You have recently been appointed as executive headteacher of the two schools, and each school now has a head of school. There is a governing body that provides strategic leadership for the two schools.

In October 2018, the leadership team was restructured to provide additional capacity, and the posts of deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher were created. Both of the posts were filled by existing staff. Governors have high expectations for pupils and for what the school can achieve.

They are fully committed to improving outcomes for pupils and they work collaboratively with leaders. For example, governors regularly visit the school to meet with both leaders and pupils. They have a good understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development.

At the last inspection, the school was asked to look at improving the evaluation of the information they collect about pupils, to ensure that all groups are achieving as well as they should be. Assessment information is now evaluated extensively in terms of year groups, subjects and relevant groups of pupils. The information collected is shared with staff and is used effectively to develop teaching and learning strategies to support the learning of groups of pupils and individuals in the classroom.

For instance, the use of 'the big question' is providing challenge, particularly for the most able pupils, and is probing and developing their understanding further. This is helping them to make good progress. Leaders' information shows that all pupils are making good progress, and there is no discernible difference in the progress of different groups.

The accuracy and reliability of this information are helped by the moderation of teachers' judgements with local mainstream schools. The school was asked to improve the quality of teaching to ensure that pupils made up for previous underachievement. Teaching across the school is good.

Staff have secure subject knowledge. They plan their lessons well to sustain pupils' interests. The purposeful relationships between adults and pupils, based on mutual respect, are contributing successfully to the learning culture.

Evidence in books shows that pupils are making good progress over time. However, there is inconsistency across subjects in how well teachers follow the school's assessment policy and subsequently help pupils to improve their work. This is limiting pupils' progress.

You were also asked to improve attendance. This aspect of the school's work is well managed. There are robust procedures in place to monitor and track the attendance of pupils in the school and when they attend alternative provision.

Many pupils enter the school with high levels of persistent absence. Leaders have invested a lot of resources into improving pupils' attendance. For instance, they have appointed a full-time and a part-time attendance officer, introduced a reward system for improved attendance and provided transport for pupils to and from the school.

Case studies show that individual pupils make significant improvement in their rates of attendance from very low starting points, including those pupils who may only be at the school for a relatively short time. However, despite leaders' best efforts, overall attendance remains low. Safeguarding is effective.

The culture of safeguarding is strong. You ensure that all staff are well trained and understand and implement policies and procedures. Concerns about pupils are carefully logged.

Risk assessments for individual pupils are detailed and reviewed regularly. You follow up concerns in a timely way and escalate them as necessary. Pupils' files are securely stored and well organised.

The procedures for the vetting of staff are understood and used well. Leaders work well with external agencies to support pupils who are at risk or subject to a multi-agency plan. As a result, all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

Leaders have a good understanding of issues in the local area that may put pupils at risk. Training for staff and information for pupils about how to keep themselves safe have been carefully targeted this year on these local issues. You teach how to keep pupils safe in a variety of ways, including through the curriculum, assemblies and workshops.

This year, pupils have been involved in a project with the police on the dangers of knife crime and the impact it has on the local community. A workshop and the individual pupil mentoring provided have helped pupils make positive choices about their behaviour. Inspection findings ? You provide a broad and balanced curriculum.

The appropriate mix of academic and vocational subjects is helping to re-engage pupils in their learning. Leaders are aware that, due to the continuously changing cohort, the curriculum needs to be constantly refined to ensure that it continues to meet pupils' needs, aspirations and interests. Leaders have started to make changes to the curriculum this term, and further changes are planned for the new academic year.

For example, pupils will be going to local sports centres for their physical education lessons. Aspirational talks from a range of employers are being planned for pupils as part of the enrichment curriculum. ? You are proud of the school's inclusive ethos, in which the pupil is at the heart of everything you do.

You accept the most vulnerable pupils from across the local area. While at the school, pupils make significant improvements in their conduct and pupils speak positively about how they have been helped to manage and regulate their behaviour. As a result, disruption to learning is rare.

• Pastoral care is a strength of the school. Leaders and staff go the extra mile to support pupils and their families. For example, staff pick pupils up in the morning to ensure that they get to the school.

This support continues when pupils have left. Former pupils regularly visit the school to ask staff for advice, and staff provide this willingly. For instance, they have helped former pupils to fill in application forms and secure a place at college.

• Pupils' social, emotional and mental health is well supported. The specialist provision for pupils experiencing high levels of anxiety, known as 'The Junction', is providing pupils with effective strategies to help them manage their anxieties. As a result, many pupils accessing this support are able to return successfully to mainstream school.

• You are supporting pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Lively discussions between staff and pupils in the classroom include how to reduce the use of plastic in the school and issues surrounding people's perceptions about racial stereotypes and stereotypes relating to wealth and living conditions. These types of debate are preparing pupils well for being responsible for their actions as good citizens.

• The school uses a small number of alternative providers for pupils to access courses which the school cannot offer on site. Leaders have ensured that rigorous checks and working agreements are in place before pupils begin their courses. Staff check pupils' attendance daily, to make sure that pupils are where they should be, and procedures for sharing safeguarding concerns are understood.

Leaders monitor and check pupils' progress regularly, and their assessment information shows that pupils are making good progress. ? Pupils are achieving good outcomes in relation to their starting points. In 2018, nearly 20% of pupils achieved a good pass at GCSE in both English and mathematics.

Over time, an increasing number of pupils are achieving accreditation at GCSE level or its equivalent. Over the past three years, all pupils have successfully gone on to education, employment or training. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? leaders continue to refine the curriculum to respond to the pupils' changing needs and ensure that their needs, aspirations and interests are fully met ? they work with parents and carers to improve the attendance of pupils who continue to be regularly absent ? teachers apply the school's assessment policy consistently well, so that pupils understand how to improve their work.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Birmingham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Lesley Yates Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, my colleague and I met with you and other members of the leadership team.

I met with the chair of trustees and two governors. We carried out lesson observations, most conducted jointly with leaders. We looked at work in pupils' books and on display.

We talked to pupils and staff during breaktime and lunchtime. We visited Riverside Vocational College, an alternative provision, and spoke to the staff there. We considered the 17 responses from staff and the 12 responses from pupils to Ofsted's staff and pupil questionnaires.

There were no free-text responses on Parent View. We looked at a variety of documents, including the school's own self-evaluation of its performance, the school's development plan, assessment information, policies, safeguarding information and external reports. We also checked the school's website and the procedures for keeping pupils safe.