Ofsted

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Store Street
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M1 2WD www.gov.uk/ofsted

5 June 2018

Mr Martin Paine
Headteacher
Longsands Academy
Longsands Road
St Neots
Cambridgeshire
PE19 1LQ

Dear Mr Paine

Short inspection of Longsands Academy

Following my visit to the school on 15 May 2018 with Nick Asker and Kathryn
Herlock, Ofsted Inspectors, 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
November 2014.

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some
priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these
priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is
no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a
result of this inspection.

There have been a number of changes in staffing, including in leadership, since you
started as headteacher in September 2015. In addition, a number of leaders and
teachers have provided support to another local school over a prolonged period of
time. You acknowledge that these factors have slowed the pace of improvement in
some aspects of the school’s work. Since the start of the current academic year,
staffing has been more stable. You are working determinedly with other leaders to
address the school’s weaknesses. For example, you recognise that further swift
improvements are required to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make stronger
progress, particularly across key stage 3. You are making this a central focus of
your work.

Governors share your determination to improve the school but acknowledge that
disadvantaged pupils made insufficient progress by the end of key stage 4 in 2017.
Governors know that they did not focus closely enough on the effectiveness of
teaching and its impact on the progress that these pupils were making in the
previous academic year. Governors support the changes you are making and are
improving the level of challenge they pose to school leaders about the progress
pupils make. It is too soon to determine the full impact of these changes.
During this inspection, most parents and carers commented positively about how
well staff support their children. Appreciative comments about the particularly wide
range of trips, and sporting and cultural opportunities available to pupils were
typical. Many parents noted the effectiveness of the school’s work to support pupils
in their transition from primary to secondary school. They felt that this work helped
their children settle into the Longsands community quickly. The majority of pupils
were similarly positive about the help that staff give them. Sixth-form students were
particularly keen to emphasise their positive working relationships with their
teachers.

Staff and pupils typically agree that most pupils behave well. Some parents raised
concerns about pupils’ behaviour. Very little misconduct was apparent during the
inspection; almost all pupils worked well and interacted positively with their
teachers and with each other. However, the school’s records indicate that a small
number of pupils too often disrupt the learning of others. You are working well to
help ensure that these pupils behave more appropriately by providing them with
additional support, but you accept that a few pupils’ conduct is still not good
enough. Although some parents praised the way in which staff deal with bullying in
their responses to Ofsted’s online survey, a small number of parents do not think
that it is always dealt with effectively. During the inspection, most pupils told us
that bullying is not frequent and that teachers generally respond to it swiftly and
effectively. This was consistent with their responses to Ofsted’s online survey and
with the school’s records.

Staff welcome the recent changes that you and other leaders have made. You are
ensuring that teachers prioritise disadvantaged pupils within lessons, when asking
questions or providing feedback. Teachers are tracking these pupils’ progress very
carefully; subject and senior leaders are working together to review it and plan
appropriate support for pupils who need it. This approach is starting to remove the
barriers to pupils’ learning, particularly at key stage 4. You are working effectively
with groups of disadvantaged pupils who need to improve their attendance, their
behaviour or both, and you are shortly to appoint additional leaders so that you can
extend this work further.

Middle leaders are working well to improve teaching, learning and assessment in a
number of subjects, including in the sixth form, following thorough subject reviews.
Some of this work is recent and you acknowledge there is more to do. All teachers
are following your updated feedback policy, so that pupils know what to do to
improve and are able to make the necessary changes. Leaders are regularly
checking how far the work that pupils complete helps them to build on what they
already know and can do. Teachers are sharing techniques that help challenge
pupils to think more deeply and work at a higher level. You acknowledge that pupils’
experience of these techniques is uneven across subjects and that, sometimes, the
most able complete work that is too easy for them. This continues to be a key area
of leaders’ focus.

In 2016, pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 4 was strong, particularly in
English and mathematics. In 2017, pupils’ progress overall was less strong and

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uneven across different subjects. Disadvantaged pupils made too little progress
overall in both 2016 and 2017. Your records indicate that current pupils are making
better progress, but that it is still uneven across subjects and key stages. In the
sixth form, in both 2016 and 2017, too many students did not make enough
progress, particularly in their vocational qualifications. You have made a number of
changes to the way the sixth form is run. These are helping students to accelerate
their progress within some subjects, but it remains too slow in others.

Safeguarding is effective.

Leaders, including governors, ensure that the school fulfils its statutory duty to keep
pupils safe.

Staff understand the responsibilities they have to keep pupils safe because the
training they receive is regular and appropriate. Adults know what to do if they have
concerns about a pupil’s welfare. Staff work well with external agencies to ensure
that pupils who need additional help receive it in as timely a manner as possible.
Pupils benefit from being able to access the school’s counsellor if they need to. The
school has appropriate arrangements in place in order to deal with an unexpected
event.

Almost all parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View,
agree that their children are safe and well cared for at Longsands. Pupils who spoke
with us and who responded to Ofsted’s online survey agreed. Inspection evidence
supports their views.

Inspection findings

 In 2016 and 2017, disadvantaged pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 4 was
too low. This is why we agreed that our first line of enquiry was to establish
whether these pupils are making good enough progress.
 You and other leaders have made this aspect of the school’s work a priority,
particularly since the beginning of the current academic year. Improvement is
evident. You have responded to the recommendations made by an independent
review quickly and thoughtfully. Leaders have worked well with some of those
disadvantaged pupils whose behaviour or attendance has been a particular cause
for concern.
 Pastoral and subject leaders make regular checks upon disadvantaged pupils’
progress. Those who are working towards their GCSE examinations are being
given additional tuition, often in small groups, so that they can revisit work that
they have found difficult. Pupils who join the school in Year 7 with low levels of
literacy benefit from precisely targeted support that is helping most to catch up
quickly. The school’s records indicate that the difference between disadvantaged
pupils’ progress and that of other pupils is diminishing at key stage 4, although it
remains too high.
 However, some of these changes have been introduced only recently, and pupils
in key stage 3 have benefited from them to a lesser extent than have older

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 pupils. Some disadvantaged pupils in Years 8 and 9 have low levels of literacy,
which limits the progress that they are able to make. Your records indicate that
by the end of Year 8, the gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others widen
in some subjects. These include geography, history, mathematics and science. In
some year groups, including Year 9, disadvantaged pupils’ attendance is too low.
The behaviour of a small number of pupils, primarily disadvantaged pupils,
remains a concern.
 Our second line of enquiry was to establish whether pupils, particularly the most
able, complete work that is suitably challenging. This was an area for
improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection. Most subject
leaders have looked carefully at their key stage 3 learning plans, and are making
sure that these build on what pupils know and can do by the time they leave
primary school, and prepare them well for GCSEs. Some subject leaders have not
yet fully completed these changes.
 Pupils are often set tasks that make them think deeply. They use their knowledge
to find solutions to problems, and construct well-evidenced responses to
questions they are set. In many subjects, and particularly within English and
history, teachers ask pupils questions and use other techniques that help them to
develop their thinking and consider alternative perspectives. In the sixth form,
students often engage in high-level discussion and debate. During the inspection,
students used their knowledge to debate the significance of different ‘turning
points’ in the history of Tsarist Russia, for example.
 However, sometimes teachers do not give pupils enough time to think, or direct
questions only at a small number of pupils. This means that some pupils are
often left out of discussions and that teachers are not always clear about how far
they have understood. In addition, pupils’ progress slows when they have to
complete straightforward tasks before they move on to more challenging work.
The most able pupils told inspectors that this is often the case in mathematics
and modern foreign languages. Sometimes, less able pupils demonstrate good
knowledge during class discussion, but struggle to convey it in fully completed
pieces of written work. This was evident within some pupils’ English books. In
some subjects, including art, business studies and technology, teaching has not
enabled previous pupils to make sufficient progress at GCSE.
 Our final line of enquiry was to establish how far current students in the sixth
form are making good progress. This is because in 2016 and 2017, overall,
students made too little progress, and therefore achieved less highly than they
should have done. This was particularly the case for vocational qualifications.
 In the past, too many students in the sixth form have chosen to study one or
more courses that have not been a good match for their abilities and interests.
Some have gone on to struggle with their work as a result. You have made
changes to improve the guidance that students receive. Changes to the way
students use their ‘study periods’ have considerably increased the amount of
work they complete outside the classroom. Your introduction of ‘pre-reading’
tasks means that students find things out about an aspect of their learning
before they attend a lesson. As one student put it, this means that ‘teachers
spend less time telling us facts we can find out ourselves and more time

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 discussing things with us and getting us to think.’
 Sixth-form leaders are working to improve the effectiveness of teaching in
subjects where too few students have made enough progress in the past,
including business studies, economics, English literature, and health and social
care. Your reviews of subjects and ongoing checks indicate that further
improvement in these subjects is needed. Overall, your monitoring indicates that
students’ progress remains less secure in vocational subjects than in other
subjects.

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

 they accelerate the school’s work to remove the barriers that prevent some
disadvantaged pupils from making the progress that they should
 they enable pupils of all abilities to complete appropriately challenging work in all
subjects, so that their progress accelerates
 they work to improve the behaviour of the small number of pupils who disrupt
the learning of others in some classes
 they continue to improve the effectiveness of teaching in the sixth form,
particularly within vocational subjects.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the chief executive
officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the
director of children’s services for Cambridgeshire. This letter will be published on
the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely

Jason Howard
Her Majesty’s Inspector

Information about the inspection

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 Inspectors spoke with two groups of pupils, one group of students and with
others informally during lessons regarding their learning.
 The views of 112 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent
View, and those of the 108 staff who completed Ofsted’s staff questionnaire were
also taken into account. The 67 responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire were
also evaluated.