Teachers missing out on pay rises at special measures site

The latest report on Danum Academy, based in Intake, Doncaster, said many staff were not awarded performance-related rises this academic year.

Ofsted inspector Tanya Stuart said in her latest report to the school: “Weak teaching is dealt with appropriately. A significant proportion of staff did not move up the pay scale this academic year.

“This is because they did not meet their targets and/or career stage expectations.

“Staff who did meet their targets, and career stage expectations, set through a rigorous and transparent process, were rewarded.”

The inspection was the fifth monitoring inspection since the academy became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in back in September 2013.

The areas for improvement identified during the inspection in 2013 included issues such as ensuring all teaching in years seven to 11 was at least good by making certain that all teaching staff had high expectations of pupil.

They were to do this by setting demanding work and making sure pupils were stretched academically.

They were also told that staff needed to quickly identify all pupils who were not making enough progress intheir work.

The latest inspection revealed the academy introduced a new system of assessment in September 2015, after careful consideration of what would work for pupils, parents and staff.

The system was simple to understand and allowed all to check the progress of individual pupils and groups of pupils.

Ms Stuart said this means action was being taken more quickly when pupils started to fall behind. A new system of target setting, introduced at the same time, was more rigorous and challenging but targets are still achievable.

The report said the ability of headteacher Rebecca Staples and her senior leaders to describe the strengths and weaknesses of lessons and consider their impact on pupils’ learning ‘remained strong’.

Senior leaders were effective in developing teachers’ ability to ensure that pupils make more progress.

Customised training combined with whole academy initiatives meant the quality of teaching had improved since the inspectors were last at the school and pupils were making better progress.

The academy has detailed knowledge about why certain pupils were not attending and was working closely with other agencies to promote improved attendance and support parents and pupils.

Fixed-term exclusions have reduced significantly and the proportion of pupils who are repeatedly excluded has also reduced.