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7 February 2017
Robert Maddox
Head of School
Carisbrooke College
Mountbatten Drive
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 5QU
Dear Mr Maddox
Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to Carisbrooke College
Following my visit to your school on 25 January 2017, I write on behalf of Her
Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the
inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time that you
made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the
most recent section 5 inspection.
The visit was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to
require improvement following the section 5 inspection in March 2015. It was
carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.
Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas
requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection in order to
become a good school.
The school should take further action to:
 evaluate improvements to teaching, learning and assessment by their impact on
pupils’ progress
 strengthen school improvement plans by adding measurable milestones which
governors can use to evaluate the impact of actions taken by school leaders.
Evidence
During the inspection, meetings were held with the executive headteacher, head of
school, other senior leaders and members of the governing body to discuss actions
taken since the last inspection. I spoke to a representative of the local authority by
telephone. I reviewed some pupils’ work with two middle leaders. You accompanied
me on a brief visit to a number of lessons around the school. I evaluated a range of

 documents, including your self-evaluation and improvement plans.
Context
In July 2016, the headteacher of Carisbrooke College became executive
headteacher of the three schools within the Island Innovation Federation:
Carisbrooke College, Medina College and the Sixth Form Campus. In September,
one of the previous deputy headteachers became head of school and the
responsibilities of other senior leaders were changed. The special educational needs
coordinator (SENCo) joined the senior leadership team as an associate leader.
Reorganisation of middle leadership has created four heads of faculty areas.
A deputy headteacher from Medina College changed role to lead the joint sixth form
provision.
Main findings
School leaders have built on the improvements noted during the first monitoring
inspection, which took place in November 2015. Reorganisation of the roles and
responsibilities of the senior leadership team in September 2016 provided impetus
for further improvement. The executive headteacher now takes a more strategic
role and you, as head of school, are responsible for the day-to-day running of the
school. You and your colleagues on the senior leadership team have seized the
opportunity to drive school improvement systematically and with determination.
You have continued to focus your efforts on developing teaching, learning and
assessment. Leaders issued clear expectations for both staff and pupils about what
you expect to see happening in lessons, and you are checking to see that these are
met across all classes. In September, you launched a new assessment system which
provides information about the expected progression of pupils from Years 7 to 11 in
every subject. These progression ladders are used by teachers to plan lessons and
by pupils to see the next stages in their learning. Regular assessment takes place to
check pupils’ rates of progress, and thorough analysis of the data helps leaders and
teachers identify who needs extra support. A new feedback policy outlines
expectations of teachers to provide precise advice to pupils about how to improve
their work and how pupils are expected to act on this advice. Your monitoring
shows that these new systems and practices have been implemented across the
school in a consistent way, which has helped pupils to adjust to the changes
confidently. The small sample of pupils’ work I reviewed with school leaders showed
that most teachers and pupils are meeting the expectations of your feedback policy.
Your next steps are to evaluate the impact of these actions on the quality of
teaching and levels of achievement by pupils.
When school leaders identify good practice by staff and pupils, this is shared to help
others learn. There is a more open culture at the school, with staff keen to improve
their skills. Training is increasingly provided by staff with expertise within the Island
Innovation Federation. For example, some learning support assistants have been
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 helping teachers to understand how to support pupils with particular special
educational needs more effectively. Training by local authority advisers in English
and mathematics has also been well received. Two middle leaders are participating
in accredited leadership training courses, which include small research projects to
try out new ideas to improve pupils’ learning. The local authority has brokered a link
with a teaching school on the mainland to provide further professional development
for leaders and other staff in the federation.
School leaders are using a wider range of quality assurance activities to identify
strengths and weaknesses in teaching and learning. There is more moderation of
work within departments in order to ensure that staff are applying new assessment
criteria fairly and consistently. The faculty leaders take responsibility for the quality
of assessment information in their subjects and for leading the responses when
pupils start to fall behind. Staff are increasingly being held to account for the
progress of the pupils they teach and performance management has been
strengthened.
A new behaviour policy was also launched in September 2016. This sets out
expectations for behaviour in lessons and a clear system of consequences if the
expectations are not met. During my visits to classrooms, the atmosphere was
purposeful and pupils were appropriately involved in a range of activities. It was
clear that the pupils knew what was expected of them during the lessons and they
were using assessment guidance to help them progress rapidly. Teachers are now
provided with more detailed information about their pupils, including what the latest
information shows about their rates of progress. There is also useful advice for
teachers about supporting individuals who have special educational needs and/or
disabilities. The combination of more consistent behaviour management, better
teaching and more effective support for pupils vulnerable to underachievement has
led to a reduction in incidents of poor behaviour at the school and fewer fixed-term
exclusions.
The school’s information about the progress of current pupils shows that younger
pupils are making faster progress than older ones. This includes disadvantaged
pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is
partly due to the improved transitional arrangements from primary school and the
greater stability experienced by pupils in Years 7 and 8. Led by the SENCo, there is
closer screening of pupils on entry to the school to help understand their starting
points and spot any learning needs. This sharper identification has led to earlier
provision of support to help pupils catch up quickly. Literacy and numeracy
interventions alongside a structured reading scheme are also promoting faster
progress. There is closely targeted support for the relatively high proportion of
pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. A school priority is to
improve the performance of disadvantaged pupils. The school’s published report
about the use of pupil premium funding to support disadvantaged pupils is detailed
and comprehensive. Leaders are evaluating which strategies are most successful,
and aim to build on those to help accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils.
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 Improvements made throughout the school during the first year following the
inspection had a positive impact on the 2016 outcomes for Year 11 pupils. When
the analysis of validated examination results is published, you expect progress
measures to show that, overall, the progress of pupils at the school is similar to
national levels. The proportions of Year 11 pupils who achieved at least a GCSE
grade C in English and in mathematics were higher than national levels in both
subjects. However, progress made by disadvantaged pupils shows wide gaps in
their achievement compared with other pupils nationally with the same starting
points, and there is still much to do, particularly with pupils in key stage 4.
Pupils from Carisbrooke and Medina Colleges are taught together in the separate
Sixth Form Campus. This provision has improved since the leadership reorganisation
in September. The new head of sixth form has tightened the day-to-day operation
and introduced better systems for gathering information about students’ attendance
and progress. Students now have mentors to help support them with their studies
and personal development. The school’s tracking information shows that, currently,
students are making progress in line with similar students nationally in many, but
not all, subjects. There is limited monitoring of teaching and learning by subject
leaders with responsibility for sixth form performance. Although improvements are
underway, there is scope for strengthened monitoring and more rigorous evaluation
of this 16 to 19 provision.
A single governing body is responsible for all three provisions in the federation.
Since the previous inspection, the governing body has been strengthened by the
addition of new members with helpful skills, expertise and experience. Since the
leadership reorganisation in September, the governing body has worked more
productively with school leadership teams. There is evidence of greater challenge by
governors and they have the capacity to hold leaders to account effectively, as well
as providing appropriate support. However, governors’ ability to fully evaluate the
impact of leaders’ actions is hampered by the lack of milestone information about
pupils’ progress towards meeting success criteria.
The governors’ decision to promote the headteacher of Carisbrooke College to the
post of executive headteacher has been instrumental in enabling improvements in
all three provisions in the federation. His determined, personable and effective
leadership has promoted much greater openness and collaboration between staff at
Carisbrooke and Medina Colleges, and he has sensibly welcomed support by
Hampshire local authority advisers. Much has been achieved in the first four months
of this new leadership arrangement.
In summary, leaders have carried out a range of appropriate actions to address
most of the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection in March
2015. Since then, the school’s own self-evaluation has rightly identified some
emerging strengths and other areas of concern. School improvement plans have
become overloaded with tasks. Leaders, including governors, now need to re4

 evaluate the school’s current position and focus sharply on the actions necessary to
sustain improvements and address remaining weaknesses.
External support
School leaders and teachers are benefiting from effective support by advisers from
Hampshire local authority. The link adviser offers appropriate challenge and
support, and subject advisers are helping to improve leadership, teaching and
learning, particularly in English and mathematics. The mathematics department is
also participating in a project to improve teaching and learning for subject leaders
and teachers across the Isle of Wight. The local authority has recently brokered
additional support from a teaching school on the mainland.
I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools
commissioner, and the director of children’s services for the Isle of Wight. This
letter will be published on the Ofsted website.
Yours sincerely
Theresa Phillips
Her Majesty’s Inspector

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