The St Aubyn Centre Education Department

Age group 11–18 Inspection date(s) 11–12 January 2012 Inspection number 381652 Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit Inspection report

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Unique reference number 134260 Local authority Essex Inspection number 381652 Inspection dates 11–12 January 2012 Lead inspector Declan McCarthy

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Pupil referral unit School category Pupil referral unit Age range of pupils 11–18 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 13 Of which, number on roll in the sixth form 11 Appropriate authority The local authority Headteacher Gill Jackson (Head of Education) Date of previous school inspection 12 May 2009 School address North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation 216 Turner Road Colchester CO4 5JR Telephone number 01206 287626 Fax number 01206 287627 Email address gill.jackson@essex.gov.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and educati on and training in prisons and

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other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

Inspection team Declan McCarthy Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Three hours were spent observing teaching in individual and group lessons taught by three teachers. Meetings and telephone discussions were held with a few parents and carers of current and past students. The inspector also met members of the management committee, representatives of the local authority and staff. Informal discussions took place with current students and telephone discussions with a very few who recently left the unit. Further telephone discussions took place with a small sample of partner schools and with the local authority School Improvement Partner. The inspector took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. He observed the pupil referral unit’s work, and looked at a range of documentation. This included the unit’s development plan, the single central record for vetting staff and visitors, attendance data and records of behavioural incidents,

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Introduction

minutes of management committee meetings, information about students’ progress. Questionnaire returns from staff, students and four parents and carers were also scrutinised.

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Information about the school

Longview is a small pupil referral unit for students with mental health difficulties, who come mainly from Essex and Suffolk. These range from depression, suicidal thoughts, psychosis, obsessive compulsive disorder and aneroxia nervosa. Most students are admitted to the acute in-patient ward within the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. The typical length of stay in the unit is a few months and medical treatment takes precedence over education. Prior to admission, many students have had a fractured experience of education and a few have not attended school for lengthy periods. All students have been identified with special educational needs, although currently none have a statement. Most students are dual registered with mainstream schools and the unit aims to return them to schools so they can continue their education. A small proportion of students are known to be eligible for free school meals.

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Information about the school

Since the previous inspection, numbers of post-16 students both in education and not previously in education, employment or training have markedly increased. Longview is on course to expand its provision and move to new purpose-built premises in June 2012. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 The unit provides a good education for its students. The sixth form is good.  Students achieve well. They make rapid gains in learning from their individual starting points, given the relatively short time they spend in the unit. They successfully re-engage with learning and achieve good examination results. There are no significant differences in the achievement of any groups.  Good teaching ensures all students learn well and make good progress. Teachers use assessment information well to personalise learning experiences and set individual learning objectives that promote good achievement. Strong links with staff in students’ mainstream schools ensure that work is tailored precisely to their individual needs and support the good progress they make towards their examination courses. Teamwork with medical professionals in the consistent management of behaviour and promotion of students’ well-being is a

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Key findings

strength.  Behaviour and safety are good. Attendance rapidly improves, enabling students to re-engage with learning quickly. They adopt safe practices and manage potential risks well. Students respond positively to the consistent management of behaviour in lessons.  The head of education has continued to provide strong leadership since the previous inspection, particularly in ensuring that all issues identified at that time have been addressed well and in continuing to develop the leadership roles of key teachers. The management committee has been strengthened and, together with the local authority, provides good support for the unit. All staff have an accurate view of teaching and learning and use the outcomes of monitoring to good effect in setting clear priorities for improvement.  The unit has, rightly, identified the further development of the senior leadership team and extending the range of vocational and academic courses on offer in

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Key findings

preparation for the forthcoming planned move and expansion of provision.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop the senior leadership team by ensuring that the plans for the appointment of a deputy head of education are fully implemented by May 2012.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Extend post-16 provision to meet the needs of the changing groups of students by increasing:  opportunities for vocational courses for those not previously in education, employment or training  the range of academic courses at A level.

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Achievement of pupils

All students in the sixth form and at Key Stage 4 make good progress from their starting points, including those not previously in education, employment or training, those known to be eligible for free school meals and those identified with special educational needs. There are no significant differences in the achievement of boys and girls. Attainment is broadly average and has been so since the last inspection. Given the relatively short time students attend the unit, they make better progress than similar students nationally. All students quickly re-engage with learning and are on course at least to meet, and some to exceed, their challenging targets for GCSE, AS and A level. A number also make good progress towards Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN), Further Education and Adult Literacy and Numeracy awards. Students make good progress towards their individual education plan targets. All parents and carers highlighted the good

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Achievement of pupils

academic progress their children have made in their short time in the unit. Ex- students were proud that they had achieved four good GCSE passes, which they never expected to do, and have successfully moved on to college.

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Achievement of pupils

In lessons, students concentrate and focus on their learning and make good progress because teachers use assessment well to ensure that tasks are matched closely to individual needs, aptitudes and interests. Students’ good application of a range of literacy, numeracy and information and communication skills within various subjects ensures that they are well prepared for their examination courses and life beyond the unit. Students, past and present, said that the unit helps/has helped them to make good progress. In a personal, social and health education lesson, students worked in pairs to identify the effects of different types of foods, such as processed foods, chocolate and coffee, on mood changes. All focused sharply on learning and some researched food topics safely on the internet, looking critically at research studies. This enabled them to conclude that more evidence would be needed to draw reliable

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Achievement of pupils

conclusions about the impact of food on mood and feelings.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers set high expectations for learning and behaviour and work exceptionally well together, and with the medical staff, to ensure consistency in their approaches Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

to the management of behaviour and learning. All students are supported well in their learning, including in the development of their literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology skills across the curriculum. Teachers use assessment well to plan individual programmes, with individual learning objectives matched to each students’ learning needs based on an accurate knowledge of their prior attainment. This knowledge is gained from close liaison with each student’s mainstream school and continuous dialogue between teaching staff from both establishments. This ensures unit teachers have a very clear knowledge of the student’s starting point, course work, the new knowledge, skills and understanding that the student needs to work on and the suggested strategies and resources to use for this. All groups of students, including the more able and those who find learning more difficult due to the severity of their psychiatric problems, therefore, make

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Quality of teaching

equally good progress. In lessons seen, good use of questioning challenged students’ learning in whole class teaching, during individualised learning sessions and in work- related learning. Students are provided with clear and informative feedback during lessons and in marking, and regular homework makes a good contribution to their learning.

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Quality of teaching

In discussion, students praised the way teachers quickly set work to extend and challenge learning so that they usually meet and often exceed their academic targets. Parents and carers praise the quality of teaching and the care, guidance and support teachers provide in helping their children to rapidly re-engage with education so that they achieve well. Teaching over time is consistently good, as reflected in the unit’s’ own performance management of teaching and monitoring by the School Improvement Partner. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well in lessons. Teachers create good opportunities for paired and group work to develop students’ social skills, and promote good understanding of right and wrong by consistently implementing high expectations for behaviour and through work on drugs use, sex and relationships.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour over time and the way students behave in lessons and around the unit are good because they respond well to the consistent and effective approaches teachers use. The unit’s record-keeping is meticulous in relation to behaviour and safety. The very few recorded incidents in recent years were dealt with effectively and followed the unit’s well-thought-out procedures. Students adopt safe practices in the unit. They are given very clear guidance about the safe use of the internet and mobile phones and abide by this consistently. Attendance is above average and has been consistently so in the past three years. Many students make outstanding progress from their poor attendance prior to admission, due to the excellent promotion of attendance. The vast majority of students are consistently punctual to lessons and, given the severity of their mental health needs, nearly always demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and towards each other. Nearly all students engage well in

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

learning and make good progress in their behaviour, with some making outstanding progress. This enables lessons to flow very smoothly and ensures that any incidents of disruption are rare and managed very effectively by teachers. This is reflected in Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

students’ successful return to mainstream schools on discharge from hospital. Parents and carers praised the school for bringing about rapid improvements in their children’s behaviour and attendance. They confirmed that students are kept very safe in the unit. There have been no recorded incidents of cyber-based or prejudice- based bullying or harassment of any kind over time. This was confirmed by students, who said that prior to admission, they had sometimes experienced cyber-bullying at mainstream school through text messaging or through social network sites. Students said that behaviour is generally good and confirmed that there are no incidents of bullying or harassment.

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Leadership and management

Under the strong leadership of the head of education, leadership and management are good and the unit has a good capacity to improve further. Performance management is well developed, with good arrangements for the professional development of staff. Key teachers take responsibility for subjects, regularly monitoring teaching and its impact on students’ learning. As a result, they have a highly accurate view of the quality of teaching and its impact on students’ achievement. The unit has rightly identified the appointment of a new deputy head of education to build the senior leadership team and further promote capacity when the unit moves to its new premises in May 2012 and expands the provision on offer.

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Leadership and management

Teamwork and communication between teachers and medical staff are excellent. Daily handover meetings are held between medical and teaching staff, and the progress of individual students in lessons and against their learning objectives and individual education plans are reviewed daily. Good improvement has been made against all the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection and achievement has improved. Self-evaluation is more accurate, based on individual learning objectives, with clear criteria established for good and outstanding progress and a clear analysis of the progress of different groups. There has been good improvement in developing the role of the management committee since the last inspection. Its members monitor the work of the unit through focused visits in order to gain an independent view. The local authority provides good support for the unit and responded quickly to the head of education’s request for further training of

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Leadership and management

teachers to support the changing needs of students, particularly in supporting A level courses and in developing new vocational opportunities for students not previously in education, employment or training. The staff have, rightly, identified these well- chosen priorities for further development.

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Leadership and management

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum in the sixth form and at Key Stage 4 is highly relevant to students’ needs, particularly in the promotion of literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology skills and in the personalisation of the curriculum. This promotes equality of opportunity well and ensures consistency between learning in the unit for each individual student and future learning in their mainstream schools. Leaders ensure that spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well, particularly in the celebration of cultural diversity through, for example, topics on world religions, fair trade and the impact of global Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

disasters on international communities. Strong partnership with parents and carers and links with mainstream schools in this process have been crucial to the success of the unit. The unit ensures that its arrangements for safeguarding meet requirements and give no cause for concern.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Colchester, CO4 5JR

Thank you for making me feel so welcome when I inspected Longview recently. I admired the way you worked so diligently towards your examination courses in lessons. Thank you for sharing your views with me during the inspection.

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Inspection of Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Colchester, CO4 5JR

I agree with you and your parents and carers that the unit provides you with a good education and prepares you well for the next stage of your lives. Good teaching enables you to achieve well and apply your literacy, numeracy and information and communication skills effectively to enhance your learning. Behaviour is good and you have a good understanding of how to stay safe. You make excellent progress in your attendance and this enable you to rapidly re-engage with learning. The curriculum is personalised to meet your individual needs and promotes your spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.

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Inspection of Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Colchester, CO4 5JR

The unit is led and managed well and it is well placed to get even better. I have suggested two things to help the unit to improve further:

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Inspection of Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Colchester, CO4 5JR

 to appoint a deputy head of education by May 2012 to strengthen the leadership team as the unit extends its provision  to extend the range of vocational and academic courses for post-16 students.

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Inspection of Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Colchester, CO4 5JR

You can help the unit to improve by continuing to work hard and making the most of all the opportunities it provides.

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Inspection of Longview Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Colchester, CO4 5JR

Declan McCarthy Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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