Shaftesbury High School

Shaftesbury House Short Stay School Inspection report

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Age group 11–16 Inspection date(s) 06–07 March 2012 Inspection number 381615 Unique Reference Number 134130 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 381615 Inspection dates 6–7 March 2012 Lead inspector Terry McKenzie

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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 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 70 Appropriate authority The management committee Chair Liz Laverty Headteacher Ann Clark Date of previous school inspection 22 September 2008 School address Stratford Road Chorley PR6 0AF Telephone number 01257 516067 Fax number 01257 516069 Email address head@shaftesburyhouse.lancs.sch.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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Introduction

Terry McKenzie Bobbi Mothersdale Additional inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspectors observed teaching and learning in 10 lessons involving eight teachers on two sites. Discussions were held with individuals and groups of pupils; and meetings took place with members of the management committee and staff. No parents or carers had used the on-line questionnaire (Parent View). Inspectors observed the school's work, and looked at a broad range of documentation including that relating to safeguarding. School plans and records were scrutinised concerning self-evaluation, development and assessment information regarding pupils’ progress, attendance and behaviour. The inspectors took account of the views of staff and pupils and analysed four questionnaires returned by parents and carers.

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Information about the school

Students at this school have been excluded or are at risk of permanent exclusion from secondary schools. Situated on two sites, it caters for up to 100 students with numbers varying daily. There is very high mobility compared to mainstream schools. The great majority are boys, and most are in Key Stage 4. A few have a statement of special educational needs but all are recognised as having special educational needs. Most remain registered with their mainstream schools and return full time within a few months. Vocational training is provided off-site in partnership with other organisations. Almost all students are White British; the proportion known to be eligible for free school meals is high. A few students are looked after by the local authority.

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Information about the school

Since the previous inspection the Key Stage 3 provision has moved to temporary accommodation at a local secondary school. The local authority is reviewing the situation with a view to providing premises that would accommodate all students on one site. The school is managed by Lancashire County Council through the management committee. Shaftesbury House gained Healthy School status in 2010 (renewed 2011) and the Investors in People award in 2010. 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

■ This is a good school. Students are keen to attend and appreciate the support they receive. They feel safe, demonstrate excellent improvements in behaviour and achieve well. Shaftesbury House is also appreciated by parents and carers, the local authority and by the schools with which it works successfully to reduce exclusions. The school is not outstanding because teaching, although good, does not enable students to make outstanding progress.

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Key Findings

■ Most students arrive having experienced disruption to their education. Their attainment mostly remains lower than those of their mainstream peers. However, by the time they leave they have begun to close the gap. All groups of students make good progress and the rate of progress of boys has increased recently. Those who remain until the end of Year 11 gain GCSE and other qualifications.

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Key Findings

■ Teaching is good. Although improving, it is not outstanding because opportunities are missed in lessons to set targets that would further accelerate students’ progress. Teachers effectively develop students’ skills in literacy and numeracy.

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Key Findings

■ Students demonstrate outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Their attendance improves markedly compared to that previously attained in their base school and is close to the average for mainstream schools. Serious incidents of misbehaviour are very rare. No exclusions have occurred recently. Students and staff get on very well together. Excellent relationships promote effective learning. Thus, the behaviour and safety of students are outstanding.

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Key Findings

■ The headteacher knows the provision intimately through detailed self-evaluation. Consequently, the curriculum is of very high quality and extremely well matched to students’ needs. Through good leadership and management, teaching is evaluated regularly and performance managed well. High standards are expected from all. Therefore, the quality of classroom practice is improving. Nevertheless, current organisation of students’ records prevents a close understanding of their progress compared to national and other standards so as to help accelerate progress where necessary.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

■ Improve teaching further and hence accelerate students’ progress by:  teachers setting more-consistently challenging personal learning targets for them during lessons  organising students’ progress records so that their performance can be better understood in relation to national and other standards and further improved where necessary.

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Achievement of pupils

Students arrive promptly at lessons, ready to learn. Staff support is good and encourages participation. Consequently, students contribute willingly to discussions and answer questions. Many have previously experienced disaffection with education but their gains in self-confidence and self-esteem lead them to become more curious about learning. For example, in an English lesson students enjoyed exploring accents in a study of Oliver Twist.

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Achievement of pupils

The attainments of the majority remain below national expectations but following induction all groups, including those entitled to free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority, make rapid gains in their learning. This is particularly evident in speaking and listening and in number work. For those who stay to Year 11, literacy skills develop sufficiently to enable all to gain GCSE and other qualifications across a wide range of subjects. This is an improvement since the previous inspection and noticeable particularly in the successes of boys.

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Achievement of pupils

All students are considered to have special educational needs or learning difficulties and disabilities. The few responses received from parents and carers indicate that they believe the school is successful in helping their children to achieve. The students share this view; they told the inspectors that they enjoy their new-found successes in education. Students make an exceptional contribution to their own learning and respond responsibly to opportunities to work independently and collaborate well in group tasks. Most return to mainstream education and successfully reintegrate following short-term placement here. Often, they will have been provided with opportunities by Shaftesbury House to explore vocational education. This motivates them to go back to mainstream education and succeed. The majority of Year 11 students who leave school go on to further education, employment or training. The school’s records indicate that the great majority are successful.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is consistently good throughout the school. Teachers plan lessons to match the interests of students and to capture their imagination. For example, in a Year 8 lesson where emotions were being explored, the teacher was acutely aware of the differences in learning styles of each student. Aspects of the lesson were planned so that each student had the best opportunities to develop their thinking. Consequently, all took part enthusiastically and were successful. The management of students’ behaviour presents challenges to staff. Nevertheless, they are skilful and experienced, demonstrating patience and perseverance. The high staff numbers enable them to provide almost individual support. As a result, students engage effectively and learn to behave very well.

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Quality of teaching

The impact of teaching on students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. They develop social skills that enable them to work cooperatively with others inside and outside of the school. Their rapid gains in moral understanding enable them to distinguish right from wrong. Through these personal improvements students become well equipped to move on and this is demonstrated by the success that they enjoy in returning to mainstream or taking up further education, training or employment.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers help students to understand how well they are doing in class. High quality marking encourages students to take pride in their work through, for example spelling correctly and laying out written work neatly. Students always have copies of the next stages of the course available so they know what to expect. Teachers implement the planned curriculum well. Teachers assess work regularly and explain the level or standard reached. Targets for improvement are set and reviewed regularly but these are usually too general and operate over too long a period. Students would benefit from knowing exactly what is expected from them in each lesson so that they can more readily demonstrate their progress. Nevertheless, when students were asked about the best aspects of Shaftesbury House they replied that it was the efforts of staff in assisting them in their personal development and learning. Parents and carers correctly acknowledge the successful work of the teaching staff.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

When questioned students reported that they feel very safe. This is further substantiated by the returns from parents, carers and staff who report that their children behave well. Students say that bullying is almost unknown and that any incidents are quickly dealt with by staff. Given that almost all come with a history of behavioural difficulty, Shaftesbury House is extremely successful in managing behaviour so that it becomes exemplary, including for those who are looked after by the local authority. In a lesson observed during the inspection a student demonstrated excellent moral behaviour by helping another to successfully manage their behaviour. The school is rigorous in tracking students’ behaviour and can evidence significant improvements even for those who remain for only a short time. Staff are always available to assist any student who is failing to cope in class or who requires a few moments of respite. Nevertheless, their aim is to reintegrate students as

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

quickly possible so that little learning time is lost. A remarkable feature is that no students have been excluded in the last year. Where necessary, an outreach service is provided to mainstream schools to ease the reintegration of students.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The success of Shaftesbury House is also demonstrated through the excellent improvements in students’ attendance. Overall, students’ rates of absence are hardly different from the average for all secondary schools despite some having a background of previously very poor attendance. There are few persistent absentees because most want to attend. Shaftesbury House is successful in encouraging attendance because of the rigorous attention to procedure. Telephone calls are made to the parents and carers of every student every day to report on progress or follow up on issues. Where students are absent, early telephone calls are made to home and if absence persists, visits are undertaken. Good partnerships with the local authority encourage the harder-to-reach families to maintain positive links with the school. Throughout both sites and in the other facilities utilised, an orderly atmosphere persists. Opportunities are provided for plenty of exercise so that students can relax and maintain

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

their emotional well-being. Many students enjoy taking part in inter-school sports and they are required to demonstrate appropriate behaviour and attendance before participating.

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Leadership and management

The good leadership and management of the school are supported by the effective management committee that encourages the senior team to liaise with other similar provisions nearby and form links and partnerships with other organisations. This productive relationship between the committee and the headteacher has helped the school to move forward since the previous inspection with a strong sense of united purpose. The managers have encouraged staff to further their professional development so that they are now held in high esteem by other local educationalists. The management committee oversees the work of the school to ensure that all required aspects of safeguarding are met and that all students are included and none discriminated against. This is further assured by the senior team regularly checking that every student is provided with the assistance they require, and that they make regular progress in their learning.

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Leadership and management

Since the previous inspection much has been done to improve the quality of self-evaluation and this has been instrumental in improving the school. For example, a deputy headteacher has developed an effective tracking system to record students’ progress. However, yet more could be done with the system so that the senior team could have a better understanding of how students’ progress here compares to others nationally. The curriculum is outstanding because it provides so many opportunities for students, many different memorable experiences and aspects of education. The impact on students’ spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is seen in the way they become very willing to attend, modify their behaviour and make significant gains in their learning and progress. Additionally, the curriculum maintains a focus on developing core skills in literacy and numeracy. In Key Stage 3 all National Curriculum subjects are provided so that students do not fall behind in

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Leadership and management

any areas relative to their peers in mainstream schools. This is instrumental in aiding their successful returns to secondary schools and helping them to catch up on missed areas of learning. The school has a strong capacity to improve further.

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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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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 ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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

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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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Shaftesbury House Short Stay School, Chorley, PR6 0AF

Thank you for making the inspectors so welcome when we visited Shaftesbury House recently. We were impressed with your excellent manners and behaviour and appreciated the time that you gave us when we talked with you individually. Thank you for completing the questionnaires which were very helpful.

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Inspection of Shaftesbury House Short Stay School, Chorley, PR6 0AF

Shaftesbury House is a good school. We agree with your comments that the staff support you so well that you feel very safe and want to attend to take part in education. However, the outstanding gains that you make in your personal development are also down to your own efforts. This is why so many of you can return to make a fresh start in mainstream schools or continue to Year 11 to do GCSEs.

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Inspection of Shaftesbury House Short Stay School, Chorley, PR6 0AF

The good teaching provides you with interesting lessons and you make good progress in your learning. There are many opportunities for you to sample different aspects of education through the outstanding curriculum. Consequently, most of you become more ambitious and understand the value of education better.

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Inspection of Shaftesbury House Short Stay School, Chorley, PR6 0AF

The headteacher and senior leaders are very effective but they have agreed with us that the school could be even better than it is. We have asked for the teachers to give you individual learning targets in each lesson. We feel that more work could be done to compare your successes with those of students in other places similar to Shaftesbury House so that the senior leaders can better understand the effectiveness of the school.

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Inspection of Shaftesbury House Short Stay School, Chorley, PR6 0AF

Once again, thank you for your interest in the inspection. I wish you every success in the future.

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Inspection of Shaftesbury House Short Stay School, Chorley, PR6 0AF

Terry McKenzie 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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