Chellow Heights Special School

Chellow Heights Special School Thorn Lane, Bingley Road, Bradford,West Yorkshire , BD9 6AL

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils are happy at Chellow Heights and overall, the vast majority make at least good progress from their individual starting points. Some pupils make outstanding progress. This is in all subjects, including reading, writing, communication and mathematics.  Children’s learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage is of equal quality to that found in the rest of the school.  The majority of teaching is good and sometimes better.  Pupils’ behaviour is typically good and there are examples of outstanding behaviour. Pupils are well cared for and feel safe at school. Relationships with staff are positive.  Staff have a united drive to make Chellow Heights the very best it can be for pupils.  Since the last inspection, this secure and proactive senior leadership team, including governors, have successfully refined the curriculum, focused professional training and improved the tracking of pupils’ progress all in

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

order to improve pupils’ achievement. This demonstrates good capacity to improve.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There is inconsistency in the quality of support for pupils’ learning provided by teaching assistants.  Middle leaders are not involved fully in improving all aspects of the quality of teaching.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed all 13 classes. There were two joint lesson observations with the headteacher and one with the deputy headteacher. Inspectors also made a number of other short visits to classrooms and other areas of learning.  Discussions were held with a group of parents, members of the governing body, pupils, senior leaders, staff and a representative of the local authority.  A range of school documents were examined, including the school improvement plan, the school’s data on pupils’ achievement, records relating to behaviour, safeguarding, attendance and the minutes of the governing body meetings.  There were insufficient responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) for review, but a parental survey conducted by the school was taken into account by the inspectors, so too were views from the parent group, 31 responses to the staff questionnaire and additional school information regarding parents’ views of the school.

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Inspection team

Michele Crichton, Lead inspector Additional inspector Kath Halifax Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Chellow Heights is located on a site which includes a children’s services centre and four other schools.  All pupils have a statement of special educational needs or are undergoing assessment.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is well above that found nationally. Nearly half of the pupils speak English as an additional language.  Most pupils have speech, language and communication needs.  Approximately half of the pupils have profound and multiple learning difficulties and/or medical needs.  Around half have severe learning difficulties and/or medical needs.  A significant proportion of pupils have autism, medical conditions or behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.  Around one-fifth of the children are in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  The proportion of pupils known to be supported by the pupil premium is above average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school

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Information about this school

meals, children from service families and those children who are looked after by the local authority.  The school is an active member in the Bradford District Achievement Partnership (DAP) for Pupils with Complex Needs and in the Yorkshire and Humberside Special School Leadership Group. The headteacher is chair of both groups.  The school provides teaching practice placements for students from Leeds Trinity University, Leeds Metropolitan University and Bradford College.  The headteacher is a Local Leader of Education (LLE)  Due to expanding numbers of pupils, the school is consulting on an additional site for 2014 .

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure there is more outstanding teaching in order to further accelerate pupils’ progress by: - sharing the highly effective practices that already exist within the school - ensuring teachers deploy support staff well in lessons - ensuring that support staff know exactly how to challenge and support the needs of all pupils they work with, including the most able.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by developing the role of middle leaders so that they have the skills to accurately check the quality of teaching and the contribution that all support staff make to all pupils’ learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All children start school with skills which are well below those typically expected for their age due to their disabilities and special educational needs. Good, and for some pupils, outstanding progress is made from their individual starting points.  The school has a strong commitment to equal opportunities. Different pupil groups, including those eligible for pupil premium and those who may speak English as an additional language, all achieve equally well. This is because each individual pupil is tracked in all subjects to ensure they make the best possible progress. Their personal targets are regularly reviewed and adjusted if needed, in order to make them more challenging.  Communication, reading, writing and mathematics are systematically developed throughout the school, commencing in the Early Years Foundation Stage. A variety of resources and technical aids are used by all staff for all pupils to underpin good learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Reading and writing activities are developed to be meaningful, enjoyable and appropriate to the needs of each individual. Mathematics is developed, for example, through games and songs or through regular cooking sessions to weigh and measure ingredients.  Reading is promoted well throughout the school. This ranges from pupils’ use of symbols to the reading and understanding of print. For example, in an outstanding teacher-led reading session, pupils were able to use a variety of strategies to understand and importantly enjoy reading.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school’s own documents show a record of teaching over time as predominantly good with the number of outstanding lessons increasing. However, there is inconsistency in the high quality teaching across the school because staff’s strengths are not shared fully with others.  In the majority of lessons, pupils benefit from an interesting and engaging learning environment that meets their needs well. Activities are usually well matched to pupils’ varying abilities. Good use is made of information and communication technology.  In the best lessons, teachers plan well for all abilities, including the most able. Resources are interesting and good use is made of the variety of technical aids to promote communication. Teachers demonstrate well their proficient knowledge of ensuring good quality learning for the different types of special educational need represented within the school.  In some lessons, support staff are not always deployed well or selective enough in their approach

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The quality of teaching is good

to the range and level of pupils’ needs at Chellow Heights. Although observations showed some support staff with a high level of skill to develop communication and extend pupils’ thinking skills this was not consistent in all subjects or all key stages.  Communication, reading, writing and mathematics are developed well individually and across different subject areas. Regular checks on learning takes place during lessons. Pupils’ work-books reflect their overall good progress with teachers’ comments for next steps in learning being consistently made in all subjects and key stages.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Each pupil is known as an individual and is cared for well by staff. Independence and self- confidence are promoted well. Some pupils are responsible for specific jobs, for example, delivering the right amount and type of snack to each class.  Pupils say they feel safe at school, there is no bullying and that ‘everybody is kind’.  The school’s overall attendance rate is affected by the number of children with complex medical conditions who need to attend hospital sessions regularly. Staff do all they can to work with parents to ensure each pupil returns to school as soon as they possibly can.  During the inspection, there were some examples of outstanding behaviour when pupils were openly supportive, caring and helping each other to learn, without prompts from any adult.  Pupils usually have good attitudes to learning but sometimes there are missed opportunities to use this enthusiasm and enjoyment of learning fully to promote progress even further. This is

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

because not all staff fully extend pupils’ responses to learning activities.  Parents are very supportive of the school, so much so that the school is frequently over- subscribed. In discussion with some parents, they spoke highly about the staff. Parents relate the many strategies staff have shared with them, for example, to encourage good behaviour, develop communication or simply be there for them to talk with.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, senior leaders and governors are all focused on school improvement and there is good capacity to drive the school forward. Systems to check the school’s performance, including the use of data and progress measures have been refined, and the areas for improvement set at the last inspection have been addressed successfully.  The headteacher and the school are highly regarded by the local authority. Much liaison is taking place currently regarding the developments to expand the provision of Chellow Heights with an additional school location. The local authority provides light touch support for this good school.  The curriculum is good and senior leaders ensure it is highly responsive to the changing needs of pupils. For example, over the three years that Chellow Heights has been open, more pupils are attending with increasingly complex and profound multiple learning difficulties. Senior leaders

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The leadership and management are good

are proactive in ensuring that staff use imaginative resources and the latest technology well to ensure all pupils make the best progress they can regardless of need. Each pupil is tracked regarding their academic and personal needs with tailor-made support provided for the individual if needed.  The new Primary School Sport funding is used imaginatively to train more staff to use existing practical sports equipment thus widening and increasing pupils’ participation. Additionally, staff training opportunities are developing academic learning activities alongside hydrotherapy and aqua-therapy sessions.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements.  Leaders and managers work closely with parents to promote school attendance, observe lessons, to monitor and improve its quality and ensure that newly appointed teachers are settling well into the school. Middle leaders are also involved in school improvements but their role in

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The leadership and management are good

developing the quality of support staff and checking the quality of teaching is under-utilised. Additionally, the highly effective teaching and learning practices that already exist within the school are not shared fully so that this high level of performance is consistently shared across the school.  The school places a strong emphasis on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through themed work, visits in the local community and personalised sensory experiences. Class assemblies are able to provide messages in a way that is specific to the needs of the child and meaningful to them.  The governance of the school: - The governing body has a wealth of experience on which to draw. This means they are able to provide both support and challenge in equal measure to promote the best achievements of all pupils. They are able to access training both in-house and from the local authority to ensure

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The leadership and management are good

that all governors, including more recent appointees, are able to perform their role well. Governors are as enthusiastic as the staff in the continuous drive for school development. They have a clear view of the next steps needed and know the school well because of their regular visits. They understand the school’s pupils’ progress data and are aware fully of the progress of pupils known to eligible for the pupil premium funding. The governing body also understands the link between teachers’ performance and pay progression. They are welcoming the challenges of the school’s expansion to soon include a second site.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 135228 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 429970

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School details

Type of school Special School category Community special Age range of pupils 2–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 127 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair John Lambert Headteacher Sue Haithwaite Date of previous school inspection 24 May 2011 Telephone number 01274 484242 Fax number 01274 484217 Email address chsoffice@chellowheightsschool.co.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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 education and training in prisons and 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

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School details

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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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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