Wize Up

School report Wize Up Independent School 579 Westhorne Avenue, Eltham, London, SE9 6DN

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Overall effectiveness Adequate 3

Pupils’ achievement Adequate Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate Quality of teaching Adequate Quality of curriculum Adequate Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate Leadership and management Adequate

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This school is adequate because

 Students, all of whom experienced disrupted education before starting at the school, are making adequate progress, including in English and mathematics.  Provision for the welfare, health and safety of students is adequate. It is not good because, although the school ensures that students are well cared for and safe in school, not all procedures for students’ welfare, health and safety are fully up to date.  Students’ behaviour is adequate. Although in many respects it has improved from that in their previous school experience, it continues to affect their learning and achievement.  Teaching and the implementation of the curriculum are adequate. There is not enough challenge for students to make good progress.  Leadership and management are adequate. Although leaders have ensured that almost all of the regulations for independent schools are met, teaching and the implementation of the curriculum are adequate, rather than good as

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This school is adequate because

they were at the last inspection. In addition, checks to make sure that all policies and procedures for students’ welfare, health and safety are fully up to date are not rigorous enough.

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The school has the following strengths

 For many students, their school attendance has much improved during their time at the school. This includes some who had previously been very unwilling to attend school.  The school has a positive ethos where students feel safe and enjoy new opportunities to extend their learning and achievement.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school requires improvement and must take action to meet schedule 1 of The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010, as amended by The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements. The details are listed in the full report.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out with a day’s notice. The inspector observed six lessons taught by four of the school’s teachers and one taught by an alternative provider on the school’s premises. Four of the lessons were jointly observed with the school’s deputy headteacher.  The inspector looked at students’ work, and held meetings with the headteacher, who is also the proprietor, and with teachers, staff members and students.  The inspector looked at the school’s documentation, including teachers’ planning, policy documents, records of teaching observations, and the information provided by the school for parents, carers and others.  The inspector spoke to three professionals involved with the work of the school and took into account 12 questionnaire responses from staff. No parents or carers, students or local authority representatives had responded to the on-line Ofsted questionnaires.

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Inspection team

John Gush, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Wize Up Independent School is a small independent day school in the London Borough of Greenwich.  It opened in 2008 and is registered for up to 40 students aged from 11 to 16 years.  It makes alternative provision for students excluded from, or at risk of exclusion from, schools in a number of local authority areas in the vicinity. Some students on short-term placements are dual registered and are on the rolls of their host schools.  All students start at the school following a period of disrupted education that has had an adverse impact on their achievement. Most students experience behavioural, social and emotional difficulties. None has a statement of special educational needs.  There are currently 35 male and female students on roll aged between 13 and 16 years of age.  All bar two of the students attend full time and the majority have been in the school for less than six months.  The school makes use of alternative providers who work on the school’s premises. Some are

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Information about this school

engaged to extend the school’s curriculum, while others provide additional support for students’ social and emotional development.  The last full inspection took place in February 2011 and highlighted a number of weaknesses. This was followed in June 2011 by a progress monitoring inspection, which found that the school had improved and met all the regulations for independent schools.  The school aims ‘to focus on teaching young people how to modify their behaviour in order to grow into positive, responsible people who can work and cooperate with others while developing skills and knowledge, so that they can realise their full potential’.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve students’ achievement by:  ensuring that lessons provide sufficient challenge for each student so that there is every opportunity to make good progress – ensuring that marking always makes clear to students what is good about their work and what would improve it further.  Improve leadership and management by: – ensuring that rigorous checks are undertaken on the provision for students’ welfare, health and safety so that that all policies and procedures are fully up to date – developing further the arrangements for supporting teachers to improve their lessons so that all students are fully engaged and have the best possible opportunities to learn and make progress – making sure that checks on what students know and can do are used more effectively to set targets for individual students – improving the way that information about students’ progress and behaviour is collected and used to help students achieve better

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– enhancing the effectiveness of the way the school evaluates its provision so that it can make more effective plans to improve the outcomes for students.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 The school must meet the following independent school standards: – Ensure that suitable changing accommodation and showers are provided for students aged 11 years or over at the start of the school year who receive physical education (paragraph 23A(1)(c)). – Ensure that where a student who is registered at the school is partly or wholly funded by the local authority, an annual account of income received and expenditure incurred by the school in respect of that student is provided to the local authority and on request to the Secretary of State (paragraph 24(1)(h)).

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

Students’ achievements are adequate. This is because students’ behavioural, emotional and social difficulties continue to have a negative impact on their learning, and because of the quality of teaching, which is adequate rather than good, as is the manner in which the curriculum is implemented.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

All students study English and mathematics and they work towards GCSE examinations in these subjects as well as in citizenship and information and communication technology (ICT). GCSE results over recent years suggest that although students’ attainment remains well below the national average, the majority make expected progress from their starting points at the school. Although a few make less than expected progress, many make more than expected progress. These latter students achieve well and make up ground that they had lost during their previous disjointed educational experience. Some are very successful and progress to apprenticeships and some are now studying at university. However, the numbers achieving this differ from year to year and because the gap between the achievements of the schools’ students in general and those of young people nationally is not closing in a sustained manner, their progress overall is adequate

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

All students take functional skills examinations in English and mathematics and this successfully boosts their confidence as all achieve passes at the level appropriate to their ability. Students also gain passes in a range of awards in other subjects, including the St John’s Ambulance Complete First Aider award, which all the current Year 11 students have recently gained. All of these successes help students to develop valuable skills as well as gaining a positive approach to learning that supports them as they prepare to reintegrate with mainstream education, whether this is back into secondary school or at one of the local further education colleges.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

Some students are placed at the school for a short time while planned moves to a new secondary school are arranged. Many make successful transitions due to new confidence in their ability to learn and behave appropriately. Some do not succeed and return to the school for a further period, or to complete their secondary education. Almost all Year 11 students in recent years have made successful transitions to further education, with a few taking up apprenticeships.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate

Students’ behaviour and their personal development are adequate. They are not good because behaviour continues to have an impact on learning and because of the number of incidents of inappropriate behaviour that take place. In addition, the attendance of some students remains poor.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate

Notwithstanding this, the attendance of the majority of students is a strength of the school. More than half of the students attend better than all students nationally, with another quarter nearly reaching that level. This includes students who had serious problems with attending school at all before coming to this school. For these students, this is a valuable achievement and enables them to make the progress that they do. However, some pockets of poor attendance persist despite a suitable range of strategies the school uses to address this. These include home visits, regular contact with parents and carers and working in partnership with representatives of the local authority.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate

Students benefit from clearly stated expectations about appropriate behaviour, and these are regularly reinforced by staff in a good-humoured manner. In addition, the school provides a range of specific support aimed at helping individuals to overcome some of the difficulties that lead to poor behaviour. This includes expert assistance for those influenced by issues such as family breakdown, drug abuse and gang crime. These interventions provide individuals with opportunities they would otherwise not have to develop increased self-esteem and to begin to achieve their potential.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate

All students agree to the school’s code of acceptable conduct before they start at the school. The code is reinforced regularly and many students understand and abide by it. Sanctions are imposed on those who do not, and these include short fixed -term exclusions. Although suitable arrangements are made for students who return from short-term exclusions to have opportunities to adapt their behaviour, some persist and receive a number of these exclusions.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate

The school makes suitable provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Regular lesson content related to citizenship and personal, social and health education helps students to develop an improved awareness of right and wrong, and to be aware of the impact of their behaviour on themselves and on others. Projects on world religions, together with visits to places of worship and from local religious leaders, help students gain an understanding of their own and other cultures represented in the local community. This promotes an attitude of respect and tolerance of cultural and religious difference. Supporting and fundraising for local charities enable students to make a positive contribution to their local communities. Regular use of shops and libraries helps students to acquire a suitable understanding of public services and institutions in the locality. The school has developed an effective policy to ensure that, where political issues

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Adequate

are raised, balanced messages are promoted.

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Quality of teaching Adequate

The quality of teaching is adequate, which results in students’ achievement being adequate. Teachers assess students’ progress in their various subjects, frequently making use of tests and examination papers, in order to understand what they know and can do when they start at the school. In some lessons, this information is used very well to provide students with the best possible opportunities to extend their knowledge and skills. In one lesson about the environment and recycling, students made excellent progress towards their ASDAN awards. This is because the work set provided the right level of challenge for their current ability, and they knew just what they needed to do to extend it and to achieve the next level. In other lessons, however, information about what students know and can do is not used so effectively. Some students find the work set too easy while others find it too hard and sometimes are not able to keep up. Because of this,

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Quality of teaching Adequate

students do not always make the progress they could and some lose interest and become bored.

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Quality of teaching Adequate

Teachers make valuable use of their experience of working with students with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. They listen to students’ views and help them to come to terms with the frustration they sometimes experience as a result of their previous difficulties with education. This helps them to make the progress they do. Learning support workers assist students in most lessons. They are used effectively and are given appropriate guidance by teachers as to how best to enable students to succeed. Although the school has a suitable policy on marking, the quality of teachers’ marking of students’ work is variable. Some books and folders are regularly marked with comments that encourage students’ efforts and suggest what they need to do to improve their work. However, much work is either not marked or provides very limited guidance about what is needed for improvement.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

The quality of the curriculum is adequate. A suitable range of subjects is available and these provide opportunities for students to work towards their aim of reintegration with mainstream education either during secondary school or into further education. However, although the curriculum is suitably adapted to meet the needs of the students at the school, it is adequate rather than good because it is not implemented well enough to enable students to make good progress. The curriculum places strong emphasis on helping students to develop literacy and numeracy skills and, in addition, all the required areas of knowledge are covered. The school is developing plans to extend the range of science on offer so that a GCSE science is available for those students who wish to take it. A suitable range of opportunities for students to work on their personal development includes lessons in personal, social and health education (PSHE), citizenship, life skills

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

and religious education. Together with the support that individual students receive from therapists and counsellors, these subjects help students’ personal development, including in the areas of relationships, sexual health and drug awareness.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

Students work with teachers and with a careers adviser to develop ideas about future careers and college placements. This helps them to prepare for the next step in their education and ensures that they know what they have to do at school to achieve it. Students enjoy the opportunities that alternative providers make available when they come into the school to extend the curriculum. This includes media studies, when students are able to develop the creative and practical skills associated with digital photography.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

Physical education takes place regularly and some students benefit from coaching from members of the local professional football club. The provision has a valuable impact on improving individuals’ health and fitness. Regular outings, such as to museums and local places of interest, extend the students’ knowledge of, and interest in, their locality and in the world at large.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

The provision for students’ welfare, health and safety is adequate and all the regulations for this standard are met. It is adequate rather than good because some policies and procedures for students' welfare, health and safety are not fully up to date.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

The school provides a safe and nurturing learning environment for its students and ensures that they are safe. Staff recruitment is carried out in a thorough and careful manner, and all the required checks are made to ensure the suitability of staff to work with young people. This includes all the alternative provider staff members who work with students on the school’s premises. The required single central register is maintained correctly. All staff are trained in fire safety as well as first aid. Fire drills are routinely carried out in school and fire-fighting equipment is subject to regular inspection.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

All staff members have received basic child protection training. The designated child protection officer has a very clear understanding of the responsibilities of the role and a thorough knowledge of all safeguarding procedures, but the school had not noticed that her higher-level training had not been refreshed within the required timeframe and a course was booked during the inspection, to take place very shortly. The school works very closely with the Local Safeguarding Children Board to ensure that that any child protection concerns are followed up in the appropriate manner.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

A range of suitable policies and procedures, including those to prevent and address any bullying, are implemented. Students respond well to the way the school addresses any possible bullying through tutorial discussions and anti-bullying days. This includes providing suitable information for parents about e-safety and helping students to understand the potential for cyber-bullying. This helps students to develop resilience against possible harm through the misuse of social media and inappropriate text messages. Some students say although they had experienced bullying in previous settings, it does not occur at Wize Up and that they are confident the staff would deal with any issues well. Students report that they feel safe in school and that they receive good support and guidance. Supervision in school is provided in a good-humoured manner, which students appreciate. Risk assessments, including those for visits outside school, are undertaken as

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Leadership and management Adequate

The leadership and management of the school are adequate. They are not good because the students are making adequate rather than good progress. Although almost all of the regulations for independent school continue to be met, leaders and managers have not enabled the quality of the school’s educational provision to keep pace with the current requirements for independent schools. As a result, teaching and the implementation of the curriculum are now adequate rather than good as they were at the last full inspection.

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Leadership and management Adequate

The senior leadership team has a broad general knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for development. However, they are aware that preparing a development plan that is more clearly based on an accurate and detailed evaluation of the current provision would provide them with better opportunities to support students’ progress. Improvements in collecting and analysing information about students’ achievements and their behaviour have taken place in recent years but these are not yet producing the clear and coherent information that will enable the senior managers to help students improve their achievements. The headteacher is also aware of the need to support teachers to improve their practice so that students’ achievement can increase. Although arrangements for performance management of staff are in place, these do not provide sufficient emphasis on the ways that teachers can enhance the outcomes from lessons for students.

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Leadership and management Adequate

The proprietor has provided the school with suitable learning facilities, including classrooms that are light and airy and are appropriately resourced, in particular for ICT. The premises and accommodation are maintained to an acceptable standard. One of the regulations for this standard is not met because the school does not currently have appropriate changing or showering facilities for students when they take part in physical education.

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Leadership and management Adequate

Most of the required information for parents, carers and others is provided, or made available, on the school’s website and in the information pack available at the school. However, the requirement for an annual statement of financial information to be sent to the local authority that pays for each student’s placement is not met. The complaints procedure meets regulatory requirements and is effectively implemented.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding A school which provides an exceptional quality of education and significantly exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 2 Good A school which provides a high quality of education that exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 3 Adequate A school which meets minimum requirements but needs to improve the quality of education it provides. Grade 4 Inadequate A school where minimum requirements are not met and the quality of education has serious weaknesses.

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School details

Unique reference number 136092 Inspection number 442999 DfE registration number 203/6040 This inspection was carried out under section 162A of the Education Act 2002, as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Type of school Secondary school making alternative provision School status Independent school Age range of pupils 13-16 years, registered for 11-16 years Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 35 Number of part time pupils 2 Proprietor Mrs L Boyd Chair N/A Headteacher Mrs L Boyd Date of previous school inspection 9–10 February 2011 Annual fees (day pupils) £65 per day Telephone number 0208 859 9664 Fax number 0208 859 9664 Email address info@wize-up.org.uk 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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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.

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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

inspects to 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,

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School details

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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School details

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

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