Saville House School

Saville House School 11 Church Street, Mansfield Woodhouse, Mansfield, NG19 8AH

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate 4

Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate 4 Leadership and management Inadequate 4

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This is an inadequate school

 Leaders have failed to ensure that all staff have had the required safeguarding training.  Staff do not understand sufficiently well what procedures to follow in the case of a disclosure. Consequently, the required procedures are not always followed.  The school’s policy for risk assessing events and outings is not consistently followed.  Leaders do not always follow the school’s complaints procedure when dealing with a complaint.  Not all the checks on emergency lighting and fire equipment are undertaken as regularly as they should. Some, though completed, are not recorded appropriately.  Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness is over-generous. They are only just beginning to analyse the progress of pupils over time.  Leaders have checked on the quality of teaching but not linked this systematically to professional development and targets for staff so that teaching can improve further.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders and managers have ensured that pupils make good progress in all subjects, but particularly in reading. Pupils enjoy reading aloud, and do so with fluency and expression.  Pupils enjoy their lessons and try very hard with their work. Almost all behave well in lessons and around the school. They say they love their school, and know their teachers will always help them to achieve more.  Almost all parents praise the school and are pleased with their child’s progress.  The nursery and reception classes set children up very well for their later learning. They lay particularly strong foundations for their personal development, for reading and for mathematics.  Pupils who have special educational needs benefit from individual attention and make good and sometimes better progress.

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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

 This inspection was carried out with one day’s notice.  The inspectors observed 13 lessons, including the work of the Early Years Foundation Stage team. They held meetings with the proprietor, the headteacher and a deputy headteacher, the Early Years Foundation Stage leader, the school’s designated child protection officer, the special needs coordinator and a group of pupils.  The inspectors took account of 27 responses to Ofsted’s online ‘Parent View’ questionnaire, written communications from parents, questionnaires filled in by members of staff and pupils. They also talked with parents as they dropped off their children.  A range of documents was scrutinised, including the school’s self-evaluation and the records it keeps on pupils’ progress. Inspectors also considered how the school tries to promote improvement and manage teachers’ performance.  Particular attention was paid to the ways in which the school keeps pupils safe and helps

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Information about this inspection

them keep themselves safe. These aspects also formed part of an emergency inspection carried out at the same time as this inspection, because of concerns expressed to the Department for Education. The findings are reported both within this report and within a separately published emergency inspection report.

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Inspection team

Susan Lewis, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Suha Ahmad Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a small, mixed, independent day preparatory school located in a listed building in the village of Mansfield Woodhouse. It is registered for 180 pupils aged three to 16 years.  There are 69 pupils on roll, 24 of whom are in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Foundation Unit), including two who are part-time. The school receives government funding for 16 children of nursery age. School numbers have fallen slightly since the last inspection and some pupils are now taught in mixed year group classes.  The school opened in 1951 and was last inspected by Ofsted in July 2009, when all aspects were judged to be good or better.  The large majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds, although an increasing proportion is from other ethnic backgrounds. A few do not have English as their first language on entering the school.  Four pupils are identified as having disabilities or special educational needs, although none

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Information about this school

have a statement of special educational needs.  There were no classroom assistants at the time of the inspection.  The proprietors also own a number of nursery provisions and an after school club at other locations within Mansfield and throughout the East Midlands.  The school aims, ‘to give your children a sound start in life, with traditional values, together with a good standard of education’.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management of the school, and pupil’s welfare, health and safety, by ensuring that:  all staff receive appropriate child protection and safeguarding training  the school’s safeguarding policies are understood, and its procedures are followed and implemented consistently, including an annual review of safeguarding  the designated child protection person is trained and is a member of the leadership team  all risk assessments for visits are undertaken in line with the school’s policies  all the required checks are carried out, and recorded, on emergency lighting and fire equipment, and at the recommended time intervals  medical room facilities are improved  the complaints procedure is followed properly  leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness includes more detail as to how teaching and achievement will be improved and how targets will be set for both staff and pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and pupils’ progress and achievement further by ensuring that the most– able are always given work that is challenging and that marking of all pupils’ work helps them to understand how to improve.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop further:  the whole-school approach to writing so that there is a consistent approach to the improvement of spelling and grammar  the use of new technologies, and different forms of writing, so that all pupils, including boys achieve well and more achieve the higher levels.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school must meet the following independent school standards

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 Ensure that staff are properly trained in safeguarding so that staff understand safeguarding procedures with confidence (paragraph 7).  Ensure that there is appropriate risk assessment of school events, trips and visits, in line with its policy (paragraph 11).  Ensure all checks made on emergency lighting and on fire equipment are carried out and recorded in compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005? 1 (paragraph 13).  Ensure suitable accommodation is provided in order to cater for the medical and therapy needs of pupils which includes accommodation for the medical examination and treatment of pupils (paragraph 23B(1)(a)).  Provide accommodation for the short term care of sick and injured pupils, which includes a washing facility and is near to a toilet facility (paragraph 23B(1)(b)).  Ensure that the school deals properly with an issue when it should be treated as a complaint and that it follows its complaints procedure, including the use of a panel

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

hearing when parents are dissatisfied (paragraph 25(f)).

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

1 www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1541/contents/made .

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Achievement of pupils Good

 The very large majority of pupils achieve well from their starting points on entry to the school. Pupils join the school at any point in their primary education, although most join the school’s nursery and reception classes. Children generally enter these classes with skills that are broadly typical for their age.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 By the time they leave the reception class they have made good progress and more achieve a good level of development than in other schools nationally. Particular strengths are in the children’s understanding and use of phonics (the links between letters and sounds) and in their counting and use of number language. Their literacy and numeracy develops very well, as does their confidence and self-expression.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 This strength in pupils’ speaking and number skills continues throughout the school because teachers are very good at using questions and comments to get pupils to explain themselves further. Additional clubs and subjects such as speech, music, choir and drama further develop these skills. These activities excite pupils and give everyone a chance to shine.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 All pupils make very good progress in reading because teachers are skilled at supporting each individual. A recent drive on learning multiplication tables and other aspects of mathematics is also accelerating pupils’ progress so achievement is at least good.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 A very high percentage of pupils achieve the higher levels in National Curriculum assessments by the end of Year 6. Almost all of the most able pupils make good progress in both English and mathematics. However a few do not because occasionally the work is too easy.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 In writing, the large majority make at least good progress, although a few boys make less progress than they should. This is because the school does not have a consistent way of marking pupils’ work. This is particularly the case for supporting pupils to improve their writing. The checking of spelling and grammar is also not consistent and a few pupils, particularly boys, take insufficient care with their handwriting. In addition, writing activities do not excite pupils’ interest in the way that reading and ‘topic’ activities do. Pupils said they would like to use laptops more for their writing and are pleased that they now have opportunities to do this. This is already having a positive effect on achievement.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 Pupils who have special educational needs make good progress, and occasionally exceptional progress, such as in English, because the teaching and activities are adjusted well to their needs. Pupils who have English as an additional language make swift progress in their spoken English because teachers are skilled at enabling them to understand and at extending their language. They thrive in the small groups, attaining similar levels to their classmates by the time that they leave.

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Achievement of pupils Good

 Pupils’ attainment levels are assessed carefully and compared with others of their age. The information gained is used successfully by most teachers to decide what to teach.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Teachers have excellent questioning skills and give good explanations. This helps develop pupils’ own explanations very well but also means they are quick to identify when a pupil does not understand and so needs further practice.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Although they adapt the work very well most of the time for all pupils, occasionally, they do not provide sufficient challenge for higher ability pupils. These pupils sometimes spend too much time completing work they can do easily, rather than moving on as quickly as they could to work at higher levels. Consequently, although most make good or even better progress and achieve the higher levels, a few do not.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Pupils read so well because reading is well taught throughout the school, building steadily on the love of books that is promoted from the Nursery onwards. Children in the Foundation Unit have good phonic skills because these are regularly and consistently taught. Teachers in the Foundation Unit take every opportunity to help children identify and practice using these sounds to read and write when they meet them in other areas of learning.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Teachers use homework and monthly reports well to keep parents informed and involved in their child’s learning. Research and themed work enable pupils to find things out for themselves. Because of their high level of interest in using information technology, the increased use of this is helping pupils to apply their English and mathematical skills in different subjects and activities.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Teachers use praise and the house point system well to help pupils understand what they have done well. However, the use of written feedback when marking exercise books is less detailed. The majority of teachers give very clear feedback to pupils through their marking, identifying strengths and suggesting next steps, and in particular how they might improve their writing. However, other teachers simply tick the work and so do not extend pupils’ understanding.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Teachers now have good information about pupils’ attainment levels and most take good account of these when planning pupils’ work. Pupils who have special educational needs benefit particularly from this and from the small classes because the work is matched carefully to their identified needs and teachers take great care to check that they understand. However teachers do not always set challenging enough work for the most able.

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Quality of teaching Good

 Teachers promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well through debates and discussions, topics and themes and through charitable works. Pupils have a keen sense of right and wrong and strong social consciences.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate

 Pupils’ safety is inadequate because of the ways in which the school has applied its safeguarding policies. Although almost all of the content of the schools’ policies complies with what is required, there are deficiencies in the way the procedures in the policies are carried out. Staff, including the designated person in charge of safeguarding, are not properly trained. They are unsure what procedures to follow if there is a disclosure. Checks in relation to lighting and fire equipment are not carried out according to the timescales that they should. Risk assessments for events and visits outside school do not consistently comply with the school’s policy guidance.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate

 Older pupils have a satisfactory understanding of how to keep themselves safe although some of the work linked to internet safety is relatively new. Younger pupils know that they should not talk with strangers without their parents’ permission. Pupils move around the site safely and take care when putting equipment away or getting it out.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. Teachers have high expectations of their classes and pupils rise to these high standards. Teachers rarely have to remonstrate with pupils and they are always keen to learn.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate

 Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent. Pupils know that their teachers are ambitious for them, saying ‘my teacher always says we can do anything we want and be anyone we want’.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate

 Pupils thrive in their personal development in the Nursery and Reception because of the ways in which staff help them to think about themselves and each other. They learn to share and work together very well.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate

 Subjects such as physical education and clubs such as choir, alongside the house points system and shared residential experiences, all help pupils to work together in teams and develop their social skills. The good range of visits includes excursions to London and to local community establishments. These promote pupils’ understanding of British traditions and ways of life well.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils Inadequate

 The school draws well on the varied backgrounds of its pupils as well as their positive response to religious education and topic work, to help pupils understand different cultures and faiths. Work in speech, drama and in other subjects allows them to understand others’ points of view. Pupils are never exposed to partisan views.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 Leadership and management are inadequate because the proprietor and the school leaders have failed to ensure that the school meets all the regulations and in particular, that safeguarding arrangements comply with what is required.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 The school has a complaints procedure that, on paper, meets the requirements of the regulations, but it does not follow this. In particular, it does not always adhere to the required timescales and stages.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 The school’s medical room is inadequate. It is in a corridor and has no washbasin. The space is not large enough to be used for treatments or therapy.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 All staff are ambitious for the school but have had very few opportunities for professional development. They are keen to improve but as yet have not been able to explore and learn from outstanding practice.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 The management of teachers’ performance and the leadership of teaching are in their infancy, and observations of teachers’ lessons have been introduced. The good quality of teaching has been maintained since the last inspection, because all staff are determined to do their best for their pupils. Initiatives in assessment and checking on each pupil’s progress have ensured staff have more detailed knowledge of pupils’ levels and needs. Not all staff are clear as to how this should relate to setting targets for themselves and for pupils.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 The school’s self-evaluation is over-generous and contains little detail as to how judgements are arrived at, particularly for achievement and progress. Whole school analysis of progress and of the proportion of pupils making good or better progress is developing satisfactorily, but its implications are only just beginning to be noted and acted upon. The school values every pupil and ensures that each has the opportunity to be part of everything that it does.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 The role of middle managers is developing but they are not yet fully involved in monitoring their subjects.

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Leadership and management Inadequate

 Almost all parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school and many gave testimonies as to how the school has helped their children to develop and learn.

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Grade Judgement

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Requires improvement Grade 4 Inadequate

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Grade Judgement

Detailed grade characteristics can be viewed in the Non-association independent school inspection handbook which is published on the Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/140053 .

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School details

Unique reference number 122926 Inspection number 451168 DfE registration number 891/6008 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 Primary School status Independent school Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 69 Number of part time pupils 2 Proprietor Susan Mills and Robert Everist Chair Susan Mills Headteacher Susan Hagues Date of previous school inspection 1 July 2009 Annual fees (day pupils) £4,995 Telephone number 01623 625068 Email address savillehouseschool@hotmail.com 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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