Hospital and Outreach Education

Hospital and Outreach Education Delapre Learning Centre, Alton St, Off Main Rd, Northampton, NN4 8EN

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Early years provision Outstanding 1 Sixth form provision Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher provides inspirational leadership and ensures that the service’s overall effectiveness, achievement and teaching remain outstanding.  The headteacher receives excellent support from the deputy headteacher. Other leaders make a strong contribution to the service’s work and teamwork is highly effective.  Students’ outstanding achievement is the result of excellent teaching and a curriculum that is matched exceptionally well to their needs.  Teachers are highly skilled in working with students with mental health difficulties and medical conditions. They communicate closely with students’ home schools so that work is matched carefully to the next stage in their learning.  Just occasionally, teachers do not challenge the most-able students as much as they could or provide enough direction for the work of additional adults, including teaching assistants.  Provision in the early years and the sixth form is

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

outstanding.  Behaviour is outstanding and students on the different sites display very positive attitudes to learning. The service promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well.  The service enables many students with mental health difficulties to turn their lives around. It enables those with medical conditions to keep up with their education while they are ill and does much to raise their self-esteem.  Students say that they feel safe and the service has excellent procedures to make sure that they are safeguarded.  The service’s partnership with parents and with other agencies is outstanding. Parents express a high level of satisfaction with the service’s work.  The management committee provides very good support and challenge to senior leaders, and the leadership of the local authority is good.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team visited all the Hospital and Outreach Education sites to observe teaching and to gather evidence about the different situations in which teaching and learning take place. Inspectors were able to observe lessons in both of the outreach centres, in the psychiatric provision and in one of the hospital schools.  Meetings were held with the headteacher and deputy headteacher, other members of the senior leadership team, some staff with responsibility for areas of the service’s work and with a group of students. An inspector met with the Chair of the Management Committee and held a telephone discussion with a representative of the local authority.  The inspection team considered the seven responses to the online survey (Parent View), looked at a number of emails from parents and at the service’s own most recent survey of parental satisfaction. An inspector also met with a parent who came in to the service during the inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors took account of 17 completed staff questionnaires.  The inspection team observed the service’s work and looked at a range of documentation, including records of students’ progress and behaviour and at their individual learning plans. They looked at records of leaders’ checks on teaching, at the headteacher’s reports of the services work and at documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Margaret Goodchild, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Hospital and Outreach Education is a service that includes two outreach centres, one in Northampton and one in Kettering, two psychiatric units in Northampton, and hospital education at both Kettering General Hospital and Northampton General Hospital. In addition, the service provides home teaching for a significant number of students and supports those reintegrating into mainstream school.  Most of the students have a complex mental health diagnosis and are referred by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). The rest have a variety of medical conditions which are often complex and sometimes life-limiting.  Students attend for long, short and recurring periods of time and numbers fluctuate on a daily basis. In the last academic year, the service supported 225 students in its centres, on outreach and at the in- patient units, and 195 in Northampton and Kettering Hospitals. Over the course of the year, it taught a

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Information about this school

total of 420 students.  Nearly all the students remain on the register of their home schools and are enrolled with the service while they are in-patients at hospital or in the psychiatric units. The vast majority of students receiving home tuition are also dual registered with their mainstream schools.  Although the service provides for children from the age of four to students in the sixth form, most of the students are in Key Stages 3 and 4. At the time of the inspection, there were no children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. The sixth form consisted of a small number of Year 12 students who were being supported by the service in preparation for moving on to college.  All students are supported at school action plus while they attend the service or through a statement of special educational needs.  The proportion of disadvantaged students is below average and the service does not receive pupil

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Information about this school

premium funding, as this funding is held by students’ home schools. Similarly, it is not in receipt of primary sport funding or Year 7 catch-up funding.  A small number of students attend an alternative education provider, Centurion Training Solutions, for a session of motor vehicle studies or design and technology each week. The service also makes use of Apricot Learning and Learndirect to extend the range of accredited courses available to students.  The service is part of three teaching school alliances which include mainstream and special schools, and it contributes to a number of local and national partnerships.  After the previous headteacher retired in July 2013, the two deputy headteachers led the school jointly in an acting capacity until one took over the role of permanent headteacher from the beginning of this term.  The headteacher contributes to a number of national groups that support the education of students with

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Information about this school

mental health and medical needs. She is Chair of the National Association of Hospital and Home Teaching, provides advice nationally on policy and practice, and is contributing to a Department for Education consultation group on alternative provision.  A new Chair of the Management Committee took over at the beginning of this term, having previously been a member of the committee.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Build on the many strengths in teaching and learning by making sure that teachers always:  provide enough challenge for the most-able students in all subjects  direct additional adults, including teaching assistants, so that they extend students’ learning appropriately.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Senior leaders are passionate about meeting students’ needs and they have been successful in maintaining the high quality found at the previous inspection. The headteacher and deputy headteacher work exceptionally well together, and the headteacher’s inspirational leadership contributes to the strong teamwork and high morale among the staff. Leaders are ambitious and the service is extremely well placed to improve further.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Senior leaders thoroughly evaluate the service’s effectiveness by measuring its impact on students’ achievement and by listening to the views of everyone concerned. They work continuously to improve and refine the work of the service, as well as having a positive local and national influence.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The staff advise mainstream teachers on how a particular medical or mental health condition may affect a student’s behaviour and achievement, and play an active role in the teaching school alliances to which the service belongs.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Senior leaders have created an atmosphere where high quality relationships are the norm and where students are expected to behave well at all times. This, and the value placed on individual members of staff, ensures that teaching can flourish. Senior leaders are also rigorous in checking the progress, attendance and behaviour of students attending alternative provision.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Performance management systems are thorough and the leadership of teaching is exceptionally good. Senior leaders are accurate in the judgements they make about teachers’ work and provide strong support to staff so that they know how to improve. They make sure that leaders with responsibility for particular aspects of the service’s work, including middle leaders, make a strong contribution to its effectiveness and development. Training is carefully tailored to the needs of individuals as well as to planned developments in the service.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Since the previous inspection, there have been improvements in the way the service assesses and tracks students’ progress. These have informed the setting of sharper targets for individual students and faster identification of support for those who need extra help. This has helped the service to promote equality of opportunity and tackle discrimination. Leaders intend to work with other schools in the teaching alliances to adapt assessment practices now that National Curriculum levels have been removed.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The curriculum meets students’ needs exceptionally well. Opportunities to gain qualifications through completing online courses, through the use of Learndirect and Apricot Learning, have greatly increased the breadth and number of accredited courses available to students, especially those who are too unwell to leave their homes. Some 30 different subjects are now available to students. Furthermore, advice and careers guidance are carefully tailored to students’ individual needs so that they are helped to make decisions that reflect their hopes for the future.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The service promotes students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development extremely well, including through an excellent range of educational visits and workshops run, for instance, by visiting artists. The service provides opportunities for students to make a difference by supporting a school for orphans in Kenya through the Karuri Project. It encourages them to reflect on ethical issues and prepares them very well for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Partnership with schools, other agencies and with parents is outstanding. Parents are closely involved in all decisions and receive a great deal of support, including through the family liaison worker. Parents are highly satisfied with the work of the service. They describe it as ‘fantastic’ and ‘inspirational’. They say that they ‘will never forget’ the help they have received and praise the way the staff are ‘approachable and extremely flexible’.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The service’s arrangements for safeguarding students meet all statutory requirements and are exceptionally thorough. This ensures that all students are kept safe and gives confidence to students and their parents.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The service does not currently receive any pupil premium or primary physical education and sport premium as this funding is held by students’ home schools.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  The local authority, in its governance role, supports senior leaders’ vision for the service and calls upon its expertise in meeting the needs of students with medical and mental health needs across the county. The authority provides support to senior leaders in judging the service’s effectiveness and has effective systems to enable it to function successfully.  Members of the management committee are knowledgeable and make a meaningful contribution to the improvement of the service. The new Chair of the Management Committee visits the service regularly and joins some meetings of senior leaders. Members of the management committee provide very effective support and challenge to senior leaders and to the local authority. They know how well pupils are achieving and receive a detailed breakdown of data from the headteacher. They also gather information for themselves and are well informed about how teachers’ performance is managed. They

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The leadership and management are outstanding

make sure that the best teaching is rewarded and know how any underperformance is tackled.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is outstanding. Procedures for managing students’ behaviour are applied consistently across all the sites. As a result, students learn in a calm atmosphere and staff expectations are clear.

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Behaviour

 A high level of engagement is evident in practically all lessons, especially at the outreach centres in Northampton and Kettering and when students receive individual tuition. Students are mature and readily reflect on social and moral issues. They take a pride in their work and nearly always present it neatly.

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Behaviour

 Students, and their parents, appreciate that the service enables them to keep up with their school work while they are ill and does much to raise their self-esteem. Those who are struggling with their feelings receive sensitive and timely support from the staff. For many students with mental health difficulties, the service is instrumental in turning their lives around. A parent described how her child’s increased motivation for learning has been ‘almost like an awakening’ that has given hope for the future.

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Behaviour

 Students’ very positive attitudes and their desire to learn are reflected in the distinct improvement in their attendance. Nearly all students attend the service more regularly than they did in their previous educational establishments and the overall attendance rate is close to the national average. Where students are unable to attend, this often relates to mental or medical difficulties they are experiencing.

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Safety

 The service’s work to keep students safe and secure is outstanding. It undertakes thorough risk assessments to make sure that students are kept safe, including in alternative provision and when they are on work experience.

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Safety

 Students say that they feel safe and know who to seek help from if they are concerned. They know about cyber bullying and learn how to keep themselves safe when using computers. Those who are able to attend the outreach centres receive first aid training.

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Safety

 Students know about different types of bullying and many have experienced it at first hand in previous educational settings. Bullying in the service is rare and if it occurs, it is dealt with promptly. Students say, ‘We all get on here. It would be pointless to bully here.’ The service holds a local authority award for its anti-bullying practices and students who receive home teaching are encouraged to complete an AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) Unit Award in anti-bullying.  Increased opportunities for students to relate with others, sometimes after lengthy periods confined to their homes, increases their confidence and prepares them socially for reintegrating into mainstream school or moving on to college. This contributes to students meeting with a high level of success in sustaining their placements after they leave.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The service’s own records, information about student’s achievement and inspection findings show that a high proportion of the teaching is outstanding and it is consistently good or better. It has a very positive effect on students’ learning and achievement.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers quickly establish excellent relationships with students and create a positive atmosphere for learning. Many of the staff have a great deal of experience and expertise in working with students with mental health difficulties and medical conditions. They are skilled in adapting to the ever-changing student population, and planning lessons that promote students’ personal development as well as challenging them academically.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers take every opportunity to develop students’ literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology skills. The teaching of grammar is very clear and well structured, and teachers incorporate writing into a range of subjects. They also use educational trips as a stimulus for writing activities, as seen in the thoughtful letters students wrote expressing their gratitude after a trip to a farm.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The service has increased the reading materials available to students, including through a virtual library, and teachers make sure that they are given plenty of opportunity to develop their reading skills. Students are asked to read aloud in lessons to develop their fluency and confidence. They have lessons where they are exposed to a variety of fiction, including authors whose books they might otherwise not encounter, and they are taught how to identify different technical devices used by writers.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 In an individual mathematics session, highly focused teaching enabled the student to make excellent progress in his understanding when dividing decimals and in his knowledge of fractions. The teacher provided clear demonstrations that built on the student’s prior learning. The student was then able to draw on these illustrations and use them to increase his confidence in tackling more difficult problems. Students’ work confirms that mathematics teaching is systematic and enables them to make rapid progress in filling gaps in their learning.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The development of information and communication technology skills features strongly. In a lesson at the Kettering outreach centre, the teacher provided exactly the right amount of support and challenge for students who were researching and designing a tourism brochure. On the hospital sites, teachers often use computer tablets to give students access to information and to learning programs when they are unable to move from their beds. For students in receipt of home teaching in particular, online learning greatly extends the courses and learning opportunities available to them.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Assessment is thorough throughout the service and undertaken in consultation with students, their home school, parents and health professionals. Through close liaison with students’ home schools, teachers quickly identify what work students need to do to move forward with their learning. This helps to prepare them for the next stages in their education. As a result, interruptions to students’ learning caused by their mental health and medical conditions are kept to a minimum.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers have very good subject knowledge and use questioning skilfully to check students’ understanding. They provide them with clear information about how well they are doing and in English, in particular, teachers mark their work with helpful pointers about how to improve. Throughout the service, teachers have high expectations and regularly adjust students’ targets in line with their current state of health and well-being.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers are innovative and make use a wide range of resources to engage students’ interest. For example, they make particularly good use of technology. In a ‘thought for the day’ session, staff made excellent use of video to stimulate a lively discussion about whether it is right for man to ‘play God’ and they used it equally well in a personal, social and health education lesson on abusive relationships.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers normally set tasks, including homework, that are closely matched to the next steps in students’ learning. However, occasionally, they provide work that is not as challenging as it could be for most-able students in some subjects.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 In a few instances during the inspection, additional adults – teaching assistants or nursing staff that need to be present for health and safety reasons – were too quick to intervene in students’ learning. In these instances, teachers did not provide clear enough instructions to make sure the contribution of additional adults extended rather than intruded upon students’ learning.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 When students first receive support from the service, their attainment is often below average. This is because they have gaps in their learning through disrupted schooling caused by their mental health and medical conditions. During the time they spend in the service, many students meet or exceed the amount of progress expected nationally which is outstanding given their mental health and medical conditions.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Students’ outstanding achievement is the result of high quality teaching and a curriculum that places emphasis on improving their skills in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology, as well as giving them access to a wide range of GCSE and other accredited courses.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 An increased focus on reading since the previous inspection has brought improvement in this area and students who were heard reading during the inspection did so fluently and with confidence. In discussion, many students are articulate and readily express their ideas. Students have made clear improvements in writing and have good opportunities to apply their written skills in a range of subjects. Their vocabulary is generally varied and their spelling and punctuation mostly correct.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 For students who are in-patients in hospital for a short time, the service concentrates on maintaining their education and keeping learning ‘alive’ for them. By working closely with their mainstream schools and other agencies, it is successful in supporting their return to school as quickly as possible. A high proportion of students with mental health difficulties also successfully reintegrate into mainstream school once their conditions are sufficiently improved.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The most-able students make good or, in some cases, outstanding progress. They meet with a high level of success in English and English literature at GCSE, and do well in mathematics. They also typically gain A* to C grades in a range of other subjects. Where necessary, the service makes use of teachers from outside its normal staff to provide the right level of subject expertise to enable individual students to follow their chosen courses. Just occasionally, the most-able students do not learn at a fast enough rate because they are not challenged sufficiently.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Other students who take their examinations while they are being supported by the service typically gain some GCSE passes at A* to G as well as a number of other qualifications. These include AQA Unit Awards and Learndirect units which help to prepare them for the next stage of their education or for employment. Students who attend alternative provision make good progress and are successful in gaining qualifications in recognition of the skills they have learnt. Nearly all the students go on to education, employment or training when they leave.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 There is no significant difference in the achievement of different groups of students, including those who have additional learning needs and those who are disadvantaged. In 2014, the achievement of disadvantaged students was similar to that of other students in English and mathematics. Although the service does not receive pupil premium funding, these students benefit from the intensive support they receive in small groups or through one-to-one tuition tailored to their individual learning needs. This enables them to fill previous gaps in their learning.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 There were no children in the early years on the service’s roll at the time of the inspection and it receives only a small number of children in this age group. They are normally in-patients at Northampton or Kettering General hospitals who need short-term teaching following medical treatment or operations.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Early years provision is led and managed exceptionally well, with the same attention to detail and to meeting individual needs as that found throughout the service. Close liaison with children’s home schools enables staff to plan activities that match the next steps in their development.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Joint access to the play room at Northampton General Hospital provides a variety of stimulating activities, and the service is well resourced with equipment to support the different areas of learning. Teaching is outstanding and activities make a valuable contribution to the development of children’s skills, including their literacy and numeracy, and their readiness to move up to Year 1 at school.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Records suggest that children’s behaviour is outstanding and systems for keeping them safe are highly effective.

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The sixth form provision is outstanding

 The service provides education for a small number of students in Years 12 and 13 who are not ready to move on to further education or sixth form provision elsewhere. This is because their mental health or medical conditions have caused them to miss significant amounts of their Year 11 education.

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The sixth form provision is outstanding

 The sixth form is led and managed exceptionally well. The service provides personalised programmes that are matched closely to the interests and aspirations of each student. It enables students to complete their accredited courses and gain vocational qualifications as well as building their confidence and self-esteem.

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The sixth form provision is outstanding

 Teaching is outstanding and students are able to access specialist and higher level teaching, particularly through the service’s use of Apricot Learning . For students whose medical conditions make it difficult to learn at some times of the day, the flexible timing of online courses meets their needs extremely well.

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The sixth form provision is outstanding

 Case studies show how much the service transforms the lives of individual students, including some who have previously been unable to leave their homes in order to attend school. Students typically gain a number of GCSE passes, some complete a course in motor vehicle studies or another vocational qualification, and some take part in work experience.

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The sixth form provision is outstanding

 The service provides careful careers advice to students and supports them when they make the transition to college. This helps them to meet with a high level of success in moving on to their chosen placement when they leave the service.

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The sixth form provision is outstanding

 Students receive excellent personal support and have very positive attitudes to learning. Their behaviour is outstanding and they feel very safe.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 133717 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 448933

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Pupil referral unit School category Pupil referral unit Age range of pupils 4–18 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 80 Of which, number on roll in sixth form 9 Appropriate authority The local authority Headteacher Cath Kitchen Date of previous school inspection 13 June 2012 Telephone number 01604 662250 Fax number 01604 662251 Email address admin@nhoe.org.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 and 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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