Camden Primary Pupil Referral Unit

Camden Primary Pupil Referral Unit 74, Stanhope Street, London, NW1 3JX

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2

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This is a good school

 Teaching is consistently good, with an increasing proportion of outstanding teaching. The quality of teaching has steadily improved since the previous inspection.  The pupils achieve well. They make good and sometimes rapid progress through the school, often from starting points that are typically low for their age.  Teachers consistently challenge the most able pupils to achieve highly and as a result make rapid progress. The very small proportion of pupils with additional learning difficulties make similar progress to other pupils because they are very well supported.  Teachers know their pupils well. They plan lessons which provide each pupil with challenging activities that are well matched to their ability and stages of learning. They set high expectations for their pupils’ success.  Teachers ensure that pupils’ academic needs are typically well catered for. Effective assessment underpins support for the individual. Behavioural

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This is a good school

and emotional development, which sometimes includes therapeutic needs, is very well managed.  The management of behaviour is a strength of the school. This has ensured that pupils make outstanding improvements in their behaviour. Their conduct and self-confidence improve very significantly over their time in the school.  Pupils feel safe and secure, and their attendance is much higher than that normally found in similar schools  The curriculum is well planned to provide subjects that interest pupils and ensure that they enjoy school. A growing minority of pupils are enabled to return successfully to mainstream schools.  The headteacher and senior staff lead the school effectively. They rigorously check the quality of teaching and maintain a very clear detailed overview of each pupil’s progress and achievement, both academically and in personal development.  Governors have a clear understanding of the quality

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This is a good school

of teaching and of how well pupils achieve. They consistently challenge the school to maintain and improve standards.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers sometimes do not give pupils sufficient opportunities to correct their written work and learn from their mistakes.  There are inconsistencies in the way different teachers record pupils’ achievements. This very occasionally leads to pupils being given activities which are not well enough suited to their differing needs.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector checked pupils’ learning in visits to six lessons, all of which were attended jointly with a member of the senior team.  Meetings were held with senior and middle managers, governors and a representative of the local authority. Frequent informal discussions were held with pupils to gain their opinions about the school and enjoyment in their learning.  The inspector took into account the school’s regular surveys of parents’ opinions about the school. There were too few responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) to be included.  Eighteen questionnaires completed by staff were also taken into account.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including the school’s review of its own progress and forward planning. Records of pupils’ progress and achievement, academically and in personal development, behaviour and well-being were analysed, as well as monitoring

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Information about this inspection

reports on the quality of teaching, the performance management of staff, and curriculum documents. Attendance records were looked at, as well as all aspects of the safeguarding of the pupils.

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Inspection team

Melvyn Blackband, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 The school provides for primary-aged pupils who have been permanently excluded from mainstream schools or who are at risk of being excluded. Pupils are admitted to the school at any time during the school year.  Currently there are no girls attending the school.  All of the pupils are admitted because they have special educational needs for social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Most of the pupils have a statement of special educational needs.  A very small proportion of the pupils have additional learning difficulties.  The largest group of pupils are White British. A small proportion of pupils are from minority ethnic groups, reflecting the make-up of the borough. There are a very small number of pupils for whom English is an additional language.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils who are known to be entitled to free school meals and children who are looked after) is well above average.

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Information about this school

 The school operates an outreach provision to support pupils at risk of exclusion from local mainstream primary schools.  The school does not operate any early years provision.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by:  ensuring there is consistency in the way teachers record pupils’ achievements so that they can plan future work with more precision  making sure pupils have sufficient opportunities to correct their written work and so learn more effectively how to make their work better.

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The leadership and management are good

 The experience and expertise of the headteacher, ably supported by an enthusiastic and competent senior team, have enabled him to lead consistent improvements in the pupils’ achievement and in the quality of teaching. Middle leaders, in charge of key subjects, are knowledgeable and committed to the development of their areas of responsibility. They make a significant positive impact in checking the quality of teachers’ work and in consistently improving the delivery of the subject they manage.  School leaders regularly check on each pupil’s progress. They have high expectations of each pupil’s success. Rapid interventions provide good extra support wherever a pupil starts to fall behind, whether academically or in their emotional and behavioural well-being. As a result, all the pupils achieve well.  The opportunity of each pupil to succeed to the best of his ability is fundamental to the school’s

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The leadership and management are good

philosophy. There is no discrimination, and all the pupils, including the very small number for whom English is an additional language, have equal and sustained encouragement to do as well as they can.  The school makes good use of additional government funding to provide extra individual emotional support to promote the reading, writing and mathematical skills of disadvantaged pupils. As a result, they often make more rapid progress than disadvantaged pupils in other, similar, schools.  The school’s leaders rigorously and regularly check all aspects of teachers’ work. Any performance which does not meet the school’s high standards is quickly tackled through increased monitoring and support, and access to a range of further training. The criteria for measuring teachers’ performance are linked to national standards, and teachers are aware that these are used strictly to hold them accountable for their

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The leadership and management are good

pupils’ achievements. Pay awards are based securely on this process. Adults are positive about the school and the high expectations of their work. Their morale is high.  Leaders at all levels evaluate the school’s work effectively and this leads to well-planned future development. School leaders are aware of occasional inconsistencies in assessment and marking of pupils’ work, and have well-developed strategies to improve these occasional weaknesses.  The local authority maintains a ‘light-touch’ approach to the school, providing valuable support to help the school to maintain improvements.  The school’s outreach work is highly regarded by other schools and the local authority.  Pupils study subjects that are well matched to their interests and abilities. They make good progress in literacy and numeracy through well-planned daily activities tailored to their individual needs. Reading, writing and mathematics are planned into most aspects of their learning. This ensures the pupils regularly

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The leadership and management are good

practise their skills in a range of activities, and has a positive impact on their progress and their enjoyment of lessons.  Pupils are given a wide range of experiences outside of the classroom. These enable them to develop understanding of their local community and also the various communities who live in the wider London area as a whole. They learn effectively how to behave in unfamiliar surroundings, for instance when they visit museums or places of worship. Frequent visitors to school, such as visiting local councillors, help them to acquire knowledge about citizenship. Pupils are well prepared to take their place in modern Britain, fully contributing to the school council and benefiting from regular lessons on tolerance and the diversity of the local environment.  Government sports funding is used well to provide many opportunities for pupils’ sporting interests. They all represent the school, for example, in competitive games against other schools. The school employs a

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The leadership and management are good

specialist coach to promote both the pupils’ and the teachers’ understanding and enjoyment of physical activity. A wide range of activities is used to show pupils how to keep themselves safe and behave well. The curriculum contributes well to the pupils’ physical, academic and emotional well-being. It promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding well.  Parental feedback shows that they have a high regard for the school’s work. For example, there are regular workshops on such topics as ‘substance abuse’, ‘managing behaviour’ and ‘e-safety’, which are well attended. Parents overwhelmingly feel their child is making good progress, and that behaviour is much improved.  The school’s very well-organised work to safeguard pupils is outstanding.  The governance of the school:  Governors are well informed and have a good understanding of information on pupils’ progress, how it compares with that in similar schools, the quality of teaching and the management of teachers’

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The leadership and management are good

performance. They are knowledgeable about how the school’s leaders reward good performance and tackle any underperformance. As a result, they contribute well to the school’s development. Governors challenge school leaders, maintain close supervision of additional government funding and regularly check the impact on the pupils’ progress and well-being. They take part in regular training, such as in aspects of child protection and safeguarding, and in the use of performance information on pupils’ progress. They ensure that all current statutory requirements are met.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Despite their severe and complex behavioural and emotional difficulties, almost every pupil consistently displays extremely positive attitudes to learning and to adults and other pupils. Classrooms are calm and harmonious.  There is a very positive atmosphere in the school. Pupils enjoy being there, as shown by their very high rates of attendance. For all the pupils, this represents a very substantial improvement in their attitudes to education and attendance from those when they were in their previous schools.  They socialise happily in classrooms, the playground and the dining room. Staff provide excellent role models for positive supportive behaviour. Adults maintain very close supervision of the pupils, praising good behaviour extremely effectively and explaining carefully why certain actions are not acceptable.  The school’s successful policy of not excluding pupils is based on outstanding management of pupils’

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Behaviour

behaviour and well-being. Incidents of disruptive behaviour have consistently decreased since the previous inspection.  All pupils are fully involved in their own detailed individual plans to help them develop self-control and avoid losing their temper. Staff discuss each pupil’s behaviour in detail at the beginning and end of every day. All adults have a very clear understanding of how to encourage and deal with each pupil. This very effectively promotes consistency in providing for the pupils’ behavioural and emotional needs, and has a significant impact on their often rapid improvement in behaviour when they join the school.  The school maintains exemplary records of each pupil’s progress in social, emotional and behavioural well- being. The school is very well resourced to provide a wide range of professional therapy and support for pupils. This is extremely well managed, and is very precisely directed for the benefit of individuals. All

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Behaviour

pupils benefit from at least weekly mentoring sessions with a trained adult. As a result, pupils are almost always happy and positive about themselves and the school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. The pupils are very closely supervised at all times. All staff are trained to an advanced level in controlling and calming down challenging behaviour by pupils.  Safeguarding procedures are exceptionally robust and well organised. Senior staff and governors very regularly monitor the quality of provision. Staff, parents and pupils agree strongly that the pupils are safe and secure at school.  The pupils develop a good understanding of how to keep safe. Regular lessons on road safety and bicycle safety are applied when pupils visit other parts of the local community. Pupils learn effectively about internet safety and potential threats from strangers.  The pupils report very little bullying beyond the occasional unkind word. This is confirmed by the school’s detailed records. Pupils are fully aware of how bullying can upset others, and actively seek to challenge

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Safety

any such behaviour. They are confident that adults would be effective in combating bullying promptly.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good and sometimes outstanding, consistently improving since the previous inspection. As a result, all pupils achieve well and enjoy school.  Senior and middle leaders regularly and rigorously check the quality of teaching. There are high expectations of all staff to perform effectively.  Adults in turn have high expectations of their pupils. Activities challenge pupils to do their best, are carefully planned to build on what the pupils already know and understand, and add to this learning in small achievable steps. However, there is not a consistent approach to this throughout the school. This can result in some recording being insufficiently detailed to enable teachers to plan with the precision required to ensure each pupil makes the rapid progress of which they are capable.  Reading, writing and mathematics are taught well. Younger pupils get off to a secure start in their

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The quality of teaching is good

reading, intensively practising matching the sounds and shapes of letters and words. They practise and extend their skills in literacy and numeracy very thoroughly in almost every lesson. Each pupil takes part in specific guided-reading lessons at an appropriate level. Where necessary, some pupils benefit considerably from additional intensive support in reinforcing letter shapes and sounds. More competent readers make good progress through selecting the books they enjoy and sitting to read quietly, often to an adult. The recently updated library is used well. As they progress through the school, almost all pupils become confident readers.  The pupils have many opportunities to practise their writing in each subject. The work in pupils’ books and in many displays around school demonstrates how well the pupils make progress. They become increasingly more fluent when writing imaginatively and when providing detailed descriptions, for example,

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The quality of teaching is good

of historical or scientific activities. The pupils benefit from good opportunities to develop their mathematical skills through regular counting and measuring activities, or comparing and describing different shapes. Pupils increase their confidence with numbers and mathematical operations through applying these skills to their learning across the range of subjects.  Teachers manage their classrooms well. Support staff are well briefed on what pupils are expected to learn and how best to help them. High levels of individual tuition and support are used very successfully, adding to pupil confidence in tackling new work. Adults are skilled in adapting their strategies to take account of pupils’ levels of understanding and interest.  Teachers mark pupils’ written work very regularly and thoroughly. They invariably add comments about how well pupils have done and what they can do to improve their work. On some occasions, however,

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The quality of teaching is good

teachers do not allow the pupils enough time to review their mistakes and to practise what the teacher has recommended. This sometimes confuses pupils and leaves them unsure how to make their work better.

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is good

 The attainment of pupils in English and mathematics remains below that expected nationally. However, all pupils make good progress from starting points that are often significantly below what is typical for their age when they enter the school at varying times during the school year. A small minority of pupils make rapid and sustained progress at higher rates than found in similar schools. The pupils are well prepared for the next stage in their education.  Pupils make above expected progress in reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills. Their progress in mathematics is rapidly improving.  The most able pupils make rapid progress in both literacy and numeracy and the achievement of this minority of pupils is outstanding.  Pupils with additional learning needs and the very small number of pupils who speak English as an additional language, make good progress because of well-organised and effective support.

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is good

 All disadvantaged pupils make at least good progress, and there are no gaps between their achievement and that of their classmates. Because of the nature of the school it is not possible to provide an accurate assessment of their progress by comparison with other pupils nationally.  Pupils are set challenging targets each term. Their progress towards these targets is continually tracked to ensure they are making the progress of which they are capable. Any pupil who is identified as falling behind is given sustained and effective support to reach his potential.  As a result of exceptional provision for the pupils’ behavioural and emotional well-being, almost every pupil makes significant progress in taking responsibility for his own conduct. A minority of pupils each year successfully return to mainstream schools, while others are optimistic that they are well prepared to flourish in more protected and specialised secondary-aged provision.

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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 100007 Local authority Camden Inspection number 447889

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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 5–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 15 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lisa Hughes Headteacher Andrew Herbert Date of previous school inspection 1–2 December 2011 Telephone number 020 3772 0370 Fax number 020 7916 2931 Email address admin@camden-plss.camden.sch.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

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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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