Manor Green College

Manor Green College Lady Margaret Road, Ifield, Crawley, RH11 0DX

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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 Sixth form provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school is well led and managed. Leaders have established a calm school in which students make good progress. They have sustained and further improved the good practice at the previous inspection.  Middle managers fulfil their expected roles and provide good support to senior leaders.  Leaders, managers and an effective governing body work well together in maintaining high quality teaching.  The governing body is well informed and it maintains close oversight of the school’s work.  Teaching is typically good. Students in all key stages generally learn well in lessons.  Students’ achievement is good when compared with the performance of students of the same age and starting points nationally.  Students’ behaviour is excellent and they have very positive attitudes to learning. They enjoy school and so attendance is high.  Students make outstanding progress in their personal development. This contributes much to

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

preparing them well for leaving school.  The post-16 provision is good. Students follow a good combination of activities that balances the acquisition of self-help skills with work-related learning, numeracy and literacy.  Safeguarding arrangements are excellent. Parents and carers agree unanimously that their children are safe. Staff and students confirm this.  Very good links with partners enable Key Stage 4 and post-16 students to pursue work-related learning courses.  Students are prepared well for adulthood in modern multicultural Britain. They celebrate differences and display tolerance and patience with others. As a result, students work together harmoniously and support each other.  The school has the full support of parents. They are very appreciative of the work that it does and all would recommend the school to others.  The school is developing an increasingly influential role within the local educational community through

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

the work that it does supporting mainstream staff.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Learning activities do not always challenge all students sufficiently, especially the most able.  Students’ work is not marked well consistently and so they do not routinely know how to improve.  The range of nationally accredited qualifications in the post-16 provision is narrow.  Procedures for checking the quality of teaching do not always give a rounded enough picture of practice in order to identify where support is needed and inform training needs. Middle managers are not involved fully enough in the process.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team visited 15 lessons, each of which was taught by a different teacher. They also observed students’ learning during shorter visits into classrooms. A member of the senior leadership team accompanied each inspector whenever they visited lessons.  Meetings were held with all members of the senior leadership team and the three key stage leaders. Discussions also took place with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body, and a local authority officer.  The inspection team collected the views of parents and carers from the 19 who completed Parent View, the online questionnaire, the seven who met with an inspector and one who provided information over the telephone.  Inspectors gathered the views of staff from the questionnaire that 41 of them completed.  An inspector met with a small group of students in order to give them an opportunity to talk about the school.  The inspection team examined a very wide range of documentation provided by the school, such as:

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Information about this inspection

safeguarding procedures; leaders’ judgements of the school’s strengths and areas for development; school improvement plans; attendance records; behaviour logs; and information about students’ progress and achievement.  Inspectors scrutinised a sample of students’ workbooks in a variety of subjects.

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Inspection team

Mike Kell, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Inspection team

Clementina Olofunke Aina Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Manor Green College is a large special school for students with moderate, severe, and profound and multiple learning difficulties, and autistic conditions.  All students have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan. More than two thirds of them are boys. A small number of students are looked after by the local authority.  The school receives pupil premium funding for almost a third of its students, which is higher than the national average. The pupil premium is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and for children who are looked after by the local authority.  The school also receives additional funding to support the learning of Year 7 students.  A large majority of students have a White British heritage. The remaining students represent a range of ethnic backgrounds.  The senior leadership team is unchanged since the time of the last inspection. Two key stage managers

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Information about this school

were also in post at that time, while the third has been appointed recently.  Key Stage 4 students make use of the farm at Oathall Community College and also attend Central Sussex College to follow work-related learning courses. Post-16 students follow courses at the Brinsbury Campus of Chichester College.  The school does not receive any routine visits from local authority officers.  Manor Green has a community role through what is termed the ‘Special Educational Needs Hub’. The purpose of this partnership is to provide support and guidance to staff who work with pupils with special educational needs in local mainstream schools.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the overall quality of teaching to outstanding by ensuring that all staff consistently:  provide all students with activities that are always set at just the right level of challenge to stretch them, especially the most able  apply the school’s marking policy so that students have a better understanding of how they can improve and begin to take more responsibility for checking their own work.  Improve the impact of leaders by gathering a wider range of evidence about the quality of teaching, and involve middle managers more fully in this process, so that support and training can be even more focused on developing those aspects that need improvement.  Introduce a wider range of accredited qualifications at post-16 so that all students can follow nationally recognised courses.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders, middle managers and the governing body have worked closely together to maintain an effective, safe and caring school. They have sustained a culture in which students learn well because effective teaching is encouraged, their behaviour is outstanding and they are enabled to make excellent progress in their personal development.  Commitment to equal opportunity and individuals’ rights are very important features of the school. Leaders have established an ethos that places the highest importance on the quality of relationships and mutual respect. No form of discriminatory or unfair practice is tolerated.  There is a secure link between the findings from self-review and subsequent improvement planning. A drive to raise standards underpins these improvement plans. This includes setting targets for the progress that students are expected to make between Years 7 and 11. Most of these targets are sufficiently

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The leadership and management are good

challenging, but others are not and so leaders are not driving forward consistently the expectation that students’ achievement will be outstanding by the end of Key Stage 4.  Leaders have good, rather than outstanding, procedures for monitoring teachers’ performance and improving the quality of teaching. They place great emphasis on observing lessons but do not give enough recognition to other features of teaching, such as routinely examining students’ workbooks and teachers’ lesson planning.  More comprehensive procedures are used to check and judge other features of the school. As a result, leaders have a well-informed view of the effectiveness of elements of provision, such as the range of learning opportunities and the usefulness of college links. They also review student outcomes very closely and have a good picture of their progress, behaviour and attendance in school and in partner colleges.

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The leadership and management are good

 Middle managers carry out their duties effectively but these are rather narrow in scope. They are not, for instance, being asked to contribute fully to the school’s efforts to raise the quality of teaching.  The local authority is not making any contribution to helping the school to improve as no officers visit. Leaders do not receive any external challenge or support to identify key priorities for further development.  Leaders take a considered approach to spending additional funding. The pupil premium has purchased specialist learning aids, provided additional adult support for individuals and paid for additional provision, such as music therapy or students’ participation in school visits. Year 7 catch-up funding has targeted English and mathematics resources. The impact of additional spending is evident in the improved progress made by these student groups.  The school has made good progress in implementing the new National Curriculum. A strong focus on

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The leadership and management are good

developing students’ literacy and numeracy skills is supported by a good range of other learning activities that gives students a good understanding of cultures and religions other than their own. Consequently, students are prepared well for life in modern Britain.  Students receive sound careers advice, which forms an important part of the effective work-related learning programme. Work experience and college links contribute much to preparing students for leaving school. All leavers in recent years have transferred into continuing education or, very occasionally, into work-based training. Students’ personal achievements, such as using public transport independently, are also important contributors to making these transitions successful.  Leaders have forged a very successful partnership with parents, who rate the school very highly. All those who spoke with the inspection team had a success story to tell regarding their own child. The staff have

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The leadership and management are good

similarly strong and positive views about what the school is trying to achieve.  The school is developing a growing influence in the wider community by supporting the work of mainstream staff who work with pupils with special educational needs.  The governing body, together with school leaders, ensures that all statutory requirements are met. Safeguarding procedures in particular are very secure and reviewed regularly.  The governance of the school:  Governors get regular information about teaching, even though it relies too heavily on classroom observations. They understand the arrangements for managing teachers’ performance, and they appreciate the place of the Teachers’ Standards in this process. The governing body knows about how good teachers are rewarded and of how leaders tackle underperformance.  The governing body receives regular written and verbal reports about students’ progress, behaviour and

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The leadership and management are good

attendance. These are not simply accepted at face value; governors demand clarification where the issue is unclear and they challenge conclusions with which they disagree. Governors’ many visits to the school give them a secure foundation of first-hand knowledge when making these challenges.  Governors monitor the expenditure of all additional funding very closely. They recognise the impact that the pupil premium and other funding has had on contributing to the progress made by disadvantaged students and raising standards generally.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is outstanding. There are occasional instances of disruptive behaviour that are unavoidable, given the complexity of some students’ learning difficulties and conditions. It is excellent within the setting of a school that has so many students with the potential for showing challenging behaviour. Students’ behaviour is excellent both in lessons and around the school.  The school has not permanently excluded any student since the last inspection and fixed-term exclusions are used very sparingly. There have not been any racist incidents or instances of bullying. All parents and staff agree that students work free of intimidation or harassment of any kind, and the students confirm that this is the case.  Staff manage the few disruptions that do occur very effectively and in a consistent way.  Students’ excellent classroom behaviour is replicated when they are in the community or at local colleges

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Behaviour

because they know what is expected of them. The staff’s high expectations and their consistent approach to managing instances when students experience difficulties mean that students’ behaviour remains extremely good, even in these potentially difficult situations.  The students make very good progress in learning how to develop relationships, which are excellent throughout the school. Students get on very well with each other and they experience very many positive interactions with adults throughout the day. As a result, they listen carefully to what adults have to say and respond to requests and instructions good naturedly.  Students are enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoy being at the school. Their attendance is very good and they take pride in the school. There is no litter or graffiti around the site.  Students make excellent progress in all aspects of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development,

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Behaviour

including their appreciation of traditional British values. For instance, the school used the recent general election very effectively to reinforce the ideas of democracy, the rule of law and respect for the different beliefs that people hold.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep students safe and secure is outstanding. Staff take every precaution to ensure students’ safety and welfare.  All parents and staff who completed questionnaires confirmed that students are safe.  Very effective recruitment procedures ensure that the school only employs adults who are suitable for working with children. The school then ensures that once employed, all training is kept up to date. A carefully managed training programme maintains the staff’s knowledge and skills in all areas associated with students’ safety and well-being, such as child protection and moving and handling.  The school takes seriously its responsibility to give students an understanding of potential dangers in the community so that they can live a safe life when not in school. This includes pointing out to students that while computers can be very useful, there is potential risk involved in using the internet and social media

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Safety

inappropriately.  Students are very well supervised in all areas of the school. A high staff presence and effective risk assessments maintain students’ safety when they are learning in the community. Students are safe when they are studying in local colleges because they are always accompanied by school staff.  School leaders and the governing body regularly review the range of policies and procedures associated with safeguarding to ensure their ongoing effectiveness.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good across all key stages. Students with different types of learning difficulty are taught equally well.  A distinctive feature of all teaching is the consistent management of students’ behaviour. Staff throughout the school have high expectations of behaviour. Students know that the same standards of behaviour are required of them when they are taught by different teachers. Any instances of minor disturbance are managed swiftly and efficiently, and so learning is not disrupted.  Students generally behave so well because staff use an appropriate range of communication approaches to ensure they are all involved fully in lessons. Students who require more than oral communication, reading and writing have their needs addressed through other approaches. These range from symbols and signing to, in a few cases, the use of electronic communication systems.  The skilled use of different communication approaches by staff gives all students the opportunity to

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The quality of teaching is good

demonstrate new learning, express their opinions and indicate preferences and choices. Phonics (recognising the sounds linked to letters) is generally taught well, which encourages students to make good progress in becoming more fluent readers.  Teaching in all subjects generally makes a good contribution to developing students’ communication skills and supporting their progress in literacy, including their reading and writing skills. In addition to learning vocabulary that is specific to the subject, such as in history and food technology, teaching also reinforces students’ understanding of language more generally and helps them to express themselves.  Subjects other than mathematics also make a good contribution to supporting the development of students’ numeracy skills. For instance, a mini-enterprise in art involving the production and sale of postcards gives post-16 students a growing understanding of money through a practical exercise.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Another factor responsible for students’ outstanding behaviour is that they are generally interested in their work. This is because the activities are mostly at just the right level of difficulty. This occurs because staff generally plan activities that suit each individual student’s attainment by building on work they have completed previously. Students learn quickly in these circumstances.  Teaching assistants make a good contribution to the overall quality of teaching. Many show initiative when supporting the learning of individuals or small groups. They and teachers check students’ learning regularly in lessons so that problems can be identified early and difficulties overcome quickly.  Teaching is not outstanding because there are a few occasions when staff fail to effectively enough use their knowledge of what students have already learned when planning lessons. The activities do not stretch students enough at these times. This reduces the rate at which they learn, particularly the most

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The quality of teaching is good

able.  Inconsistencies in the way that staff apply leaders’ expectations of how students’ work should be marked is another reason why teaching is not outstanding. Students do not get a consistent message about the errors they are making and how they can improve their work, including checking it more carefully themselves.

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is good

 Students enter the school working at levels that are below or well below those expected for their age. Their attainment is still below that which is typical for the age group by the time they leave school, despite making good progress in English, mathematics and communication skills.  There are no significant variations in the rates of progress of different groups of students. Students with different types of learning difficulty do equally well, and boys and girls make comparable progress. The performance of students from different ethnic backgrounds does not show any noticeable variations.  The additional funding that the school receives has a positive impact on the performance of disadvantaged students. Their achievement in English and mathematics is in line with that of their classmates.  Students typically make good progress between the start of Year 7 and the end of Year 11. Their achievement is good as a large majority of them match, and in many cases exceed, the progress made by

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is good

students of the same age and starting points in other similar settings.  Achievement is not outstanding because not all students make outstanding progress in lessons because they are sometimes not challenged enough.  Students’ good progress means that by the time they leave school, those with less complex conditions have begun to narrow the gap between their attainment and that of all pupils nationally.  As a result of the good progress that they make, students do well in the accredited courses that they follow, which include English, mathematics and art and design at GCSE level. They also achieve well on the courses that they follow at local colleges, such as a National Vocational Qualification in land-based studies.  Students’ achievement in English is good, rather than outstanding, because not all students are always challenged enough in lessons to produce higher-level work. In part, this is also due to the inconsistencies

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is good

in marking which mean that not all staff make clear their expectations.  Students also make good, rather than outstanding, progress in mathematics for the same reason. They develop a good understanding of mathematical language and of basic mathematical procedures. The most-able students develop the ability to use and apply this knowledge when handling data and solving problems. However, there is not always the challenge to attempt the more demanding work.

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The sixth form provision is good

 The provision is led and managed well. It is well organised to meet the needs of each student, with programmes that match their age and interests.  Learning activities are well planned around major themes, such as self-help skills (shopping, cooking and travelling independently), work-related learning (college courses, work experience and the skills demanded by employers) and the literacy and numeracy skills that students require in everyday life (reading timetables, road signage and using money).  Students follow individually tailored programmes of activities that are constructed around these themes. The programmes are developed early in consultation with students and their families, and they take into account students’ aspirations and plans for the future. Therefore, the students, their families and school staff all work towards a common goal.  Students make good progress and achieve well in the courses that they study in school and externally.

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The sixth form provision is good

Achievement is not outstanding because teaching is good rather than outstanding. Staff generally plan activities that interest students and their expectation of what they will learn in lessons is appropriate in most instances, but the few most-able students are not routinely challenged enough.  The limited availability of nationally recognised qualifications also reduces the provision’s overall effectiveness. Some qualifications are offered, but not a wide enough range to match all students’ attainment. As a result, many leave without formal recognition of the skills that they have acquired.  Students’ behaviour is outstanding. Many show a growing maturity and they interact sensibly and confidently with each other and with staff. They work with enthusiasm.  Students are prepared well for the next stage of their lives. Very few are able to move directly into employment, although some become involved in community-based work projects. The vast majority make

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The sixth form provision is good

a successful transfer into continuing education or training.  Students are accompanied by school staff when they go to the Brinsbury Campus, and so school leaders are well informed about students’ attendance and behaviour. School staff provide feedback on students’ achievement and the school also receives written reports on students’ progress.  The provision has excellent procedures for ensuring sixth form students’ safety. The school’s overall safeguarding procedures ensure this when students are on site, and high staff supervision and risk assessments maintain their safety when they are learning in the community.

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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 126157 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 448061

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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 Special School category Community special Age range of pupils 11–19 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 185 Of which, number on roll in sixth form 39 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ruth Leonard Headteacher Grahame Robson Date of previous school inspection 23–24 November 2011 Telephone number 01293 520351 Fax number 01293 535596 Email address office@mgcollege.co.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . 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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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