Stradbroke

School report Stradbroke C/O Tulip Care, Woodford Green, Southend Road, IG8 8HD

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Overall effectiveness Good 2

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

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Summary of key findings

This is a good school.  Students, most of whom have been unsuccessful in a mainstream school, become much more confident learners than previously. They achieve well and make outstanding progress in their personal development.  Students make good progress and are well prepared for the next stage of their education or careers.  All staff are committed and often highly experienced in working with these vulnerable students. The quality of teaching is typically good, and improving.  The headteacher and the governors have ensured that all the independent schools standards are met.  The experienced and dedicated headteacher, with a strong support team, provides motivational leadership. They are well supported by governors who are active and knowledgeable about improving the work of the school.  Safeguarding arrangements are robust and carefully monitored. Students say they feel safe and that staff deal swiftly with any problems that

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Summary of key findings

may arise.  Behaviour and attendance are outstanding. High- quality care and support enable students and their families develop personal and practical life skills.  The homely, yet stimulating, atmosphere gives students a rich experience that enables them to flourish and reach their potential.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The monitoring of the teaching and learning is not sufficiently rigorous because clear and specific targets for improvement are not consistently set.  Targets to help improve students’ literacy and numeracy, including using the latest technologies, are not always used in all subjects.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school meets the schedule for The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2014, and associated requirements.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out with one day’s notice. A day was spent on planning and a day on the inspection.  The inspector observed the impact of teaching in six lessons. All visits were jointly made with senior leaders.  All of the relevant school documents and policies were scrutinised to check for compliance with the independent school standards. These included the school’s prospectus, information about students’ progress, the school’s own evaluation of its work, and the students’ workbooks. Records relating to behaviour, attendance, and safeguarding were also scrutinised.  A full tour of the school’s premises took place with the headteacher.  Discussions were held with the proprietor, headteacher, all staff, all students, representatives from the local authority inclusion manager and the social care inspector.  The inspector listened to students reading.  The inspector took account of comments from parents, the local authority, the partnership schools and

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Information about this inspection

the staff survey. No responses were received from the online questionnaire Parent View.

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Inspection team

Sandra Teacher, Lead Inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is one of two independent special schools operated by Tulip Care. It is located in a children’s home and has been registered as a special school since June 2010, admitting its first student in January 2012. The school is registered to provide education for a maximum of six female students between the ages of eight and 16 years who have behavioural, emotional, social and mental health disabilities.  There are currently two students on roll, one in Year 11 and one in Year 7, both of whom are looked after. They both started the school in this current academic year. There are currently no students from minority ethnic families or those new to speaking English.  The school is awaiting an education, health and care plan from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for one student, while the other student is on roll at a school in Havering.  Both students reside in the children’s home on the premises, but the area for schooling is separate from

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Information about this school

the living quarters.  There is no alternative provision.  The school aims to provide a sensitive, but suitably challenging, education for students who have experienced considerable difficulties in previous schools.  The monitoring visit, in 2013, found that all of the regulations which had not been met in the 2012 inspection were all successfully addressed.  Students are not entered early for examinations.  This inspection was aligned with the social care inspection, but only for the first day.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management to ensure that the monitoring of teaching sets clear and measurable targets so that students achieve their best.  Improve the quality of teaching by using the latest technologies in all subjects to inspire and motivate students to achieve their literacy and numeracy targets.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is passionate about the work of the school and her ambitious vision is shared by staff, parents, carers and governors. Commitment and hard work in improving the school since its previous inspection have ensured that all the independent school standards are met.  The school’s assessment systems are not yet fully integrated and teachers’ performance targets to help staff improve are not always sharply linked to students’ progress. The school already has plans in place to create a system that will link all the information available and support speedy analysis.  Both internal and external monitoring of teaching and learning have contributed to the development of good provision and practice. However, targets set to improve the quality of teaching are not always clear and measurable to ensure students achieve their best.  The range of activities meets students’ needs well and makes a significant contribution to their spiritual,

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The leadership and management are good

moral, social and cultural development. In addition to National Curriculum subjects, a considerable emphasis is placed on developing students’ personal skills. This successfully ensures that students develop practical skills in gardening, sewing and cooking, required for adult life in Britain today, and students show respect and tolerance for all.  Activities are enriched by a host of valuable experiences, tailor made to support the students in all aspects of their daily lives. These include regular swimming, visits to the local shops, library and parks. Trips further afield, such as the Science Museum, Olympic Stadium or a London Bus Tour, not only teach students travel skills but also about a range of British public institutions.  School surveys indicate that parents, carers and the placing authorities are happy with the school’s work. Excellent relationships between the home and school, which share the same site, mean that there is daily

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The leadership and management are good

ongoing communication. Every effort is made to ensure that the students’ needs are fulfilled so that the students can live normal, happy lives. As one mother said, ‘What you guys have given my child, I was never able to give. I will be always grateful for that.’  Leaders have been effective in fostering a range of supportive and worthwhile partnerships. They successfully draw on outside expertise to ensure that the students are given the best possible provision to meet their specific individual needs.  The headteacher teaches full time and supports the work of the two part-time classroom assistants. She has not yet had time to monitor and review the work in subject areas, but there are clear plans to do so.  Equality of opportunity lies at the heart of the school’s work, relationships are excellent and the school has created a family atmosphere where each student and adult is valued.  Safeguarding arrangements are rigorous and robust, and fully meet current statutory requirements. All of

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The leadership and management are good

the staff have regular training to understand how to deal with challenging situations. Checks on the suitability of staff to work with children are rigorous.  There is no school website. All of the required information for parents and carers, including the safeguarding policy, is contained in the school prospectus. Parents and carers are informed that they will receive any policy documents or relevant information on request.  The governance of the school: − The Chair of the proprietorial body has a clear sense of the school’s direction. She works diligently with the headteacher to ensure that the school has the policies and procedures to operate effectively and to meet the independent school standards. Regular reports and meetings with the headteacher keep her informed about the school’s performance and the quality of teaching. She understands data on the students’ progress well and the link between staff performance to inform decisions on salary

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The leadership and management are good

progression. She also has a good understanding of the procedures needed to tackle underperformance. She has worked with external consultants on school self-evaluation which agreed with the inspection findings.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is outstanding. Records show that there have been dramatic improvements in their communication and social interaction skills. These improvements are carefully recorded so that the behaviour support plans can be constantly modified to guide responses when students’ behaviour sometimes dips. These strategies have worked extremely successfully.  Learning takes place in a calm, purposeful atmosphere. Students now have very positive attitudes to learning, moving between short periods of intensive teaching and their chosen reward activities without difficulty.  The management of students’ behaviour is very effective. Members of staff know students very well and are adept at recognising triggers that indicate increasing stress and anxiety.  Staff are skilful at managing changes, both during the day and to new activities, to minimise upset to students and to maximise learning time. For instance, preparations to support travel when undertaking

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Behaviour

trips or to work with the outside support agencies are carefully and thoughtfully managed, enabling students to succeed . This careful monitoring extends to their time at home, where the school and the home teams are in constant communication to ensure that behaviour and safety are of paramount importance.  Students have the opportunity to contribute to a number of advocacy groups. Here a range of school and local issues, environmental problems and community projects are discussed, for example supporting children less fortunate than themselves or, more locally, meeting neighbours at local community events. Through decision making, negotiation, listening and interacting with others, the students have their own voice within the school.  Leaders have ensured that all the independent school standards for this aspect are met.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep the students safe and secure is good. Policies and procedures are fully in place to safeguard students and to ensure that safe recruitment procedures are followed.  High levels of staffing mean that students are very well supervised. Members of staff are alert to the harm that students may cause themselves as a consequence of their special needs. Praise and constant rewards are used well to reinforce positive behaviours.  Considerable emphasis is placed upon extending students’ understanding of risk. This includes consideration of sexual health, internet safety, including cyber bullying, and homophobic bullying or preventing indoctrination to extremism. For example, in science and food technology lessons, students are reminded that they are dealing with hot or dangerous substances and should consider health and hygiene issues. Sometimes they are taught that taking a risk may be a good thing, for example when

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Safety

organising a ‘surprise party’.  Attendance improves significantly when compared to their previous schools. Stradbroke has had considerable, notable success with ensuring that students are both punctual and have almost 100% attendance. As a result, all the independent school standards are met for welfare, health and safety.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good because it is generally matched well to the personal and academic targets of each student. Lesson planning ensures that students work consistently towards their personal and academic targets. However, literacy and numeracy targets are not always sufficiently emphasised learning activities. This leads to some missed opportunities for students to develop these skills across all subject areas. There are also missed opportunities to use the latest technologies to overcome barriers to learning, particularly in the support of reading and writing skills.  Sessions are carefully timed to make the most of students’ concentration spans. This was seen when students were focusing on their speaking and listening skills and learning how to carefully follow instructions. For example, while learning about the Victorians they made good use of their reading skills to find out what life was like for children in Victorian times and about Dr Barnardo’s homes.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Rewards are used very effectively to mark each small success in learning. Short breaks are then created in which students enjoy choosing their own activities and they develop their physical skills either through bike riding or planting in the garden area.  All members of staff are encouraged to make use of a range of communication techniques, including picture cues that build well on speech and language therapy. They speak clearly and appropriately, encouraging students to recognise social cues and listen to others. Examples of this are the way in which students describe different art techniques or tell the story of The Rainbow Fish or Handa’s Surprise.  There are specific lessons for guided reading and improving the use of learning through letters and sounds, or reading with expression. All classes have their own book areas which are well used and achievement and progress, particularly in reading, are good because teachers make the learning fun.

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The quality of teaching is good

They motivate the students by reading girls’ magazines with them, and discussing relevant topics which are of interest to them.  A range of successful approaches, including questioning, is very effective in gauging how securely students have grasped what is taught. Students write positive statements about themselves and about what they understood about the poem The Bright Star. Through the skilled support of the teacher and the learning support assistant, students’ responses demonstrated good progress and learning.  Numeracy skills are well taught and linked to life skills, so that students can learn how to budget or increase their fitness through measuring their stamina.  The majority of feedback is given verbally and there is good immediate spoken feedback so that students can correct their mistakes straight away. In addition, teachers often write comments about the quality of students’ written work, but are inconsistent in checking if students respond to them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All parents, carers and the placing local authorities are pleased with the quality of teaching and the students’ enjoyment of learning. Students told the inspector that the teachers are always there for them, and will go the extra mile.  Leaders have ensured all the independent school standards for teaching and assessment are met.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The achievement of students is good as a result of the effective teaching they receive whilst at Stradbroke.  Most students have made limited progress before they start the school, often as a result of persistent absence from school or breakdown of previous placements. Students who have now left have been enabled to reintegrate back into their special schools or suitable settings.  The abilities of the most able students are recognised. Key Stage 3 students are working at an age appropriate level, so that they can work out percentages and interest for bank payments. They can explain about tectonic plates, which they learn about in geography.  Less able students achieve well through practical and hands-on learning. Through scientific investigation and exploration, they understand that cornflour has thickening properties, so it is best used for making gravy. All students are developing their physical skills through weekly swimming lessons, which are much

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The achievement of pupils is good

enjoyed.  Students’ progress in English has improved faster than mathematics and this is partly due to teachers’ subject expertise. The school makes good use of all additional funding to provide one-to-one support if students need any additional help to reach their potential.  Expertise in art, dance and drama plays an important role in students’ enjoying and making good progress in their creative development. Students learn keyboard skills, and music is used as a therapeutic activity to calm and engage while studying  Achievement in personal development is outstanding and lies at the heart of the school. Students are very well prepared for their future lives through personal, social, health and citizenship education lessons. Together with the mentoring programme, this makes an important contribution to students’ spiritual, moral and cultural development. Students enjoy talking about a wide range of media topics, learning

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The achievement of pupils is good

about different faiths and cultures and being very respectful to staff who may be fasting or who may dress differently.  The use of therapeutic education, that covers speech and language, art and play therapy, makes an outstanding contribution to students’ learning. It very effectively supports the ways in which students are given opportunities for learning and working with their peers. Both the one-to-one and the group work give careful consideration to students’ barriers to learning. Excellent progress has been made by helping students to be motivated and keen to learn. This has a positive impact on their overall progress and achievement. Leaders have ensured all the independent school standards for students’ achievement are met.  Older students are supported to develop their employability skills. They are helped to make choices about their futures lives and have arranged to attend a careers fair at the Chelsea Football Club.

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Grade Judgement

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

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Grade Judgement

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

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School details

Unique reference number 136244 Social care unique reference number 411832 Inspection number 462888 DfE registration number 317/6080 This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school. Type of school Special school for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social development needs School status Independent Age range of pupils 8-16 Gender of pupils Girls Number of pupils on the school roll 2 Proprietor Tulip Care Chair Sabiha Musa Headteacher Rani Chahal Date of previous school inspection February 2012 Annual fees (day pupils) £46800.00 Telephone number 0845 094 3550 Email address refferals@tulipcare.co.uk guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website:

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School details

www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-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

inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit

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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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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