Torbay School

Torbay School 170b Torquay Road, Paignton, Devon TQ3 2AL

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is an inadequate school

 Leadership, management and governance of the school are inadequate. Senior leaders and the governing body do not demonstrate the capacity to bring about the improvements required in teaching and behaviour without considerable external support.  Safeguarding procedures are inadequate and do not keep all pupils safe. Senior leaders and the governing body do not monitor well enough the effectiveness of procedures to keep pupils safe, including when they are off site.  Senior leaders do not have an accurate understanding of how well pupils achieve and how well behaviour is managed.  Pupils do not achieve well and very few make the progress they should. Standards are too low.  Mathematics is not taught well and leaders do not know how it can be improved.  Senior leaders and governors do not effectively monitor staff performance and so are not clear about the strengths and weaknesses of staff within the school.

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This is an inadequate school

 Work set often lacks challenge. Pupils typically respond either by not attending lessons or behaving poorly when they do.  Pupils are poorly behaved. They frequently do not engage in lessons and staff do not always challenge poor behaviour.  Senior leaders do not ensure that pupils’ views are considered following the use of physical restraint, in order to reduce the need for this type of intervention.  Systems for monitoring pupils’ attendance are inadequate and do not ensure that pupils’ whereabouts are always known.  Governance is not helping the school to improve. Governors do not ensure that the pupil premium funding is used to improve the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

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The school has the following strengths

 The school makes effective use of services provided by educational psychologists and community police officers to support its work.  The reading programme supports progress over time, particularly for those pupils who find reading difficult.

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Immediately improve leadership and management so that:  school systems for monitoring pupils when they are off site are robust and accurate, such that pupils’ whereabouts are always known  pupils’ views are considered when physical restraints occur and this information is used to inform subsequent practice  the risk assessment process is reviewed and amended so that the widest range of information is used to ensure the safety of pupils  the quality of teaching across all sites is robustly monitored and improvements made where necessary  a system to accurately assess pupil progress over time, across all key stages and all sites, is developed and put in place  the school provides appropriate support for teachers and helps them to improve their practice  the use of the pupil premium funding is effectively monitored to secure good or better outcomes for the pupils entitled to it.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 assessments give an accurate indication of what the pupil needs to do next to improve  assessment information is gathered and used to plan lessons that interest and meet the needs of the pupils  the teaching of mathematics is improved, particularly ensuring that programmes of study lead to appropriate challenge and progression  all staff consistently reinforce the school’s agreed approach to managing poor behaviour.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 The executive headteacher has been absent from the school for a significant amount of time. The remainder of the leadership team, while committed, are inexperienced. The leadership team does not have the capacity to improve the school. The small amount of support given by the local authority has come too late to bring about the necessary improvements to leadership and management.  Leaders and governors have been too slow to adjust to the merger with the pupil referral unit. Currently, there is not a cohesive vision for the school across the different sites. Leaders and governors have found it difficult to bring together organisations which have a different approach to the education and care of the pupils. This has led to poor behaviour which significantly impacts on the school’s ability to keep pupils safe. Leaders are only just beginning to reflect on how the different school sites can be effectively

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

managed.  Senior leaders do not yet have an effective system to track pupils’ progress and do not understand how well pupils achieve. They have only very recently begun to measure what pupils know, understand and can do when they join the school. Procedures to check the accuracy of information they have started to record are not sufficiently robust.  The management of pupils’ behaviour is weak. Senior leaders and governors do not have a clear understanding of how to improve pupils’ behaviour. They do not have a clear overview of any common causes of misbehaviour. They do not take account of pupils’ views following instances of severe disruption in order to evaluate how to reduce the need for physical intervention. Consequently, behaviour in the school is not improving.  Procedures for the regular monitoring of teaching, learning and assessment have only just been put in place and are not effective. Subject leaders have only just become aware of the different strengths and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

weaknesses in teaching across the different sites used by the school.  Senior leaders and governors do not know how to secure improvements in teaching. Teachers have not been set performance targets. As a result, leaders are not clear about teachers’ strengths and weaknesses and training cannot be effectively targeted to meet need.  All pupils at the school receive additional support that is designed to improve academic outcomes and personal development. This includes the use of external professionals to improve pupil well-being and providing additional lessons to improve reading and spelling. As a consequence, some pupils are making better progress in reading and spelling.  However, there is no specifically tailored support, beyond that available to all pupils, aimed at those who are entitled to the pupil premium, nor do leaders and governors monitor the impact of the use of this additional funding. Consequently, the school cannot demonstrate that this additional funding is being

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

used effectively to improve disadvantaged pupils’ progress.  Mathematics is not led well in the school. While the leadership team are aware of the underperformance of pupils in mathematics they are not clear about how it can be improved. Little support has been given to teachers to enable them to plan effectively so that pupils can make progress over time in this subject.  The use of South Devon College ensures that the school has a wide and varied curriculum, including work-related as well as academic subjects. However, the frequent lack of challenge on these courses means that pupils often fail to participate and attendance is low. A number of pupils are entered for courses below their academic ability in order to achieve a qualification.  Pupils do not get enough support to prepare them for their next stage in education. Currently, the school engages a careers service to offer advice and support to pupils. The school has plans to give all pupils

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

experience of the workplace but this has yet to happen.  Pupils take part in activities to support their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They have recently participated in charity walks and improved their subject knowledge through trips to museums. However, pupils at the main site comment on the lack of lunchtime extra-curricular activities.  The school makes good attempts to work with parents to improve their child’s attendance. For example, a tutor is employed by the school to work with families where a pupil’s attendance is poor. While persistent absence remains very high, the service is valued by the parents and encourages some pupils to return to school. However, the tutor is only able to see a small number of parents and so there is limited improvement in overall school attendance.  The leadership of literacy has been a particular success within the school. Pupils are effectively taught

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

how to read and spell. They make good progress, over time, in these areas.  The school should not seek to appoint newly qualified teachers.  The governance of the school – The governing body has recently formed following the merger with the Torbay Pupil Referral Unit. The governing body is only beginning to establish its strategic vision for the new school. Consequently, its impact on the success of the new school has been limited. – The governing body has undertaken a review of its effectiveness but has yet to implement lessons learned from this evaluation. – Information about pupils is not given to the governors in a way that will allow them to judge the overall effectiveness of the school and challenge appropriately. – The governors are not clear about their role in safeguarding pupils. They do not effectively support the school in seeking solutions with the local authority when the school does not feel it can meet the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

needs of pupils or keep them safe. – The governing body does not ensure that the money provided to the school to support pupils eligible for the pupil premium funding is used wisely.  The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. – Safeguarding procedures are inadequate and do not keep all pupils safe. – The school does not effectively monitor those who are persistently absent or those educated off site. This is a significant number of pupils, as persistent absence remains very high and has increased over the last three years. Many of these pupils who are missing their education have statements of special educational needs or have education, health and care plans. – The monitoring of the physical restraint of pupils is inadequate. There is no opportunity for pupils to record how they feel once a restraint has taken place, in line with guidance and best practice. No reviews take place for pupils who are repeatedly restrained and there is no evidence of review or

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

challenge by the governing body. As a result, the school does not have a good enough understanding about how to manage poor behaviour. – Risk assessments are not effectively used. They are not reviewed alongside risk-taking behaviour such as persistent absence or physical abuse. As a result, the school does not have a clear understanding about how to keep individual pupils safe.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

 The quality of teaching over time is weak across the school. Resources, such as classroom materials and additional adults, are not matched to pupils’ needs and do not encourage the pupils to want to learn. Most pupils do not enjoy their lessons. They do not want to come to school and their attendance is poor. When they do attend, pupils are frequently missing from their lessons or leave lessons part-way through.  Expectations of what pupils will learn are not always clear enough. Pupils do not always understand the purpose of activities they are asked to do.  Work given to pupils does not always provide enough challenge. Pupils often complain that the work is too easy and they have done it before. Work in books shows that this is the case for all groups of pupils including the most-able and least-able pupils. Planning does not adequately take into account pupils’ abilities. As a consequence, many tasks do not extend learning and pupils’ progress over time is

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

inadequate.  Significant poor behaviour in the classroom distracts pupils from their learning. This behaviour generally goes unchallenged and behavioural expectations are not made clear by staff.  Classroom environments are frequently untidy and do not support pupils in their learning. In the best classrooms, displays support the learning of the pupils and show examples of the pupils’ achievements. In some classrooms, for example, labelled examples of pupils’ writing clearly show pupils’ achievements and support the learning of others.  Mathematics is poorly taught. Work in books shows little progression within mathematics and through the programme of study. For the most-able pupils, work lacks challenge and on a few occasions work is repeated even when it is clear that pupils have fully understood it.  Pupils make better progress over time in literacy because teachers question them skilfully and give them

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

time to think about their answers before responding.  Teachers’ specialist knowledge is occasionally good. They are able to use language precisely to support the learning of new knowledge. For example, planning in art shows that teachers regularly use subject- specific language such as ‘composition’ when supporting pupils to understand the meaning of a painting. Teachers’ clear explanations enable pupils of differing abilities to understand complex ideas.  The literacy programme for those pupils who are struggling to read is particularly effective. Resources to aid the teaching of reading and spelling are displayed clearly on walls. They are referred to by pupils in lessons and provide good aids to support their learning. Pupils were keen to talk to inspectors about their progress in reading and spelling and are proud of their achievements.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate. It is clear that in a number of subjects, but particularly personal, social and health education, pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. However, pupils’ actions do not show that they learn from this experience. For example, when questioned, pupils could describe different types of bullying accurately, including name-calling and cyber-bullying. Pupils admitted that bullying happens at the school. However, the culture of the school is such that pupils do not inform against one another or tell a member of staff. The inspectors observed, on a number of occasions, pupils bullying one another and this behaviour being left unchallenged by staff. As a consequence, pupils do not always feel safe within the school.  The school has put in place a number of activities to support pupils’ personal development and welfare.

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Personal development and welfare

This has included measuring pupils’ emotional and social development and using resources to improve pupils’ well-being. For example, external professionals are used to explore with pupils the dangers of drug taking. In addition, using modern technology, pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils are taught about e-safety while creating a Facebook page for Macbeth.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate. Pupils’ behaviour is so disruptive that they are unable to learn in lessons for much of the time. Pupils commented to the inspectors that inappropriate behaviour happens on a daily basis. The school’s own records also show that poor behaviour happens regularly in the school. This consistently poor behaviour significantly affects pupils’ ability to make good progress over time.  Too frequently, poor behaviour goes unchallenged by adults. Inspectors observed examples where bad language, name-calling and fighting went unchallenged by the class teacher. While in some classrooms behaviour rules are clearly displayed, these are frequently not reinforced by the teacher. When challenged about their behaviour, pupils frequently show disrespect for the teacher. On a number of occasions staff were ignored or the pupils responded using bad language.  Poor behaviour was also observed during lunch and breaktimes. Pupils were observed behaving

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Behaviour

aggressively towards one another in the corridors and on one occasion throwing a plastic water bottle at staff. Pupils told inspectors that because of the poor behaviour they do not always feel safe. Staff and pupils confirmed that this bad behaviour is typical and means that pupils are not always safe within the school.  Attendance and persistent absence are significantly high. The school’s own records show that attendance is poor across all of the school sites. Despite robust processes being in place to monitor attendance, progress to improve attendance is weak and persistent absence is rising. The school engages external professionals, such as mental health workers, to help re-engage those pupils who do not attend school. This, however, is only having limited impact.

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

 There is widespread underachievement across the school and in all year groups. School records and inspection evidence confirm that pupils’ progress from their individual starting points in English and mathematics is poor when compared with the progress of other pupils nationally from the same starting points.  The school has just begun to measure how much pupils can do when they enter the school and how much they achieve in the academic year. The quality of this information is not robustly evaluated or monitored to ensure its reliability.  The school could only provide performance information for English and mathematics during the inspection. School leaders do not have a clear understanding of how well pupils are achieving, across a range of subjects, during the course of a school year. This lack of progress information limits the school’s ability to support effective changes to teaching and learning and improve pupil achievement.

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

 Pupils undertake a range of qualifications, both work-related and academic. Using South Devon College, pupils undertake vocational courses in construction, mechanics, animal care and public services. Many pupils also achieve BTEC specialist work-related qualifications in science, media and information technology. The majority of pupils achieve GCSE qualifications in English and mathematics. While gaining some form of qualification, most pupils do not make sufficient progress based on their starting points to reach their potential. Too frequently, pupils are entered for qualifications that are at a level that is too easy for them and that does not allow them to achieve the higher grades or awards of which they are capable.  Senior leaders do not accurately assess the performance of the most-able pupils and do not know how well they achieve. As a consequence, the school is unable to identify how well it is able to meet the needs

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Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

of this group of pupils.  Disadvantaged pupils make better progress than other pupils in the school in Years 7 to 9. However, they still underperform in both English and mathematics when compared with pupils nationally. In Years 10 and 11, this group of pupils makes the same poor progress as other pupils in the school.  The inadequate progress made by pupils over time, across all subjects, means that pupils are not well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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School details

Unique reference number 134126 Local authority Torbay Inspection number 10002413

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Special School category Non-maintained special Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 85 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Iris Butler Headteacher James Evans Telephone number 01803665522 Website http://torbayschool.torbay.sch.uk Email address admin@torbayschool.torbay.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 8–9 October 2013

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Information about this school

 Torbay School is an 11–16, local authority maintained secondary school.  Torbay School caters exclusively for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.  In January 2015, Torbay School amalgamated with Torbay Pupil Referral Unit.  There are almost three times as many boys as girls.  South Devon College is used as an alternative provider to support the learning of some pupils.  Around three quarters of pupils are known to be eligible for free school meals.  Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and none speak English as an additional language.  Just over half of the pupils have a statement of special educational needs or education, health and care plan.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 12 lessons across four sites. Some lessons were jointly observed with members of the school leadership team.  Inspectors looked at books from across the year groups and in a range of subjects.  Inspectors met with pupils informally at break and lunchtime and in formal meetings.  Meetings were held with staff responsible for all areas of the school’s work. Inspectors examined the school’s documentary evidence including self-evaluation, development plans, safeguarding arrangements and external reports.  Inspectors met with governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body.  Inspectors met with representatives from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 16 comments of staff in the Ofsted survey.  There was no response from parents on Parent View.

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Inspection team

Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Sarah Gillett Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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 1231, 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 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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