Seabrook College

Seabrook College Burr Hill Chase, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea SS2 6PE

p.1

Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

p.1

Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

p.1

Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

p.1

Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

p.1

This is an inadequate school

 Leaders and governors have not ensured that pupils attend regularly, behave well enough and are kept safe at all times.  Safeguarding is inadequate. Procedures to keep the most vulnerable pupils safe are not administered consistently across all three sites.  Weaknesses noted in the last inspection have not been tackled promptly or effectively. Persistent absence and poor behaviour remain significant barriers to learning.  Attendance is not recorded accurately; punctuality is not promoted well. Too many pupils are missing from school. Some have not attended for over a year.  The quality of teaching varies widely. High staff absence has led to an over-reliance on temporary staff, some of whom are unqualified.  Assessments of pupils’ progress are not carried out systematically. Consequently, staff are unaware of how well all pupils are progressing.  Additional funding to raise the achievement of disadvantaged pupils is not used effectively. Their

p.1

This is an inadequate school

progress is not routinely monitored to show the impact this funding is having.  Outcomes are too low. Only a small proportion of pupils gain the essential qualifications needed for training or the workplace.  Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness is inaccurate. Improvement plans lack measurable targets to hold all staff accountable for securing improvements.  Leaders’ monitoring of teaching does not provide an accurate overview of the impact it is having on pupils’ learning, often because too many pupils are missing from lessons.  A large proportion of pupils neither have enough hours of teaching each week nor access the full curriculum.  The good practice seen in some lessons is not widely shared to promote consistency in teaching.  Members of the governing body do not provide enough challenge for school leaders. They have not managed the performance of staff well enough.  The school’s North Road site presents an austere

p.1

This is an inadequate school

environment in which to learn and is not fit for purpose.

p.1

The school has the following strengths

 Good teaching and leadership in the Harbour Centre enables younger pupils to make good progress and return to full-time education.  Interim arrangements to bolster the school’s capacity to drive improvements are beginning to work.

p.1

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.

p.2

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by: finding out exactly what all new and existing pupils know, understand and can do, and use this information to plan learning suited to their different abilities and interests ensuring that the newly introduced procedures to assess pupils’ progress become firmly embedded throughout the school and provide staff with a clear overview of how well all pupils are doing raising expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving and how they should behave in lessons monitoring routinely the quality of teaching, and using the findings to inform staff training and hold staff accountable for the progress made by their pupils sharing good practice to enable staff to learn from others taking effective action to reduce significantly staff absence.

p.2

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ attendance and behaviour by: identifying where all pupils who are persistently absent from school are, liaising with other local support services to ensure their safety and well-being, and getting them back into learning working collaboratively with the local authority and other schools and academies in the borough to share responsibility for educating pupils with ingrained poor attendance, and ensuring that referrals to the school are made in the best interests of each individual pupil checking that all registers are maintained fully, and analysing this information to spot trends and patterns in pupils’ absence and punctuality strengthening the school’s approaches to preventing bullying, particularly on the Prittlewell site reaffirming the school’s policy and procedures for managing pupils’ behaviour and raising expectations of how they should conduct themselves in and out of lessons.

p.2

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement by: spending pupil premium funding on those pupils it is intended for, and evaluating the impact of this on their learning and progress increasing the amount of curriculum time so that all pupils have at least 20 hours of learning each week ensuring that all pupils in Key Stage 4, including those taught away from the school sites, are suitably prepared and entered for examinations and tests that will give them the qualifications they need for further training or employment.

p.2

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by: completing an accurate, honest evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, and using this information to inform current plans for improvement adding clear, measurable targets to school improvement plans in order to hold all leaders, managers and other staff accountable for making improvements as a matter of urgency, standardising procedures for safeguarding pupils across all three sites and regularly testing the robustness of these procedures to check that they are working effectively.

p.2

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.

p.2

What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

p.2

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 School leaders have not provided the vision or ambition to improve provision, raise achievement and ensure that all pupils receive a good education. Without this vision and a clear purpose, the school has struggled to improve. It has received too many pupils from other local schools with ingrained, chronic absence, challenging behaviour and poor attitudes to learning. There is not enough capacity within the school to cope with these demands. Low attendance and regular incidents of disruptive behaviour have worsened since the last inspection.  Successive changes in leadership, accommodation and the services the school provides have weakened it further. Staff have not had the clear leadership needed to drive improvements. Expectations of them have been too low. Ineffective teaching has been tolerated and staff absence has not been fully challenged.  Previous leaders have evaluated the school as requiring improvement. This is inaccurate. Current leaders

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

recognise that there are too many weaknesses in its provision, the quality of pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare, and leadership for this to be the case.  New appointments this year, coupled with extensive and effective support brokered by the local authority, have bolstered the school’s leadership. This has added much-needed capacity to drive improvement, but is quite new and the effectiveness of new leaders remains unproven.  The interim executive headteacher has, in a short space of time, established good relationships with staff and raised morale by providing them with much-needed leadership. Teachers and other leaders feel that his actions are empowering them to engage more widely in school improvement. He has a realistic view of the school and is rightly leading changes to the curriculum, as well as raising expectations of behaviour, to increase pupils’ engagement in learning.

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

 Heads of the Prittlewell and North Road sites are newly appointed this year. They are working effectively alongside the interim executive headteacher and support staff coordinated by the local authority to improve provision and outcomes for pupils. A new coordinator of special educational needs is beginning to make systematic assessments of each pupil, producing individual education plans for each of them to enable staff to meet their needs more effectively. Subject leaders currently play a limited role in raising achievement.  Not enough attention has been paid to providing pupils with a full curriculum. Overall, one in four pupils has a timetable of significantly less than 20 hours’ tuition each week, rising to half of all pupils in Key Stage 4. This severely limits the school’s ability to prepare pupils fully for examinations or to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The impact of this is clearly evident in their poor

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

attitudes and attendance, and the limited range of qualifications they achieve by the end of Year 11.  Five-week improvement plans instigated by the local authority, supported by proven leaders enlisted from other schools, are helping senior leaders to prioritise what needs doing urgently. These plans include clear actions, timescales and criteria to monitor their impact, but there are too few numeric targets to hold staff accountable for delivering improvements.  Leaders have not focused on eradicating weak teaching and gaining greater consistency across all three sites. They have not considered that improvements made to teaching through staff training and development are not impacting fully on raising achievement because there are not enough pupils in lessons.  The head of the Harbour Centre is clear about its purpose and communicates this effectively with local schools and the parents of pupils who use the centre. There is an agreed understanding that, following

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

short periods of support, pupils return on a full-time basis to their own schools. The leader ensures that the centre is a safe, stimulating and a nurturing place to be. Safeguarding arrangements are well maintained at this centre.  The governance of the school The governing body has not provided a clear vision for the school’s development or routinely monitored its effectiveness. Governors have accepted information shared with them by school leaders too willingly and without sufficiently challenging it. This has given them only a partial understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, and has allowed issues in need of urgent improvement, such as attendance and behaviour, to deteriorate further. Governors have not ensured that pupil premium funding is used wisely. They, like other leaders, are unaware of its impact because the progress and welfare of these pupils is not routinely monitored.

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

The governing body has not approved decisions about which staff rise up the salary scale without a thorough review of their effectiveness. Governors have not ensured that the curriculum is amended to include the teaching of fundamental British values, and to raise pupils’ awareness of the risks of extremism and radicalisation. A warning notice from the local authority has been issued recently due to the concerns it has about the achievement of pupils, their attendance and their behaviour and safety. The local authority intends to replace the governing body with an interim executive board to oversee the school’s improvement and determine its strategic development.  The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. The single central record is complete and is shared electronically across three sites, but procedures to protect pupils at risk of harm are not universally applied. Policy and procedures are not administered centrally to ensure that a consistent approach is

p.4

Effectiveness of leadership and management is inadequate

taken to following up concerns raised. Not all staff have attended safeguarding or ‘Prevent’ training.  The safety of pupils who are persistently absent cannot be assured as leaders are unaware of where they all are when they are not in school. A recent external review of safeguarding commissioned by the local authority raised major concerns about the safety of pupils on the North Road site. Progress has been made in resolving some of these issues but the unsuitability of the building means it remains a significant safeguarding concern.

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

 Teaching is not firmly based on a thorough understanding of pupils’ prior learning. Without this information, staff are unable to plan future learning that engages and retains pupils’ interest or provides them with sufficient challenge. They do not assess accurately pupils’ progress over time. New assessment procedures have been introduced very recently but this information does not provide a reliable indicator of pupils’ progress.  Learning does not provide enough challenge for pupils and tasks are often too easy for some. For example, in mathematics pupils complete lists of basic calculations that they can do easily. They have very few opportunities to use this knowledge to solve problems or apply their understanding to real-life situations. Pupils complete work quickly without much thought, paying little attention to the quality of presentation or handwriting.  Pupils’ books include a range of writing tasks but pupils are rarely required to write at length. Inspectors

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

noted too few opportunities for pupils to read aloud, to themselves or with others. There is no clear policy to inform teachers of how to promote pupils’ literacy or their numeracy. Not all teachers reinforce basic skills by reminding pupils about basic grammar and correcting errors in their work.  Teachers ask questions to capture pupils’ interest and promote discussion. However, this often leads to superficial answers and fails to engage all pupils because those keen to contribute are allowed to dominate discussions.  Poor behaviour undermines the quality of pupils’ learning and progress. There is little consistency in how teachers manage pupil behaviour. Many staff manage the most challenging behaviour with great sensitivity, understanding and tolerance, even when pupils are disrespectful towards them. However, expectations of pupils are not high enough. In many lessons, pupils rather than the teacher decide how

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

much work they complete. When tasks become repetitive or more challenging, many pupils switch off and revert to silly behaviour.  Teachers, instructors and learning support assistants work collegiately to teach pupils, manage their behaviour and promote their personal development. However, the quality of this teaching and support varies widely across and within the Prittlewell and North Road sites. Not enough is done to identify where good practice lies, and share it with others so they can learn from their colleagues.  Marking and providing pupils with feedback about their work are becoming more consistent. In most lessons seen by inspectors, pupils’ books were marked regularly; this included praise for pupils and advice about what they could do to improve.  At the Harbour Centre, teachers are adept at managing group work, enabling them to work on a one-to- one basis with some pupils while others work by themselves in small groups. Teachers know the specific

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

needs of each pupil, enabling them to personalise their learning. Learning is designed to capture pupils’ interest on arrival each day, using practical hands-on resources to stimulate interest, make learning fun and prepare pupils for more challenging learning later in the day.

p.4

Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.  Attendance is very low and shows little sign of improvement. A small minority of pupils on the school roll have never attended. School leaders have too readily accepted pupils who are excluded or at risk of exclusion without thoroughly reviewing what actions are needed to improve their attendance and behaviour and considering whether the school has the capacity to deal with these pupils.  Attendance data is not analysed routinely. As a result, leaders do not have a clear understanding of the attendance of different groups of pupils or patterns and trends in pupils’ absence. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is not checked to ensure that they are kept safe and make sufficient progress.  A scrutiny of registers by inspectors on the first day of inspection found that less than half of Key Stage 4 pupils were present at the North Road site. One pupil had been sent home rather than excluded.

p.5

Personal development and welfare

Registers remain open until after 10.30am, which does not encourage good punctuality.  On the Prittlewell site, pupils gather to eat lunch together. This provides good opportunities for them to eat healthily, socialise with others and forge relations with staff. The school site is secure and keeps pupils safe.  The North Road site has no outdoor space for recreation or for socialising. Despite the efforts of staff to brighten up the place, it remains an austere environment in which to learn. Pupils’ safety is compromised when they gather outside close to a busy road at break times. Some of them choose to smoke in full view of staff.  School records show that not all pupils have a careers interview and that the destinations of a minority of pupils once they leave Year 11 are unknown.  At the Harbour Centre, pupils arrive wearing their main school uniforms, reassuring them that they will return there full time after a short period of support. In this nurturing, caring environment, pupils thrive.

p.5

Personal development and welfare

The small numbers allow staff to spend extended periods of time with individual learners, addressing their specific needs and enabling them to modify their behaviour.

p.5

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.  Many pupils are referred to the school due to the risk of exclusion from their previous schools because of their challenging behaviour. Not enough is done to modify their behaviour or improve their poor attitudes.  The Prittlewell site is generally calm because pupils have good relations with staff and are well supervised. A minority of pupils take a long time to settle back into learning after breaks and lunchtimes, which wastes time. A ‘quiet room’ used to calm pupils displaying extreme behaviours is locked from the outside. Staff say that pupils can let themselves out using a release button, but this is too high for some pupils to reach and represents a major safety concern.  Most pupils respond well to their ‘positive points passport’, which rewards them for good behaviour and attitudes.  Discussions with the school council revealed that bullying is not an issue at the North Road site but that it

p.5

Behaviour

does happen on the Prittlewell site, mainly name-calling, pushing and shoving. They also said that they want more to be done to prevent this from happening.  The North Road site is not conducive to promoting good behaviour. Pupils often choose to leave lessons and roam the central corridor, disrupting others. Safeguarding concerns relating to the upstairs classrooms have been raised in a recent review of the site.  Pupils’ behaviour at the Harbour Centre is managed well.

p.5

Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

 The persistent absence of pupils and their poor behaviour remain significant barriers to learning and progress. Too many are missing from school or misbehave when they are in school, which has a damaging effect on their overall achievement.  Not enough pupils acquire essential qualifications, including GCSE, vocational and entry-level awards. School records show that an increased number of pupils were entered for GCSE examinations this year. More than half of Year 11 pupils were entered for mathematics, but less than half of them sat examinations in most other subjects. Too few of them were successful in attaining at least a G grade in English, mathematics and science, and in some foundation subjects, showing that not all of them are suited to or are fully prepared for this type of examination.  Only a small proportion of pupils attained entry-level awards in English, mathematics and science, or

p.6

Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

vocational awards in hair and beauty, cooking, motor vehicle maintenance, construction and media. The proportions of pupils being suitably prepared and entered for these examinations also remains low.  Whole-school targets lack ambition. For example, this year, half of all Year 11 pupils are expected to attain at least five A* to G grades. This replicates last year. No targets are set to gauge pupils’ progress.  Current progress information is quite new and mostly unreliable. For example, this shows that 95% of pupils in Year 11 are making expected progress in mathematics and over 80% are in English. However, these figures relate to less than half of all pupils and do not take into account the significant shortfalls in their knowledge and understanding due to prolonged absence, poor behaviour and weak teaching.  The current progress of different groups of pupils is not closely monitored. The progress of disadvantaged

p.6

Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

pupils is unclear as it is not routinely checked. A small proportion of Year 11 pupils who are looked after by carers or the local authority underachieved last year because their progress was not closely monitored. The overall achievement of a small minority of pupils taught off-site or educated at home due to medical reasons is unclear because their progress is not monitored well enough.  Observations of pupils in lessons indicates that current progress varies widely and depends on the quality of teaching they receive, in particular how effectively their behaviour is managed. For example, in a Year 11 media lesson, pupils’ books showed that those present were making sustained progress because the teacher was well organised, had good relations with pupils and had high expectations of their behaviour. In a Year 9 computing lesson, serious misbehaviour was not tackled early enough and this severely

p.6

Outcomes for pupils are inadequate

restricted the progress pupils made.  The few pupils who attend the Harbour Centre make good progress in their learning and in their social and emotional development due to the good teaching, care and personalised learning they receive. School report

p.6

School details

Unique reference number 133656 Local authority Southend-on-Sea Inspection number 10001881

p.7

School details

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

p.7

School details

Type of school Special and pupil referral unit School category Maintained special and pupil referral unit Age range of pupils 5–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 120 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Graham Lane Interim executive headteacher Colin Harrington Telephone number 01702 347490 Website www.seabrook.sch.southend.uk Email address colinharrington@seabrook.southend.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 27–28 March 2014

p.7

Information about this school

 Seabrook College is a special school for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and a pupil referral unit for pupils that have been excluded or are at risk of exclusion from their previous schools.  It consists of the Harbour Centre, a nurture facility for primary-aged pupils, the Prittlewell site for pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3, and the North Road site for pupils in Key Stage 4. It also caters for a small proportion of pupils with medical needs who are taught at home.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is above average. This is additional government funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or who are in care of the local authority.  The large majority of pupils have special educational needs or a disability.  The school does not receive Year 7 catch-up funding or the physical education and sport premium.

p.7

Information about this school

 Since January 2016, an interim executive headteacher has led the school. Each of the school’s three sites has a senior leader in charge.  The school makes arrangements to educate a small minority of pupils at home or at alternative provision at Circles Farm and Rallysport.

p.7

Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 14 lessons, most of which were undertaken jointly with senior leaders, and carried out learning walks on all three sites.  Inspectors held meetings with senior and middle leaders, two groups of pupils, three members of the governing body, four representatives of the local authority and a local headteacher who is supporting the school’s leadership team.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including safeguarding policy and procedures, self-evaluation and improvement plans, minutes of governing body meetings, assessment information, records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance and an external review of safeguarding.  Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books in lessons.  Inspectors looked at Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, the two free texts sent by parents and carers, and four responses from staff.  Inspectors considered a recent written complaint about the school received by Ofsted.

p.8

Inspection team

John Mitcheson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Brenda Watson Ofsted Inspector Stephanie Lipinski-Barltrop 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 .

p.8

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.

p.9

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

p.9

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,

p.9

Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspection team

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

p.9