Durand Academy

ST CUTHMANS, TOTE LANE, STEDHAM, WEST SUSSEX, GU29 0QJ

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Inspection dates 8 June 2015 to 10 June 2015

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people Requires improvement

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Quality of care and support Requires improvement How well children and young people are protected Requires improvement

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Impact and effectiveness of leaders and managers Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings

The boarding provision requires improvement because  Safeguarding documentation and records are not robust or detailed and in one instance not accurate. They do not detail the decision making processes to ensure the safety of the children. The audit trail is weak.  Policies in relation to safeguarding have not been updated in line with current guidance relating to keeping children safe.  The school is not fully compliant with its own health and safety policy.  Remedial work to reduce the risk of fire has not been completed. No interim control measures have been implemented in a number of areas deemed as high risk and moderate risk in the fire risk assessment.  Children are not routinely able to contact their parents in private and children report the availability of the telephone is limited.  Risk assessments in relation to sleeping accommodation are informal and not documented.  The physical environment is not well maintained in the school. No risk

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Summary of key findings

assessments for the premises were provided.  The head of boarding has taken on many additional responsibilities since the consultant headteacher has left. There is insufficient oversight by the senior leadership team and this has resulted in policies, procedures and risk assessments not being consistently adhered to. Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 2 of 13 Compliance with the national minimum standards for boarding schools

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Summary of key findings

The school does not meet the national minimum standards for boarding schools.

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Summary of key findings

 NMS 4.1 Boarders can contact their parents/carers and families in private and schools facilitate this where necessary.   NMS 6.3 The school ensures that the welfare of pupils at the school is safeguarded and promoted by the drawing up and effective implementation of a written risk assessment policy and appropriate action is taken to reduce risks that are identified.  NMS 11.1 The school ensures that:  arrangements are made to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at the school; and  such arrangements have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

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Summary of key findings

What does the school need to do to improve further?

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Summary of key findings

 Extend the range of activities and opportunities available in the local community.  Enhance leadership capacity to effectively oversee the implementation of policies.  Document the risk assessment of the boarding environment, including the compatibility of pupils sharing dormitories.  Ensure the environment is well maintained and children have access to sufficient communal space and telephone.

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Information about this inspection

The notice given to schools is a minimum of one hour before the inspection team arrives. Ofsted carried out this inspection with two hours’ notice. Inspection activities included: observation of boarding practice over two evenings; formal group meetings with boarders, as well as informal discussion during shared meals; meetings and discussions with the head of boarding and deputy head of boarding, and boarding and ancillary staff; telephone conversations with the consultant headteacher of a linked site and with parents; contact with the local statutory safeguarding authority; contact with the Chair of the Governing Body; a tour of the accommodation; and scrutiny of a wide range of documentation about boarding. There were two responses on Parent View and no response to Ofsted’s point-in-time surveys. Surveys were circulated for children and staff Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 3 of 13

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Information about this inspection

to complete during the inspection. 36 were returned from children and seven from staff and these were taken into consideration.

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Inspection team

Lead inspector Emeline Evans Second inspector Keith Riley Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 4 of 13

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Information about this school

Durand Academy is an all-ability state funded co-educational boarding school for students aged 11 – 16 years. The academy is registered for 49 children all of whom are boarders. The academy is directly linked to Durand Academy in Stockwell, London.

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Information about this school

It opened in November 2014 in order to provide low cost state boarding over an extended school day for four days a week. The school now offers weekly boarding. Children are transported from Stockwell, London to the boarding provision on Monday morning and return on Friday afternoon. Entry is currently for Year 9 with plans to extend the numbers next year when the present cohort of students move to Year 10.

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Information about this school

Boarding accommodation is located on the first floor of the house with the ground floor area used mainly for teaching. This academic year, one floor has been used to provide bedroom accommodation for boys and girls in two separate wings, while the communal areas of the house have been shared. From September 2015 it is planned the upper floor will be used to provide further accommodation.

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Information about this school

At the time of this inspection, there were 37 boarders at the school. Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 5 of 13

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Inspection judgements

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

The senior management team on site at the school comprises the head of boarding with delegated responsibilities, and the deputy head of boarding. The focus on day-to-day tasks has impacted on the management capacity to monitor and review shortfalls. For example, safeguarding records do not provide sufficient detail about the actions taken. Identified health and safety matters have not been resolved in a timely manner, leaving children in a physical environment with potential risks and hazards.

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Inspection judgements

Children have made positive progress in their short time at the school and recognise this for themselves. Boarding staff make the children their priority and they have been able to build purposeful relationships. This supports effective behaviour management, and children’s behaviour is of a high standard. A parent spoken to stated,’ I trust the staff; they keep the young people safe.’

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Inspection judgements

Staff provide children with a range of opportunities to express their views, both formally, through one-to-one meetings, house meetings, the student council and the use of a suggestions box, and informally. Children are positively encouraged to express their thoughts and opinions. However, children are not given enough opportunities to talk privately with their families by telephone. Children report that there is not sufficient time to make calls and that calls are not made in private. The lack of privacy was observed during the inspection.

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Inspection judgements

Robust arrangements are in operation in relation to health in the school. There is good promotion of independence in medication arrangements, with the school nurse assessing when children are competent and ready to self-administer. This gives children a sense of responsibility.

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Inspection judgements

The personal safety and emotional well-being of children is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures. Staff are vigilant and children are given information in a variety of ways to alert and educate them on how to keep themselves safe.

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Inspection judgements

There are a wide range of sporting activities available in boarding time which promotes children’s health and development.

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Inspection judgements

Children stated how they enjoy boarding and the opportunities it has provided. Some describe it as ‘like living in a big family’ and ‘it’s like living with your brothers and sisters.’ Children did report they would like more social integration with the opposite gender as opportunities are reported as ‘limited.’

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Inspection judgements

Quality of care and support Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

Children’s individual needs are understood well by boarding staff. Children said that staff listen to them and understand their needs and there is someone Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 6 of 13 available to talk with. A school counsellor and independent visitor are available as means of support. Some children were aware that the school counsellor is the partner of the head of boarding and were reluctant therefore to disclose some of their personal feelings. Contact information about the independent visitor is available on notice boards and when prompted children were aware of this named person.

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Inspection judgements

Boarding is a new experience for all the children and this has resulted in a number of children leaving the school because they struggled to settle. The leadership and management team recognised this and is proactively looking at ways to prepare next year’s cohort of students more effectively.

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Inspection judgements

There are close links between academic and boarding staff with many staff taking dual responsibility. Due to the small size of the school, and the intensive Monday to Friday experience, the care and education for these children are very closely integrated.

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Inspection judgements

The boarding experience is helping children to further develop a positive self-view and staff treat children with dignity and respect. There is a good awareness by staff in relation to any form of discrimination, and information is provided to children during regular topical assemblies and through conversations with staff.

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Inspection judgements

While children are able to request with whom they share dormitories, and staff seek to accommodate these wishes, there is no formal written risk assessment to show how these decisions have been made. There is no audit trail in operation to demonstrate how findings, following informal risk assessments, are acted upon to tackle any identified risks. Children report that their requests have been positively responded to. Children are provided with lockable storage areas to keep their possessions safe and children do not currently report any concerns in this area.

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Inspection judgements

Some communal areas in the boarding accommodation are not well maintained. During this inspection a broken electrical socket, cracked windows and exposed wires were seen to be requiring attention, leaving children exposed to potential hazards. Some of these health and safety concerns were rectified during the course of the inspection after being brought to the senior manager’s attention. However, actions identified from a fire risk assessment have yet to be addressed and raise concerns in relation to the oversight of health and safety issues.

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Inspection judgements

There is limited communal leisure time space available to children, with only one common room. Girls and boys use this area on alternate nights due to the limited size of this area. This therefore limits the opportunities for boys and girls to socialise together.

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Inspection judgements

Children report a high level of satisfaction with the food. The school chef is very aware of any food allergies and works collaboratively with the school nurse if there are any health needs in relation to diet. The chef encourages the children to be involved and learn about the food they are eating, and he is working through related ‘modules’ with some children. Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 7 of 13 Boarding staff organise a range of activities on site, which all the children fully engage with. In response to the Ofsted survey, the majority of children stated that they felt there was not enough to do in their free time. Although the school makes attempts to integrate children into the local community, it remains affected by an overt lack of acceptance by some sections of this community. Currently, there is limited participation in leisure pursuits in the local area. The majority of activities take place onsite. Links have been made

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Inspection judgements

with other schools so that children share sporting activities with them.

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Inspection judgements

Staff report that they encourage children’s contact with family and friends. During discussion with inspectors, children considered this to be limited due to the amount of time available for this purpose and because telephone calls are not private. The available telephone is located in the middle of an open reception area in the school. On observation, other children and staff present in this area are able to overhear conversations on the telephone. Contact is a strong feature in Ofsted survey responses; approximately half disagreed or did not know if they are able to contact family and friends easily. Comments from children include, ‘we only have a short amount of time to call parents’ and it is ‘hard to contact family.’ Children spoken to re-iterated these difficulties. They said that they are not able to speak to parents and friends easily or confidentially about any needs or issues they may have while away

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Inspection judgements

How well children and young people are protected Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

Although policies in relation to safeguarding contain detailed information about child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and radicalisation, they have not been updated in line with the current statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education -July 2015. Inspectors saw evidence from the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). This stated that prior to the school opening she had attended a meeting with staff to inform them about her role and that staff appeared to have an understanding of safeguarding. However, during the inspection none of the boarding staff were able to identify who to contact externally from the organisation if they had a concern, or when a referral of concern is to be made to the chair of governors. Staff did not have an understanding of or an awareness of the role of the LADO nor were they able to describe under what circumstances to contact the safeguarding officer. While staff report having received safeguarding training

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Inspection judgements

from the head of care and through an online course, they were unable to detail the impact on their practice.

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Inspection judgements

To date, there have been no incidents that required a referral to the local authority. Where issues have been considered as potential referrals, records and audit trails are not sufficiently robust or accurate in all cases. For example, recording does not comply with statutory guidance (Keeping Children Safe in Education - July 2015), is inaccurate and lacks depth. Minutes of in-house safeguarding meetings detailed the wrong names of children requiring discussion. In addition, documentation available did not detail who was involved in decisions or how conclusions were reached. As a result an accurate overview of decisions and responsibilities cannot be Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 8 of 13 effectively reviewed. The designated safeguarding lead can verbally outline what he has done, which assured inspectors that appropriate action was taken, but there is a lack of robust corroboration of information and a reliance

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Inspection judgements

Children and staff are not fully protected by the school’s arrangement for health and safety. The school is not compliant with its own policies and an external survey in relation to health and safety. This specifically relates to electrical safety with reference to portable appliance testing on appliances over a year old and remedial work for fire safety. The arrangements for fire safety require improvement. The actions required following a fire safety consultant’s assessment have not all been implemented: the wedging of fire doors continues; cavities in walls and ceilings and the management of the fire warning system have not been addressed. This remedial work, identified as a ‘high’ fire risk in the school’s risk assessment, has not been carried out in the timescales set.

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Inspection judgements

The boarding school is in a rural location. A premises and environmental risk assessment is not in place. A fallen tree and loose branches were observed. The branches were overhanging areas which are accessed by children, presenting a risk of causing injury. The risks posed to children have not been formally assessed. No evidence was provided to demonstrate that the risks had been identified, that action was taken or had been planned.

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Inspection judgements

Children’s behaviour in the boarding house and around school is good and the developing relationships with staff form the basis of sound behaviour management. When asked about sanctions, children said there were a few, but understood the reasons when they were given. A rewards and sanctions system operates across all areas of school and boarding life, and celebrating the success of children is becoming an important feature. Children and staff report behaviours have improved since the school has opened and bullying has not been an area of concern. Children demonstrated an awareness of inclusion and valuing diversity, and gave examples of how any low level conflicts between children are addressed by staff. There have been no incidents of children going missing from the school.

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Inspection judgements

The Single Central Record in relation to boarding staff is sound. Good risk assessment is in operation to support any appointment where positive information was found on the disclosure and barring check; this is overseen by the senior leadership team in the London site.

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Inspection judgements

Impact and effectiveness of leaders and managers Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

The head of boarding has delegated responsibility for the whole school site as the executive head teacher is normally based at the organisation’s other site. The head of boarding’s operational responsibilities mean there is limited time to drive forward identified improvements. There is external scrutiny from the school governing body but this has not been sufficiently rigorous to ensure all health and safety improvements are made in a timely manner, or that safeguarding practice is robust and reflects statutory requirements. Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 9 of 13 Safeguarding procedures and assessment of risk, especially in relation to health and safety, require improvement to ensure they are implemented effectively in practice.

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Inspection judgements

The boarding provision is integral to the school and all children are boarders. The ‘welcome to boarding’ handbook offers children and parents a detailed description of the boarding provision. This promotes and provides new experiences for the children, boarding staff have high aspirations. The staff are clear on the aims and ethos of the school.

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Inspection judgements

The head of boarding is experienced in working in a residential setting. He is currently undertaking some relevant training and has started to work on familiarising himself and his team with the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools. However, there are limited development plans and self- evaluation in operation. Areas for development have been identified but it was not fully evident how the development plans focus on improving experiences and outcomes for children. There has only been one complaint about the boarding school (received into the London school). The school acted robustly in addressing this concern.

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Inspection judgements

Children benefit from a consistent approach by the small staff team who are familiar with, and who implement, the day-to-day routines effectively. Children say they can always contact a member of staff and that there are usually a minimum of two staff on duty on each corridor during boarding time. Staff effectively manage expectations and boundaries during boarding time to ensure conflicts are minimised. Children subject to exclusions from boarding travel to the London site to remain in education and do not return to boarding for the duration of the exclusion. The managers already have plans in place to rectify this through recruitment of more staff at the boarding site.

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Inspection judgements

Appraisals for staff demonstrate that there is an appropriate level of challenge from leaders. Boarding staff feel well supported informally to undertake their boarding responsibilities, with regular one-to-one and team meetings, and handovers. Staff report they are well-led and are confident in the leadership team.

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Inspection judgements

Induction programmes for staff are robust and include relevant training delivered by the head of boarding. The staff are committed to improving practice through professional development with relevant training. The training programme has core elements and staff seek training in response to the emerging needs of children, this includes specific health care needs. Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 10 of 13

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What inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspections of boarding and residential provision in schools: the inspection framework.

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What inspection judgements mean

Judgement Description Outstanding A school where the experiences and progress of children and young people consistently exceeds the standard of good and results in sustained progress and achievement. The outcomes achieved by children and young people are outstanding and the impact the boarding/residential provision has had in supporting this progress and achieving these outcomes is clearly evidenced. Good A school providing effective services which exceed minimum requirements. Children and young people are protected and cared for and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. Requires improvement A school where there are no serious or widespread failures that result in children and young people’s welfare not being safeguarded or promoted. However, the overall outcomes, experiences and progress of children and young people are not yet good. Inadequate A school where there are serious and/or widespread failures that

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What inspection judgements mean

mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded or if their care and experiences are poor and they are not making progress. Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 11 of 13

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School details

Unique reference number 136288 Social care unique reference number SC482938 DfE registration number 208/5207

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School details

This inspection was carried out under the Children Act 1989, as amended by the Care Standards Act 2000, having regard to the national minimum standards for boarding schools.

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School details

Type of school Academy Number of boarders on roll 37 Gender of boarders Mixed Age range of boarders 13-14 Headteacher Sir Greg Martin Date of previous boarding inspection First inspection Telephone number 02077358348 Email address info@durandacademy.com Inspection Report Durand Academy 08 June 2015-10 June 2015 Page 12 of 13 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

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School details

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School details

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School details

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