Westhaven School

Westhaven School Ellesmere Road, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset BS23 4UT

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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This is a school that requires improvement

 The school’s own evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning is too generous. The effectiveness of the school has declined since the previous inspection. Pupils are not making consistently strong progress.  The governing body does not check the work of the school regularly or robustly enough. Governors are too reliant on receiving information from the school’s leaders and managers without checking its accuracy.  Leaders have not made sure that the assessments used to track pupils’ progress are based on reliable evidence of what pupils know, understand and can do.  Teachers’ use of assessment information is too variable. Some are not using it well enough to plan purposeful learning activities. As a result, gaps in learning for younger pupils are not quickly filled and the most able pupils do not have work that is suitably challenging.  Pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural attitudes to learning are not sufficiently measured when

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This is a school that requires improvement

they join the school. As a result, their personal development cannot be accurately checked or fully supported by school leaders.

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The school has the following strengths

 The morale of staff, parents and pupils is high. Strong, supportive relationships throughout the school enable pupils to feel, and be, safe and secure.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils learn how to keep themselves calm and to control their emotions.  The school’s horticultural nursery is highly effective in providing pupils with work-based skills.  Older pupils successfully complete a good range of externally accredited courses, including GCSEs.  Pupils succeed in continuing with education and training or find work with training when they leave school. Some pupils go on to university.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: assessment of pupils’ progress is accurate and based on evidence of what pupils know, understand and can do teachers plan and adapt their teaching to ensure that the pupils make at least good progress, particularly the younger pupils and the most able.  Improve leadership and management by ensuring that: the systems for analysing pupils’ achievements and personal development are accurate and consistently applied across the school judgements about the work of the school are substantiated by reliable evidence that has been effectively quality-assured leaders and managers use information from their monitoring activities to drive school improvement and make sure that all staff are following the school’s agreed policies and procedures records are refined and developed so that leaders and governors can monitor the work of the school

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

more effectively governors rigorously monitor the work of the school and robustly challenge information that they are given about the school’s evaluation of its work.  An external review of governance should be undertaken as soon as possible, and before the end of this academic year.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Senior leaders and the governing body are unable to monitor the work of the school effectively because monitoring records are not clear or up to date. Staff find it difficult to understand and explain how pupils’ progress is being measured by school leaders, although they have their own methods. As a consequence, there is some confusion among staff about the amount of progress that pupils have made.  The curriculum provided, especially through topic work, offers good opportunities for staff to reinforce core literacy and numeracy skills through different subjects. However, this is currently under-developed because insufficient thought is given in teachers’ planning to the standard that each pupil is currently working at.  The school has developed an approach to assessment, trialled by the leader for English, that highlights small steps in pupils’ learning and which is intended for use across all subjects. Where this is being used,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

teachers can clearly and accurately demonstrate what a pupil has learned and what they need to do next. However, not all teachers are currently implementing the school’s approach. As a result, there is no shared or coherent understanding of how well pupils are achieving in different lessons.  Staff strongly promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, which is good. For example, regular assemblies have a strong moral focus, while also recognising a range of world religions.  The popular breakfast club provides pupils with a good, nutritious start to the day in a relaxed, sociable atmosphere. The after-school clubs, and regular residential visits, give pupils a good range of opportunities to practise their social skills and develop their cultural awareness. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The ethos of the school is one of calm, quiet and high expectations, known as the ‘Westhaven Way’. Staff

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

consistently apply the school’s behaviour management systems. For example, pupils are required after each break to line up quietly in the playground. This helps them to re-focus and be ready for learning again. Pupils are supervised between lessons by a member of staff, ensuring smooth movement around the school and helping to keep pupils safe.  The morale of the whole school community is high. Parents, pupils, staff and governors are very loyal to the school and have a shared ambition for the future. Pupils gain in resilience and self-confidence owing to the support and guidance that they get from the adults in this calm and respectful environment.  Senior leaders regularly check on the quality of teaching and learning throughout the school. They have noticed that teachers’ planning is not as sharply focused on filling gaps in pupils’ learning or as suitably challenging for the most able as it should be. Based on their observations, the leadership team has been

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

coaching and mentoring staff to improve the quality of teaching. Leaders have chosen to make changes to the way that teachers mark pupils’ work. Teachers now identify whether the pupil completed the work with the assistance of an adult or independently. This is helping leaders and managers to have a greater understanding of the amount of support each pupil needs.  The extra funding provided through the Year 7 catch-up, pupil premium and physical education and sports funding has been regularly reported to the governing body. The funds have been spent on activities targeted at particular individuals; the impact on pupils’ development and behaviour has been positive.  The school works well with other schools and provides effective support for young pupils so that they can stay in mainstream education and/or get the extra help that they need to be ready to learn.  The governance of the school Since the previous inspection, the governing body has changed. A number of positions remain vacant.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

At the last full governing body meeting in March 2016, the chair of the governing body and a significant proportion of the members were elected. They are currently undertaking appropriate training to meet their new roles and responsibilities. While the governing body remains highly supportive of the school, they have not challenged the school’s leaders and mangers robustly enough. Monitoring of the school’s work is weak. For example, the information used as part of determining staff pay progression has not been rigorously followed up to ensure that the required improvements are made.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders and managers ensure that the school’s practice to keep pupils safe complies with guidance issued by the Secretary of State, set out in ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (July 2015). Staff have received safeguarding training and are aware of their duties to prevent potential radicalisation and extremism. However, not all staff are aware of the mandatory

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

reporting requirements that came into force on 31 October 2015. Pupils feel safe, they are taught effectively about risks to their safety, including risks from the internet and the use of social media. A full- time healthcare assistant monitors all health care plans, medication and day-to-day care of pupils. These records are clear and consistent . School leaders work effectively with other agencies when pupils are at risk of harm, for instance in relation to safeguarding concerns.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teachers have identified specific targets for each pupil in English and mathematics. However, these targets are not sufficiently considered by all teachers when planning learning activities, nor is work adapted to meet them during lessons. As a result, work is not typically set at a suitably high level of challenge for the most able pupils.  Teachers are not consistently using the school’s agreed assessment system to measure pupils’ progress. Teachers who are not using the system fail to set work for the youngest pupils that is firmly based on what the pupils already know and can do in the subject, or their abilities in literacy and numeracy. As a consequence, gaps in pupils’ learning are not filled as quickly as they should be. This lack of consistency also compromises the accuracy of information that leaders, managers and the governing body have about pupils’ achievements.  The topic work that pupils are given covers a range of subjects, such as design and technology, art, and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

the humanities. However, teachers are not ensuring that pupils’ targets, particularly those for literacy and numeracy, are taken into sufficient consideration when planning these lessons.  Those pupils who struggle with their reading, regardless of age, are provided with specialist support to develop their recognition of letters and sounds (phonics skills) until they can read unaided. Those who can read fluently are encouraged to read a wide range of material. Although pupils’ reading fluency improves to be at least good, sometimes the pupils’ understanding about what they have read is less developed. Where this is the case, it is linked directly with the pupils’ special educational needs. The staff are aware of this. They and other adult helpers take time to listen to the pupils reading and, through discussion with them, help to improve the pupils’ understanding as well as their fluency.  Older pupils who are undertaking courses at college and in school are making good progress in their

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

learning. Teachers follow the syllabuses well and help pupils to succeed in their examinations.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  The school does not have clear records of pupils’ behaviour and personal development when they start at the school. Consequently, leaders, including governors, cannot judge how well pupils are doing in this aspect and whether their specific individual needs are receiving the best support. Although parents and pupils feel that pupils’ personal development improves because of attending this school, there are no reliable records through which leaders can demonstrate how much progress pupils are making. As a result, too much evaluation of pupils’ gains is made on anecdotal evidence.  The personal, social and health curriculum, along with the house system and mentoring programme, help pupils to understand how laws are made in a democracy and why it is important that they are followed.  The staff actively promote equality of opportunity well. Pupils have a good range of responsibilities and

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Personal development and welfare

roles where they demonstrate the application of what they have learned, such as turn-taking, giving others a chance and considering how others might feel.  Pupils’ files show that the individual needs of each pupil are understood and shrewdly considered by staff. A full-time learning mentor provides effective proactive and reactive support. Strategies to help pupils manage their behaviour in school are carefully worked out with their families. Staff work closely with other agencies when families are vulnerable due to their circumstances.  Attendance figures are consistently high. The vast majority of pupils attend school regularly because they enjoy their learning and meeting up with their friends. For the very few that do not want to be in school, the staff work closely with their families and other partners to encourage them to attend regularly.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Staff expectations of behaviour are consistently high.  The ‘student voice assemblies’ and the ‘Westhaven School Council’ enable pupils regularly to say what they think about the school. Adults listen to them. For example, older pupils wanted to wear blazers, which they now do, and pupils have been involved in choosing the new playground equipment.  Pupils are excited to come to school and are keen, willing learners. The staff have created a culture that celebrates pupils’ personal development as strongly as that of their academic achievements. Pupils are rewarded through a well-established merit system, celebration assemblies and verbal praise. They, and their families, appreciate and value the reward system used. Its consistent application by staff helps pupils to understand right from wrong, so pupils try to do their best at all times during the school day.

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Behaviour

The house system is also highly effective at encouraging pupils’ team work, decision-making and social skills.  Senior leaders have set an ethos of creating a warm, family-oriented culture for the school. Staff and older pupils act as excellent role models. Younger pupils are also polite, kind and considerate. As a result bullying is rare in this school. On the exceptional occasions when someone is unkind or thoughtless, staff quickly and efficiently resolve the situation.  Some pupils struggle to control their behaviour. Some pupils find it hard to keep to the school rules and meet the high expectations set down by staff. When they start to be disruptive they need help from staff in order to calm down. Staff systematically and consistently apply the school’s rules and procedures. As a result, these pupils increasingly require less help from adults to regain their self-control.  It is rare for pupils to be excluded from this school.

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Behaviour

 Because pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural attitudes to learning are not sufficiently checked when they join the school, the school cannot accurately measure the progress that pupils make in these areas.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 The quality of assessment information and records of pupils’ progress over time are confused and muddled. Leaders cannot confidently demonstrate whether pupils are making the progress of which they are capable. Work in pupils’ books, observations of pupils’ learning and discussion with staff show that the progress pupils make is not consistently good.  Pupils are not developing their literacy and numeracy skills strongly enough throughout the school day.  Pupils make good progress in developing their fluency of reading and in understanding what they have read. Pupils make effective use of their ‘home diaries’ to learn the purpose of writing outside of the school environment. Staff help them to tackle errors in their writing, so that the work produced is directly related to the pupils’ literacy learning targets.  The school’s business and enterprise specialism and its partnerships continue to provide rich learning

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

opportunities for all the pupils. The professional set-up of a horticultural nursery with over 6,000 plants is highly successful in developing pupils’ numeracy, literacy, horticultural and social skills in real-life situations.  The land-based vocational courses ensure that older pupils are well prepared for the world of work and life beyond school. By selling their own produce to the general public, they learn a vast range of skills. They learn to use money sensibly and provide a professional service to customers. They all learn how to live independently after they leave school.  Good-quality, regular external careers advice, and reinforcement from staff, effectively support pupils to be successful in attaining apprenticeships and college places or joining the world of work when they leave school. The staff ensure that pupils’ aspirations match their capabilities and interests, including taking

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

university courses. This year, five former pupils have started degree courses at university.

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School details

Unique reference number 109406 Local authority North Somerset Inspection number 10003708

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Special School category Foundation special Age range of pupils 7 to 16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 96 Appropriate authority The local authority Chair Steve Etchells Headteacher Tracy Towler Telephone number 01934 632 171 Website https://westhavenschool.org.uk Email address westhaven.spec@n-somerset.gov.uk Date of previous inspection March 2011

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Information about this school

 The previous headteacher resigned in September 2014. In February 2015, the acting headteacher was appointed as substantive head. A new deputy headteacher was appointed in September 2015.  The school’s extended provision includes a breakfast club and after-school clubs, which are managed by the school.  The school offers flexible placements in partnership with mainstream schools. Currently, the school is supporting a few pupils, on a temporary basis, who are younger than seven years of age.  Most pupils at Westhaven School have either moderate learning difficulties or, increasingly, needs on the autistic spectrum. A small number have additional medical or physical needs. All pupils have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage, are boys, and are known to be eligible for free school meals.  Although few in number, all of the pupils in Year 7 are entitled to the Year 7 catch-up funding. This is

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Information about this school

extra government funding for any Year 7 pupil who did not achieve level 4 in reading and/or mathematics at the end of Year 6.  Pupils in Year 10 and Year 11 attend Weston College to train in vocational areas and to take part in learning taster courses. These pupils also access two weeks of work experience per year.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited classes and carried out joint observations of learning with senior leaders.  Meetings and reviews of school documentation were conducted with senior leaders, an external consultant working with the school, and three members of the governing body.  Discussions were held both formally and informally with pupils about their experiences in school.  The inspectors observed pupils throughout the school day.  A range of documentation was scrutinised, including pupils’ work, information about pupils’ performance and progress, and the school’s procedures for safeguarding and for monitoring attendance.  The inspectors took account of the views from pupils, staff and parents directly, and from the completed online questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Steffi Penny, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Andrew Penman 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

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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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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