The Lincolnshire Teaching and Learning Centre

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Gill Kelly Interim Executive Principal The Lincolnshire Teaching and Learning Centre Smith Street Lincoln LN5 8HY

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Learning Centre

Following my visit with Dorothy Martin, Ofsted Inspector, and Jane Ferguson, Ofsted Inspector, to your school on 21 and 22 June 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions which have been taken since the centre’s previous monitoring inspection.

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Learning Centre

The inspection was the fourth monitoring inspection since the centre became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in February 2015. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Learning Centre

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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The school is not taking effective action towards the removal of special

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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The school is not taking effective action towards the removal of special

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the chair of the interim executive board and the director of children’s services for Lincolnshire.

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place in February 2015

 As a matter of urgency, make all sites of the provision safe for pupils by making sure that: – full safety audits and fire risk assessments are completed on each site, and that shortcomings are acted upon immediately – there are robust procedures for checking the safety of pupils accessing sites of alternative provision – recruitment processes are compliant with the latest statutory guidance, and are implemented rigorously – all staff, including temporary staff, undergo suitable induction procedures – sanctions for poor behaviour are appropriate, and are in line with statutory guidance – pupils are appropriately supervised at all times to ensure that their behaviour is managed effectively, and to secure their own safety and that of others.

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place in February 2015

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that: – there is agreement between the headteacher, the management committee and the local authority about the school’s status and that this is then communicated to all stakeholders – the management committee is correctly constituted and implements its statutory duties – leaders provide the management committee with the information it needs to fulfil its statutory duties and to hold leaders to account – all the required statutory policies are devised by leaders, approved by the management committee and implemented across all sites – pupils’ achievement can be more easily compared with the national picture through developing an appropriate data system – data about pupils’ behaviour is presented in a clear, simple format so that it can be analysed more effectively by leaders to support improvement – disadvantaged pupils benefit from the funding they are entitled to, to help

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place in February 2015

improve their achievement – leaders, at all levels, establish an accurate view about the quality of provision through the development of effective systems of self-evaluation

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place in February 2015

 Improve the quality of teaching and accelerate pupils’ achievement by making sure that: – information about the progress pupils make, and the standards they achieve, is accurate – teachers’ marking consistently helps pupils to identify the next steps of learning and that teachers’ comments are acted upon by pupils – suitably skilled and adequately trained staff are deployed to support pupils’ learning – the most able pupils are given work that is suitably challenging – teachers have more frequent opportunities to observe and learn from best practice across the provision – there is greater consistency in the coverage of different curriculum subjects between sites.

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place in February 2015

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

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place in February 2015

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

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the centre’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the new interim executive principal, vice-principal, chief executive of the Wellspring Academy Trust, the chair of the interim executive board (IEB) and representatives from the local authority. They met with members of the senior leadership team, a group of teachers and visited each of the three main sites. They spoke informally with teachers and pupils and observed teaching and learning in classrooms. They observed pupils’ behaviour as they arrived at the school and during lunch and playtimes. One inspector visited two of the off-site venues commissioned to provide education for the centre’s key stage 4 pupils. Inspectors spoke with parents and looked at the school’s records and documents relating to the well-being and safeguarding of pupils. Inspectors considered the progress the centre has made towards the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection.

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Context

The Wellspring Academy Trust has continued to lead the work of The Lincolnshire Teaching and Learning Centre (LTLC) since January 2016. There have been further changes to the leadership of the centre since the previous monitoring inspection in March 2016. The executive principal who started in January 2016 is no longer in post and a new interim executive principal took up her post in April 2016. A new leader with responsibility for coordinating the support for pupils with special educational needs (SENCo) has been in post since Easter 2016. There have also been changes to the leadership of the Boston and Lincoln sites. The staffing at the Grantham site has not changed significantly since the previous inspection. A significant number of temporary staff are in post at each of the three main sites. Leaders continue to use alternative provision for some key stage 4 pupils across five different settings as well as supporting some pupils through one-to-one tuition. The

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Context

reorganisation of the leadership and wider teams of staff that began in January 2016 is still ongoing and will not be complete until September 2016. The plans for the development and expansion of the existing sites and for the acquisition of additional premises are continuing but are unlikely to be in place until September or December 2016. The work to improve the physical state of the buildings has progressed further and the condition and appearance of the building and classrooms on the Lincoln site have been significantly improved.

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Outcomes for pupils

The senior leaders recognise that they still do not have an accurate view of the progress pupils are making and consequently there is no reliable evidence that the gaps between the most disadvantaged pupils and other pupils are narrowing. The new interim executive principal has worked quickly to try to establish some reliable baseline information, and assessments have been carried out in reading, writing and mathematics for each pupil. This process is not yet complete because the leaders are awaiting external moderation of the assessments to ensure that the results are accurate. The IEB and senior leaders remain determined to improve outcomes for the pupils. However, senior leaders do not have a clear view of trends of improvement or decline. This is due partly to the unreliability of the data but also because they do not analyse and report on the information they do have, to make comparisons with outcomes over time.

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Outcomes for pupils

A significant number of staff still do not extend pupils’ learning effectively enough and as a result, pupils in some classes are not making the progress they should. A small number of staff are using assessment to consistently inform their teaching, but others are not. As a result, the progress of pupils across the centre is not sufficient.

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Outcomes for pupils

The new interim executive principal has an accurate understanding of the progress that the leaders and the teachers should expect to see from pupils. Leaders acknowledge that while progress is stronger overall in the primary department, it is not equally strong in every primary class. This is due to the inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.

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Outcomes for pupils

The centre currently works with five providers of alternative provision at key stage 4. Leaders now collate clear information about the number of pupils achieving accredited qualifications and about their destinations when they leave. However, as yet, leaders do not have a clear view as to whether outcomes are improving over time or not.

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Outcomes for pupils

The interim executive principal is determined that the centre’s systems to share information with parents and carers are swiftly improved. As a result, she is currently introducing new systems to ensure that all families receive information at the end of this term about their child’s achievement.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The current leaders acknowledge that there is still too much inconsistency in the quality of teaching at each of the three main sites. The signs of early improvement seen at the last inspection have not been significantly developed. This is because the strongest teachers have not had the opportunity to model their practice to others and systems for managing the performance of teachers are still not effective. The teachers speak positively about the training events which have been introduced since Easter and how the energy and enthusiasm of the interim executive principal has ‘given us fresh ideas’. New exercise books have been introduced, which are presented in such a way as to encourage all staff to consistently follow the centre’s agreed approaches to target setting and the marking of pupils’ work. These systems are not yet fully established and therefore it is not yet possible to assess their impact in helping to raise further the quality of teaching and learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Since the previous inspection, the strong teaching which was consistently evident in some classes has been sustained. In these classes, highly effective teaching is underpinned by the high expectations teachers have of themselves. Where teaching is at its best, teachers seek to continually improve their practice and to embrace opportunities to find new ways of motivating pupils. In these classes, learning is characterised by:

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 exciting activities which capture the pupils’ interest and encourage them to contribute their own ideas  opportunities for the pupils to revisit their past work to celebrate their own achievements and progress  planned and effective opportunities for the pupils to support one another in their learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

In these lessons, the majority of pupils are proud to talk about their work and eager to say how much they enjoy learning. In one primary class, the pupils’ work around the science-based topic of ‘Tomorrow’s World’ has given pupils the opportunity to refine their skills in designing futuristic space environments while also developing their written and mathematical skills.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

In classes where teaching remains weakest, work for pupils is not planned effectively. Staff expect too little of the pupils and the behaviour of pupils is not consistently well managed. In these lessons pupils lack interest in what they are being taught and do not understand the purpose of individual activities. As a result, pupils do not make enough progress because work is not of the right level and is either too easy or too difficult.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Senior leaders are working hard to ensure that the warm and caring culture across the provision is sustained through the protracted period of changes to leadership and staffing. The recent physical improvements to the Lincoln premises contribute to a brighter and more positive atmosphere across the whole site. The staff and pupils at the Lincoln site agree that it is, quite simply, ‘a nicer place to be’.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Senior leaders have recently introduced a system which records the patterns of behaviour for individual pupils. This is helping leaders to be more focused in the support they offer individual pupils and in the way individual learning activities and sessions are organised. While it is too early to assess the full impact of this work, staff say that they are now able to provide more individually tailored learning sessions to pupils who are not yet ready to be part of a larger group. There are early signs that greater access to one-to-one support and to activities which are of genuine interest to pupils are helping some remain on task for longer and to behave well.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

However, there are too many occasions in each key stage, but particularly in key stage 3, where pupils behave poorly and do not engage in their work. Not all staff have received the required training to support pupils’ behaviour effectively. As a result, the number of instances where pupils demonstrate poor behaviour is not reducing quickly enough.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

In classes where teaching is consistently strong, pupils continue to display positive attitudes to their learning. For example:

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 pupils speak positively about the quality of support they receive from their teachers  pupils enjoy their learning and see a clear purpose to what they are doing  pupils are proud of their work and have a sense of achievement.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils’ attendance overall does not appear to be improving. Senior leaders acknowledge the need to continue to track this very carefully to ensure that they have an accurate view of the rates of attendance for different groups of pupils over time.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The majority of pupils are clear that they know who to go to for support when they are at the centre and that they feel well cared for by the staff.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The interim executive board, academy trust and local authority continue to have a clear vision for the improvement and development of LTLC. They have acted quickly to appoint a new interim executive principal following the most recent changes to leadership and staffing at the centre. The IEB has further progressed the plans for the development of the provision which is scheduled to take place between September and December 2016 while also seeking to address the areas where significant improvement is still urgently needed. However, they recognise that the pace of improvement needs to quicken, particularly with regard to the quality of teaching and the management of pupils’ behaviour.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The continuing lack of an effective system for managing the performance of staff is slowing the pace of improvements to teaching and learning across the provision. As a result, not all staff are being held to account effectively. It also means that the strengths of some staff, in terms of subject knowledge and curriculum leadership, are not being utilised effectively to improve the centre as a whole. There is still no clear leadership of the curriculum for individual subjects at key stage 3 or 4 or for English across the centre. The IEB continues to meet regularly. It is playing an important role in the recruitment of staff. Several new appointments have been made, but many staff will not be in post until the next academic year. As a result, there is still a high proportion of temporary staff in post and this is slowing the pace of improvement.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The new interim executive principal has formed respectful and trusting relationships with staff across each of the sites in an impressively short time. However, it is also clear that morale has been negatively affected by the prolonged and ongoing changes to management and staffing.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Senior leaders have continued to introduce the new policies and systems required to bring about the improvements needed. The centre has recently acquired a system to help the staff assess pupils’ abilities and needs on entry to the provision. This is not fully operational and therefore, as with several other initiatives currently, is not yet impacting on improvements on the ground for pupils.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders continue to work with five providers of alternative education at key stage 4. Staff spoken with at two of these settings stated that the frequency and quality of communication from the centre has improved significantly under the leadership of the Wellspring Academy Trust. However, they also said that the continuing low levels of attendance of some pupils remain a concern.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The SENCo and vice-principal have introduced new systems for the secure storage and analysis of confidential information relating to vulnerable pupils. Leaders now have a central overview of the involvement of different agencies for pupils and of the actions required of staff at LTLC. This ensures that staff attend the meetings required and have the advanced notice needed to prepare and distribute the necessary reports. This has not always happened in the past.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The chair of the IEB is fiercely committed to the improvement of teaching and learning across the centre and to ensuring that all aspects of safeguarding are secure. As a result, all staff across each of the sites recently attended a training event to ensure that everyone has up-to-date and secure understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. He ensures that the IEB receives regular updates regarding the attendance, attainment and progress of pupils. However, he recognises that the information provided about the pupils’ progress is still not reliable. He also acknowledges that the current systems for reporting information do not always make it clear if things are improving over time or not.

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External support

Although leaders and external stakeholders have worked hard, they need to do more to maintain the rapid levels of improvement which were evident at the previous monitoring inspection. A recent review of the actions identified in the local authority’s statement of action indicates that while some actions have been successfully completed, others have not. For example, the plans for the future development of the centre appear to be on track. However, actions to ensure effective use of the additional funding to support the needs of disadvantaged pupils and to introduce effective systems for the performance management of staff have been delayed.

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External support

The local authority continues to support the centre through the work of senior officers on the centre’s project planning group and through the work of the school improvement adviser. Staff from the local authority are working with senior leaders from the centre to develop cohesive systems for both the admission of pupils to the centre and the reintegration of pupils back into school. It is too early to assess the success of this work, but it is indicative of the positive partnership working which is developing between the local authority, the IEB and the Wellspring Academy Trust.

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