Clannad Education Centre

Clannad Education Centre Care of Five Rivers Child Care, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 3UT

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school is well led and arrangements for governance are good. All the independent school standards are met.  The school’s headteacher, also known as the ‘teacher in charge’, has positive relationships with pupils and placing authorities alike. As his focus in such a small setting is teaching, leaders agree that he would benefit from further professional development in educational leadership and management.  Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. The curriculum is built around each pupil individually; it is truly personalised to meet their specific aptitudes, interests and needs. As one virtual headteacher put it, ‘the school may be very small, but what they offer certainly isn’t narrow’.  Teachers work hard to prepare pupils well for their next steps and are at the early stages of enhancing the careers education offer, which will ensure that pupils access more regular external information, advice and guidance.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils make good progress in a range of areas, especially socially, emotionally and behaviourally, and in their English, which is taught particularly effectively.  The organisation’s head of education has significantly raised standards and expectations, but is relatively new in post. The systems for checking on the quality of teaching are good and evolving. Their long-term impact is yet to be seen, as they are not yet fully embedded.  Progress is formally monitored and evaluated in reading, writing, mathematics and science. Leaders are rightly developing a system which ensures that pupils’ progress is measured in all areas of the curriculum from their various starting points.  Pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding. Against the odds, the school’s patient, flexible and caring staff ensure that pupils make sustained personal and behavioural improvement over time.  Safeguarding is effective. Regular training,

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

some of which is bespoke to the needs of the pupils, ensures that staff understand the systems in place to keep pupils safe. Pupils say that they feel safe and trust the school’s staff.  All placing authorities, virtual schools and social care teams spoken to during the inspection were positive about the school’s work.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – the headteacher, who has a range of teaching and pastoral responsibilities as the school’s ‘teacher in charge’, accesses appropriate professional development opportunities in relation to his leadership and management responsibilities – the new and evolving systems for quality assuring the work of the school are fully embedded, ensuring that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment improves further.  Improve pupils’ outcomes by: – enhancing the provision for careers education further, ensuring that all pupils access more regular, impartial and high-quality information, advice and guidance – ensuring that progress is measured from pupils’ starting points in all areas of the curriculum.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Since the previous inspection, all staff members have changed. From April 2015, this very small school has been led by the headteacher, also known as the ‘teacher in charge’. He has a significant teaching responsibility and has excellent relationships with pupils and representatives from placing authorities, such as virtual headteachers and social workers.  The work of the school is overseen by the wider organisation’s head of education, who joined Five Rivers Child Care in January 2016. He effectively supports and challenges the work of the ‘teacher in charge’ and has worked well to raise expectations and standards in the school, implementing good systems for checking the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. However, much of this work is relatively new and evolving and the ‘teacher in charge’ has, understandably, spent most of his time on his own teaching and pastoral care responsibilities. The school is, therefore, rightly organising professional

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

development for him to learn more about headship and to focus more on his role as a leader and manager. The head of education is realistically ambitious about the impact the systems for raising the quality of teaching, learning and assessment will have when they are fully embedded over time.  All those spoken to throughout the course of the inspection, such as representatives from pupils’ placing authorities, virtual schools and social care teams, were very positive about the work of the school. None had any concerns and all had nothing but praise for the school’s flexible, communicative and positive approach.  The curriculum is designed in a bespoke way to meet the needs of pupils who arrive at the school at different times and for often unpredictable amounts of time. The curriculum is effectively planned and covers all the required areas of learning. Wherever possible, pupils gain accreditation in a wide range of pertinent areas, such as emotional well-being,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

first aid, safe personal relationships and lifestyles, money management, communication skills, fitness and sexual health. Where possible, the school provides off-site training opportunities; for example, for pupils wishing to pursue a career in the beauty industry, an appropriate course was identified and organised. The quality of careers education is appropriate, but it requires further development. The school is currently organising a new external provider to ensure that pupils get more regular, external careers information, advice and guidance.  The curriculum is enhanced by a range of trips and activities. For example, pupils visit the local farm and various places of worship, and engage in horticultural and musical projects. Pupils are also encouraged to undertake voluntary work experience, for example in a local charity shop. They also participate in organising presents for the homeless and fund-raise

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

for children’s charities and a local children’s hospice. These activities have a significantly positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school’s commitment to teaching pupils about the protected characteristics, as identified in the Equality Act 2010, and to preparing pupils for life in modern Britain, is equally positive and is threaded through the curriculum.  The school is well staffed and resourced and, while staff clearly care deeply for the pupils, they also have high expectations of their learning and progress. The monitoring of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment reflects these expectations and is challenging teachers to raise them even further. A regular programme of lesson observations and checks on pupils’ work is having a positive impact and is well linked to the school’s system for managing staff performance.

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Governance

 Governance is good.  The ‘teacher in charge’ is effectively supported and held to account by the wider organisation’s head of education, who chairs the board. His weekly reports are scrutinised and half-termly monitoring visits verify the content of these reports, drawing on evidence from pupils’ work, lesson observations and progress information. The ‘teacher in charge’ attends governance meetings known as ‘school forum’ meetings three times each academic year. Additional support and challenge are provided by an external colleague, who undertakes quality assurance visits, the last of which was in January 2017. Leaders respond positively to suggested actions and implement them rapidly, as appropriate. Governance, which has significantly strengthened under the leadership of the head of education, ensures that standards in the school are at least solidly good in all respects. Leaders are ambitious to do more.

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Governance

 The head of education and the ‘teacher in charge’ effectively oversee the school’s system for checking on the performance of staff. Both ensure that decisions about salary increases are based on evidence that is securely linked to pupils’ progress.  Leaders and board members have an accurate view of the school’s performance and know the next steps required to improve the quality of provision further.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Pupils say that they feel and are safe in their school.  At the very root of the school’s culture is the fundamental need to keep pupils safe.  All staff, including designated safeguarding leaders, have completed appropriate training, including in relation to the ‘Prevent’ duty and in de-escalation, physical intervention and crisis management.  Keeping safe, especially online, is a significant and effective thread through the curriculum. Pupils are rightly repeatedly taught about keeping themselves safe.  The school works very effectively with pupils’ social workers and their virtual schools. Safeguarding leaders ensure that all concerns are taken seriously, and followed up appropriately.  The school makes use of some off-site facilities to support pupils’ learning. Appropriately robust risk assessments are in place to ensure that effective action is taken to minimise

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Safeguarding

risks to pupils’ safety.  The school’s safeguarding policy, available online, is based on the Secretary of State’s latest guidance, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (September 2016). All staff know this guidance and the school’s internal procedures well.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is typically good.  The school’s entirely flexible and bespoke approach enables pupils, who have generally had highly complex educational histories, quickly re-engage with learning.  Strong working relationships between pupils and teachers and the teaching assistant enable pupils to feel confident about asking for advice and guidance. Pupils very often receive one-to-one support, providing them with opportunities to make up for lost time and make good progress.  The school is caring, nurturing and calm. Teachers have genuinely high expectations of pupils’ learning. Teachers’ focused planning facilitates high levels of pupil engagement, especially in English. Pupils’ reading skills are well developed.  Accurate checks on pupils’ attainment on entry to the school enable teachers to track progress over time, which is sometimes a short period of time, and use this information to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

inform their planning. Pupils receive regular oral and written feedback on how well they are doing, in line with the school’s marking policy. Scrutiny of pupils’ work folders confirmed that pupils know how to improve their work and, as a result, they make good progress.  Teachers’ management of pupils’ behaviour in class is highly effective.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Pupils’ confidence, social skills and emotional well-being are successfully developed as a matter of absolute priority. Pupils confirmed that they are able to make very good progress because of the small size of the provision, and the individual attention they receive.  Pupils, who have all experienced varying levels of trauma and disruption, are very well prepared on their journeys to living safely and productively as members of British society, despite their complexities and vulnerabilities. This is especially impressive when the emergency nature of some placements is considered; some pupils arrive suddenly, and some stay for a matter of a few months. Despite this, the school wastes no time in doing all it feasibly can to meet pupils’ personal development and welfare needs.  The school’s effective arrangements for safeguarding confirm why pupils told the

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Personal development and welfare

inspector that they felt safe in school.  Pupils confirmed that bullying is non-existent in the school. In the unlikely event of a bullying incident, the school’s systems are designed to deal with these quickly.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  The school’s nurturing, positive behaviour system is highly effective in raising self-esteem and reinforcing positive behaviours. The school’s focus is on rewarding positive behaviours, as exemplified on its ‘wow wall’, celebrating the range of pupils’ achievements and improvements.  Records of behaviour and physical intervention are detailed and clear. There has been one serious incident recorded since the previous inspection; misbehaviour is exceptionally rare. There have been no permanent exclusions and the use of fixed-term exclusion is exceptionally rare.  All current pupils attend very regularly. Generally, pupils arrive at the school with poor absence records, some as school refusers. The school rapidly improves their attendance.  Highly effective training, daily communication and a shared understanding of pupils’ needs enable staff to work together to understand pupils’ complex needs and to work

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Behaviour

with them in a consistently positive way.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils typically arrive at Clannad Education Centre with significant gaps in their education as a result of significant life events and/or previous placement breakdowns. Many have previously attended many different schools or refused to attend school.  On entry, each pupil’s attainment in reading, writing, mathematics and science is checked to confirm his or her starting points. Pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural starting points are also identified. Teachers use this assessment information effectively to plan appropriately challenging work, including for those most able pupils, such as pupils capable of completing GCSEs.  From these starting points, the school’s information shows that all pupils make generally good progress across the range of academic subjects. The numbers are too small to identify patterns of trends in terms of groups. Older pupils achieve good outcomes at GCSE and in a range of accredited courses, such as functional skills qualifications and

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Outcomes for pupils Good

certificate awards. Pupils make generally very good social, emotional and behavioural progress.  Regular progress reports and formal annual reports to placing authorities are thorough in their explanation of pupils’ holistic progress, attainment and personal achievements.  While teachers know and can speak about the progress pupils make in all subjects, leaders are developing their assessment system in order to identify starting points formally and to track pupils’ progress in all areas of the curriculum.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Headteacher (‘teacher in charge’) Greg Higman

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £44,200 to £65,780

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School details

Email address mark.barcroft@five-rivers.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11–12 June 2013

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Information about this school

 Clannad Education Centre is part of the Five Rivers Child Care group. It caters for pupils who are looked after by their local authorities and who are likely to have special educational needs and/or disabilities, predominantly in relation to their social, emotional and mental health difficulties.  The school’s last full standard inspection in June 2013 judged the school’s overall effectiveness to be good and all the independent school standards to be met.  The school makes use of off-site provision. This includes vocational education options at TLT Academy, Bromley; physical education sessions at Walnuts Gym, Orpington; and drama workshops at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley.  The school’s website meets all the requirements of the independent school standards.

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Information about this inspection

 This full standard inspection took place with one day’s notice.  The inspection was conducted in collaboration with the school’s ‘teacher in charge’. The inspector observed learning throughout the inspection. He also met with two pupils individually, spoke with all staff and met with the wider organisation’s head of education.  The inspector spoke with three representatives from placing local authorities’ virtual schools, a pupil’s social worker, the local authority designated officer (LADO) and the wider organisation’s human resources manager.  The inspector scrutinised the school’s information about pupils’ progress and their attendance and behaviour. He also reviewed a wide range of documentation, including pupils’ work, school policies, logs, risk assessments, evidence of staff training and information related to safeguarding and health and safety.  The inspector toured the premises and considered additional information and evidence in

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Information about this inspection

relation to the independent school standards.  There were no questionnaires completed by staff or any contributions to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

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Inspection team

James Waite, lead inspector 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

Parent View You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

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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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