Broadbeck Learning Centre

Broadbeck Learning Centre Brearcliffe Drive, Buttershaw, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD6 2LE

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

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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 Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders’ high expectations of all staff and pupils provide the drive needed to secure the exceptional progress that pupils make in their personal development. Staff’s collective commitment, passion and skill ensure that they meet the complex needs of the pupils.  Directors of Witherslack Group provide highly effective support and challenge to leaders. As a result, they meet their ambitious aim to build pupils’ ‘confidence, self-esteem and trust within a supportive learning environment’.  Pupils quickly develop trusting relationships with skilful and caring staff and so engage purposefully in learning. Pupils’ attendance dramatically improves from previously very low levels. They make outstanding progress in developing skills to manage their emotions and feelings.  Pupils respond positively and engage well in a range of learning activities. This is because leaders have developed an innovative curriculum that is closely matched to pupils’

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

individual needs. Consequently, pupils make consistently good progress in a range of subjects.  Leaders are diligent about all aspects of pupils’ safety and welfare. As a result, pupils are safe and feel safe, especially those who have been traumatised by previous experiences.  Teachers and other staff work exceptionally closely together. They share responsibility for pupils’ progress, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, pupils learn well in the range of activities provided across the day. Consequently, pupils make good progress towards the challenging individual targets they are set.  Teaching is good, so pupils make good progress in a range of subjects. Pupils respond positively to challenge to improve through second and third attempts at their work. However, s ome teaching and assessment lacks the precision needed to plug gaps in pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills. This holds back the progress some that

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

pupils make.  Pupils make good progress in developing their reading skills. However, staff’s skills in teaching phonics are variable. This means that some pupils do not develop their reading and spelling skills as rapidly as they could.  Leaders sometimes miss finer details when monitoring the effectiveness of teaching. Consequently, their feedback to staff occasionally lacks the precision needed to support the development of outstanding practice.

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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 teaching and assessment to ensure that pupils make sustained and substantial progress in a range of subjects, including mathematics, English and science, by: – leaders being precise in their feedback to teachers about what they are doing that leads to pupils making rapid progress and what is less effective – developing an assessment system for pupils arriving at the school that confirms what they already know and identifies gaps in their knowledge and understanding, particularly in early reading, writing and mathematical skills – all staff being precise when sounding out letters when teaching reading and spelling – all staff following standard handwriting conventions and spelling accurately – making sure that all staff have strong subject knowledge, use questioning effectively and explain ideas and concepts clearly and accurately.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 In a very short space of time, leaders have created a school that ensures that extremely vulnerable pupils make good progress. This is because they have built a staff team that shares their vision and passion for the difference they can make to pupils’ lives. Together, leaders and staff have developed the environment, curriculum and approaches to learning that enable pupils to settle quickly, make good gains in their learning and exceptional gains in the key area of their personal development. High expectations of pupils and staff to achieve what was previously thought impossible drive all aspects of the school’s work.  Teaching, pastoral and ancillary staff are unanimous in their confidence about the leaders’ work to support their professional development. Records show that the opportunities provided through their induction period, weekly briefings on key areas of the school’s work and longer training activities are tightly matched to the complex needs of the pupils

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

and to staff’s professional development needs.  Leaders have developed the innovative and flexible ‘Curriculum14’, which is exceptionally well matched to pupils’ needs and aptitudes. This is because leaders have an excellent grasp of the barriers that pupils face to achieving good outcomes, particularly in their personal development. They have devised a curriculum that is based on four key aspects: communication, investigation, character and achievement. Pupils have personalised targets for each of these areas as well as targets in a range of subjects. Every opportunity is taken to stress the importance of the key aspects to the pupils through assemblies, lessons and activities with key workers. As a result, pupils make good progress in core subjects and outstanding progress in their personal development.  Staff are direct and unequivocal about their expectations that pupils leave their previous negative experiences behind them and focus on developing the skills and understanding

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

they need to be good British citizens.  Pupils receive effective impartial advice about their future choices. This advice and guidance helps pupils to develop a good understanding of what they need to do to fulfil their ambitions. Leaders and staff then seek out opportunities for pupils to develop the particular skills they need, for example cookery and food hygiene skills for the aspiring chef.  Leaders’ regular surveys indicate that parents and responsible social workers from placing authorities are very positive about the impact that the school has on pupils’ learning and personal development. Records of meetings confirm the positive views of local authorities.  Leaders regularly check the effectiveness of teaching and the progress that pupils make through visits to lessons and by scrutinising teachers’ plans and pupils’ work. However, they sometimes miss the finer details in their checks, so their feedback to teachers is not

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

as precise as it could be. Consequently, the variability in some aspects of teaching is not addressed. This results in pupils making good rather than outstanding progress.

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Governance

 Witherslack Group is the proprietorial body responsible for the governance of the school. Directors have an extensive range of skills, knowledge and experience that ensures that the school makes good provision for pupils who have social, emotional and mental health as their primary special educational need and secures pupils’ outstanding progress in their personal development.  Directors are confident about the accuracy of the headteacher’s monthly reports because of their first-hand knowledge of the school’s work gained through regular monitoring visits. Their views are confirmed by the reports they receive from an external consultant who reviews the work of the school.  Directors ensure that the funding received from local authorities for each pupil is appropriately spent to ensure that each pupil’s special educational needs are met. This includes ensuring that staff’s performance is assiduously managed, and suitably rewarded

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Governance

when this is appropriate.  Directors’ support and challenge to leaders were apparent during the inspection as minor gaps in documentary evidence were rectified swiftly. Importantly, directors worked with leaders during the inspection to review the appropriateness of their approach to managing pupils’ movement around the school.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders ensure that robust systems are in place to keep pupils safe. Staff are fully checked out before being appointed to work at the school to ensure that they are suitable. Appropriate records are maintained of these checks. Effective training is in place covering an appropriate range of safeguarding issues. Leaders are confident that staff understand and remember their training because they provide weekly updates and regularly quiz staff about the school’s safeguarding procedures.  The pastoral team works effectively with other agencies and particularly the care staff in the pupils’ home. Discussion between different staff involved with the pupils’ care is recorded systematically. Leaders and directors monitor these records to ensure that everyone completes the actions they have agreed.  Pupils learn about all aspects of keeping themselves safe, including how to recognise

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Safeguarding

when other people may use friendship as a way to abuse them, how to stay safe online and how to be safe when out in the community.  The proprietors ensure that annual safeguarding audits are completed so they have up- to-date knowledge about how effectively their systems are being implemented.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Pupils learn well because teachers quickly get to know how each pupil learns best and what they need to learn next. As a result, lessons, which typically include a very small number of pupils, are matched to each pupil’s interests and needs. This leads to good progress.  Teachers use different ways to assess what pupils know and understand. They plan the next steps in pupils’ learning across a range of subjects and share these next steps with all other staff. As a result, all staff ensure that pupils have the opportunity to practise and embed their newly developing skills and knowledge. For example, the cook ensures that she asks pupils questions about their food choices and prompts them to answer fully and articulate well.  Learning activities are well planned to ensure that pupils’ different barriers to learning are overcome. Most pupils have difficulty in maintaining their concentration, so teachers plan

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

short bursts of activities, linked to what the pupils need to learn. ‘Audi A3’ is a strong feature in most lessons as pupils know they will be expected to complete three attempts at a piece of work, ensuring that it improves each time. Consequently, pupils keep fully engaged and gain self-confidence as they cross things off the list of tasks they are expected to finish.  All adults are directly involved in teaching activities. Pastoral and teaching assistants lead lessons that utilise their particular skills and knowledge. As a result, the range of subjects taught, including drumming and DJ-ing, captures and builds on pupils’ interests.  Pupils quickly engage in reading and benefit from a wide range of reading materials. They are also encouraged to choose books to take home to read alongside other meaningful homework activities.  Teachers accurately assess pupils’ progress using the Witherslack Group’s assessment

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

system and set challenging targets as a result. The assessment of some pupils when they arrive at school does not always identify gaps in their early skills in reading, writing and mathematics. This results in teachers sometimes backtracking to make further checks which, in turn, holds back the progress some pupils make in these key subjects.  There are some gaps in the effectiveness of teaching. Progress in reading is not as rapid as it could be due to staff’s lack of precision when sounding out letters. Equally, staff show variable skill in discussing and questioning pupils’ understanding of what they have read. In other subjects, overall progress is held back slightly because of inconsistency in staff’s subject knowledge and the effectiveness of their questioning and explanations of ideas and concepts. Similarly, some staff do not always use standard handwriting conventions or accurate spelling.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Pupils have faced multiple challenges in their lives, which compound their social, emotional and mental-health needs. Consequently, pupils arrive at the school and the associated residential home in emotional crisis. Staff skilfully build trusting relationships with the pupils. This is key to the outstanding progress that pupils make in their personal development. Pupils embrace staff’s positive belief that they can achieve. As a result, pupils accept staff’s corrections when their actions or words are inappropriate.  Predictable routines bring necessary order in the pupils’ previously chaotic lives. The school environment and the highly personalised curriculum contribute to pupils’ significant development in regulating their responses to events and other people.  Lesson by lesson and at the end of every day, pupils are guided to reflect on their

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Personal development and welfare

attitudes and achievements. The end-of-day reflection is a powerful tool as all staff and pupils reflect in a considered way on their feelings about the day. Staff model for pupils how to use words to express difficult feelings and thoughts. This is particularly effective when staff are honest about how they feel about pupils’ attitudes.  Pupils make good gains as they learn to respect people who are different to themselves. This includes people from a range of different cultural and faith backgrounds. Staff ensure that there are many opportunities for pupils to contribute to the school and wider community. For example, pupils recently hosted an event to raise money for ‘Comic Relief’.  Staff diligently ensure that pupils’ health and welfare is always paramount in their minds. Pupils enjoy the healthy, appetising snacks and meals. They respond positively to the range of physical activities offered. Pupils who may, because of their mental-health difficulties, self-

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Personal development and welfare

harm receive effective support. School and home staff maintain pupils’ safe care through jointly agreed plans.  During the inspection, leaders refined their approach to how pupils move around school. The approach now ensures that pupils can move freely and safely around the school without an excessive amount of adult control.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. All the pupils have a history of extremely poor attendance at their previous schools. As a result of the close work between the home- care staff and school staff, all pupils’ attendance improves significantly.  Close work between school, home and therapy staff also identifies the barriers to pupils’ punctuality at school. As result, specific rewards for getting to school on time are used effectively. For example, remote-controlled car racing has been enough to completely turn around one pupil’s attitude towards being punctual.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning also improve significantly. This is because lessons are planned to match the needs and interests of each pupil. In Year 9, pupils’ work with careers advisers helps to clarify their hopes and aspirations. Staff then plan work that has clear links to pupils’ individual ambitions for the future, so all pupils have a tangible reason for

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Behaviour

getting on with their work.  Pupils very rarely need physical interventions to keep them safe and calm. When they do, well-trained staff act safely and appropriately. Detailed records, including pupils’ views of the incident, are maintained and used to help staff further develop their understanding of why pupils react inappropriately in different situations.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Due to the time the school has been open there are no external tests or examination results to compare the pupils’ progress. However, assessment information shows that pupils have made good progress in reading, writing and mathematics and a range of other subjects in the short period of time they have been at the school. The evidence in pupils’ books and work confirms the school’s assessment information.  Pupils quickly work through units of work, some of which are accredited externally, demonstrating their good level of engagement in a wide range of learning activities. This represents exceptional progress, considering their limited engagement in learning at their previous schools. However, leaders are not clear if the units of work represent exceptional progress in terms of gains in pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills because of gaps in the initial assessments they complete when the pupils first arrive at the school.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils’ progress in reading is good. The use of online learning programmes supports their development. Equally, pupils make good progress in writing and mathematics over a short space of time because of effective assessment and teaching. The staff’s shared responsibility for pupils reaching specific targets also contributes to this good progress.  The very small number of pupils who have left the school have been as well prepared for their move as possible in their particular circumstances. Pupils’ involvement in producing a summary record of their achievements and ‘best bits’ makes a meaningful contribution to their life stories.

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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

Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

Website www.witherslackgroup.co.uk/broadbeck- integrated-therapeutic-provision Email address davina.bell@witherslackgroup.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Broadbeck is a very small independent special school. Since opening in September 2016, a very small number of pupils have been on roll for a short period of time. The school is staffed for 14 pupils, the number of pupils for which the school is registered.  All the pupils are children looked after and live in a children’s home owned by the Witherslack Group. All the pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and education, health, and care plans. All the pupils are from White British backgrounds.  A range of therapeutic professionals complements the school staff team. These include a speech and language therapist, psychologists, an occupational therapist and a psychiatrist.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited a range of lessons for varying amounts of time: some were joint visits with senior leaders. The inspector also observed the end-of-day reflection period for staff and pupils as well as eating lunch with staff and pupils.  Brief discussions were held with the very small number of pupils during the inspection. No parents responded to Parent View (Ofsted’s online survey for parents). The school’s pupil survey was considered, alongside the school’s surveys of parents’ views and social workers’ views.  Meetings were held with senior leaders, teachers and other staff, including the therapeutic team. A wide range of documents was reviewed, including records relating to the pupils’ history prior to joining the school and their current work and plans.  A meeting was held with a director and the regional director for schools from the Witherslack Group, who have responsibility for the governance of the school. Further

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Information about this inspection

meetings were held with the operations director for the Witherslack Group.

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Inspection team

Susan Hayter, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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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