Anderida Learning Centre

Anderida Learning Centre Neville Mews, 6A Neville Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN22 8HR

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Adequate

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The proprietor has not ensured that the independent school standards are met.  Safeguarding is ineffective. Leaders do not know and, as a consequence, do not meet their statutory responsibilities to keep pupils safe.  Leaders do not have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.  The management of teachers’ performance is not effective.  The quality of teaching and learning is inconsistent. Staff do not always have the subject knowledge or resources to ensure that pupils make good progress.  Leaders do not record all of the sanctions they use to manage pupils’ behaviour. Staff are not always clear about what to do when managing pupils’ behaviour.  Some pupils make good progress, others do not. The wider curriculum does not help pupils develop their basic literacy skills.  Plans and strategies to support the most vulnerable pupils are not as effective as they should be. As a result, pupils’ attendance is not

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

always good.  The science curriculum is not balanced. Planned learning is almost always focused on the human body. As a result, pupils do not make good progress.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils get very effective support from staff to help them secure appropriate further education and apprenticeship opportunities when they leave school.  Leaders are committed to improving the school. For example, during this inspection they addressed shortcomings with their recruitment processes.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school must take action to meet the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements. The details are listed in the full report.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make rapid improvements so that safeguarding is effective by ensuring that: – leaders, including the proprietor, know and understand their statutory responsibilities – staff have read and understood part 1 of ‘Keeping children safe in education’ – risk assessments are in place for all relevant activity, including for pupils on work experience – all concerns about a pupil’s well-being and safety are reported and recorded effectively.  Improve leadership and governance of the school by ensuring that: – leaders know, understand and meet the independent school standards – schemes of work are in place for all subjects – the policies and procedures to manage pupils’ behaviour are clear about the sanctions that staff use, and that all significant sanctions are recorded – leaders have a better understanding about the quality of teaching and the progress that pupils are making – teachers receive feedback about their work, and their performance is managed

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

effectively.  Improve teaching and learning to secure better pupil progress by ensuring that: – all teachers have good subject knowledge – basic literacy skills are taught well in all subjects – pupils access a wider range of opportunities to develop their scientific knowledge and skills.  Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by ensuring that: – effective strategies are in place to ensure that pupils, including the most vulnerable, want to come to school – staff know, understand and use the school’s behaviour management system consistently effectively.

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

 Ensure that appropriate plans and schemes of work for all subjects are in place and implemented (paragraph 2(1), 2(1)(a), 2(2)(a)).  Ensure 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 (paragraph 7, 7(a), 7(b)).  Ensure the promotion of good behaviour among pupils by ensuring that a written behaviour policy is drawn up that, among other matters, sets out the sanctions to be adopted in the event of pupil misbehaviour; and the policy is implemented effectively (paragraph 9, 9(a), 9(b), 9(c)).  Ensure 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 (paragraph 16, 16(a), 16(b)).  Ensure that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school:

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

– demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; – fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently; and – actively promote the well-being of pupils (paragraph 34(1), 34(1)(a), 34(1)(b), 34(1)(c)).

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leaders are not as familiar with the independent school standards as they need to be. Standards relating to the curriculum and the welfare, health and safety of pupils are not met. As a result, procedures to keep pupils safe are not effective and some subjects are not taught well enough.  Leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and learning that the school provides. Teachers do not get feedback on what they are doing well and where things could be better. Leaders do not manage teachers’ performance effectively.  Staff value the support they are given and the expertise that leaders have in managing pupils’ behaviour. However, teachers do not access training to improve their teaching.  Leaders do not have an effective plan to improve the school. As a result, they are not clear enough about the difference they want to make to pupil’s outcomes, behaviour and attendance.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leaders do not have clear policies for managing pupils’ behaviour. Pupils are sent home after three warnings but this sanction is not clear in any policy and is not recorded appropriately.  The curriculum is broad. Pupils engage in a wide range of physical exercise, for example through horse riding, gym sessions and swimming. However, aspects of the curriculum are imbalanced. For example, some planning is weak so that coverage of science, for instance, is patchy.  Pupils value the extra-curricular activities that the school provides. They talk positively about Friday lunchtimes, when staff and pupils go out and eat together in a range of public places. Pupils are given good opportunities to develop their personal and social skills.  The headteacher has a large teaching commitment. Other staff do not always use their time effectively to make a wider contribution to the running of the school.  Leaders are passionate about the school and want it to be better.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Relationships between pupils and leaders are positive. Leaders treat pupils with respect and pupils value this.  Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They learn about other cultures and faiths. As a result, pupils are able to use their knowledge to question stereotypes and develop a tolerance and respect for others.

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Governance

 The school is led by a sole proprietor. Systems to hold leaders to account for the quality of education are not effective. The proprietor knows this. The directors of the wider company, who line-manage leaders, recognise that they do not have enough knowledge or insight about the work of the school.  The proprietor is ambitious for the pupils and the school.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.  Leaders do not know or understand their statutory responsibilities to keep pupils safe. As a result, the current safeguarding policy is not fit for purpose.  Leaders have not ensured that staff are aware of the current statutory guidance to keep pupils safe. Consequently, staff do not have all of the knowledge and understanding they need to have.  The reporting and recording of concerns that staff have about pupils’ safety and well- being is inconsistent and therefore not effective. Some recordings of incidents are meticulous. Other concerns are not reported effectively or recorded properly.  Leaders do not have a policy that is clear about how they assess risks to pupils. As a result, risk assessments are inconsistent. Some show a clear understanding of the vulnerabilities of pupils and the actions that adults will take to reduce those risks.

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Safeguarding

However, some activities, such as when pupils take part in work experience off the school premises, are not assessed for risk. As a result, leaders’ overall assessment of risk is not effective.  Leaders are passionate about the safety and well-being of pupils. However, they do not have the knowledge to ensure that safeguarding is effective. Leaders have professional expertise in meeting statutory requirements and keeping pupils safe in children’s homes. Many of the shortcomings, but not all, are because leaders do not know the relevant statutory guidance. For example, leaders only rectified deficits in their recruitment checks and the recording of those checks during this inspection.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching and learning is inconsistent. Assessment information is sometimes used well to set work that is appropriately challenging. However, some work is not easily accessible by pupils because it is too hard.  Pupils are given good opportunities to develop their mathematical reasoning through solving problems. However, some adults do not have the required subject knowledge to teach mathematics with confidence and accuracy.  The resources available to pupils are not always as good as they should be. Some lessons are well prepared. For example, first aid courses use a range of practical resources that enable pupils to use and apply their knowledge. However, some resources introduce errors or inadvertently contain the answers that pupils are challenged to work out for themselves.  Planned learning is not clear enough about what knowledge, concepts and skills pupils are developing. As a result, sometimes teachers give too much attention to checking that

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

pupils complete tasks or activities rather than thinking about what is being learned.  The teaching of science is inconsistent. Pupils are given limited opportunities to engage in practical work and develop scientific enquiry skills.  Teachers do not develop pupils’ basic literacy and numeracy skills well enough when teaching other subjects, such as science, food technology or child development. Adults’ expectations of pupils are not always high enough, particularly of pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development is inadequate.  Pupils are not safe. Some of the policies and procedures to ensure pupils’ safety and well- being are not effective.  Most pupils take pride in their work and in their achievements. They are able to reflect on the negative views they held about education prior to starting at Anderida and the difference that the school has made to them.  The school provides a wide range of effective careers support and guidance. The school works tirelessly to provide relevant work experience for pupils. Leaders have helped pupils to seek out, apply for and secure relevant further education placements. Pupils value the significant investment that leaders make in securing positive next steps in their education and training.  Pupils are taught to stay safe. Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe online. Sex and relationships education is taught effectively, with a strong focus on safety

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Some pupils have good attendance, are focused on their schooling and make good progress. However, this is not consistent. The plans and strategies to support the most vulnerable pupils are not routinely effective. As a result, some pupils do not come to school often enough.  Many pupils have good relationships with staff and are keen to learn. However, some pupils do not have these positive relationships with adults, and this has a negative impact on their engagement in learning.  Behaviour in lessons and around the school is mostly calm. Staff are able to use effective strategies to quickly challenge low-level disruption in lessons. However, some pupils wilfully refuse to learn.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils make too little progress overall, notably in developing basic numeracy and literacy skills. Those with poor attendance, including the most vulnerable, do not make good progress.  Some pupils make good progress through their functional skills assessments in both mathematics and English. However, pupils do not readily apply their skills in wider subjects, such as child development. As a result, they do not achieve as well as they could.  Pupils studying child development and sports science develop some basic scientific knowledge about the human body. Because there is no carefully planned scheme of work, the science curriculum pupils do not develop a wide enough range of basic scientific skills and knowledge.  During this inspection, all pupils who accessed the level 2 first aid course passed their assessments.  Almost all pupils secure appropriate apprenticeships and/or college placements.  Pupils achieve well in art. Powerful pieces of pupils’ artwork depicting their aspirations

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

and views of themselves as young people take pride of place in communal areas around the school.

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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.anderidalearningcentre.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 22–23 January 2014

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Information about this school

 Anderida Learning Centre is a small independent day school located in a residential area of Eastbourne, East Sussex. It opened in 2013.  The school’s first standard inspection took place in January 2014, when the overall effectiveness was judged to be adequate, although not all of the independent school standards were found to be met.  The school is registered to take up to eight pupils.  The school is part of a wider company, Anderida Care, a company that runs a number of care homes.  All pupils are placed in the school by local authorities. Pupils have not been successful in mainstream education. All pupils live in the residential care provided by the company.  There are no pupils accessing 16 to 19 provision.  The school does not use alternative providers.  Three pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning across the school and also carried out a scrutiny of pupils’ work.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, directors, the proprietor and staff.  The inspector considered the views of pupils through a series of informal meetings.  The inspector considered parents’ and carers’ views through the 10 responses to the ‘Parent View’ online survey and the free-text responses submitted by some parents.  A range of documents was examined, including the school’s self-evaluation, schemes of work and improvement plans. Information about safeguarding arrangements was checked, as were the single central record, risk assessments and a range of policies.  All the education independent school standards were checked during this inspection.

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Inspection team

Mark Cole, 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

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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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Inspection team

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