Willow House Hospital School

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

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Ms Sally Marsden Headteacher Willow House Hospital School 41 Barkham Rd Wokingham Hospital Wokingham RG41 2RE

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

Following my visit to the school on 17 October 2017 with Ofsted Inspector, Ross MacDonald, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be outstanding in May 2013.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

This school continues to be outstanding.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

The leadership team has maintained the outstanding quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, together with your senior leaders, have maintained very high standards despite the significant changes in the admission arrangements. You and your team continue to give hope to the pupils you serve, many of whom have previously lost hope in the prospect of having productive futures. The continued success of the school is based on your detailed knowledge of your pupils and unwavering determination to give them opportunities to return to education and training.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

Leaders have created an ambitious culture which is both supportive and challenging. There is a strong sense of trust and support for those pupils who are well enough to attend classes. During my visit to the classroom, the atmosphere was purposeful and pupils were appropriately engaged in a range of learning activities. All staff interviewed feel proud to work at Willow House Hospital School. Those parents interviewed would recommend the school to others. Parents commented very positively about the school’s work, highlighting how you and your staff go ‘beyond the extra mile’ to support the pupils in your care.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

Pupils spend approximately six to eight weeks as inpatients in the hospital and receive a highly personalised curriculum that builds on their prior educational history. Over the last three years, the clear majority of pupils who are well enough have successfully returned to their home schools or colleges. You act decisively to ensure that those pupils who are at risk of not being able to finish their studies are able to access suitable further training and education. You have introduced new bespoke courses that pupils can complete during their time with you. As a result, the young people leave the hospital school having made excellent progress, most having achieved at least one GCSE-equivalent qualification.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

Since the previous inspection, there has been a significant change in the nature of the pupils that the hospital school serves. Pupils are now routinely referred under the Mental Health Act and remain in the unit at all times during their stay. Leaders are determined to meet the needs of these pupils as well as possible, even though some pupils with very complex needs are not well enough to attend school every day.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

You have taken extremely effective action to address the area for improvement identified at the previous inspection. This was to improve how you assessed pupils’ performance over time. You work with other similar hospital schools to establish a highly robust system that captures pupils’ achievement. There are daily assessments of pupils’ well-being and resilience as well as their academic outcomes. This information is collated very effectively on a weekly and termly basis to support planning and evaluation. The teachers I met are invigorated. They are very keen to develop further their extensive subject knowledge of new courses and to improve even further how they prepare pupils for the new GCSE and A-level courses. You have forged very strong links with the local secondary schools so that Willow House staff can attend training and moderate their assessment of pupils’ work. Consequently, teachers are continuing to gain confidence about the judgements

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

they make about pupils’ progress over time.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

Teaching has improved even further since the last inspection. Teachers work very effectively with clinical staff to support pupils to apply the life skills they develop to their learning and thinking across the curriculum. Teachers promote reading very effectively by making the most of the award-winning local library service. The school’s own library was skilfully changed to engage pupils, especially those who had read rarely prior to their admittance to the unit. As a result, more pupils read much more widely and more often than in the past. Teachers also work closely with the home schools of the pupils to ensure that crucial work is completed so that pupils are much better prepared for their future examinations.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

Governors have a very accurate overview of the work of the school and regularly visit to see how well pupils are doing. You and the governors use appraisal skilfully to promote very high expectations of teaching and quickly raise pupils’ levels of achievement. The school development plan is appropriately focused on the changing demands of the education service, for example on supporting pupils as the hospital provision expands.

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Short inspection of Willow House Hospital School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that all records are detailed and of excellent quality. Safeguarding procedures are thorough and rigorous. Leaders maintain well-ordered records which are shared appropriately with partners in the National Health Service. Training for staff is of a high quality and there are appropriate checks made on the recruitment of staff new to the school. Leaders are not complacent and have reacted nimbly to new risks such as sexting and social media by ensuring that every pupil receives useful guidance on managing these hazards. As a result, pupils say they feel very safe and very well looked after.

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Inspection findings

 During this inspection, we looked closely at specific aspects of the school’s provision including the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements, leaders’ responses to the changes to the curriculum and assessment, the achievement of pupils who return to school or college, and the effectiveness of leaders in driving improvements in teaching and learning.  You have ensured that the school is open to new ideas. All staff attend training that is specific and appropriate to their roles. You have encouraged your teachers to train as examiners and develop their understanding of the new GCSE curriculum. You have identified that some of the pupils who are now in your care require a broader curriculum so you have introduced functional skills and photography courses that meet pupils’ needs more effectively. As a result, pupils in your care gain confidence and skills to return to school and college to continue

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Inspection findings

with their education.  During my visit to the classroom, you explained clearly the steps taken to develop staff and maintain the high quality of their practice. The most significant impact of professional development has been in developing teachers’ knowledge of the new examination specifications. For example, following the appropriate training, teachers were able to support pupils very effectively with their A-level English literature and A-level philosophy and ethics courses. Consequently, these pupils are very well prepared for their examinations and to go onto further study.  A review of pupils’ work showed excellent teaching focused on increasing depth and challenge across a range of subjects, as well as developing pupils’ stamina and enthusiasm for learning. There is an extensive programme of enrichment to support pupils’ learning  for example, a performance poet helped pupils develop a poetry anthology. The pupils’ work highlights how teachers make the most of

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Inspection findings

their opportunities to widen the curriculum despite the challenges of working with pupils for short periods of time.  Leaders are ambitious to provide the best possible support for pupils in their care. There are excellent links with similar provision across the country as well as very strong links to schools in their locality. The management committee provides robust challenge and uses its expertise well to support leaders, especially with safeguarding and finance. Governors recognise that the plans for the provision to expand in the future provide further challenges for the staff at the school due to the increase in the numbers of pupils who are admitted to the provision.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 teachers receive additional support and training to meet the demands of working with the growing number of pupils with increasingly complex social, emotional and mental health problems.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the management committee, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Wokingham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

My Ofsted colleague, Ross MacDonald, and I met with you, your senior teacher, three members of staff and four governors, including the chair of the management committee. We also met with clinical staff from the National Health Service and the local school librarian. We visited all classes in the school with you. We reviewed samples of pupils’ work in English, mathematics, art and other subjects, and looked at pupils’ books across key stages 4 and 5. I took careful account of the telephone conversations with parents and school leaders from local schools. We spoke with pupils during lunchtime. We looked at documents including the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plans, information about pupils’ learning and progress, minutes of meetings and records regarding safeguarding.

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