CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

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

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Ms Liz Rattue Head of School CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU Agincourt Road London NW3 2NY

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

Following my visit to the school on 29 November 2017 with Joy Barter, Ofsted Inspector, 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 good in April 2014.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

You, the director and your committed staff give the highest priority to meeting pupils’ academic, social and emotional needs. You believe fervently that you are a school with a ‘specialism for teaching’. As such, you have created a reflective teaching community, which is having a positive impact on the progress pupils make. You carefully assess each pupil’s skills and aptitudes on arrival and create an individual profile that informs teachers’ planning. You and your team ensure that pupils make strong progress in English, mathematics and science. You also offer a wide range of accredited work-related courses and extra-curricular opportunities that engages pupils’ interests and inspires their curiosity. As a result, many pupils achieve well.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

You and your team understand the complex social and emotional needs of your pupils. Working closely with a multi-agency team, you offer very effective wrap- around care and support to pupils and their families. Many of these professionals are based at the school and are therefore able to provide timely support. This holistic approach ensures that pupils and their families receive the support they need so that issues preventing pupils from attending school or making progress are minimised.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

Staff genuinely want the very best for the pupils in their care. They have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and endeavour to ensure that pupils realise these ambitions. Staff are patient and calm when dealing with incidents of challenging pupil behaviour. They devote much time to helping pupils manage their own behaviour and emotions so that they are able to return to their learning. As one pupil reported, ‘Teachers have time and they put up with a lot… but they care about us.’

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

You have successfully addressed the areas for development identified at the previous inspection. Staff are complimentary about the recently introduced ‘learning communities’ that encourage them to focus on improving particular aspects of their teaching. This has already had a positive impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning. Staff value highly the opportunity to share good practice and to learn together in a supportive way. As a result, staff morale is high.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

Your experienced governors share your determination to improve pupils’ life chances. They have recently reflected on how they are best able to challenge you and your team about the school’s performance. They now rigorously analyse the information you provide prior to meetings and ask searching questions; your subsequent responses inform the focus of their next visit. In this way, they offer effective support and challenge. They share your and your team’s accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas to improve and are actively involved in school plans for improvement.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

Leaders and staff understand their statutory responsibility to help to keep pupils safe. They are well trained, highly vigilant and knowledgeable about the potential risks pupils face in the community. This includes gang affiliation, child sexual exploitation, anti-social behaviour, knife crime and drugs. Weekly meetings, involving school staff and a range of professionals ensure that they can quickly address any safeguarding concerns. As a result, pupils and their families receive the help and support they need. Staff have a good understanding of the issues surrounding the ‘Prevent’ duty. They are vigilant about identifying signs that might indicate that a pupil is at risk of radicalisation.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

Pupils are given many opportunities to discuss the risks they might face, both informally throughout the day and during lessons. Staff proactively generate positive working relationships between themselves and the pupils, which engenders high levels of trust. Consequently, there is ongoing advice and guidance about how pupils can take care of themselves emotionally and socially, so that they can keep themselves safe. Staff are alert to any signs that a pupil may be exhibiting unsafe behaviours or be at risk. Sometimes, pupils’ behaviour is challenging. However, staff are well trained in dealing with any incidents and the high ratio of staff to pupils ensures that pupils are helped to keep safe. You and your staff work closely with parents and carers and provide them with regular information about their child’s social and emotional progress.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 4 PRU

Checks on the suitability of staff to work at the school are detailed and meet statutory requirements. Leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that record keeping is detailed and of a high quality. Many pupils have very complex needs and consequently, a range of external agencies is involved in their care. Leaders keep detailed records of this information to check that they are meeting pupils’ needs and to inform further actions.

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Inspection findings

 Initially, your ‘learning community’ focus was on teachers setting work that was pitched at the right level for individual pupils and creating a nurturing learning environment. You have now rightly identified that improving literacy and pupils’ speaking and listening skills across all subjects is a priority. You encourage reading and help pupils write for different audiences and purposes. You acknowledge, however, that there are fewer planned opportunities for pupils to write at length. Equally, you have decided to focus on improving pupils’ speaking and listening skills so that they can gain confidence in discussing their work and talking appropriately in a range of different situations.  Pupils arrive at different times throughout key stage 4, many with significant gaps in their knowledge and understanding and with highly complex issues. Your initial assessments of pupils’ academic ability and social and emotional needs are

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Inspection findings

comprehensive and accurate and aim to inform the ‘fresh start’ most require. Regular, ongoing assessments are carefully checked to ensure that they are accurate. You recognise the potential impact of the revised GCSE examinations on pupils and the breadth of subject knowledge now required. You and your team are committed to ensuring that individual pupils make good progress from their starting points, and work in pupils’ books supports this. You have recruited high-quality teachers and practitioners with good subject knowledge to ensure that the standard of teaching across the school remains strong.  Your team has high expectations for how pupils present their work, across all subjects. Pupils take pride in their work. This was particularly evident during the inspection, in art, design and food technology. Pupils were keen to explain why they were completing creative pieces and their achievements to date. Pupils

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Inspection findings

benefit from a range of enriching trips and activities that improve their self- confidence.  Preparing pupils for the next stage of education, employment and training is a high priority. You have developed strong links with local businesses, sixth forms and post-16 colleges. All pupils complete the accredited ‘Preparation for Working Life’ course and receive helpful and effective careers guidance and advice that help them make informed decisions about future career options. Pupils have opportunities to attend work placements and local colleges part time in preparation for the transition post-16, and attend careers fairs. During the summer break, pupils continue to attend sessions at the school to keep them engaged with their learning. However, you rightly acknowledge that for many of your pupils, this next step, however well planned for, can be very unsettling and unpredictable. While every effort is made to secure a place at college or sixth

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Inspection findings

form for each pupil, some do not retain their places once they start. Some return to your school, seeking further advice and guidance. You are beginning to consider how you might support these pupils more effectively once they leave compulsory education at your school.  Poor attendance continues to prevent some pupils from making the necessary gains in their learning, including in their social and emotional development. You and your team are working hard to address this. You carefully track the attendance of every pupil and promote the importance of attending school regularly. You offer exciting incentives, including the coveted annual prize of a bike, for the pupil with the highest attendance. You and your multi-agency colleagues work effectively to support families to encourage and enable their children to attend regularly. For some, these approaches have supported them to attend more regularly. As a result, there has been a slight improvement in

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Inspection findings

attendance overall this year. However, you acknowledge that for some pupils, there has been little improvement in their attendance since starting at CCfL. You know who these pupils are and the complex situations preventing them from attending more regularly. You and your staff are resolute in your determination to continue to improve pupils’ attendance.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 they continue to improve attendance for individual pupils  teachers plan more opportunities for pupils to practise their speaking and listening skills and to write at length across different subjects.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors met with you, the director, other senior leaders and teachers. They met with the chair of the governing body and another governor. Inspectors met with the local authority special educational needs senior adviser and the school’s professional partner for Camden. Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, curriculum information, referrals to external agencies and the register of checks made on staff. Inspectors visited lessons with senior leaders to gather evidence on particular strands of teaching, learning and assessment. They spoke to pupils. Inspectors looked in detail at the progress of pupils through their work and assessment records. Inspectors took account of the two written responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the 19 responses to the staff questionnaire. No pupils responded to the questionnaire.

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