CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

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

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Ms Gabriella Thomas Headteacher CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU Harmood Street Camden London NW1 8DP

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

Following my visit to the school on 20 February 2018 with Kanwaljit Singh, 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 May 2014.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since then, you and your leaders have worked tirelessly to ensure that teachers and teaching assistants are now more focused on learning rather than just behaviour. You have also ensured that subject leaders are more involved in improving the quality of teaching and learning through lesson observation, coaching and greater engagement with assessment information.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

The school currently has 15 pupils on roll, all of whom have difficulties accessing mainstream education. Despite many having significant gaps in their learning because of negative experiences of school and poor attitudes to education, a high proportion of pupils achieve or exceed the targets set when they enter your school.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

Staff, pupil and parental satisfaction is high. Those parents I spoke to reported that they feel happy with their child’s progress at Camden Centre for Learning. Parents that I spoke to reported that the school was ‘brilliant’. The pupil and parent surveys illustrate a widespread view that bullying is dealt with swiftly and effectively. Staff report that they are proud to be part of the school. Middle leaders share your drive for improvement and are clear about their role in providing the best education for all pupils.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

You have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement. You acknowledge that more needs to be done to improve pupils’ attendance and embed the newly established assessment systems. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

Leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are of high quality, and well managed. Together, they have established a safe culture that is visible throughout the school. Governors provide effective support and challenge for school leaders around safeguarding, including regular focused visits to explore current issues and to reflect on practice.

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Short inspection of CCfL Key Stage 3 PRU

Staff develop very positive and trusting relationships with pupils based on mutual respect and understanding. All staff receive appropriate and regular safeguarding training, and safeguarding responsibilities throughout the school are taken extremely seriously at all times. You work closely with parents, carers and other professionals, including the local police and social care. This is to ensure that your most vulnerable pupils and their families receive a coordinated package of support to help them keep safe. Staff use their extensive knowledge of every pupil to meet their individual safeguarding and emotional needs.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed the key lines of enquiry. This inspection focused on the effectiveness of leaders’ actions to reduce persistent absence. I also looked at how successful leaders have been in helping pupils to regulate their own behaviour. Lastly, I focused on ensuring that pupils are challenged to make the best possible academic and personal development progress.  Since the last inspection, the types of pupils’ needs have changed. You now have pupils with a greater range of social, emotional and mental health needs than before. Leaders have responded well to this change and have introduced on-site social care support and strengthened links outside the school. Support and guidance from other professionals are effective and used wisely. Consequently, pupils with complex needs and mental health difficulties are well supported to learn new strategies to cope with their emotions. Pupils demonstrate a sense of

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Inspection findings

belonging that impacts positively on behaviour and supports an honest and open culture. Highly trained staff have access to resources and specialist support that enables them to address particular local risks, including knife crime and gang affiliation. Problems present in the community are addressed within school through tailored programmes and individualised support.  All staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour around the school and in classrooms. Pupils appreciate the helpful support and guidance provided by staff and, as a result, they generally behave well in school. Though some behaviour can be challenging at times, it is clear that pupils care about themselves and each other. Where incidents arise, staff demonstrate their skill in helping pupils to manage their behaviour.  Where serious incidents between pupils occur, perpetrators are encouraged to repair the relationship by talking to the victim and their parents. This has

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Inspection findings

contributed to a reduction in the number of fixed-term exclusions. Your nurturing approach to behaviour management is well established. Leaders and governors are able to demonstrate the positive impact on the culture of the school that this has had.  The majority, 62%, of pupils have improved their attendance significantly since starting at Camden Centre for Learning. However, whole-school absence levels remain high and have steadily increased over time. You have a small group of pupils who negatively influence each other out of school. You have begun to work more closely with parents, social care and the police to get these pupils into school more often. This has not yet seen the improvements you and your governing body are hoping for. Parents feel communication between home and school is a strength of the school and that this has a positive impact on attendance for some pupils. They value the regular communication they receive

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Inspection findings

around attendance and progress, and this is helping them to recognise the value in education.  When pupils arrive at your school, they make good progress from very low starting points because comprehensive baseline information shapes the curriculum and support they receive. Pupils feel that they are able to influence what is taught and generally engage well as a result. The broad range of accredited courses responds well to pupils’ interests and aspirations, including circus skills at Camden Roundhouse.  Work to implement a new assessment tool is well under way. This will enable leaders to better demonstrate the progress individual pupils make over time. Subject leaders are beginning to use this progress information effectively to look for trends and areas that could be improved. In some lessons, this translates well into lesson planning to ensure that teaching is relevant and challenging. Pupils’ outcomes are good because all teachers and support staff are clear about

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Inspection findings

additional needs, barriers to learning and preferred learning styles. Frequent dialogue between teachers and support staff ensures that pupils’ needs continue to be met. You acknowledge that the new assessment system needs to be embedded fully throughout the school.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress because one-to-one support is well used to address barriers to learning. Support staff are increasingly able to identify immediate needs and adapt their approaches accordingly to get the best outcomes for pupils with additional needs.  The whole-school focus on speaking and listening skills means that all teachers and support staff remain focused on language development. However, in some lessons staff do not provide pupils with consistently good opportunities to develop their speaking skills.  Progress in mathematics is less strong than English, and this year you have seen

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Inspection findings

a drop from 83% to 63% of pupils reaching your expectations in mathematics. This is because teaching has been less strong in this area and you have put into place a robust plan to improve outcomes. In other subjects, there is not always sufficient challenge. Some pupils are not given enough opportunities to develop independent writing skills and there is an over-reliance on adult support.

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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

 the learning support offered does not create an over-reliance on adult support and provides suitable challenge, particularly in writing and mathematics  the innovative new assessment tool is fully embedded to capture the significant gains pupils make over time  closer work with families and other agencies ensures that vulnerable pupils are less open to negative external influences and attend school more often.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body 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

During this inspection, the inspection team held a number of meetings with you and other senior leaders. You accompanied the team inspector on a series of short visits to lessons. The inspection team held discussions with different leaders about safeguarding, the curriculum, removing barriers to learning, and measuring pupils’ progress. Meetings were held with the chair and vice-chair of governors. A meeting was also held with two pupils. The inspection team worked with senior leaders to scrutinise pupils’ work and assessment information on pupils’ progress. The inspectors looked at a range of documentation. This included the improvement plan, attendance data, records of pupils’ progress and behaviour, and evidence of records to keep pupils safe. The inspection took into consideration 18 responses to the staff survey. There were too few responses to Parent View and the pupils’ survey to generate a meaningful analysis.

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