The Grange Therapeutic School

The Grange Therapeutic School 15–17 Somerby Road, Knossington, Oakham, Leicestershire LE15 8LY

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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 Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Since the previous inspection, the proprietor has greatly improved the leadership and governance of the school. Senior leaders now have an outstanding impact on all aspects of the school’s work.  The governing body provides rigorous challenge to leaders and staff. Governors have an excellent understanding of how the work of the staff contributes strongly to pupils’ outcomes.  Teaching and learning across the school are good and improving rapidly. Arrangements for the assessment of pupils’ progress are highly effective.  Pupils make good progress from their various starting points. The great majority of pupils close the significant gaps in their knowledge and understanding.  Pupils make outstanding progress in their ability to manage their behaviour, from mostly low starting points on entry. They grow in self- esteem and confidence.  Teachers and therapists work closely together to provide excellent individualised support for

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

pupils. Together they have a strong impact on pupils’ well-being and emotional resilience.  Pupils, including those in the school’s outreach programme, are extremely well prepared for the transition to further education and employment when they leave school.  Arrangements for safeguarding pupils are effective. Parents, carers, pupils and staff agree that pupils are safe in school. The school works very successfully with parents and external agencies to ensure that pupils are equipped to manage risks and develop safe lifestyles.  Occasionally, teaching does not take sufficient account of pupils’ individual learning styles.  Not all pupils read widely enough to improve their comprehension and interpretation of written texts.  A small number of pupils are persistently absent, despite the school’s diligence in working with their families.  School leaders have rightly identified that pupils’ overall strong progress is not entirely

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

consistent across all subjects.  The proprietor and senior leaders have ensured that the school meets all the independent school standards.

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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?

 Review learning tasks and activities across the school to ensure that they cater consistently for the full range of pupils’ learning styles and characteristics.  Improve pupils’ reading comprehension, understanding and ability to interpret texts by: – ensuring that pupils read regularly for a variety of purposes – encouraging pupils to read for pleasure beyond the requirements of the school curriculum.  Strengthen strategies to improve the attendance of the minority of pupils who are persistently absent.  Ensure that pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stage 4 demonstrate consistently strong progress across the full curriculum.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 Since the last inspection of the school, the proprietors have taken rigorous and effective action to promote improvement. They have remodelled the governing body, appointed an executive principal and a new headteacher, and have restructured senior- and middle- management roles and responsibilities. These actions have been well judged and extremely effective. The proprietor and leaders have ensured full compliance with the independent school standards.  The pace of improvement has accelerated during the current school year. The headteacher and senior leaders have promoted excellence and improvement in all aspects of the school’s work.  Relationships between leaders and staff and with pupils are exemplary. Leaders and staff demonstrate high expectations of themselves and of pupils. The culture of the school is aspirational, aiming for excellence and providing the support and challenge required to achieve.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 The quality of the school’s work ensures that pupils, most of whom enter the school with low starting points, make strong progress with their learning. Disadvantaged pupils make progress at rates comparable to other pupils from similar starting points nationally.  Senior and middle leaders oversee excellent arrangements for the monitoring and review of all aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. They have had a strong impact on raising standards and are clear about the further areas requiring improvement.  Managers at all levels are motivated to take responsibility and to innovate appropriately. The overwhelming majority of staff believe that the school is well led and managed, and they are proud of the school.  The school provides a broad curriculum which enables pupils to make strong progress across academic subjects, outdoor learning and vocational courses. The curriculum is regularly reviewed to ensure that the needs of the changing school population are met

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

continuously. The curriculum is strongly enhanced through enrichment activities, including outdoor learning, horse riding, fishing, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and high- quality art and design.  Staff give continual attention to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. They provide a strong focus on creating a community and preparing pupils for life after school. Pupils are aware of the British values that underpin the quality of the curriculum and their individual personal development. The great majority make excellent progress in their personal development.  The ethos of the school values diversity, and all pupils have equal access to all the school provides. The excellent outreach arrangements at key stage 4 ensure that disaffected and previously hard-to-reach pupils gain a sense of purpose and prepare effectively for future employment. Pupils from diverse backgrounds are given the opportunity to prepare

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

effectively for life in the wider community and to make a contribution to improving the lives of others.  Pupils’ progress is improving across the breadth of the curriculum. Improvements have been more rapid in some curriculum areas. For example, in 2017, the overall progress of leavers in English was greater than in mathematics and science. School leaders have planned rigorously for further improvement and current pupils are making improved progress in these areas.

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Governance

 The challenge provided by the governing body has improved considerably. The executive principal works closely with governors to ensure that reports from the headteacher are scrutinised thoroughly. As a result, governors provide effective evaluation and challenge to senior leaders.  Governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths. They support senior leaders and staff effectively in addressing areas for development. They scrutinise the school’s progress towards meeting targets in its action plans and ensure that resources are available to drive well-planned improvements.  Senior leaders regularly observe the quality of teaching and learning across the full age range of the school. In addition, the governors commission external reviews of the quality of the school’s work and outcomes. The governing body uses the findings from these activities to conduct a rigorous analysis of all aspects of the school’s work. They are

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Governance

extremely well informed.  Governors and senior leaders share a strong and effective commitment to improving staff performance through high-quality training and mentoring. A number of staff members have been supported to improve their professional qualifications and to take on increased responsibilities within the school.  The executive principal and governors provide a suitable balance between rigorous accountability and effective support. They have an increasingly precise understanding of pupils’ outcomes, supported by excellent analysis by senior leaders. They recognise the improvements brought about by leaders and staff and value their commitment and dedication.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school has produced a comprehensive policy, which is available to parents through the school website. The policy and associated procedures take full account of government guidance. Procedures for managing concerns about individual pupils’ welfare are robust and thorough.  Senior leaders and staff are trained appropriately to understand and recognise the risks to which pupils may be exposed. They ensure that pupils have access to suitable activities, for example through the personal, social and health education programme, to understand about e-safety and appropriate relationships.  Vulnerable pupils are supported strongly through the work of therapists, working closely with teaching and support staff. They are provided with strategies to improve their resilience and to address risks to their individual well-being.  Staff trained as designated safeguarding leads have developed excellent working

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Safeguarding

relationships with parents and external agencies that support individual pupils and their families. Staff are regularly trained in a wide variety of safeguarding issues and have appropriate regard for legal guidance. They ensure that thorough records are maintained of regular work with vulnerable pupils.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 The good quality of teaching and learning is based on high-quality planning which takes account of pupils’ various starting points on entry to the school. Staff quickly develop an understanding of what pupils can do well and how learning activities need to be organised so that each individual pupil can make progress.  Good planning enables teachers to use time effectively. Pupils across the full age range of the school focus well on their work and sustain their concentration. In the majority of lessons, teachers provide tasks and activities to challenge pupils to think deeply and to extend their oral and written answers. Pupils in the lower school, for example, sequence successfully sentences into a story, while those in Year 10 use their own descriptive language to create a chosen atmosphere in their writing.  Teachers make good use of everyday familiar situations, for example discussing the area

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

of a sports pitch or considering how a football moves up the pitch at different speeds and angles. In response to these situations, for example, Year 11 pupils construct a distance/time graph and explain why the gradient varies along the line.  Teachers regularly review pupils’ work as the lesson proceeds, prompting them to consider how they might extend and improve their writing. At key stage 4, for example, they make effective use of examination questions to discuss how answers may be improved by carefully reading and getting to the heart of what the question is really asking.  Pupils of all ages understand how they may improve their work. They are assisted by clear written guidance from their teachers, individual discussion with teaching assistants and whole-group discussion. Pupils in the lower-school nurture group, for example, were guided individually through calculations requiring division at various levels of difficulty.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

Their excellent behaviour contributed to their success in this.  The review of work during lessons is mostly effective. For example, in food studies, pupils very effectively reviewed their completed Chinese dishes. This was strongly supported by probing and challenging questions about their working methods, attention to safe working and the quality of their finished dishes. Pupils enjoyed the work and achieved very successful outcomes.  Teachers are skilled in intervening to accelerate pupils’ learning or to increase the level of challenge, when appropriate. In many lessons, teaching assistants contribute effectively to this development of learning. Pupils who fall behind or who struggle with emotional concerns are strongly supported by the work of the therapists, cooperating with teachers to agree strategies to support individual pupils. Support provided by the literacy specialists also develops the skills and confidence of individual pupils very effectively.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Pupils research and develop their own ideas effectively. Effective learning was evident, for example, in Year 10 media studies and science, as pupils developed their individual electronic presentations.  Pupils make good progress through practical and active learning. Year 7 pupils, for example, persevered well and increased their success with their serving skills in badminton as a result of effective teaching and advice resulting from the teacher’s observations.  Pupils make excellent progress with the development of their practical work in art. They concentrate extremely well on the development of skills, for example creating texture and tone in shading. They take responsibility for their own work, supported strongly by advice and guidance from staff.  Teachers across all subjects place a good emphasis on the development of core skills in reading, writing and numeracy. They encourage pupils to work independently, while at

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

the same time monitoring the detail of their written answers.  Parents who responded to the Ofsted inspection questionnaire report positively on the information that they receive about their children’s progress. Senior and middle leaders have developed excellent arrangements for the regular assessment of pupils’ progress. They establish secure information about pupils’ starting points and use a rigorous whole- school approach to assessing pupils’ progress over time.  Pupils know how well they are doing and understand their targets for improvement. Teachers work closely together to ensure agreement about the extent of pupils’ progress and the criteria against which this is measured. They also increasingly discuss pupils’ work and evidence of progress with teachers from outside the school.  Occasionally, teachers do not take sufficient account of the way in which individual pupils learn best, for example through visual or practical experiences. Pupils develop their

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

reading skills during lessons. Beyond the classroom, however, only a minority of pupils develop their ability to enjoy and interpret texts by reading for a variety of purposes, including for personal pleasure.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Pupils mostly enter the school with negative previous experiences of school. They rapidly develop self-esteem as a result of the confidence shown in them by staff. They develop excellent attitudes to learning and adjust effectively to the high expectations of staff.  The combination of extremely effective individual therapies and the sensitivity of staff helps to create a positive environment in which success is valued. Pupils learn how to manage their relationships very effectively and begin to enjoy success.  Pupils are taught how to listen and to learn from the ideas of others. Teachers and teaching assistants are very skilled in recognising pupils’ individual barriers to learning. They provide strong and effective support in the management of pupils’ relationships with others.  Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. They understand the risks they may

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Personal development and welfare

encounter within the wider community, including the risks associated with inappropriate use of the internet. Vulnerable pupils are provided with excellent support by the school’s therapists, and staff work closely and effectively with parents and family support agencies.  Pupils develop an excellent understanding of how to keep healthy. The therapy team provides outstanding support for pupils with individual emotional and mental health needs. These pupils are enabled to learn effectively and to manage their individual concerns very effectively.  The school’s arrangements for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development help them to learn how to reflect on their own attitudes and actions. They develop the ability to be considerate and to empathise with others.  Pupils at key stage 4 develop an excellent understanding of the attitudes and personal qualities required to maintain a successful role in employment or further education. This is

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Personal development and welfare

greatly enhanced by their participation in vocational and skills-based learning off-site.  Pupils receive extensive and independent advice about the careers open to them and how to prepare themselves effectively. The school provides excellent support for pupils’ preparation for life beyond school, particularly their transition to further education and future employment.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. They adapt quickly to the expectations of the school, and their conduct in lessons enables them to learn effectively. The great majority of pupils are able to sustain their concentration and make good progress with their learning. There are very few examples of low-level distraction which interferes with the learning of others.  Pupils who join the school with a track record of previous poor behaviour make excellent improvements in their attitudes and behaviour. Senior staff have developed strong and effective responses to any incidents of poor behaviour. They analyse patterns of behaviour and identify any individuals who require additional support or supervision.  There is no evidence that bullying is a problem. Parents confirm their satisfaction that their children are safe in school and the school deals effectively with any incidents which may occur. Staff provide excellent support for individual pupils and enable them to

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Behaviour

understand the impact of their behaviour on others. Improvements in pupils’ behaviour are outstanding. Pupils trust the staff to intervene and take appropriate action in response to any concerns.  Overall attendance is close to the national average. The majority of pupils enjoy school and attend regularly. A small number of pupils are persistently absent. This is often associated with difficulties in establishing positive relationships or low self-esteem. Staff work diligently with parents and offer imaginative strategies to improve the attendance of these pupils. The school has considerable success with a number of individuals, but assuring the regular attendance of others remains a challenge.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Current pupils are making good progress from their various starting points on entry to the school. The majority of pupils enter the school with gaps in their learning due to their disrupted previous education. Over time, they make secure progress in the development of their knowledge, understanding and skills.  Disadvantaged pupils, and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, make progress similar to other pupils with the same starting points. The school is very effective in tailoring learning to meet individual needs so that all pupils make good progress. Many pupils close significant gaps in their knowledge and understanding once they adjust to the expectations of the school.  Staff are skilled in planning interventions for individual pupils which focus on their reading and comprehension skills. These individual activities enable pupils to access learning across the full range of the curriculum. Consequently, pupils make good progress and

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Outcomes for pupils Good

develop effective skills to accelerate their learning.  Key stage 4 pupils’ progress is above average or improving across all subject areas. Pupils’ attainment mostly remains below that expected for their age. However, they develop knowledge and understanding which enable them to pass external examinations and achieve qualifications which equip them effectively to continue into further education and employment.  The school’s targets for individual pupils expect them to make a full year’s progress, measured against the school’s ambitious curriculum expectations, in each year of study. The majority of pupils achieve these targets and a number exceed them in various subjects. This represents strong progress compared with pupils’ relatively low starting points.  The school’s reliable assessment information demonstrates that pupils’ progress develops progressively across Years 5 to 9 in English, mathematics and science.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils’ progress in English, across the school, is close to or above the national average. The progress of disadvantaged pupils reflects a similar pattern. Pupils also make good progress in mathematics, although final outcomes were not as strong as in English for Year 11 leavers in 2017.  The majority of pupils achieve qualifications at Entry level 3 or Level 1 in functional skills English and mathematics by the end of Year 9. The majority of pupils in Year 10 have achieved a Level 1 qualification in both English and mathematics.  Year 9 pupils are working successfully towards an Entry level 3 qualification in science, while those in Years 10 and 11 are preparing for a BTEC qualification in science. Their progress to date is good.  Pupils also experience success in external accreditations in practical subjects, including physical education, food studies and media studies. Pupils’ outcomes in art are

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Outcomes for pupils Good

outstanding. The majority of pupils achieve qualifications or internally accredited success in vocational subjects, including mechanics, engineering or animal care, as a result of off- site placements with alternative providers.  All pupils who left the school at the end of Year 11 in 2017 moved on to college placements. All but one, who moved out of the area, have maintained those places successfully since that time. The progress of the majority in mathematics, and almost all in English, met or exceeded ambitious targets.  Current pupils’ progress is improving across all year groups and subjects. To date, there have been some inconsistencies in pupils’ outcomes between subjects. Senior leaders have identified this pattern and are implementing appropriate actions plans for improvement.  The small number of 17-year-old pupils benefit from the opportunity to extend their learning in core subjects, vocational courses of their choice and appropriate work

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Outcomes for pupils Good

experience. They achieve additional qualifications and develop confidence and sufficient independence to move on to further education or employment.

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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 Independent special school

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School details

School category Independent residential special school

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School details

Website http://thegrangetherapeuticschool.co.uk/

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School details

Email address office@knossington.rutland.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 14–16 December 2015

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Information about this school

 The Grange Therapeutic School is an independent residential school for boys and girls aged eight to 17 years. Currently all pupils on roll are boys.  The school is located in a rural location in Leicestershire, near to the town of Oakham. It is owned by Acorn Care and Education and was previously inspected by Ofsted in December 2015.  The school has two sites. The lower school is located a few hundred metres away from the main site and consists of a converted detached house and purpose-built classrooms.  All pupils have an education, health and care plan. Pupils typically have social, emotional or mental health difficulties.  The school roll includes a small number of Year 12 pupils. These pupils take part in an amended key stage 4 curriculum. There is no separate sixth form at the present time.  A new headteacher has been appointed since the time of the previous inspection.  The school currently uses the following alternative providers to contribute to its outreach

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Information about this school

programme: Melton Learning Hub; Youth Education Project; Future Cycles; Community Giants; Braunstone Grove Sports; Loughborough Youth Development Project; Sustainable Land Trust; Pedestrian; Axlr8; Gaz Auto Training School and Waterfront Sports and Education Academy.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching and learning across the full age range of the school, including the main school and lower school. They scrutinised samples of pupils’ work in a variety of subjects, including discussion of work in English, mathematics and science with subject leaders.  The inspectors held discussions with the chair of the governing body and the executive principal. They discussed all aspects of the school’s leadership and management and implementation of school policies with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders and members of staff.  The inspectors considered responses to school questionnaires by parents and pupils. They spoke to one parent and also considered 13 parents’ responses to Ofsted’s Parent View online questionnaire. In addition, they considered responses to an inspection questionnaire completed by 46 members of staff.  The inspectors scrutinised a number of school policies, procedures and records, including

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Information about this inspection

minutes of governors’ meetings, in order to check the school’s compliance with the independent school standards.  The school’s boarding arrangements were not inspected as part of this school inspection. The previous inspection of the boarding provision was in January 2018.

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Inspection team

David Young, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Aileen King Ofsted 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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