Dalling House Mandarin Immersion School

Dalling House Mandarin Immersion School Basement and Ground Floor, Church Court, Dalling Road, London W6 0EU

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The proprietors and leaders have not ensured that all the independent school standards are met.  Teachers do not know pupils well enough to ensure that they learn effectively. Subject knowledge in the teaching of writing and reading is weak. Pupils’ books indicate that progress across subjects since the current proprietors took over is often very limited.  Teachers allow individual pupils to dominate lessons and this affects the progress that other pupils make. Behaviour requires improvement because teachers do not manage low-level disruptive behaviour during lessons effectively.  The assessment system does not enable teachers and leaders to check how well pupils are doing in relation to their starting points, or to national averages.  During mathematics lessons, teachers do not routinely support those who have low self- esteem as learners. Consequently, these pupils struggle with the work set for them. This

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

restricts some pupils’ personal development and confidence as learners.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Provision for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is effective.  The new headteacher provides a good role model for teachers. She is developing a curriculum plan which gives appropriate emphasis to the promotion of British values, including respect and tolerance.  There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school and pupils are kept safe.  Pupils of all ages play happily together during breaks and behave well during lunchtime, which is a pleasant social occasion.

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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 and associated requirements. The details are listed in the annex to the full report.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that: – all the independent school standards are met – an effective assessment system is implemented that identifies pupils’ next steps in learning and gives leaders an accurate picture of pupils’ achievement – staff receive appropriate support and training to improve their subject knowledge when teaching reading, writing and phonics – staff receive support and training to manage and significantly reduce low-level disruption in lessons.  Improve teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – the tasks set meet the needs of all pupils in reading, writing, phonics, mathematics and science, and therefore help them to make strong and sustained progress – staff give more careful attention to pupils’ personal development and self-esteem during mathematics lessons, ensuring that those who are struggling with the challenging work are not demoralised

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– staff consider ways in which pupils can improve their thinking and communication skills in the course of their learning.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The proprietors and leaders have not ensured that the school meets all of the independent school standards.  The school does not have an effective system in place to assess pupils’ attainment or track their progress. Only very limited information on pupils’ progress or attainment was available to the new proprietors and headteacher when they took up their positions at the start of the current term. No information about pupils’ progress was available at the time of the inspection. Therefore it is very difficult for inspectors to make judgements on the outcomes of pupils who left the school since the previous inspection, or of current pupils over time.  Leaders have not been effective in securing good-quality teaching, learning and assessment since they took over the school. Current teaching is too variable and much of it is inadequate. Pupils have made very little progress since the current staff team took up

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

post.  The headteacher has a good plan for developing the work of the school and understands the immediate priorities for improvement. She is a good role model to staff and has the capacity to develop teachers’ skills across the school.  A curriculum plan is being developed that covers a wide range of subjects and topics. It places a suitable emphasis on the development of British values, including tolerance and respect. The headteacher and staff are committed to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, but plans to underpin this aspect of the school’s work are at the early stages of development. The teaching of Mandarin is a strength of the school. Pupils were eagerly awaiting the Chinese New Year celebrations, which were about to take place.  Leaders have ensured that the premises provide a pleasant, fit-for-purpose environment. They make good use of the local park and the internal play room to compensate for the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

lack of outdoor space.  The additional provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is managed well. Pupils are supported well in accordance with their specific needs, although there is no current information about the progress that they make.  Parents and pupils value the work of the school and appreciate the efforts leaders have made to make the transition to the new structure as smooth as possible.

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Governance

 At the time of the inspection, the school had just undergone a change of ownership. The new proprietors were still awaiting confirmation from the Department for Education that the checks regarding their suitability to run the school had been completed.  At the time of the inspection, the school’s new name had not been registered and confirmed by the Department for Education.  The school’s website had not been reinstated by the new proprietors. The proprietors are now working to ensure that the new website is in place and compliant with current guidance.  The new proprietors purchased all the school policies from the previous proprietor. During the inspection, one of the proprietors and the headteacher were in the early stages of reviewing the policies to ensure that they reflected the current systems and structures in the school.  The proprietors have worked effectively with the new headteacher to develop an action

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The school does not have a website but the safeguarding policy is provided to parents on request.  There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Pupils are kept safe and staff are vigilant with regard to safety. Parents are positive about this aspect of the school’s work.  All the necessary recruitment checks on staff are made.  The school site is safe and secure and the headteacher has put processes in place to ensure a good level of security at the entry point to the building.  The headteacher has received appropriate training and the safeguarding lead and staff have received some training; there are plans to build on this in the weeks following the inspection.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Current staff have only been in post in the school for a few weeks. They have established relationships with pupils but do not yet know their academic needs well enough to inform the teaching. As a result, they fail to plan tasks and activities to ensure that pupils make strong progress. Tasks are either too easy or too difficult. For example, in phonics sessions, pupils go over links between letters and sounds with which they are already very familiar. In mathematics lessons, work ranges from far too challenging to far too easy.  The teaching of writing is inadequate, as shown by the little or no progress demonstrated in pupils’ writing books since the start of term. Teachers’ subject knowledge is limited. While staff think of tasks with the potential for interesting and purposeful writing, they provide no support for pupils in the form of instruction or direction. Pupils often fail to understand what they are meant to do and instead simply copy what is written on the

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

board, whether relevant to the task or not. The most able writers, who are more than capable of creating their own stories or compositions, are given repetitive tasks involving the retelling of known stories which do not stretch or challenge them.  Teachers’ subject knowledge of phonics is weak. Staff develop pupils’ interest in stories, but their teaching of phonics skills to support early reading are weak. Pupils benefit from reading a good range of texts. They are very well supported with their reading and other homework by their parents.  Mathematics teaching demonstrates strong subject knowledge but this is not well used to ensure that pupils make good progress from their starting points. Typically, work is pitched at the oldest or the higher-attaining pupils. As a result, some younger or lower- attaining pupils experience constant failure. Occasionally, this has a marked impact on their self-esteem in lessons.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Science books indicate that sometimes the oldest and youngest pupils are given exactly the same very low-level tasks, such as cutting and sticking and sorting activities. As a result, teaching fails to meet pupils’ needs and progress is inadequate.  Teachers have very few strategies to deal with low-level disruption. As a result, lessons are frequently dominated by individual pupils who distract others from the task at hand and limit their progress.  Teaching provides pupils with only limited opportunities to talk to each other about their learning. This has been recognised by the headteacher, who understands the need for the majority of pupils in the school who speak English as an additional language to improve their communication skills. The headteacher models good practice in this area and plans to support the staff in developing this aspect of their provision.  Pupils benefit from specialist Mandarin teaching. In lessons they respond well and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

rehearse the key vocabulary that has been taught.  Staff are reflective, receive feedback extremely well and are very keen and willing to improve their skills.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development requires improvement. Pupils are generally happy at school, but their confidence is often affected by teaching which fails to recognise individual and personal needs as well as academic needs.  Leaders have ensured that staff have focused on getting pupils settled quickly to the new circumstances of the school. Pupils say that they are generally happy with their new teachers, but also that they feel the loss of the classmates who have recently left the school.  Those pupils who agreed to speak to the inspector were confident and talked positively about their lives and their school.  Pupils get on well together despite the differences in their ages and backgrounds. They understand how to be respectful to each other.  Pupils’ welfare is given a high priority by all staff in the school. Pupils are kept safe and feel safe at school.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and attitudes to learning are affected by frequent low-level disruption. This is not well managed by staff. Pupils’ attitudes to work and to learning are not consistently positive.  Pupils behave well in the lunch hall and during playtimes. Some pupils are shy when meeting visitors, but respectful.  During the current term, attendance rates have been affected by pupils’ illness. The headteacher is working positively with parents to ensure that pupils attend regularly; all were present during the inspection.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 No current assessment information relating to pupils’ attainment or progress was available at the time of the inspection. Work in books shows that pupils’ attainment was, at best, broadly average at the start of the term. This indicates that, over time, pupils have been making adequate progress given their starting points.  Since January, outcomes have not improved. Work in books shows that little progress has been made during this half term in writing. Pupils’ writing is often repetitive and copied. Even that of the most-able pupils lacks creativity. The quality of writing has not improved in the few weeks since the new staff team took over.  Similarly, progress in mathematics seen in books this term is variable, although attainment remains broadly average. The presentation of work is poor.  Pupils’ confidence during spoken Mandarin lessons shows that they have made good progress over time in this subject.

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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

Email address info@dhmandarinimmersion.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 5 March 2013

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Information about this school

 Dalling House Mandarin Immersion School was registered as such by the Department for Education during this inspection. The proprietors, headteacher and all the teaching staff took up their posts at the school in January 2018. Hence, the team had only been in place for just over a month when this inspection took place.  At the time of the inspection, the proprietors had not received the necessary checks back from the Department for Education to confirm their suitability to run the school.  The school does not currently have any pupils below the age of compulsory schooling.  The school roll fell from 34 to seven at the end of 2017. There were only seven pupils on roll at the time of the inspection.  The majority of pupils speak English as an additional language and most of them are fluent English speakers.  The school does not currently have the capacity to operate an extended day.  All the pupils attend full time.

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Information about this school

 At the time of the inspection the website was under construction, but all relevant policies were available for parents.  The school received its last standard inspection in March 2013, when its overall effectiveness was judged to be good.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection took place with one day’s notice.  The inspector visited classrooms with the headteacher.  The inspector reviewed all of the pupils’ English and mathematics books and a sample of books in other subjects.  The inspector heard two pupils reading and spoke to pupils when they were in lessons and at play.  The inspector met with three parents individually and reviewed the two responses to the online Parent View survey.  The inspector looked at a wide range of documents relating to safeguarding, admissions, attendance, and school improvement planning and premises maintenance.  The inspector conducted a tour of the school site with the headteacher.

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Inspection team

Ruth Dollner, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Annex. Compliance with regulatory requirements.

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if- – 2(1)(a) the proprietor ensures that a written policy on the curriculum, supported by appropriate plans and schemes of work, which provides for the matters specified in sub-paragraph (2) is drawn up and implemented effectively; and – 2(1)(b) the written policy, plans and schemes of work- – 2(1)(b)(i) take into account the ages, aptitudes and needs of all pupils, including those pupils with an EHC plan.  3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school- – 3(a) enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught; – 3(b) fosters in pupils self-motivation, the application of intellectual, physical and creative effort, interest in their work and the ability to think and learn for themselves;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(c) involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time; – 3(d) shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the pupils, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons; – 3(e) demonstrates good knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being taught; – 3(f) utilises effectively classroom resources of a good quality, quantity and range; – 3(g) demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess pupils’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that pupils can progress; – 3(h) utilises effective strategies for managing behaviour and encouraging pupils to act responsibly.  4 The standard in this paragraph is met where the proprietor ensures that a framework for pupil performance to be evaluated, by reference to the school’s own aims as provided

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

to parents or national norms, or to both, is in place.

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Part 6. Provision of information

 32(2) The information specified in this sub-paragraph is- – 32(2)(b)(ii) where the proprietor is a body of persons, the address and telephone number of its registered or principal office; – 32(3)(e) particulars of the school’s academic performance during the preceding school year, including the results of any public examinations.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34(1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school- – 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; – 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. 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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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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