Nisai House Stoke

Nisai Learning Hub (Nottingham) 1 Fishergate Point, Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham NG1 1GD

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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 Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Senior leaders continuously improve the school’s innovative and successful curriculum. The curriculum enables pupils to make strong progress from their starting points.  The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is consistently good. Staff have an excellent understanding of how to motivate and challenge pupils to re-engage in education.  Senior leaders have created an excellent culture of high expectations for pupils’ engagement and achievement. Pupils respond very positively and enjoy their learning.  Relationships between staff and pupils are exemplary. Pupils value the care and respect demonstrated by staff. Their engagement in learning is excellent.  Online learning makes a strong positive contribution to pupils’ learning. Learning activities are interesting and relevant to pupils’ experiences and needs.  Leaders and staff have developed very effective arrangements for the assessment of pupils’

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

progress. They use information well to plan for pupils’ future learning.  Pupils make outstanding improvements in their behaviour and attendance in response to the care and support of staff. Pupils recognise the excellent progress they make in their attitudes to school and their well-being.  The school manages all aspects of safeguarding extremely effectively. Leaders and staff ensure that vulnerable pupils learn how to manage risks to their welfare.  The proprietor and senior leaders evaluate the school’s work rigorously and plan for continuous improvement. They have ensured that all the independent school standards are met.  The proprietor has developed appropriate plans for the further development of governance arrangement to strengthen accountability and challenge for leaders and staff.  Senior leaders evaluate regularly the quality of teaching, learning and pupils’ outcomes. Their findings contribute strongly to consistently

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

good, but not outstanding standards. The school is well placed to accelerate learning and outcomes to outstanding.

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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?

 Implement proposed new arrangements for the governance of the school, to provide consistent challenge and support for school leaders.  Extend the analysis and evaluation of information about pupils’ learning, achievement and progress to: – ensure that targets set for pupils’ progress are consistently rigorous and challenging – identify how the currently good-quality teaching and learning may be improved to outstanding.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 The proprietor and senior leaders have created a culture of high expectations for staff and pupils. Leaders and staff share an optimistic view of how pupils may overcome their barriers to learning and achieve. Through effective teamwork, they enable pupils to make strong progress from their starting points.  Staff demonstrate continuous patience, encouragement and respect for pupils. They have an excellent understanding of pupils’ starting points and provide a curriculum which interests and engages pupils.  Senior leaders have a good understanding of the quality of teaching and assessment throughout the school and how this promotes good learning. Staff work closely together, including with online teachers, to ensure that teaching is appropriate to the learning characteristics and needs of individual pupils.  Leaders ensure that assessment information is used effectively to develop and improve the curriculum. Arrangements for online teaching provide outstanding opportunities for

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

learning activities to match the individual needs of pupils. Pupils make consistently good progress because they enjoy their learning and want to succeed.  Each pupil has access to a chosen area of vocational learning. Good teaching and motivated pupils, combined to ensure that all leavers in summer 2017 achieved a level 1 certificate or diploma in their chosen area of vocational learning.  Pupils receive effective support and information as they prepare for the transition to further education and employment at the end of key stage 4. Staff work tirelessly with individual pupils to develop individual ownership of decisions about their future. The local careers service contributes an effective independent contribution to pupils’ careers education.  All staff communicate high expectations for pupils’ behaviour, positive attitudes and application to their learning. The curriculum is sufficiently broad to prepare pupils

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

extremely well for the responsibilities of adult life and to successfully manage the transition to post-16 courses.  The school promotes British values and ensures pupils’ effective spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils engage in positive discussion about current issues and develop an excellent understanding of how they might contribute constructively to the wider community.  Staff give excellent attention to equality and diversity in the way the curriculum is implemented, and they avoid discrimination. All pupils are valued challenged to develop high aspirations for their future success.

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Governance

 The proprietor maintains regular contact with the headteacher and ensures that appropriate support is provided to maintain the growth and development of the school.  The school makes very effective use of external audits to monitor and evaluate the curriculum, the quality of teaching and learning and the outcomes achieved by pupils.  The headteacher leads appropriate, continuous review of the school’s work. This includes excellent arrangements for managing the performance of staff. All staff work to rigorous targets to improve the quality of teaching and learning and to ensure that pupils engage continuously in learning.  The proprietor has recently developed revised arrangements for the governance of the school. These include clear plans to revise and extend the roles of governors and to develop senior leaders’ reporting arrangements further.  The governors ensure effective arrangements for regular staff training. All staff have

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Governance

access to regular safeguarding training, together with individual opportunities to improve their professional qualifications and to ensure their readiness to take on new responsibilities.  The proprietor ensures that senior leaders are held to account for the quality of their work. The planned, revised arrangements are intended to support more systematic and comprehensive accountability for quality and standards.  Pupils’ progress and achievements are thoroughly assessed and evaluated to ensure that they gain the maximum benefit from all that the school has to offer. Effective assessment ensures that staff prepare well for the next stage of each pupil’s learning.  Arrangements for the evaluation of teaching, learning and pupils’ outcomes are not analysed sufficiently to determine how good progress might be extended to outstanding.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school has produced an up-to-date safeguarding policy which has full regard to the latest government guidance. This policy is available to download from the school’s website.  Senior leaders and staff are very alert to the variety of risks to which pupils may be exposed. They recognise the vulnerability of many pupils and provide excellent individual therapeutic support, advice and guidance to enable them to understand and address personal challenges in their daily lives.  Staff receive high-quality training which is regularly updated, to recognise the risks to which pupils may be exposed, including sexual exploitation, radicalisation and online abuse. Pupils value the advice and guidance they receive.  Senior leaders have developed excellent working relationships with local services available to support staff and pupils with cases of concern. The school maintains meticulous

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Safeguarding

records of any disclosures or concerns and works effectively with placing schools to ensure that all pupils are appropriately supported, and external agencies informed.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 The good quality of teaching is underpinned by effective planning. Staff have a good understanding of individual pupils’ starting points and their preferred learning styles. As a result, pupils are grouped and taught appropriately in ways that enable everyone to achieve well.  The curriculum and approaches to teaching take good account of pupils’ starting points and any previous difficulties coping with the demands of learning.  Core subjects, including English and mathematics, are taught online. Online teachers visit the school, meet with school-based staff and have a good knowledge of individual pupils. They prepare interesting, well-resourced lessons that pupils enjoy.  Pupils at key stage 3, for example, enjoyed developing their use of persuasive speech. They recalled well the famous Martin Luther King speech and enjoyed comparing this with an amusing speech promoting the benefits of baked beans! Because of effective

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

questioning and dialogue, pupils developed the use of appropriate language devices, such as rhetorical questions.  Pupils are given good opportunities to research ideas and information and present their findings in visual displays. Key stage 4 pupils, for example, researched the features of holidays in Dubai and Hawaii, responding appropriately to on-screen questions and prompts from the online teacher. The quality of their work was effectively extended through discussion with in-class tutors. Pupils made good progress towards their entry- level awards.  The online teaching arrangements include good opportunities for pupils to record and respond in a variety of ways. Their work is marked thoroughly, and they have good opportunities to discuss and develop their work with in-class tutors. Pupils enjoy the appropriate balance between personal support and independent learning.  Key stage 4 pupils prepare effectively for GCSE examinations in response to a good level

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

of challenge from online teachers. Pupils enjoyed developing suitable headlines for a newspaper article. Stimulating, fast-paced questioning by the teacher encouraged them to use suitable language devices to engage and persuade the audience. Pupils were aware that they were preparing for an end-of-unit assessment which would feed back to them, and their in-class teachers, evidence of their progress towards GCSE outcomes.  Pupils are provided with good opportunities for review and consolidation of their work. They receive continuous feedback on the quality of their work and staff guide them successfully through strategies to improve the quality of their answers. All staff place an appropriate emphasis on the development of reading and writing skills. Pupils are encouraged to review their work and there is good evidence of drafted and improved written assignments.  Pupils also respond positively to group discussion, for example when learning about

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

British values. Pupils at key stage 3, for example, engaged well in attempts to define ‘mutual respect’. Their contributions were mostly orderly and constructive, and they showed the ability to listen to each other and to value the contributions of others.  The curriculum provides an effective balance between online learning and group working with tutors in class. Teachers encourage and confirm pupils’ successes. For example, in a fast-paced English literature lesson, pupils discussed evidence of ‘nature and nurture’ in the plot of the novel ‘Blood Brothers’. The teacher celebrated answers at increasing levels of depth, revealing good understanding of a key theme in the novel.  Staff communicate regularly with parents and carers. Parents comment on the value of the feedback received from staff and are pleased to receive constructive comments about pupils’ engagement and positive attitudes.  Samples of work from vocational courses demonstrate good interest in pupils’ chosen

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

subjects. As a result of good teaching, most pupils achieve a level 1 vocational qualification. However, the quality of written presentation and accuracy of answers is variable and does not always reflect pupils’ achievement in the core subjects. Pupils’ progress information is not always analysed sufficiently to ensure that their subject targets are reviewed and adjusted appropriately.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  Most pupils lack self-confidence and belief in themselves on entry to the school. The patient and persistent support provided by staff, together with the belief that each pupil can succeed, contributes strongly to pupils’ self-esteem and motivation.  Pupils develop respect for staff and outstanding desire to succeed. They quickly learn to listen to the views of staff and each other. They state that they are happy at the school, and enjoy online learning, educational visits off site and the opportunity to contribute to events for charity.  The school places a highly effective emphasis on the preparation of pupils to contribute to the wider community. Key stage 3 pupils describe the interesting and fulfilling experiences they have had through online learning, educational visits off-site and the opportunity to contribute to events for charity.

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Personal development and welfare

 Key stage 4 pupils are very enthusiastic about the school and speak very positively about the staff. They appreciate the responsibility and independence that they are given, commenting, for example, on how ‘staff forgive and forget’ when mistakes are made.  Parents and carers state that their children want to go to school. They value the emphasis on individual pupils and their needs. They can identify a number of ways in which their children have improved their behaviour and attitudes to adults since joining the school.  Staff have an excellent understanding of the social and emotional barriers to good behaviour experienced by their pupils. The quality of relationships, trust and challenge, all contribute to the development of pupils’ emotional well-being and stability.  Pupils are taught very effectively how to keep safe and manage risks appropriately. Pupils identify a number of themes that they have discussed and learned about, including

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Personal development and welfare

personal relationships, radicalisation, sexual exploitation and cyber bullying. They believe that staff understand the challenges they face and support them continuously to find answers to their personal concerns.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Almost all pupils demonstrate excellent improvements in their attitudes to learning and their behaviour in school.  The school has a strong positive impact on pupils’ behaviour and readiness to learn. Lessons are not interrupted by low-level disruption or off-task time wasting. Pupils are interested in their learning activities and are keen to succeed. They maintain their concentration throughout lessons.  Pupils contribute maturely to discussion and take an interest in the views of others. The school has an open culture in which pupils are encouraged to share their views and helped to do this in a respectful and considerate manner.  Pupils’ attendance and punctuality improve as they become accustomed to the school’s high expectations. Overall attendance is a little below the national average but, for the majority, greatly improved from their previous experience. There are no persistent

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Behaviour

absentees. School staff work closely with placing schools to take prompt action to resolve any absence and to ensure that pupils are safe at all times.  The school, through staff commitment and learning activities, pays continuous, effective attention to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils and parents recognise the school’s outstanding impact on pupils’ self-management and growing maturity.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils make good progress from their starting points on entry to the school. Most pupils have missed significant periods of previous education, had poor attendance or had not taken full advantage of learning opportunities due to poor behaviour or concentration.  The school enables pupils to improve their learning habits and close gaps in their knowledge and understanding. Almost all pupils make good progress in English and mathematics, and a minority make outstanding progress. The majority of pupils make secure progress towards the standards expected for their age.  Staff have a good understanding of the levels at which pupils are working because they assess pupils’ achievement accurately on entry to the school. They use assessment information well to plan future learning activities that provide the challenge and support required for pupils to make good progress.  Pupils develop good knowledge and understanding, and the skills required to develop and

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Outcomes for pupils Good

accelerate further learning. Most pupils develop fluent reading skills and make strong progress in their understanding of texts. A small number of pupils who enter the school with very limited reading skills, make excellent progress and are proud of their achievements.  Disadvantaged pupils, and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make progress comparable to that of others with similar starting points. Their increased motivation to learn enables them to maintain a good pace to their learning.  The majority of pupils who enter the school during key stage 3 make sufficient progress academically, socially and emotionally, to return to mainstream school placements.  At the end of Year 11, almost all key stage 4 pupils achieve success in level 1 functional skills examinations in literacy and numeracy. A number achieve foundation-level GCSE passes in English, mathematics and, occasionally, science. These qualifications represent

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Outcomes for pupils Good

good progress from their starting points.  Similarly, most pupils also achieve a level 1 certificate or diploma in their chosen vocational subjects. Year 11 leavers in 2017 achieved these qualifications in art, construction, sport and fitness, and childcare. All these leavers gained a place on a college course or an apprenticeship in their chosen vocational area.  However, the school’s monitoring and evaluation of outcomes does not present a comprehensive view of how well pupils’ rates of progress compare with national figures. A small number of pupils are capable of further progress towards success at level 2 functional skills or higher-grade GCSE.

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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

Date of previous inspection 18–24 November 2014

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Information about this school

 Nisai Learning Hub is located near to the centre of Nottingham. The school relocated to these premises in September 2016.  The school provides full-time education for pupils in the age range 12 to 19 years. Most pupils have been excluded or are at risk of exclusion from their base schools. Pupils remain on the roll of their placing school.  There are currently 19 pupils in attendance at the school, aged between 12 and 16 years. No pupil has an education, health and care plan.  Nisai learning aims to ‘help young people overcome barriers to learning through an innovative and unique approach to providing a different way to learn’. The core subjects of English, mathematics, science and information and communication technology are taught online by teachers employed centrally by Nisai Virtual Academy.  The school does not use the services of any alternative providers.  The school’s previous standard Ofsted inspection was in November 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning, including online teaching, across the full age range of the school. He scrutinised samples of pupils’ work in English, mathematics, science and vocational subjects.  The inspector held discussions with the proprietor’s representatives. He discussed all aspects of the school’s leadership and management with the headteacher, the centre manager and additional staff with management responsibilities.  The inspector held telephone conversations with a sample of parents. There were insufficient responses to Ofsted’s inspection questionnaire, Parent View, for these to be considered. He also had discussions with two groups of pupils and considered responses to an inspection questionnaire completed by seven members of staff.  The inspector scrutinised several school policies, procedures and records to check the school’s compliance with the independent school standards.

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Inspection team

David Young, lead inspector 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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