Brunel College

The Wasp Centre Brunel House, Mitchell Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 7PY

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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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 Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The trustees and the headteacher do not ensure that the independent school standards are met in full.  Trustees have only recently begun to hold leaders to account for the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Systems have only just been established for them to consider the performance of the headteacher.  A few pupils who are placed with the centre never attend. A few others do not attend as often as they can.  Pupils‘ outcomes are not consistently good.  Teachers do not have a good understanding of what pupils can do, or need to learn next. The quality of teaching is not good enough across the curriculum to ensure that pupils make consistently good, and rapid progress in their learning. Pupils are not currently reaching their targets in English and mathematics.  Moving to the new site has caused some disruption. There has also been turbulence in staffing, which has just been resolved. Middle leaders have been recently appointed.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

However, it is too soon to see the impact of their work.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher has a clear and aspirational vision for the future of the centre. All staff believe in the potential success of pupils.  Safeguarding is effective and is given a high priority by the leaders and all staff. Pupils are kept safe and feel safe.  Plans to support pupils to manage their own behaviour are used consistently by staff. Consequently, pupils‘ behaviour improves over time.  The headteacher, staff and trustees have focused on ensuring a culture of respect for all. As a result, pupils have a good understanding of right and wrong.  The curriculum is appropriately planned. It promotes pupils‘ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well, suitably preparing them for life in modern Britain.  The centre‘s staff develop positive partnerships with families. Parents are supportive and pupils‘ attendance generally improves.

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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 full report.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 The centre must meet the independent school standards, as set out in the annex of this report.  Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by: – ensuring that effective systems are in place to enable trustees to challenge and support leaders, holding them to account for the quality of teaching and pupils‘ outcomes.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by: – obtaining more detailed information about what pupils know, understand and can do before they are placed at the centre and using this information to secure greater accuracy in the assessments of pupils‘ learning to inform teaching effectively.  Improve pupils‘ personal development, behaviour and welfare by: – working even more closely with other agencies and providers to ensure that pupils attend the centre as often as they can.  Improve outcomes for pupils by: – making sure that all teachers consistently challenge pupils in their learning across the

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

curriculum so that they make rapid progress in all areas of learning.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The lack of prompt action and support from the trustees has not helped the headteacher to ensure that all of the independent school standards have been met. The list of the regulations that have not been met is at the end of this report. Though the few unmet independent standards are easily rectified and do not have a serious impact on pupils‘ welfare, health and safety, leaders have not ensured that all aspects of the independent school standards are met in full. Standards relating to leadership and management, the premises and accommodation, and the recording of information are not met.  Leaders are swamped with a wide range of different recording and reporting systems. The number and range hinder them from seeing quickly and clearly the impact of the centre‘s work on pupils‘ outcomes. This in turn inhibits them from providing the trustees with information that is holistic and easy to check. Consequently, variability remains in the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

quality of teaching, learning and assessment. The headteacher is aware of this weakness and a new system, with which he is familiar, has been purchased and is due to be implemented before the start of the autumn term.  Increasingly, leaders are identifying pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. The centre has not benefited from having a trained special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). However, the trustees are in the process of making a suitable appointment. In the meantime, with the support from local services, a member of staff has taken on the role of supporting these pupils. This has included the successful application for education, health and care plans when required.  Leaders have implemented systems to monitor the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They have also established performance management of staff. However, it is too early to see the full impact of this work on improving the centre‘s performance.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The centre is beginning to improve through the development of its middle leaders. They are acting decisively, but it is too soon to see the impact of their work on improving the outcomes for pupils. As part of their work, the centre is reviewing the organisation, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum. Although the curriculum is appropriately planned, it is not consistently implemented and leaders are aware that it could be broader and provide more vocational opportunities for pupils.  Good-quality information is provided for pupils about potential courses and careers that are available. Work placements and experiences of life beyond school are carefully considered around pupils‘ own dreams and ambitions. This is due to be further extended next year as part of the middle leaders‘ initiatives.  All staff have a strong passion and commitment to improve the lives, and life chances, for the pupils in their care. Parents and carers have confidence in the whole team to support

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

their children to do their best and to become responsible citizens. They are effusive in their praise, noting that the staff have taken time to fully understand the needs and vulnerability of their children. Staff then use this information to help pupils manage their own behaviour and to develop a desire to learn and succeed.  The leadership team are aspirational. They lead quietly and with humility. Staff at all levels are motivated and enabled to make their own impact on the centre‘s work. Everyone is listened to and equally respected. Staff morale is high. The centre is a harmonious team of committed individuals, providing a safe haven for pupils.  Centre staff work very closely with other agencies to provide support for pupils and their families in times of crisis and when circumstances make pupils more vulnerable. They also work closely with other schools to help pupils to stay or return to mainstream education

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

when they can.  Since the pre-registration inspection in April 2017, the centre has moved site. Leaders have ensured that the accommodation is of good quality. They have concentrated on pupils‘ welfare and safety and ensuring that staff are carefully chosen for their ability to support pupils who are vulnerable due to their circumstances.

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Governance

 The trustees have not ensured that the actions noted in the pre-registration and material change visits undertaken in April and August 2017, were speedily acted upon. The trustees have not ensured that the independent school standards are consistently met.  They have now invested in an external consultant to work with the headteacher. They are also in the process of providing the headteacher with a mentor and further training for his leadership role. Very recently, they established a clear accountability system to better challenge and support leaders to ensure that improvements are swiftly implemented.  The trustees are committed to getting the best for the pupils in their care. They, along with leaders, willingly resolved a number of issues during the inspection. They are rightly undertaking a review of the centre‘s policies and procedures to ensure that they are up to date and truly reflect the day-to-day work of the centre.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Following advice from the local authority, the centre had unintentionally being using the wrong codes in the attendance registers when pupils were not expected to be attending this centre. During the inspection, following clarification from the Department of Education, this mistake has been rectified.  When the provision first opened it was registered under the auspices of another school. Since then, all of the statutory checks have been carried out before employing staff. However, following the transition of the centre to be registered in its own right as a school, some of the information that is needed for the centre‘s single central record was mislaid, such as the confirmation of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Leaders completed this information during the inspection, including the reapplication for the single missing DBS check.  Where pupils have dual placements, almost all of the schools who use the centre do not

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Safeguarding

have an expectation for pupils to attend their school at the same time that they are registered with the centre. In addition, some of them remove Year 11 pupils from their roll before the annual school census. This puts greater pressure on the centre and parents to ensure pupils‘ safety when they are not expected to attend the centre.  Risk assessments are up to date and, where needed for individual pupils, are clear about the actions that need to be taken to reduce risks. Pupils feel safe, and are kept safe when they are in attendance.  The centre‘s website is currently under construction. Information about the centre, including the centre‘s safeguarding policy, are provided to parents and other on request. The safeguarding policy is suitable, when taking into account government requirements.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Pupils join the centre following periods of missed education or after turbulence in their education. As a result, staff often do not have a clear picture of what the pupils know, understand and can do. The headteacher ensures that pupils‘ abilities are benchmarked through tests when they join the centre. Nevertheless, more details need to be provided by the pupils‘ dual placement schools to identify individual learning gaps and successes.  Staff have been carefully selected based on their ability to meet pupils‘ social and emotional needs, enabling the pupils to be ready to learn. However, they are not as effective at supporting their academic development. Sometimes this is because the learning activities are not sufficiently challenging, or are seen by the pupils as repeating work that they have already mastered. Lessons proceed smoothly without disruption, when teachers explain tasks clearly and where learning is closely matched to pupils‘

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

abilities.  Staff know the pupils well. As a result, they are able to deal with any inappropriate behaviour subtly, and quietly. The role of other adults in classrooms is to concentrate on supporting pupils‘ learning. The centre is in the process of developing pupils‘ personal learning plans, but these are not in place yet. This means that pupils‘ targets are not currently common across all their lessons.  Pupils appreciate and respond well to the encouragement and feedback provided by staff about their learning and behaviour. The positive relationships with staff contributes to a calm learning environment for the majority of the time. Staff consistently expect pupils to work with a positive attitude and behave well. Some are not so consistent at challenging inappropriate language.

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Personal development and welfare

 The centre‘s work to promote pupils‘ personal development and welfare requires improvement. Leaders are rightly reviewing the protocols and arrangements with dual placement schools.  Pupils do not have showers available on site for their use after engaging in physical activities. The provision of showering facilities for pupils over the age of 11 is a requirement of the independent school standards. Leaders and trustees are aware of this deficiency and they are investigating ways that showers might be provided. Arrangements for the pupils to use local facilities with the appropriate amenities are also being investigated. In the meantime leaders ensure that physical education activities occur at the end of the learning day.  Pupils‘ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively through the curriculum provided, and by the high quality role modelling of staff. Pupils‘ increased

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Personal development and welfare

self-confidence and personal awareness is evidenced through the displays in classrooms and corridors. Assemblies create a communal atmosphere, with each student‘s and member of staff‘s verbal ‗thank you‘ written down and shared on the common room wall.  Likewise, celebrating peoples‘ differences and British values is at the heart of the centre‘s work. Pupils enjoyed celebrating the royal wedding, producing the most fantastically decorated Victoria sponge cake for the centre‘s own party.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Some pupils do not attend the centre, and some others do not attend the centre as often as they can. Leaders work closely with families who do not attend the centre when they should, providing good support for those who are most vulnerable due to their circumstances. Pupils‘ attendance is carefully monitored and improves from their attendance at previous schools. However, leaders‘ recording of the contact that they have with families is not always precise or consistently documented.  Risk assessments for individual pupils provide good guidance for staff to know how to best support the pupil concerned. The need for physical intervention by staff is rare. It is also unusual for the leaders to exclude pupils. When this happens, it is done with the best interest of the pupils and the staff. Following exclusions, pupils are carefully supported so they can re-engage with their learning.

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Behaviour

 Due to the careful selection of staff, along with good-quality training, staff are highly effective at helping pupils to regulate their feelings and emotions. Pupils engage well with their learning and generally respond to staff instructions. Lessons start promptly with pupils being ready and willing to learn. Parents and carers, along with pupils, remarked that this was not the case in their previous schools.  Pupils‘ personal development, behaviour and welfare is good when attending further alternative provision. This is due to the careful selection of alternative provision and matching it effectively to meet individual pupils‘ needs.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Last year there were three Year 11 pupils. All of them had their examination entries through their dual placement school. This year, most of the Year 11 pupils are entered for at least four GCSEs including English and mathematics.  The centre‘s system for tracking pupils‘ achievement is still being developed. It is currently not helping leaders to determine exactly how much progress pupils are making in key stage 3. It is clearer for leaders to see pupils‘ achievement in Years 10 and 11, because pupils undertake unit awards in a suitable range of subjects throughout the two years, building up to GCSE entries in Year 11.  Overall, progress is variable across the centre. This is a result of inconsistent teaching, particularly in English. Pupils are not currently meeting their targets for English and mathematics. However, they are making better progress since they started attending the centre than they had made in their previous school(s). In addition, pupils are generally

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

achieving well in science and information technology.  Parents and carers told inspectors about how much they appreciated the work of the centre, in particular the caring and supporting staff. They reported dramatic changes in their children‘s attitudes to education, so that they were now making much-improved progress in their learning.  Pupils make good progress in developing their social and emotional skills. There is an increased expectation for pupils to sit a wider range of accreditations and to study a greater breadth of subjects. Through good-quality, independent careers advice, pupils are developing aspirations for their next stage of education, training or employment. Some have a clear understanding of what qualifications they will need to achieve their ambitions.

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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

Number of pupils on the school roll 39 (13 sole roll, 26 dual-registered)

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The centre opened on 16 May 2017. This is the first full inspection of the centre.  There is a headteacher with responsibility for the school.  The centre is governed by the trustees of The Wessex Partnership Trust. The trust board is mainly drawn from senior leaders from secondary schools in and around Salisbury. Some of the secondary schools that have dual pupil placements with The WASP Centre have members who act as trustees.  The centre currently uses River Bourne Community Farm as an alternative provider for a few pupils when they need it.  The centre provides education for up to 40 pupils aged 11 to 16 years, on site and through outreach work in schools or at the pupils‘ homes.  Most pupils are dual registered with mainstream schools in Wiltshire. A small number of pupils receive their education from the centre on an outreach model in response to their specific needs.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited the centre and River Bourne Community Farm.  The inspectors worked with the centre‘s leaders and other members of staff throughout the inspection. The inspectors conducted observations of pupils‘ learning, some jointly with staff. They met with the centre‘s trustees. They held telephone discussions with agencies working with the centre, and parents.  The inspectors scrutinised the quality of pupils‘ work, and talked with pupils about their work and life in the centre.  The inspectors took account of the six responses by parents to Ofsted‘s online questionnaire, Parent View. The 11 paper responses submitted by staff were also considered.  The inspectors considered a wide range of documentation to check compliance with independent school standards including the centre‘s safeguarding records, policies, procedures, risk assessments and pupil-progress information.

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Inspection team

Steffi Penny, lead inspector Her Majesty‘s Inspector

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Part 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff and proprietors

 18(2) This standard in this paragraph is met if—  18(2)(d) the proprietor ensures that, where relevant to any such person, an enhanced criminal record check is made in respect of that person and an enhanced criminal record certificate is obtained before or as soon as practicable after that person‘s appointment.  21(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor keeps a register which shows such of the information referred to in sub-paragraphs (3) to (7) as is applicable to the school in question.  21(3) The information referred to in this sub-paragraph is—  21(3)(a) in relation to each member of staff (―S‖) appointed on or after 1st May 2007, whether—  21(3)(a)(v) an enhanced criminal record certificate was obtained in respect of S;  21(3)(a)(vi) checks were made pursuant to paragraph 18(2)(d).

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Part 5. Premises of and accommodation at schools

 23(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), the standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that—  23(1)(c) suitable changing accommodation and showers are provided for pupils aged 11 years or over at the start of the school year who receive physical education.

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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

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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