SchoolsCompany South and West Devon Academy

SchoolsCompany South and West Devon Academy Shinner’s Bridge, Dartington, Totnes Devon TQ9 6JD

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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 Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Weak leadership from the trust has resulted in a high number of pupils being accepted onto the school roll without ensuring that the school provides an acceptable standard of education for them.  Safeguarding is not effective. Leaders are unable to cope with the sharp rise in the number of pupils. Many pupils are on reduced timetables. Leaders do not know the whereabouts of some pupils and so cannot guarantee their safety.  The trust has not provided school leaders with the induction, support or resources they need to provide effective leadership.  School leaders do not understand where weaknesses exist or how to make the urgent improvements needed. The development plan does not provide a clear sense of direction for improvement.  Leaders do not know how well additional funding supports disadvantaged pupils or pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.  The quality of teaching and learning is weak. A

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

lack of accurate assessment information and weaknesses in teachers’ subject knowledge result in poorly planned learning activities that do not match the needs of pupils.  Pupils’ achievement is inadequate. Pupils do not develop the knowledge, or receive the careers guidance they need, to move onto successful education, employment or training.  The curriculum is too narrow to meet pupils’ needs or to interest them. Pupils often do not receive therapeutic support to help them to overcome their challenges.  Pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare is inadequate. Attendance is too low. Behaviour during lessons deteriorates and too many pupils show poor attitudes to their work.  There have been several changes to leadership arrangements and school systems and procedures. Staff are not clear about the future direction for the school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Some pupils attending the main site achieve well, particularly in art, due to the effective use of resources and high expectations.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Urgently improve the quality of leadership and management, including safeguarding arrangements, by ensuring that: – all pupils’ placements are reviewed, working in partnership with the local authority, to ensure that pupils are safe, wherever their learning takes place – the provision for pupils who are on dual placements is reviewed to ensure that the responsibility for their attendance, safety and progress is clear and understood by all stakeholders, including parents and carers – patterns of attendance are analysed to ensure that pupils are safe and that they receive the support they need to come to school as often as they can – school leaders are supported to create a development plan that sets relevant priorities for improvement, with appropriate timescales and milestones, so that the impact of actions can be checked by leaders, including governors – staff have appropriate training so that they are well equipped to analyse patterns

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

of behaviour incidents and to manage behaviour effectively and safely – trust leaders communicate clearly with staff about the reasons for the changes being made and about the future direction of the school.  Urgently improve pupils’ academic and personal achievement by ensuring that: – all pupils receive a good standard of education within a safe and secure environment – all pupils’ progress is assessed to ensure that weaknesses are identified and any changes to teaching that are needed are made quickly – resources are used effectively so that disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities receive the extra support they need to make good progress – the curriculum is reviewed, including the use of therapies, to ensure that pupils receive a range of learning about how to keep themselves safe and to prepare them well for their futures.  Urgently improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

teachers: – are provided with professional support to equip them with the subject knowledge they need to plan activities that meet pupils’ needs and interests – accurately assess what pupils know, can do and understand and use this to inform planning so that learning is well matched to the needs of pupils – provide high-quality careers guidance that supports pupils to plan for their future education, employment or training. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management can be improved. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Under the leadership of the trust, the school has declined. It does not provide an acceptable standard of education for pupils. Despite the school only having two small buildings, the number of pupils placed at the school has risen sharply and the school is not able to accommodate them on site. Leaders are unclear about the oversight of the large number of other ‘learning sites’ where pupils are placed and cannot be sure that all pupils are safe.  Leaders have not had high-quality induction or continuing support for their roles. As a result, systems to support school improvement are weak. There is a development plan in place, but it does not support leaders, including governors, to drive forward improvements. It is not clear who will check that planned actions are completed or who will evaluate the impact of the actions on pupils’ progress. The school requires substantial external support to ensure that school leaders are able to plan a clear way

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

forward and make the improvements needed.  Leaders do not provide staff with professional development that matches their individual needs as identified during performance discussions. They know too little about the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school. As a result, leaders do not have a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of teaching quality. Therefore, leaders are not able to identify areas that need further development.  The system for analysing pupils’ progress is not fit for purpose. It does not include all pupils across the key stages. As a result, leaders are unable to identify where to take action when progress falters. Therefore, pupils do not have the teaching time or the resources they need to achieve well.  Leaders do not know what impact additional funding such as pupil premium funding has had on disadvantaged pupils. Furthermore, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

do not have clear plans that identify their next steps or that are regularly reviewed to ensure that the provision is meeting their needs.  The curriculum is poorly planned. For example, pupils in key stages 1 and 2 receive little learning about history, geography or religious education. Pupils in key stage 3 rarely learn about issues to do with their personal and social development, or health. Too often, learning for pupils who are educated at home does not support pupils to understand how to keep themselves safe from risks.  Concerns raised about the quality of education provided at the school have led to a period of turbulence in the leadership and governance of the school. The regional schools commissioner has recently brokered leaders from a local trust to provide support to the school.  These new leaders have started to work in partnership with the local authority and have already made an agreement to stop further placements at the school for the time

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

being while they review the current position.  Some staff are unclear about their roles and responsibilities and seek clarity about the school’s future direction and vision for the future.  It is recommended that newly qualified teachers should not be appointed.

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Governance of the school

 The local governing body has recently been removed. A new interim executive board, made up of members who have suitable experience and skills to fulfil these roles, has been established. However, this new governance model has not been in place long enough to drive the school’s strategic direction, or provide challenge to leaders.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. The trust has failed to ensure that pupils’ safety is the first priority. Furthermore, they have not matched the rise in pupil numbers with appropriate resources to ensure that pupils are safe.  Leaders do not make sufficient checks to ensure that pupils across the various sites are safe. They have not monitored the quality of education and have failed to notice clear weaknesses. There are times when pupils are unaccounted for and leaders are not sure of where pupils actually are during the school day. This puts pupils’ safety at risk.  Leaders are overwhelmed with the number of referrals and in meeting the more complex behavioural and medical needs of new placements. As a result, they have not ensured that aspects of keeping pupils safe, such as the administration of medicines or risk assessments, are up to date and fit for purpose.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Too often, teaching does not match the needs of pupils, particularly in key stages 1, 2 and 3. A lack of professional development and feedback from leaders have led to underdeveloped subject knowledge and poorly planned lessons. Expectations for many pupils are too low. Staff do not sufficiently challenge pupils, including the most able, to solve problems or apply the knowledge they have to new contexts.  Staff do not match learning activities to meet the needs of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities or for disadvantaged pupils. Pupils’ learning plans are too brief, lack precision and are out of date. As a result, pupils do not have clear guidance about the next steps in learning that they need to take.  Inconsistencies in assessment mean that teachers do not accurately match learning activities to pupils’ needs. Some pupils receive little, if any, teaching in English or mathematics. There has been some very recent training for staff in phonics (letters and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

the sounds they represent); however, this has not yet had a positive impact on raising the quality of the teaching of phonics. Resources are limited and pupils do not demonstrate the phonic understanding expected for their ages.  The quality of teaching and learning for pupils taught in sites away from the main school sites is too variable. Some pupils receive a limited timetable that does not help them to gain a secure knowledge and understanding. Too many pupils receive very little teaching at all.  The role of teaching assistants has changed to focus on providing academic support as well as support to develop pupils’ personal and social skills and understanding. However, they have received little guidance on how to make this transition. As a result, the effectiveness of their support is patchy.  Learning sessions delivered online are not adapted effectively to meet pupils’ needs or interests. As a result, these lessons have little impact on the progress that pupils make.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate. Staff have low expectations of pupils’ behaviour across the school. In addition, there is a lack of therapy support. As a result, pupils’ self-confidence and understanding of how to learn in a successful way are underdeveloped.  Pupils, particularly in key stage 3, including those who have been at the school for some time, show poor attitudes towards their work and a disregard for other pupils. Work is often incomplete or poorly presented.  Support for pupils’ emotional and physical well-being is too inconsistent. For many pupils who are educated at home or in public places, there is little or no teaching about keeping themselves safe from harm, including from exploitation, radicalisation or honour-based violence.  In some key stage 4 subjects provided at the main site, particularly art, there are higher expectations, interesting activities and appropriate learning resources. As a

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Personal development and welfare

result, some pupils show more mature attitudes towards their work.

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Behaviour

 The monitoring of attendance is weak. Leaders lack the capacity to support and challenge families to ensure that more pupils attend school well. Pupils on dual placements are of particular concern because responsibilities for monitoring attendance, safety, well-being and progress of these pupils lack clarity.  The number of serious incidents has reduced over time on the school’s sites, but there are still many disruptions to learning caused by outbursts of poor behaviour from pupils. Some of these incidents are of low-level disruption; some are more serious, with pupils leaving lessons, swearing during lessons and damaging parts of the building.  Leaders do not analyse behaviour incidents across all the sites and providers used by the school to learn lessons and help to reduce further incidents. As a result, staff do not consistently implement recent changes to school procedures in logging incidents. In

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Behaviour

turn, this has weakened leaders’ effectiveness to ensure that staff manage behaviour well.  Following recent external guidance aimed at raising expectations of behaviour across the school, the behaviour policy was revised to include a no smoking policy. This change has resulted in a sharp rise in exclusions. It is too soon to know whether these higher expectations will be effective in ensuring that pupils learn how to manage their own behaviour effectively.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Outcomes across the school are weak. Pupils do not make the rapid progress they need to achieve in line with their capabilities. Expectations are not sufficiently high to encourage pupils to show a pride and pleasure in their work.  Pupils do not gain the skills in phonics, reading, writing and mathematics that prepares them for future education either for when they return to their schools or to prepare them to move to other work or education placements. Pupils’ books show that many pupils, particularly in key stages 1, 2 and 3, have produced a scant amount of work during their time in school.  Leaders do not know what impact additional funding such as pupil premium funding has had on disadvantaged pupils. Furthermore, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities do not have clear plans that identify their next steps or that are regularly reviewed to ensure that the provision is meeting their needs.  Teachers do not share their assessments with other schools to check that they are

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

accurate. Too often, they do not successfully analyse the progress that pupils make by checking standards in pupils’ books. In addition, they do not use assessment effectively to match activities to pupils’ needs. As a result, pupils’ books show that, across the school, progress is weak and they are working well below the expectations for their age. This includes pupils who have been at the school for some time.  Few pupils follow GCSE or other accredited courses and very few achieve higher standards, although higher expectations mean that some do in art. For pupils educated off-site, and those educated online, progress is poor.  There is a lack of therapeutic provision offered to pupils to support their social, emotional or mental health issues. This means that too few pupils are successfully gaining the confidence and improved self-esteem to either return to their schools or to go onto successful placements elsewhere.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Pupils do not receive high-quality, impartial careers guidance that supports their personal development. As a result, many have unrealistic plans or are not following appropriate courses that meet their aspirations. Leaders have not analysed pupils’ destinations over time to ensure that courses offered are appropriate for them.  There has been a focus on ensuring that an accurate baseline of pupils’ achievement is gathered. This work is new and not yet embedded.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

School category Academy alternative provision sponsor-led

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School details

Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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School details

Email address admin.sw@schoolscompany.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 South and West Devon Academy opened in March 2015 as part of SchoolsCompany Academy Trust.  The trust board consists of nine directors. An interim chief executive office started in post in January 2018. The local board of governors has recently been removed. An interim executive board has been formed and has had one meeting.  Following intervention from the regional schools commissioner, ACE Schools multi academy trust was asked to provide support to other schools within the SchoolsCompany Trust. ACE leaders are also providing support to South and West Devon Academy.  The school aims to provide education for pupils who are experiencing difficulty in accessing mainstream education as a result of their mental or physical health, permanent exclusion or because they have SEN and/or disabilities and are undergoing assessment or waiting for a place in a specialist provision.  The school operates from two sites in South and West Devon. The main site is in

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Information about this school

Dartington with another site in Marldon. A site also used in Tavistock has recently closed.  The number of pupils on roll has significantly increased over the past two years.  Leaders use a number of alternative providers: On Track (Totnes), Chances (Newton Abbot and Dawlish), Winchmoor tutors, an animal husbandry provision at Bickington, South West Intervention Services, 121 Tutoring, Jumpstart, Breakthrough Transformation Trust, Moor Play and Y Smart. Some pupils attend part-time at South Devon College. Some pupils use two online tutoring systems: Interhigh and Academy 21.  There are currently no pupils in the early years provision.  The principal started in post in September 2017.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning across the two main sites and talked to pupils. Inspectors also observed a sample of outreach teaching in pupils’ homes and in alternative providers. Observations took place with school leaders. The quality of work in pupils’ workbooks was also scrutinised, alongside leaders.  Inspectors held meetings with the principal, senior leaders, staff and directors and the chief education officer of ACE Trust. Telephone conversations were held with representatives from the local authority, local headteachers who use the school for some of their pupils, the interim chief executive officer of SchoolsCompany and two members of the interim executive board.  Inspectors examined a wide range of documentation, including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, the school’s development plan, and information relating to pupils’ achievement and progress. Records relating to behaviour, attendance and

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Information about this inspection

safeguarding were also scrutinised.  Inspectors took account of the 27 responses received from the staff questionnaire and the 13 responses to a pupil survey. Inspectors also considered the free-texts and 13 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. Several telephone calls were made to gather views from parents and these, along with a letter sent to inspectors during the inspection, were taken into consideration.

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Inspection team

Tonwen Empson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Iain Freeland Her Majesty’s 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

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

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

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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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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