Warmley Park School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Miss Lisa Parker Headteacher Warmley Park School Tower Road North Warmley Bristol BS30 8XL

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

Following my visit to the school on 21 June 2018 with Jen Edwards, Ofsted Inspector, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in September 2013.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

Staff and the governing body are fully supportive of your vision. They are determined to do their best for the children and young people in their care. Staff morale is high, and they enjoy their work, creating a positive learning environment throughout the school day. As a result, pupils and students continue to enjoy coming to school and thrive.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

At the previous inspection, you were asked to:

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

 Increase the pace of learning further for all groups of pupils by:  ensuring that teachers plan sufficient tasks to engage pupils in learning for the whole lesson  making sure that those who use alternative forms of communication have these aids with them at all times so that they can always make choices, let their needs be known and communicate with others.  Improve classroom accommodation in the sixth form so that students have more opportunities to socialise with each other and develop their independence skills.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

You have prioritised improvements in these areas and at the same time have made improvements to the ways in which the school records information about pupils and uses this knowledge to make further changes. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of what the school is providing for their children. Some of them would appreciate more communication, in particular about the curriculum. They appreciate the newsletters but would also like the school’s online diary to provide more information about forthcoming events so that they can have a longer time to plan ahead.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

You, staff and the governing body, ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You ensure that training is of high quality and reflects current evidence-based research. For example, the March 2018 training concentrated on the Ofsted publication, ‘Positive environments where children can flourish’. You ensured that the outcomes of the report were used by staff to focus on pupils in the school. This enables them to target interventions and support pupils even more securely.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

Pupils feel safe and are kept safe and secure in lessons, and at social times, due to high levels of supervision. Bullying is rare.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

You and the governing body follow appropriate procedures when recruiting new staff that ensure their suitability to work with children.

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Short inspection of Warmley Park School

Strong relationships with other agencies and services help to support families when they are most vulnerable, due to their circumstances.

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Inspection findings

 The first line of enquiry focused on how well the curriculum develops pupils’ independence and prepares them for the next stages in their education. Staff have continued to develop and adapt the curriculum offered to all year groups. The type of special educational needs and/or disabilities that pupils have is changing annually. From your detailed record-keeping, of all aspects of pupils’ development and progress, you recognise that the most able pupils are not always challenged enough. You are aware that further curriculum revisions will be needed to ensure that pupils can fulfil their potential.  The curriculum you provide for children in the early years covers all of the required elements. It helps to prepare them to be ready to learn when they join the primary phase of the school. Likewise, in the sixth form students have a suitable range of programmes of study. The provision of work-based placements

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Inspection findings

and activities helps to prepare them well for life after school.  The next line of enquiry focused on how well communication aids are used to enable children, pupils and students to make choices and have their views known. This is an area that you have successfully targeted since the previous inspection in 2013. Pupils have a good range of equipment available, ranging from simple to complex technologies. When they are used they are highly effective. For example, students used recording devices to help them shop without support from their teaching assistant. Sometimes staff are too quick to provide an answer for a pupil, such as how to spell a word, rather than making the pupil use other available resources to find the answer for themselves.  The third line of enquiry concentrated on reviewing the accommodation provided for the sixth form to enable students to socialise. The new state-of-the-art building is going to provide fantastic accommodation for students. Staff and

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Inspection findings

students alike are very excited about moving in next term. In the meantime, staff ensure that students have as much opportunity as possible to socialise and take responsibilities in the school.  The final line of enquiry looked at how well the school was supporting the ‘local offer’ for special educational needs and disability services for South Gloucestershire. You have rightly concentrated on getting a secure service for the school’s families. Working with others to develop the early years provision and the sixth form have been your priorities. The local authority is appreciative of all that you and your staff have been doing. This is clearly evidenced in the securing of the funding for the new building. You are ambitious to further develop work with other schools to prevent exclusions. You have the right plans in place with the right timescale to extend what the school offers.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 pupils consistently use communication tools, without adult help, so that they increase their independence  communication with parents improves, particularly in relation to the curriculum  the most able pupils have the right level of challenge so that they can reach their potential. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for South Gloucestershire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

We agreed the timetable and activities for the day. We worked with other senior leaders during the day. We met with other staff and members of the governing body. We spoke with a group of pupils, transport drivers, the school’s improvement partner and the head of education for South Gloucestershire. We examined the quality of pupils’ work, and observed pupils learning in lessons and when at play. We took account of the 17 responses by parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and met with parents. We considered the 15 responses by pupils to Ofsted’s electronic questionnaire, and the 23 responses submitted by staff. We reviewed a wide range of documentary evidence, including records relating to safeguarding, the quality of teaching, the curriculum, assessment information, the school’s self-evaluation and action plans. We examined the actions the school takes to keep pupils safe.

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