Independent Educational Services

Independent Educational Services 100 Cross Street, Stockingford, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 8JH

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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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

 Leaders and managers have not ensured that all the independent schools standards are met.  Safeguarding procedures are ineffective in relation to staff recruitment and the health and safety of the wider maintenance in the school’s different settings.  Senior leaders do not have a clear view of what constitutes good pupil progress. The assessment system does not enable leaders to have a secure overview.  Not enough time is devoted to learning in English, mathematics and science. Some pupils receive an insufficient amount of time in these subjects, limiting their progress.  Learning does not always focus adequately on the precise skills that pupils will learn. The scribing of pupils’ work, by adults, limits their writing skills, or ability to record their work in different ways.  Pupils’ personal development and welfare are inadequate because of weaknesses in the school’s safeguarding procedures.  Teaching requires improvement. Learning is not

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

always matched closely enough to pupils’ abilities. In lessons, pupils are not given enough opportunities to demonstrate their learning.  Too few pupils make consistently strong progress in English, mathematics and science.  Senior leaders’ analysis and use of summary assessment information, self-evaluation and improvement planning are weak and do not help them address areas for improvement.  Governance arrangements are ineffective in holding the leaders to account. There is insufficient challenge or support from governors to ensure that the school is held to account more rigorously.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Staff establish positive relationships between themselves and pupils. This helps to improve pupils’ behaviour and provides them with a stable and supportive environment.  Staff provide pupils with interesting experiences that broaden their outlook on life.

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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?

 Improve leadership and management by: – ensuring that all the independent school standards are met consistently – ensuring that safeguarding procedures are rigorous and effective in relation to staff recruitment, fire safety and the wider maintenance of the school’s different settings – strengthening governance arrangements to provide challenge and support, so that senior leaders accurately evaluate the effectiveness of their work – strengthening improvement planning, self-evaluation and the analysis of pupil assessment information so that areas for improvement are identified and addressed rigorously.  Improve pupils’ progress so more pupils make good progress from their starting points by: – ensuring that more time is devoted to English, mathematics and science – developing a clear understanding of what good progress looks like for pupils – improving the school’s assessment system to enable teachers and leaders to have a

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

full understanding of pupils’ progress and then take action when necessary.  Improve teaching and learning by: – ensuring that learning is better matched to pupils’ needs and aptitudes – creating more varied opportunities for pupils to record their work across the curriculum – encouraging more opportunities for pupils to demonstrate what they have learned and understood in lessons – ensuring that lesson planning routinely focuses on the learning that will take place.  The school must meet the independent school standards, as set out in the annex of this report.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 At the previous inspection, leadership and management were judged to be outstanding. However, as the school has expanded, leaders and managers have not been rigorous enough in their efforts to check that all the independent school standards are consistently met .  Although leaders and managers are ambitious for the school to improve, they have not focused enough attention on improving teaching, learning and pupils’ achievement. Leaders’ judgements on the quality of provision are too generous and give an inaccurate picture of the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress.  Strategic improvement planning, self-evaluation and subject planning are not well thought out. Development planning focuses on operational issues and is not linked to incisive self- evaluation in order to identify strengths and areas for improvement accurately. Subject planning is also too broad and does not adequately reflect pupils’ needs and aptitudes

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Although the school receives a small amount of funding for disadvantaged pupils, there is no clear evaluation of its impact on pupils’ achievement and progress.  The school’s assessment system does not adequately capture small steps of pupils’ progress. Senior and middle leaders do not have a clear understanding of what good progress looks like. As a result, it is difficult for them to accurately evaluate pupils’ progress over time. Leaders’ analysis of pupil assessment information is weak and does not indicate strengths and areas for improvement. For example, leaders are not sufficiently aware of which subjects pupils do best in, where outcomes are weak and how shortcomings are to be addressed.  Middle leaders are more confident in the leadership and management of behaviour and operational details than on focusing on pupils’ progress. They do not have a clear overview of developments in their respective subject areas.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The subjects and experiences offered to pupils increasingly engage them positively in lessons. The wide range of vocational courses enables pupils to experience success. However, on a day-to-day basis, work is not matched closely to pupils’ needs, particularly for some pupils with more complex learning needs. The time allocated to English, mathematics and science is variable, meaning that pupils do not receive enough teaching in these subjects.  Although the school is not able to extend its school day, due to transport arrangements, a good range of extra-curricular activities are provided, such as regular residential trips, which make a positive contribution to pupils’ personal and social development.  Senior leaders have the confidence of the staff, pupils, parents and carers. Parents praise the work of the school. One local authority representative spoken to held the school in a positive light.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 There are suitable performance management arrangements in place and staff receive training relevant to their work. Staff are set targets in relation to their professional and whole-school development and the pupils they teach.  Senior leaders ensure that pupils receive independent and impartial careers guidance from Year 8 onwards. Careful consideration is given to future pathways and pupils are well prepared for their next steps. For those pupils for whom it is appropriate, work- related experiences are provided in local businesses, such as restaurants or Warwick Castle.  Staff ensure that pupils are effectively prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils experience and learn about different cultures, backgrounds and faiths through visits and visitors to school and increasingly learn the importance of tolerance and respect.

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Governance

 Governance arrangements are weak. The two directors provide governance for the school. However, they acknowledge that whole-school planning, self-evaluation and the analysis of pupil assessment information do not give a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. This lack of clarity has not enabled them to focus on the most pressing issues to secure school improvement.  The lack of attention to detail has weakened the school’s effectiveness since the last inspection. As a consequence, the issues from the last inspection have not been fully addressed. They have not ensured that there is an effective culture of safeguarding across the school.  Currently, there is no external perspective to provide challenge and support to the school and the school’s capacity to improve is weak.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are ineffective.  The culture of safeguarding is not strong enough. Pre-recruitment checks for staff are not always followed up in a timely fashion. Health and safety are not given a high enough priority to ensure that regular fire drills, checks on equipment and water hygiene are in place. The school’s accessibility plan does not take into account the two houses used to teach pupils.  The school’s safeguarding policy is available on the school’s website but does not reflect the latest statutory guidance.  The designated safeguarding leads have completed relevant training. Staff have received training on extremism, child sexual exploitation and e-safety. They are quick to pick up on potential concerns and safeguarding issues are discussed daily.  Staff work well with outside agencies to support pupils, families and carers, for example to improve pupils’ attendance and behaviour.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Activities in lessons are not always modified to address the wide range of pupils’ learning needs or to ensure that work is pitched at the correct level. Sometimes, work is not simplified enough to allow some pupils to access learning, for example the lack of use of alternative forms of communication, such as photographs, symbols and signs, to allow pupils with more complex needs to access learning. On other occasions, teachers do not challenge the most able pupils sufficiently.  Much work in pupils’ books is written by adults for pupils. This limits opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their writing, or record their views using alternative methods.  On occasions, learning lacks purpose and the knowledge and skills pupils are expected to achieve lack clarity.  On occasions, learning is mundane and teachers’ questioning does not extend pupils’ thinking enough. However, some staff make good use of more effective questioning to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

draw out thoughtful responses from pupils.  Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and supportive and most pupils engage well in lessons. Teachers encourage positive attitudes for learning. The informal relaxed atmosphere is helpful for pupils and most said they enjoy lessons.  The wide range of vocational courses is good and improves pupils’ attendance and achievement.  Mathematics is well taught and older pupils are prepared effectively for completing examinations. In English, pupils’ writing skills are not developed well enough. Numeracy and literacy skills are not promoted strongly enough across other subjects.  Staff know their pupils well and use flexible approaches to suit the needs of pupils.  Pupils remain in further education or training due to effective preparation by staff for their transition to their next phase of life.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate. This is because the school’s arrangements for safeguarding are ineffective. Leaders have not ensured that all appropriate employment checks have been carried out and that health and safety issues across the various sites have been checked and remedied.  Pupils are taught how to keep safe online and are encouraged to follow instructions carefully, for example when cooking breakfast.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well by staff and adds richness to pupils’ lives. They have good opportunities to visit places of interest to explore historical and cultural aspects. Residential trips contribute positively to pupils’ growing self-esteem and confidence.  Pupils develop a keen sense of belonging through active participation in the school council and have made positive suggestions for improvement, such as strengthening the reward

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Personal development and welfare

scheme.  Pupils told inspectors they felt safe from any form of bullying at school and had confidence in staff to look after them. The demeanour of those pupils who were not able to express a view shows that they are relaxed and confident in school.  Pupils’ attendance improves well and indicates how much they start to enjoy school. Some pupils start off part time, but rapidly increase to full-time attendance.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils’ behaviour in and around school is good. They make rapid improvements over time and pupils are eager to please. Most pupils have positive attitudes to learning.  Very thorough behaviour intervention plans and positive handling techniques, as well as comprehensive risk assessments, set out strategies to de-escalate challenging behaviour. This means that pupils’ behaviours are managed very effectively and result in fewer negative incidents and more good behaviour over the course of the year.  The school has strong evidence to show how well pupils improve their behaviour and attitudes at school.  Pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare in alternative provision are good. Pupils are closely supervised by school staff to ensure that they are safe and learning is meaningful.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils at the school have more complex learning needs now than at the time of the last inspection. This is because the most able pupils have transferred to a sister school. Outcomes in core subjects are not good enough. Too few pupils make good progress from their starting points. Scientific enquiry does not focus sharply on acquiring knowledge and skills.  Smaller steps of pupils’ progress are not measured effectively. Assessments from pupils’ starting points show that some pupils do not make consistently good progress. For some, reading and spelling ages stall or, in some cases, decline. Where this is the case, there are no clear interventions to address these issues.  Pupils enjoy and achieve well in vocational subjects, such as mechanical skills, and develop their skills and knowledge.  Year 11 pupils gain appropriate awards, such as certificates of achievement, and suitable qualifications linked to vocational courses, such as motor mechanics and construction.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

Academic awards are generally at entry level qualifications.  Pupils read regularly, although some pupils are reluctant readers initially. On occasions, texts selected are too complicated for pupils to access and are not simplified enough for them to understand. The most able pupils are able to identify literary techniques that authors use, such as alliteration and personification.  The teaching of mathematics is good and is delivered in practical ways to make it meaningful to pupils, for example by working out how long to walk a set distance and the number of steps used, making use of wearable technology to help them do this.  Currently, there is a very small number of post-16 students in the sixth form, where 16– 19 study programmes are appropriate to suit the needs and interests of students, to prepare them for life after school.  Last year, all pupils moved on to further education or training. The majority of pupils

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

successfully remained in their placement a year later.

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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

Proprietor Independent Educational Services Ltd

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School details

Headteacher Leanne Beardmore and Shaun Major

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School details

Website www.independenteducationalservices.com

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School details

Email address independenteducationalservices@gmail.com

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Information about this school

 Independent Educational Services is an independent day school with five sites situated in Nuneaton. This consists of the main school base and four separate houses or bungalows where education is also provided.  There are currently 20 pupils on roll, aged between 11 and 19 years, with social, emotional and mental health difficulties and associated disabilities and complex special educational needs. Most pupils are taught on a one-to-one ratio, but some with more complex needs may have more than one adult helping them.  All students have education, health and care plans. Pupils are placed by several different neighbouring local authorities.  The school’s vision is for bespoke community education, enabling students to access the whole curriculum and to fill the gaps in their educational experience across the breadth of the curriculum.  The school makes use of a range of additional locations to provide sports, recreational

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Information about this school

and vocational experiences for students under the direction of its own staff.  The school uses a number of alternative providers. These are Coventry Work Related Learning, Entrust, and Right Trax, which respectively provide courses in construction, accredited vocational qualifications and vehicle maintenance.  The school’s last standard inspection was in March 2014 and it underwent a material change inspection in February 2017.

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Information about this inspection

 This standard inspection took place with one day’s notice.  The inspectors observed 13 parts of lessons, all of which were observed jointly with different members of the senior leadership team.  Pupils’ work, staff surveys, annual reports and other records were scrutinised.  The school’s documentation was examined, including planning for subjects, records of pupils’ progress, and the welfare and safeguarding of pupils.  The inspectors checked the school’s compliance with the regulations for independent schools. All the school’s different sites were visited, as were two of the alternative providers.  The views of pupils were sought through individual discussions and school-based questionnaires.  There were insufficient responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, to take these into consideration, but the views of parents and carers were gained through written comments and questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Frank Price, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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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(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.

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

 7 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that: – 7(a) arrangements are made to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at the school; and – 7(b) such arrangements have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.  11 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that relevant health and safety laws are complied with by the drawing up and effective implementation of a written health and safety policy.  12 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

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Part 5. Premises of and accommodation at schools

 25 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the school premises and the accommodation and facilities provided therein are maintained to a standard such that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of pupils are ensured.  28(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that: – 28(1)(c) cold water supplies that are suitable for drinking are clearly marked as such; and – 28(1)(d) the temperature of hot water at the point of use does not pose a scalding risk to users.

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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; and – 34(1)(c) actively promote the well-being of pupils.

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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

 Arrangements are made to fulfil duties under schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. 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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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

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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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

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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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

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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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

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Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010

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

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