Setting

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

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Mr Crispian Woolford Headteacher Talbot House Trust, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hexham Road Walbottle Newcastle-upon-Tyne Tyne and Wear NE15 8HW

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Newcastle Upon Tyne

Following my visit to your school on 19 September 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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Newcastle Upon Tyne

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has received two successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections. At its section 5 inspection before the one that took place in February 2017, the school was also judged to require improvement.

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Newcastle Upon Tyne

Senior leaders and the trust are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good.

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Newcastle Upon Tyne

The school should take further action to:

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Newcastle Upon Tyne

 increase rates of attendance and decrease the proportion of pupils that is persistently absent.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with you, the deputy headteacher, the teacher with responsibility for primary provision and the deputy chief executive of the trust. I also met with a member of the governing body in order to discuss the actions taken by school leaders since the last inspection. The school improvement plan was evaluated. Information about the progress that pupils are currently making, and the quality of teaching, were considered. I looked at quality assurance processes that underpin provision at school. I made brief visits to both primary and secondary classes to observe learning with members of your leadership team and I considered the quality of pupils’ work. I met with you, as designated safeguarding lead, and with colleagues responsible for attendance and punctuality.

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Context

Since the previous inspection, permanent staffing appointments have been made to primary classes. In addition, there is now a teacher with overall responsibility for primary provision who is also a member of the senior leadership team.

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Main findings

Since the previous inspection, you have made sure that the quality of leadership at school has improved at a good pace. Your deputy headteacher, whose quality assurance systems were in their infancy at the time of the previous inspection, now has a record of positive impact at the school. Staffing in the primary years is now stable, and your teacher with responsibility for primary classes is highly effective. You manage other leaders, and take personal responsibility for both behaviour management and safeguarding processes, with strength and sensitivity. I have confidence in your leadership of the school, which now has proven capacity to bring and sustain improvements. You and your team are having a positive impact on the lives of your pupils, some of whom are both vulnerable and challenging.

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Main findings

Your deputy headteacher has a good handle on the quality of provision. Her systems to check the quality of teaching are strong. There is a clear line of sight between the observation of teaching and scrutiny of pupils’ work, and the professional development programmes that she then puts in place to address any areas of weakness in teaching. Systems to check the rates of progress that pupils are making and the standards that they are reaching are equally effective. As a result of this information, including results from her ‘monitoring and evaluation schedule’, individual teachers now shape lesson planning and delivery well to meet the needs of pupils.

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Main findings

In addition, your deputy headteacher uses the information that she collects to tweak aspects of the curriculum so that it engages the interests of pupils. This has a positive impact on pupils’ behaviour. For example, a more personalised curriculum is offered to some pupils to help to engage them more in school life. Access to outdoor learning, bushcraft, expressive arts and physical education helps these pupils to maintain an interest in education.

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Main findings

The electronic system that you use to track any potential safeguarding issues and general patterns of behaviour is now embedded. You use this information well to pre-empt any potential issues at school. This, together with the ‘house system’ that you use for registration time, helps you to keep your ear to the ground, and gives you a ‘heads-up’ when there are particular stresses in the community or at school. These strategies, in addition to an increasingly interesting formal curriculum and afternoon enrichment opportunities, have led to an increasingly calm learning environment. Incidents of physical intervention by staff to help manage pupils’ behaviour are low, and only used as a last resort. ‘Chill-out spaces’ such as ‘the pod’ help individual pupils to cool off, should there be a confrontation of any kind. The use of these spaces is effective in managing some pupils’ emotional responses.

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Main findings

You have introduced a ‘points system’ to encourage pupils to behave respectfully in classrooms and when moving around the building. Pupils know exactly how they are expected to behave and know that good behaviour is required in order to access the full enrichment programme, rather than spending time reflecting on how to be respectful. This is having a positive impact on reducing bad language heard around school, which was an area for improvement identified in the last inspection.

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Main findings

Your systems for tracking pupils’ attendance and their rates of persistent absence are equally as robust as other processes at school. However, the impact of these is variable, partly due to the transient nature of some of your pupils. You were able to give several case studies of pupils who are still engaged in education in spite of experiencing substantial difficulties in their lives. You also gave evidence of pupils whose attendance is now much stronger than in their previous schools. Nonetheless, you and members of the governing body agree that attendance still needs to be an area of focus for leaders. The recent appointment of an outreach worker is an example of how governors and the trust are committed to improving this area of school life.

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Main findings

At the time of the previous inspection, staffing in the primary years was unstable, with few adults on permanent contracts. This is no longer the case. What is more, there is now a colleague in place with responsibility for primary classes at school. Under her leadership, there has been a step change in the quality of provision. Planning is much more aligned to the needs of individual pupils. Adults are well trained in a variety of strategies, including therapeutic support, to help pupils focus on learning. There is a real sensitivity in the way that groups are organised and transitions between activities are managed. The teaching of phonics is now strong, as teachers and teaching assistants are fully trained in its delivery.

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Main findings

Teaching at school is characterised by high-quality planning that meets the needs of individuals. You and other school leaders have high expectations of the pupils in your care. As a result of these expectations, even when pupils are less focused in lessons, there is a palpable feeling in the room that work will be completed to an acceptable standard in the end. This is because pupils, adults and teachers know that the system for checking the quality of education is strong; pupils know that working hard is non-negotiable. You have ensured that teaching assistants are supporting learning in classrooms in addition to keeping the learning environment calm. The professional development of teaching assistants has a much more central role now, and termly ‘supervision meetings’ are used to support these colleagues professionally. Teaching assistants play a central role in aspects of your personalised curriculum and the ‘nurture group’, a primary class that focuses on the

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Main findings

development of pupils’ emotional development before they access more formal learning.

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Main findings

Your understanding of the strengths and areas for development of the school are accurate. School improvement planning is fit for purpose. You, together with members of the governing body and leaders of the trust, have responded with vigour to the areas for improvement from the last inspection. The quality of teaching is improving, staffing is more stable, and systems to assure the quality of education are fully in place. Governors are now furnished with much more helpful information to enable them to support and challenge you and other leaders. In as far as staffing is concerned, you have been bold. You have not yet appointed a teacher with responsibility for English, as you will not take second best. You are continuing your search for the right colleague to fill this position. Nonetheless, standards in English have not declined as senior leaders have shouldered responsibility for this subject effectively in the meantime.

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External support

The school is receiving effective support from the local authority. School leaders speak highly of the ‘achievement partner’ who has been advising them since the last inspection. The monthly ‘management support group’, which includes governors, members of the trust and representatives from the local authority, has challenged school leaders to keep their eyes firmly focused on school improvement. This has had a positive impact.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chief executive officer of the trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Newcastle upon Tyne. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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