Take 1 Learning Centre

Take 1 Learning Centre Gregory Boulevard, Hyson Green, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG7 6BE

p.1

Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

p.1

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

p.1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

p.1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

p.1

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

p.1

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The proprietor, governors and senior leaders have not ensured that all the independent school standards are met.  The achievement and personal development of too many pupils are restricted by below average attendance and unsatisfactory punctuality at the start of the school day.  There is insufficient impact from the school’s work with the placing authority to address concerns about pupils’ attendance.  There is not consistent challenge in the extent and depth of writing tasks across the curriculum.  Pupils’ reading skills are not developed as well as they should be. The school has the following strengths

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment enables those pupils with regular attendance to make good progress.  These pupils achieve external accreditations which enable them to progress to further education courses and employment.  The governors and senior leaders have ensured that the school curriculum covers the full range of required areas of experience. Timetables for part-time pupils are negotiated appropriately with the placing authority.  Relationships between pupils and staff are respectful and supportive. Behaviour in lessons and around the school is good.  Leaders and staff are patient and caring. They understand the personal challenges faced by many pupils and provide continuous advice and support to aid pupils’ perseverance.  Senior leaders and governors provide continuous support and challenge. Staff are encouraged to develop and apply their subject specialisms effectively. There are good

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

opportunities for staff training and further development.  Pupils are safe in school. They are taught effectively about how to avoid risks, including online and in the wider community.

p.1

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.

p.1

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that all pupils fulfil their potential and reach their targets for academic success and personal development by: – improving the attendance of persistent absentees – ensuring the punctuality of all pupils at the start of the school day – working closely with the placing authority to ensure appropriate provision for pupils placed at the school during Year 11.  Extend opportunities for pupils to develop their literacy skills by: – providing planned opportunities for pupils to read for pleasure – ensuring consistent opportunities across the curriculum to develop greater breadth and depth in writing tasks – enhancing pupils’ ability to take more responsibility for their learning and promote better their ability to record what they learn.  The school must meet the independent school standards, as set out in the annex of this report.

p.2

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 The proprietor and senior leaders have not ensured that all the independent school standards are met consistently. This is because the school’s work to ensure high levels of attendance has not resulted in sufficient improvement in the attendance of persistently absent pupils.  The majority of pupils enter school with a record of low attendance in previous settings or have missed long periods of school due to non-attendance. The school has established joint working arrangements with the placing local authority to address low attendance, as all pupils are dual-registered with the authority’s pupil referral unit. However, these arrangements, together with the school’s direct contact with pupils’ families, have not had sufficient impact to secure the necessary improvement to date.  The low attendance of some pupils has a negative impact on the quality of their learning and outcomes. In addition, too many pupils do not arrive punctually at the start of the

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

school day. This similarly restricts the extent of their progress in some subjects.  The proprietor and senior leaders are strongly committed to improving life chances for pupils who have previously had negative experiences of education. They record absence and lateness diligently, contact parents and carers directly and inform the attendance officers of the placing authority. School staff have made joint visits with local authority officers to pupils’ homes and pursued persistent absentees through statutory procedures. Despite these considerable efforts, there has only been limited impact on improving these pupils’ attendance and/or punctuality.  Senior leaders set high expectations of staff, they demonstrate respect for colleagues and achieve high levels of effective teamwork in teaching, learning and the management of pupils’ behaviour. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive and pupils respect

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

the staff.  Senior leaders have an accurate understanding of the quality of provision. They work effectively with individual staff members to achieve continuous improvement. They have achieved considerable success in the development of a rich curriculum and effective learning experiences for pupils.  Senior leaders have ensured that appropriate operational policies and schemes of work underpin all aspects of the school’s daily work. Teachers and teaching assistants work extremely well together to continuously develop rewarding experiences and suitable learning outcomes for pupils who attend regularly.  The school curriculum is kept under continuous review. Pupils are provided with a rich range of opportunities to improve their qualifications in core academic subjects and to benefit from appropriate vocational courses, including music technology, health and fitness, and business and enterprise. The majority of pupils attend for three days a week

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

and individual timetables are agreed with the placing authority.  The quality of the curriculum together with effective teaching and learning contribute well to pupils’ behaviour and welfare. Low attendance restricts the benefits and outcomes achieved by some pupils.  The school promotes fundamental British values effectively, particularly through lessons in personal and social education and humanities. Themes studied, and the approaches to learning adopted, ensure good attention to developing pupils’ respect for diversity, including awareness of the protected characteristics.

p.3

Governance

 The proprietor has recently revised procedures for the governance of the school. This has included the recruitment of suitably qualified and experienced members to the governing body.  Leaders and staff value the support and challenge provided by members of the governing body, who also contribute effectively to the further development of the school’s systems and the quality of teaching and learning.  Governors oversee arrangements for the management of staff performance through individual appraisal based on suitable individual targets. The school’s self-evaluation has identified the need to formalise aspects of these arrangements to improve their impact.  Arrangements for review of the school’s work, including an increased focus on the monitoring of teaching and learning, have become increasingly systematic. The governors are well informed by the headteacher’s analysis and evaluation of pupils’ outcomes.

p.4

Governance

 Staff value the opportunities provided for further training and to improve their teaching skills.

p.4

Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Senior leaders and staff are well informed and vigilant in their attention to addressing the vulnerabilities of individual pupils. They have prepared risk assessments to support staff understanding of the behavioural characteristics of each pupil.  Senior leaders have produced a safeguarding policy which has regard to the latest government guidance. Parents may access the policy through the school’s website. Appropriate contact is maintained with parents, particularly where there may be any concern about the welfare and well-being of an individual pupil.  The school has established secure and comprehensive systems for recording and communicating with partner organisations on all aspects of safeguarding and pupils’ safety.  The curriculum addresses a number of risks to which pupils may be exposed. Pupils understand the risks associated with social media and a range of internet sites. Staff are

p.4

Safeguarding

appropriately trained to understand the challenges of, for example, child sexual exploitation, radicalisation, knife crime and substance abuse. They make excellent use of engaging resources and visitors from external agencies to provide pupils with authoritative information and learning activities.

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment does not have a positive impact on the learning of a number of pupils due to their irregular attendance and lateness at the start of the school day.  Teachers regularly revisit previous work to ensure that all pupils catch up on missed experiences and to fill gaps in pupils’ learning. This slows the overall pace of learning. Pupils with frequent periods of absence do not make enough progress from their starting points due to a lack of continuity in their learning.  The school faces a particular challenge with the poor attendance of pupils placed at the school during Year 11, often in the latter part of the year. Staff have little opportunity in these cases to build effective learning habits and commitment with pupils who have a history of previous non-attendance.  Senior leaders and staff have developed appropriate schemes of work for each subject

p.4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

taught. These are used effectively to aid teachers’ planning and to ensure that pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills are developed in a logical and progressive way. For pupils in regular attendance, new learning builds effectively on what has been learned previously.  Pupils in mathematics, for example, learn about the properties of different types of triangles and related three-dimensional shapes. Teachers are continuously positive about pupils’ achievements and challenge them to build on their successes.  Teachers and teaching assistants have a good understanding of pupils’ starting points due to effective baseline assessment of their skills in literacy and numeracy. The majority of pupils enter the school with limited information about their previous learning and no evidence of the work completed in previous settings.  Pupils are mostly respectful and engage well with learning activities. Their positive

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

behaviour supports effective progress.  Teachers and teaching assistants engage pupils in regular conversations based on appropriate oral questioning. They are skilled in adapting and amending learning tasks in response to pupils’ difficulties or uncertainties. They intervene immediately and adapt learning tasks for any pupil who falls behind.  Pupils enjoy the challenge of investigating and developing plans for a mini-enterprise, such as car washing or running a cake stall. They are challenged effectively to seek additional information and consider the implications of their decisions, such as the impact of costs on prices.  Pupils, in English, are taught how to develop a persuasive argument both orally and in writing. They enjoy practising the impact of their arguments in conversation with members of staff.  There is a regular focus on reading and writing across all subjects. However, pupils are

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

not always challenged sufficiently to develop the depth of ideas and variety of vocabulary in their written answers.  Pupils are expected to apply and evaluate their learning and to make individual choices, for example through individual projects in the arts award. However, there are limited opportunities for individual research and presentation of their knowledge and understanding across the wider curriculum.  Pupils enjoy learning about muscle development and how an appropriate fitness programme can contribute to healthy growth. They can comment accurately on how moods are conveyed through different genres of music. They benefit from frequent opportunities to apply their knowledge through practical applications in these vocational areas of learning.  Staff make effective use of a variety of resources, including well-presented visual images which engage and motivate pupils to participate in lessons.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The structure and content of the curriculum ensure equality of opportunity for all pupils and respect for diversity through well-chosen resources and images.  Teachers assess the extent of pupils’ learning and progress through half-termly assessments in each subject. Pupils develop an understanding of the structure and expectations of external accreditations through discussion and practise examination questions.  Information from regular review of pupils’ work and through formal assessments is used well to plan effectively for future learning and to improve pupils’ standards of achievement.

p.6

Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils who attend regularly learn how to tackle new challenges and to complete tasks to an acceptable standard. They develop confidence in their ability to succeed through continuous encouragement from staff and good opportunities to surprise themselves with what they know and can do.  Pupils mostly enter the school with little self-esteem and limited future aspirations to remain in education or prepare themselves for adult responsibilities. Staff ensure that each individual pupil is assisted appropriately with planning for the transition to post-16 education or employment at the end of Year 11.  The school uses the support of the local careers advisory service and works effectively with individual pupils to prepare applications to college or to research employment opportunities. Those who maintain satisfactory attendance through Year 11 achieve

p.6

Personal development and welfare

successful placements on vocational courses and training of their choosing.  Staff ensure that there are regular opportunities for pupils to consider risks and challenges to their own well-being and safety. They choose current and relevant visual resources to encourage pupils to consider issues such as online bullying, prejudice, extremism and substance abuse. Pupils respond positively and are prepared to consider and evaluate their own attitudes and values.  Staff are attentive to the emotional and mental health needs of pupils. They are approachable and well informed and individual pupils value opportunities for individual help. Pupils are safe and feel safe in school. They acknowledge that bullying is not a concern.

p.6

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. The main challenge facing the school is the difficulty of achieving and maintaining good attendance and punctuality at the start of the school day. Most pupils enter the school with a history of behavioural issues and this is particularly evident in negative attitudes to regular attendance.  Attendance overall is well below the national average and this has a negative impact on the achievement of many pupils.  Staff are aware of the potential safeguarding risks associated with absence from school. The local authority undertakes regular audits of the work of the school, including safeguarding arrangements and their implementation. The most-recent local authority report provides a positive evaluation of the school’s arrangements.  Pupils who attend regularly mostly demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. They listen respectfully, ask questions and are prepared to contribute. Individual pupils’ records from

p.6

Behaviour

previous placements demonstrate that for many pupils this represents an improvement in attitudes to learning and cooperation with adults.  Behaviour in lessons and around the school demonstrates respect for staff and for others and supports effective learning. Pupils respond appropriately to instructions and there is limited negative impact on the learning of others.  The small number of parents who completed school questionnaires or who spoke with the inspector commented positively on behaviour within the school.  Staff are very sensitive to the occasional use of derogatory comments or potentially offensive language by pupils. They deal with this sensitively and appropriately.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils enter the school with levels of attainment below expectations for their age. All have been excluded from previous placements and many have had long periods out of education. All pupils are placed at the school in Years 10 or 11 and have significant gaps in their knowledge and understanding of basic information and concepts.  The irregular attendance patterns of many pupils restrict their levels attained in externally accredited courses. Pupils who are placed at the school part way through key stage 4, particularly those joining in Year 11, mostly do not complete work to the standard required to achieve external qualifications.  Those placed at the school for a sufficient length of time and with appropriate attendance make good progress towards their educational targets. They progress well towards qualifications in academic and/or vocational subjects, depending on the days for which they are timetabled.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils develop the ability to present ideas orally and to maintain discussion with adults and with each other in a mature manner. Their reading skills are more variable. There are limited opportunities in the curriculum for pupils to read at length or for activities that require detailed analysis and comprehension of texts.  Disadvantaged pupils and those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make progress to a similar extent as their peers, provided they attend regularly.  Pupils successfully completed courses in science, personal, social and health education (PSHE), health and fitness, humanities and arts awards.  Although pupils mostly attend part-time, they do have access to a suitable range of subjects, many of which lead to external qualifications. Nine out of 12 leavers who completed their accredited courses and entered for external examinations in 2018 moved on successfully to further education courses or into employment with training.

p.7

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 These pupils achieved successes in functional skills English, mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) between Entry Level 2 and Level 1. Two pupils achieved a distinction at Level 1 in music technology. For most of these pupils, this represents good progress from their individual starting points.

p.8

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.

p.9

School details

Type of school Other independent special school

p.9

School details

Headteacher Naomi Fearon and Courtney Rose

p.9

School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

p.9

Information about this school

 Take 1 Learning Centre is located in the premises of a former local authority library in the Hyson Green area of Nottingham. Prior to registration as an independent school, the centre operated as an alternative provision for pupils at key stage 4.  The Learning Centre registered as an independent school in November 2017. This is the school’s first standard inspection since registration.  The school is registered to provide part- or full-time education for up to 25 pupils in the age range 14 to 16 years. Pupils have previously been permanently excluded from their mainstream schools, usually as a result of their challenging behaviour or non-attendance.  There are currently eight pupils on the school roll. Almost all pupils attend part time, usually three days a week. A small number of pupils have an education, health and care plan.  Pupils are placed at the school by the local authority’s pupil referral unit and are dual-

p.9

Information about this school

registered at both centres. The majority of pupils also attend another part-time provider for the remainder of the school week, under contract with the local authority.  Take 1 Learning Centre provides a variety of vocational courses in addition to accredited functional skills courses in English and mathematics. The school does not use the services of any additional alternative providers.

p.10

Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning across a range of academic and vocational subjects. He scrutinised samples of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and additional subjects, including accredited functional skills courses.  The inspector held discussions with the proprietor, who also oversees the school’s governance arrangements. He discussed all aspects of leadership and management and the implementation of school policies, with the joint headteachers and with teaching and support staff.  The inspector considered a small number of questionnaires completed by parents. He also spoke with a small number of parents and carers. He held informal conversations with pupils. There were insufficient responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for these to be considered.  The inspector scrutinised several school policies, procedures and records to check the school’s compliance with the independent school standards.

p.11

Inspection team

David Young, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

p.11

Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

 5 The standard about the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at the school is met if the proprietor- – 5(b) ensures that principles are actively promoted which- – 5(b)(iii) encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative and understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality in which the school is situated and to society more widely.

p.12

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 .

p.12

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.

p.13

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 .

p.13

Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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.

p.13

Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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 .

p.13

Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.13

Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.13

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

p.13