Carmel Christian School

Carmel Christian School 817A Bath Road, Brislington, Bristol BS4 5NL

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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 Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Safeguarding is not effective. Leaders do not ensure that safeguarding policies and procedures are followed.  Trustees do not challenge leaders to ensure that the independent school standards are met. Leaders do not have the skills and knowledge needed to lead the school well.  Leaders do not check the quality of teaching with rigour. They do not provide guidance to staff about how to plan teaching or how to assess pupils’ work. Leaders do not promote teachers’ professional development well.  Outcomes for pupils require improvement. Teaching does not meet pupils’ learning needs. Some pupils, particularly the most able, do not make the progress they should.  Pupils are offered a narrow curriculum and range of qualifications in key stage 4.  Teaching, learning and assessment require improvement. The quality of teaching is too inconsistent across the school. This limits pupils’ progress. Pupils do not have relevant or

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

interesting books to read, which impedes the development of their reading.  Pupils do not develop their writing skills effectively. Too often, pupils’ spelling, handwriting and understanding of composition do not match that expected for their age.  Activities in the early years class do not successfully match the interests or learning needs of children. Children do not make the progress they should nor do they develop good social or behavioural skills.  Pupils’ attendance is too low, and absences are not rigorously followed up. Some pupils do not understand how to keep themselves safe when not at school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The curriculum enables pupils to develop respect for other people and their views.  Teachers help pupils to develop their mathematical knowledge well.

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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 the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that: – all safeguarding policies and procedures are rigorously and consistently applied – trustees receive appropriate safeguarding training and have a better understanding of their responsibilities for safeguarding – the proprietor and trustees regularly check that the independent school standards are being met – leaders monitor the quality of teaching, learning and assessment effectively and use this to provide guidance and appropriate professional development for staff – schemes of work across all subjects take account of the learning needs of pupils and are used consistently across the school.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – core skills are developed and enriched, as outlined in the school’s aims – pupils have, and are encouraged to read, a wide range of relevant and interesting books – pupils develop their writing skills more effectively, particularly their spelling,

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

handwriting and composition – inexperienced staff have the support and guidance they need to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.  Improve outcomes for pupils by ensuring that: – staff assess what pupils already know, understand and can do and use this to adapt their learning plans so that pupils, particularly the most able, make good progress – teaching in the early years matches the needs and interests of children and is suitably challenging so that children are better prepared for Year 1 – a wider range of qualifications is offered for older pupils to ensure that they are able to move on to the employment, education or training they choose.  Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by ensuring that: – more pupils attend school well – more rigorous checks are in place to ensure that pupils are safe when not attending school – pupils have a clearer understanding of how to keep themselves safe when not at

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

school – behaviour during transitions between lessons improves – more children in the early years develop the social and behavioural skills expected for their ages.  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

 The proprietor has not made sure that safeguarding is effective and that the independent school standards are met. Recent changes to key leadership positions have resulted in reduced capacity among leaders to check that safeguarding procedures are followed. In addition, there are insufficient checks to ensure that the statutory requirements of the early years foundation stage are met.  Leaders do not have the knowledge and skills needed to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment are good across the school. As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they should.  Leaders’ evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses in the school is not accurate. Too little is done to remedy the weaknesses that exist.  Leaders have allowed performance management procedures for teachers to lapse. This means that staff do not receive clear or specific guidance on how to develop their teaching. Pupils’ education suffers as a result.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 The curriculum intended to enrich learning is poorly planned. Staff do not use the schemes of work produced by leaders to plan lessons. Learning is haphazard. Leaders do not know if the intended learning matches the aims set out in the curriculum policy, or whether it meets the needs of pupils.  There are very few extra-curricular activities offered. Some pupils attend a chess club. Parents seek out their own activities after school if they require these for their children.  In line with the aims of the school, education is delivered in a Christian context. Over time, pupils develop a respect for other people and learn to acknowledge their views. Older pupils can talk about a range of religions and beliefs.

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Governance

 The proprietor, trustees and leaders meet regularly to discuss aspects of the school, such as financial and staffing arrangements. However, the discussions are rarely to do with safeguarding arrangements or the quality of education provided. Insufficient attention is given to improving these aspects of the school’s work.  Trustees have not ensured that they have had training that equips them to make appropriate decisions about safeguarding. For example, they do not check that any allegations made are responded to appropriately or that safer recruitment procedures are applied.  In addition, information provided to trustees by the headteacher about the education at the school is accepted with little challenge or deeper discussion. As a result, weaknesses go unaddressed and continue.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.  The effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements has declined recently due to significant changes in key staff. A new staff member has recently taken over responsibility for safeguarding but has not yet been able to ensure that safeguarding procedures are effective.  Leaders do not ensure that there is a secure process in place to respond to concerns raised by staff or pupils about safety. Leaders do make appropriate referrals to the local authority about safeguarding concerns.  Recruitment procedures are not secure. The single central record is not checked to ensure that all staff and trustees are included and that all the required pre- employment checks are completed. These omissions were corrected during the inspection.  Leaders cannot demonstrate that appropriate risk assessments have been undertaken to support activities in the early years class. Risk assessments for

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Safeguarding

activities outside of school, for example the regular physical education sessions, do not include details about pupils who may be at risk because of their medical conditions.  Leaders do not ensure that training means that staff are clear about safeguarding procedures. As a result, some staff do not know what to do if they are concerned about the safety of a pupil or how to report any concerns about staff conduct.  Leaders do not ensure that the school premises are safe. Some shortcomings, such as broken locks to cupboards containing chemicals, were rectified during the inspection. Leaders cannot demonstrate that they are complying with fire safety regulations by, for example, regularly checking safety equipment such as the fire alarm.  The school has a safeguarding policy which is published on its website and is available to parents. The policy pays due regard to current government guidance. It is, however, not implemented well.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment varies too much across the school and across subjects. There is no agreed system for assessing pupils’ knowledge and skills and no clear expectation of how lessons will be taught. Leaders do not provide staff with guidance or feedback on their work. Staff do not work collaboratively or check how they assess pupils’ work. As a result, teaching and learning are too inconsistent.  Leaders’ aim for learning in the afternoon is that activities enrich and broaden the learning completed in the morning sessions, when pupils work through printed activities in booklets. However, staff do not consistently follow the agreed schemes of work. There is no agreed system for tracking and assessing pupils’ learning throughout the school. Staff do not plan lessons that closely match pupils’ learning needs. As a result, pupils do not consistently build on their skills. For example, many

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

do not apply spelling and handwriting skills to written work across the curriculum.  Pupils typically acquire reading skills that enable them to read text that is presented to them. However, they often do not fully understand the meaning of the words. In addition, books and other reading resources do not inspire or excite pupils to read widely or for pleasure.  In the early years class, children waste too much time managing their relationships during play, as their social skills are underdeveloped. Staff do not ensure that activities are closely matched to the learning needs of children. Some children, particularly the most able, are bored and restless during lessons.  The teaching of mathematics and science supports pupils’ learning well. Pupils are challenged to use their number skills to work out mathematical problems appropriate for their ages. In science, pupils develop sound understanding of scientific concepts

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

and vocabulary. Some aspects of science presented to younger pupils are done so from a biblical perspective, for example about how the Earth was created. Other perspectives, including evolutionary theories, are presented to key stage 3 and 4 pupils.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate. Leaders’ failure to establish secure safeguarding procedures means that pupils are not safe, and their welfare is not promoted.  The structured approach in some subjects supports pupils to learn to work independently and to set their own goals. However, the lack of clarity about how this learning is developed in other subjects means that, too often, pupils are not able to apply skills across activities. Pupils are not developing the attributes of successful learners across the curriculum as a whole.  Leaders do not check that the personal, social and health education scheme of work is taught consistently across the school. Therefore, they cannot be sure that pupils receive clear and consistent messages about keeping themselves safe.  The school organises some special events, such as ‘healthy eating week’, which all

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Personal development and welfare

classes participate in. Pupils also contribute to community charity events, such as supporting Christmas hamper collections and raising funds for schools in Uganda. These contribute to pupils’ personal development and preparation for their future lives.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is inadequate. Staff do not ensure that children in the early years class develop the social skills expected for their age. Therefore, children often have disagreements that take staff time to sort out, which distracts them from learning activities.  Too many pupils do not attend well. Leaders allow arrangements for pupils to be educated elsewhere without making proper checks to ensure that they are safe. Leaders also allow other arrangements where parents regularly do not bring their children to school because of family or work commitments. Leaders do not check that these arrangements are safe and secure.  There is an orderly atmosphere during the mornings in most classes. Pupils show respect for adults and each other and they work quietly and studiously at their morning tasks. Behaviour during transitions between lessons and for some afternoon sessions, particularly for younger pupils, is not as well managed.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Children make slow progress while in the early years class. Too few develop the skills they need to read, write, use numbers and work well together. Staff do not ensure that children are challenged to develop their skills. For example, during writing tasks, pencil grip is not corrected quickly enough and poor habits remain. Too few children are well prepared for learning in Year 1.  From Year 1, pupils acquire sufficient phonic and reading skills to enable them to catch up and successfully complete the work they are set. However, across the school, resources do not support pupils to read widely and for pleasure.  Staff do not assess pupils’ reading skills to ensure that the reading material they have matches their ability. Sometimes books are too easy, sometimes they are too hard. Pupils do not receive consistent guidance in how to develop their understanding of different texts. Consequently, they do not develop as readers as

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

well as they should.  Pupils are enthusiastic about their work. This helps them begin to develop aspects of spelling, grammar and composition. However, too often, they do not successfully apply these skills when writing for a range of purposes. Pupils’ handwriting is not consistently good because of weak letter formation. Pupils’ spelling is not secure. These weaknesses in writing skills slow down pupils’ progress.  Staff do not ensure that the most able pupils are challenged to achieve the higher standards they are capable of.  Pupils in key stages 3 and 4 work towards the International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE). Nearly all pupils successfully move on to local colleges and universities using these qualifications. Some complete qualifications such as A levels at local colleges before moving onto further education.  Leaders meet with pupils and parents as they prepare for moving to their next steps.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

Careers guidance is provided to pupils through visits to schools and colleges. When pupils have completed the school’s curriculum, arrangements are often made to transfer to local colleges and sixth forms.  Trustees state that a current priority for the school is to review the qualifications offered to pupils in key stage 4 to ensure that a range of more widely recognised qualifications, for example GCSEs, are offered.  Pupils gain mathematical skills throughout the school that are appropriate to their ages. They use these skills successfully to reason and solve problems.

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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 Carmel Ministries International

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School details

Email address jaapv@carmelchristianschool.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection 18–20 October 2016

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Information about this school

 Carmel Christian School is part of Christian Education Europe. It is owned by Carmel Ministries International, the headquarters of which is in Bristol.  The school opened in 2000. It is a non-selective, independent Christian day school.  A material change was requested and approved in February 2018 to increase numbers to 75. However, pupil numbers have recently reduced significantly.  The school is situated on one site and does not use any alternative providers. However, during the inspection, it was found that a very small number of pupils are educated offsite for art activities.  Children in Nursery and Reception are taught in one early years class which caters for children from three years old. Currently, there are too few children in early years to report on separately. Staff are currently being supported by advisers from The Bristol Standard.  There are currently no students in the sixth form.

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Information about this school

 Currently there are no pupils who have an education, health and care plan and there are no disadvantaged pupils.  Much of the curriculum is taught through booklets called Packets of Accelerated Christian Education (PACEs).

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning across the school jointly with the headteacher and looked at a range of pupils’ work. Inspectors listened to groups of pupils’ views. They also took into account the 23 responses and free-text comments provided by parents on Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as listening to parents’ views during the inspection.  Inspectors met with staff members and took account of the six views from staff who completed a survey during the inspection.  The inspectors observed an assembly and morning break.  An inspector met with a trustee and had several meetings with the chair of the governing body and the headteacher. Trustees’ and governors’ meeting minutes were taken into account.  A range of school documents was considered, including information about the curriculum, the school development plan, and assessment, behaviour and attendance information. Several documents regarding safeguarding, including the single central record, were

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Information about this inspection

looked at.  An inspector checked compliance with the independent school standards by checking health, safety, and welfare arrangements during a walk around the inside and outside of the school site.  Compliance was also checked by looking at a range of school policies, schemes of work, and records of health and safety such as fire regulations and the accessibility plan.  An inspector spoke with representatives from the local authority safeguarding team and designated officer. An inspector spoke to an adviser from The Bristol Standard.

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Inspection team

Tonwen Empson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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; and  2(2) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(1)(a), the matters are– – 2(2)(f) where the school has pupils below compulsory school age, a programme of activities which is appropriate to their educational needs in relation to personal, social, emotional and physical development and communication and language skills.  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

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught – 3(c) involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time – 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 – 3(f) utilises effectively classroom resources of a good quality, quantity and range – 3(g) demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess pupils’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that pupils can progress.

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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.  12 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005[12].  16 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that– – 16(a) the welfare of pupils at the school is safeguarded and promoted by the drawing up and effective implementation of a written risk assessment policy; and – 16(b) appropriate action is taken to reduce risks that are identified.

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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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the early years foundation stage

Learning and development requirements: paragraph 1.6 Safeguarding and welfare requirements: paragraphs 3.2, 3.4, 3.21, 3.22, 3.55, 3.64 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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the early years foundation stage

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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the early years foundation stage

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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the early years foundation stage

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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the early years foundation stage

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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the early years foundation stage

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the early years foundation stage

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the early years foundation stage

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

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