Osborne School

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

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Sonia White Headteacher Osborne School Athelstan Road Winchester Hampshire SO23 7GA

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Short inspection of Osborne School

Following my visit to the school on 7 February 2019 with Ross Macdonald, 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 March 2015.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school has demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection be a section 5 inspection.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

Your ambition and determination for pupils to be successful has ensured that you have not only maintained the many strengths of provision, but also built upon them rapidly. Governors, leaders and staff reflect your vision and are committed to ensuring that pupils do as well as they can. As a result, all staff work together to ensure that every pupil receives the high-quality academic education and personal development needed for them to fulfil their potential.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

The vast majority of parents rightly speak highly of the school. Comments such as, ‘We cannot fault the school’ and ‘The school cannot do enough for my child’ are typical of the appreciation that parents show for the provision that their children experience. Many parents comment on the strong progress that their children make at Osborne School.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

Staff manage pupils’ behaviour very well. Interactions between staff and pupils are calm and respectful. Staff know pupils exceptionally well, including the times of the day or the activities which the pupils might find stressful or difficult. Consequently, they pre-empt pupils’ reactions to situations and reduce pupils’ anxiety effectively. Staff remain measured and supportive when pupils demonstrate challenging behaviour. Consequently, situations frequently de-escalate quickly so that other pupils feel safe and able to learn.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

Pupils make excellent progress personally and academically. Leaders expect many of their pupils to make the same rates of progress as pupils in other mainstream schools. This is a reflection of their high aspirations. The school’s assessment information shows that approximately two thirds of the pupils meet or exceed the targets that they are set in reading and mathematics. All pupils are set personal targets which contribute to their well-being and ability to be successful learners. These targets are set and reviewed each term. If these targets are met before the termly review, teachers rightly and diligently adapt the targets. However, this process means that the review of targets and the setting of next steps is not as precise or ambitious as for academic targets.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

Qualifications and accreditations vary from year to year so that they are appropriate to pupils’ abilities and skills. Many pupils achieve entry level GCSE qualifications in English, mathematics and computing. Accreditations include food technology, construction and performing arts. Leaders successfully support pupils to do as well as possible in order to maximise their opportunities for employment and independence.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

At the last inspection, you were asked to improve teaching and learning by challenging the most able pupils more fully and ensuring that students move on to new areas of learning quickly. You were also asked to ensure that the website contained all statutory information. The actions you have taken are effective and have resulted in the most able pupils now routinely being challenged. There are extension activities provided for pupils to encourage them to self-select tasks if they believe they are capable of more. As a result, teaching and learning has improved and is consistently strong across the school.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are highly personalised and fit for purpose. All staff at the school recognise the particular vulnerabilities of pupils. Consequently, staff take safeguarding very seriously. Safer recruitment practices are followed meticulously and the recording of these is managed carefully. Training for staff is timely and appropriate. Staff identify and record their concerns diligently and precisely following school policies. These are followed up swiftly by leaders. Parents are kept well informed and outside agencies are involved whenever necessary.

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Short inspection of Osborne School

Governors check safeguarding and ensure that school staff and leaders do what they should to keep pupils safe. There are effective systems in place for pupils to share any worries that they have. Parents are rightly confident that the school does what it should to keep their children safe.

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Inspection findings

 In order to evaluate the school’s effectiveness, we agreed key areas to explore in detail. These included: how well the curriculum meets pupils’ needs so they fulfil their potential: what leaders have done to improve teaching since the last inspection; and what impact the school’s focus on mental health is having on pupils and staff.  The curriculum, which was a strength at the previous inspection, has improved further and meets pupils’ needs very well. There is a very strong focus on equipping pupils with the necessary skills for life and maximising their abilities and independence. Pupils experience a range of excellent opportunities. These include drum lessons, following on from well-planned and effective drum therapy, visits to Flanders to experience travel and learn about the First World War and sports camps provided by London Irish rugby club.  The most able pupils in key stage 4 attend classes at the mainstream school. This

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Inspection findings

approach has been so successful that leaders have extended the timetable so that pupils and students are able to attend the local secondary school for many of their lessons, while still being very well supported by staff from Osborne School. The sixth-form curriculum provides a number of effective strategies which strongly build students’ confidence and skills for adult life once they leave the school. An example of this is ‘boogie bounce’, which is taught by a local sports teacher and replicates the class delivered to the wider community.  Leaders’ very effective monitoring of teaching has ensured that teaching is at least good. Some practice is exceptional and leads to very good progress among pupils. The feedback that leaders provide is useful and helps teachers to improve their practice. Teachers plan work at the right level to meet pupils’ learning needs. Lessons are delivered clearly and in a structured way to ensure that pupils

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Inspection findings

concentrate and are motivated to learn.  Leaders have identified that many of the younger pupils are very reliant on adult support when they first come to the school. Developing pupils’ ability to think for themselves and make choices are a fundamental part of the teaching approach to enable pupils to grow in independence. Support is carefully targeted at pupils who need help with managing their behaviour, physical disability or concentration. Teaching assistants support individuals and groups of pupils skilfully, knowing when to observe and when to get involved. This means that pupils have opportunities to do as much as they are capable of on their own and develop their independence.  There is a careful balance of pupils being taught academic skills and knowledge, alongside the development of their personal skills. Assessment systems for recording academic progress are more refined than those for personal progress.

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Inspection findings

Consequently, although pupils make good progress in both areas, just occasionally opportunities are missed to develop personal skills more rapidly or at a deeper level.  Your commitment to mental health for staff and pupils is having a positive impact on the school community. Weekly lessons are built into the pupils’ timetable, as are staff sessions for after-school fitness and well-being. Mental health is embedded within the pupils’ personal targets, so that well-being permeates school life.

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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

 assessment processes for personal development targets are as effective as those for academic progress, so that opportunities for improving pupils’ personal skills are not missed.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection we met with the headteacher, the deputy headteachers, middle leaders, teachers, support staff, governors and a group of pupils. I also spoke to a representative from the local authority. With leaders, we visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work. We reviewed the school’s information about pupils’ attainment. We also reviewed other documentation linked to safeguarding, governance and school improvement. We spoke to parents in the playground at the end of the school day and took account of the 38 responses to Parent View. We also took account of the 34 staff responses and 11 pupil responses to the online questionnaires. We did not consider the areas for improvement which linked to boarding provision as this was closed in 2016 in order to provide more space for the post-16 students.

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