Glebe House

Inspection of Glebe House Church Road, Shudy Camps, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB21 4QH

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection

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Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

All pupils follow a two-year programme of academic learning alongside daily therapy and high-quality care and support. School buildings are bright, modern and fit for purpose. Teaching in a range of subjects helps pupils to re-engage in learning. They learn the essential skills needed for the workplace. Older pupils receive good support to enable them to progress into adulthood.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils improve their behaviour during their time in school. A few show poor attitudes in lessons. One-to-one support and care keep them safe. Pupils told inspectors that school is a safe place where they feel free from bullying. When issues arise, they can speak with staff. They also voice their concerns in daily ‘community meetings’. In these meetings staff have high expectations of pupils and manage their behaviour firmly but sensitively. These sessions contribute well to their good personal development and welfare.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Regular lessons in English and mathematics enable pupils to gain a range of suitable qualifications. Pupils enjoy learning in practical, hands-on activities. These include food preparation, carpentry and vehicle maintenance. Learning over time is not always planned well enough. Overall plans of what pupils are expected to learn in each subject are underdeveloped.

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better?

The proprietor does not ensure that all of the independent school standards are met. Some weaknesses in teaching noted at the time of the last inspection remain. Inspectors found that not all staff are clear about what they want pupils to learn. Teaching does not enable pupils to build on what they have learned previously. This is mainly because staff have not adapted schemes of work to enable pupils to learn well and make good progress.

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better?

Poor planning in English means that pupils struggle to make the links between pieces of work they are expected to complete. In mathematics, staff do not make enough use of practical resources to motivate pupils. Staff do not encourage pupils to think for themselves. In some vocational subjects, pupils readily engage in practical activities. Some pupils do not relate what they are currently learning to what has been taught before.

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better?

Science was not taught last year due to staffing issues. This year, pupils are having regular science lessons taught by the headteacher. Physical education is not planned well enough to provide purposeful physical activity and promote healthy lifestyles. Most pupils read fluently. A catch-up reading programme is provided for a few pupils who arrive in school with low levels of literacy

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better?

In most lessons, pupils benefit from one-to-one tuition. Staff forge good relations with pupils. Staff show great patience and understanding when working alongside pupils. However, not all staff are able to keep pupils fully engaged in learning during 13–15 November 2019

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one-to-one lessons. Regular assessments take place in lessons to show pupils what they have done well and to identify the next steps needed to improve. Currently, leaders do not have a coherent framework in place to ensure that pupils make good progress through the curriculum in all subjects.

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The curriculum prepares pupils for the wider world when they leave school. This is a key strength of the school. Pupils enjoy a broad range of practical learning including work experience on the school site. These provide pupils with suitable entry-level qualifications for the workplace. In personal, social and health education lessons, pupils learn how to conduct themselves around school. They develop the behaviours and attitudes needed to become citizens in society. Older pupils are taught how to shop and cook for themselves, manage money and attend job interviews. This gives them the essential skills needed to live independently, as adults.

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Teachers, assistants and care staff work well as a team to help pupils understand why their behaviour has been unacceptable in the past. The longer pupils spend at school, the better their behaviour is. Most of them are respectful and polite. A few new pupils have not had enough time in school to adapt their behaviour and show positive attitudes to learning. Overall attendance has improved. A few pupils do not attend lessons as regularly as they should.

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The new headteacher has made rapid gains in establishing a suitable curriculum. She has introduced new accredited awards. Leaders have ensured that education and care staff concentrate on re-engaging pupils in daily education. Last year, most pupils left school after their two-year programme with qualifications in English and mathematics. Most also gained awards in work-related subjects. The headteacher, lead teacher and trustees together show that they have the capacity to further improve the school.

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Leaders’ monitoring of teaching is at an early stage of development. A revised development plan is in place which includes suitable priorities for improvement. It does not show how this will be monitored to make sure it leads to improvement. Teachers and instructors have not had enough training in improving the quality of education in their subjects.

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Trustees do not systematically check that the independent school standards are consistently met. They do not provide local authorities with an annual report of the income received and expenditure incurred for each pupil. Proprietors have not adapted some policies for the specific school setting. They ensure that the school site is well maintained but there is no washing facility in the medical room. Trustees show a clear vision for what they want the school to become as it develops further. This year, trustees have set up a new sub-committee to oversee improvements and monitor the school’s work. Minutes of their meetings show that, increasingly, staff are held to account for making improvements. 13–15 November 2019

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Education and care leaders work together to protect pupils from harm. Leaders provide staff with one-to-one supervision. Staff work together to ensure that pupils do not find themselves in unsafe situations. Senior staff know well what to do to safeguard very vulnerable pupils. All required checks are made when recruiting new staff. Staff know the procedures for identifying and raising concerns about pupils. Leaders keep suitable child protection records. Leaders have good procedures for sharing information with local authority staff, social services and the police.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Pupils do not learn as well as they should. Learning is not planned well enough so that pupils build on their prior learning and are motivated to work hard. Leaders should arrange further training to enable teaching staff to adapt schemes of work and to make further use of resources so that pupils of different needs, abilities and interests make good progress.  Not all pupils behave well in lessons. Leaders should make more use of the school’s agreed approach to promoting pupils’ positive attitudes for learning and for managing their behaviour.  Trustees do not monitor systematically whether all of the independent school standards are met. They should take further action to put in place clear procedures to check that all of the standards are fully met.  Leaders are unaware of the overall quality of teaching because not all staff have been observed teaching in lessons. Leaders should make regular checks of the

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

quality of teaching and its impact on pupils’ learning in all subjects. They should use this information to inform further training for staff to help them develop their practice and so that they can play their part in improving the quality of education in their subjects.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 13–15 November 2019

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School details

Unique reference number 142625 DfE registration number 873/6053

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School details

Inspection number 10113591 Type of school Other independent school

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School details

Proprietor The Friends Therapeutic Community Trust

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School details

Email address education@glebehouse.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 3–5 October 2017

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Information about this school

 Glebe House School opened in 2016. It is run by The Friends Therapeutic Community Trust, who also operate Glebe House children’s home on the same site.  All pupils live in the children’s home. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities, mostly behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and personal trauma. Most pupils have missed long periods of schooling before joining the school. Seven pupils have an education, health and care plan.  Pupils join the school at different times of the year. There is no sixth form. All pupils follow a two-year programme of education, therapeutic care and support 13–15 November 2019

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designed to prepare them for adulthood and independent living.  The school is registered to take 15- to 18-year-old pupils. Currently, it has two pupils who are 19 years of age. The department for Education has not been informed of this. Therefore, information is not recorded accurately on the government’s ‘Get information about schools’ (GIAS) website.  At its first inspection in 2017 the school was judged to require improvement. The proprietor did not ensure that all of the independent school standards were met. In 2018 the school was issued with a notice to improve by the Department for Education. Two successive action plans submitted to Ofsted were judged to be unacceptable. A third action plan submitted in July 2018 was accepted.  A new headteacher was appointed in 2018. A sub-committee consisting of a small group of trustees formed in 2019 to oversee the school’s work.  An Ofsted monitoring inspection in November 2018 found that the school still did

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not meet all of the independent school standards.  The school does not use alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection 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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Information about this inspection

The school has failed to meet the independent school standards. These are the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited lessons with the headteacher to observe pupils at work. They looked closely at the quality of education in English, mathematics, personal, social and health education, and vocational learning. They met with teachers and instructors of these subjects, met with pupils, and scrutinised their work.  They held meetings with the headteacher, the coordinator of special educational needs and the head of clinical care in the children’s home, who is also the designated lead for safeguarding. They also met with a group of pupils.  Inspectors looked at the school’s work. They looked at safeguarding and child protection policy and procedures, including the single central record. They looked at the school’s self-evaluation and improvement planning, minutes of meetings of the trustees and the sub-committee, records of behaviour and attendance, and other information provided by school leaders.

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Information about this inspection

 They considered eight responses to Ofsted’s survey of pupils’ views and 12 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff. Parental questionnaires were not used. No free texts to Ofsted’s Parent View were received.  The inspection was aligned with an inspection of the children’s home, carried out at the same time by an Ofsted social care inspector. 13–15 November 2019

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Inspection team

John Mitcheson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Joanna Pedlow Ofsted Inspector 13–15 November 2019

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2 The standard in this paragraph is met if–

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(1)(b) the written policy, plans and schemes of work–

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(1)(b)(i) take into account the ages, aptitudes and needs of all pupils, including those pupils with an EHC plan.

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school–

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 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;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(b) fosters in pupils self-motivation, the application of intellectual, physical and creative effort, interest in their work and the ability to think and learn for themselves;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(f) utilises effectively classroom resources of a good quality, quantity and range;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 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 1. Quality of education provided

 4 The standard in this paragraph is met where the proprietor ensures that a framework for pupil performance to be evaluated, by reference to the school’s own aims as provided to parents or national norms, or to both, is in place.

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

 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.

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

 13 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that first aid is administered in a timely and competent manner by the drawing up and effective implementation of a written first aid policy.

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Part 5. Premises of and accommodation at schools

 24(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that suitable accommodation is provided in order to cater for the medical and therapy needs of pupils, including– 13–15 November 2019

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– 24(1)(b) accommodation for the short term care of sick and injured pupils, which includes a washing facility and is near to a toilet facility.

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Part 6. Provision of information

 32(1) The standard about the provision of information by the school is met if the proprietor ensures that–

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Part 6. Provision of information

– 32(1)(b) the information specified in sub-paragraph (3) is made available to parents of pupils and parents of prospective pupils and, on request, to the Chief Inspector, the Secretary of State or an independent inspectorate;

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Part 6. Provision of information

– 32(1)(h) where a pupil wholly or partly funded by a local authority (except where funding is solely for free of charge early years provision in accordance with the duty contained in section 7 of the Childcare Act 2006[16]) is registered at the school, an annual account of income received and expenditure incurred by the school in respect of that pupil is provided to the local authority and, on request, to the Secretary of State;

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Part 6. Provision of information

– 32(3)(d) particulars of arrangements for meeting the standards contained in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 13.

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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–

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

– 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently;

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

– 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. 13–15 November 2019

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