Manorway Independent School

Inspection of Manorway Academy 18 New Road Avenue, Medway, Chatham, Kent ME4 6BA

p.1

Overall effectiveness Inadequate

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

p.1

Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value being part of this small community. Warm relationships with adults help pupils to feel safe. The care and support that they receive from staff help them to re-engage with learning. Leaders make use of resources in the local community that help bring learning to life. However, the education that pupils receive is not good enough. This means that pupils do not learn well enough or close the gaps in their prior knowledge. Adults want pupils to be successful, but ongoing and frequent changes of staff have meant that, for most pupils, their learning is disjointed.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils join the school after struggling to cope in other schools. Often, their behaviour has been poor in the past. Clear routines at Manorway help pupils to conduct themselves well most of the time. When necessary, staff support pupils to reflect on and improve their behaviour, usually with a positive outcome. Pupils generally get on with each other, and bullying is not an issue. Pupils enjoy eating and playing together at lunchtime. Some need ongoing support to manage their interactions with others in a positive way. Some do not understand the difference between bullying and falling out.

p.2

better?

Leaders have devised suitable plans for what pupils should learn across a broad curriculum. However, these plans are not delivered consistently well. Two of the three classes in the school do not currently have a teacher. In these classes, learning does not build on what pupils already know. This is because the adults who are teaching them have limited involvement in planning lessons. They have little information about what pupils can already do. Where staffing is more consistent, learning builds more successfully on pupils’ prior knowledge. This is particularly the case in English and mathematics. Overall, pupils do not develop the literacy, numeracy and wider knowledge they need to be successful in their future lives.

p.2

better?

Leaders state that they prioritise ensuring that pupils can read fluently. Evidence from the inspection does not support this view. Phonics teaching does not build systematically on the letters and sounds that less confident readers already know. Pupils have access to a suitable and interesting range of texts in the school. Nevertheless, it is not clear how leaders promote reading with pupils, either at the school or at home. Less fluent readers do not practise by reading books that match the letters and sounds that they know. As a result, those who most need to catch up with their reading do not do so quickly enough. In comparison, work to develop pupils’ mathematical understanding is more established and successful.

p.2

better?

Pupils join the school with social, emotional or behavioural barriers to learning. Adults address these as a priority, helping pupils to understand the consequences of their actions. Where routines are established and rules applied consistently, pupils respond well. In these instances, the classroom environment supports successful learning. However, this is not always the case. In some classrooms, outbursts of poor behaviour interrupt learning repeatedly. When some pupils struggle to behave 3–5 December 2019

p.2

3

well, adults support them sensitively. This helps pupils to calm down and get back to work.

p.3

3

Despite pupils’ evident difficulties, only a third have been identified as having special educational needs. The school aims to contribute to pupils’ development through nurture and support. Some pupils now have an education, health and care plan that identifies and aims to address their needs. Yet, the wider impact of leaders’ work to meet pupils’ special educational needs is less clear.

p.3

3

Other aspects of pupils’ personal development are relative strengths. Staff help pupils to manage their emotions, so that they can become more resilient learners. This is reflected in some pupils’ good attendance at the school, often after a disjointed period of learning. Others attend less often. Leaders follow the correct procedures for monitoring pupils’ attendance. They inform the pupil’s local authority when pupils are missing from the school. However, they do not use the information they have to identify and address the reasons why some pupils do not come to the school. Pupils are encouraged to eat together at lunchtime. This helps them to practise using their manners and waiting patiently until everyone has finished, for example.

p.3

3

The personal, social and health education programme helps pupils to develop their understanding of the wider world. Leaders are alert to risks in the local community. They give pupils opportunities to learn about cultures beyond their own. ‘FBV’ (fundamental British values) lessons help pupils to learn about democracy, tolerance and respect. For instance, during the inspection, pupils in upper key stage 2 listened to each other’s views about the environment and whether homework should be banned. Opportunities for pupils to learn how to stay healthy through an active lifestyle are constrained by limited opportunities to play outside. Pupils do get the chance to participate in sporting activities, making use of local leisure facilities.

p.3

3

Leaders are well intentioned. Everyone in the school wants the best for pupils. Nevertheless, leaders do not currently have the capacity to achieve this goal. Staff are too reliant on the headteacher, who currently also teaches one of the classes. Leaders and those responsible for governance do not check standards in the school carefully enough. The small management committee has limited understanding of the current standards in the school. Consequently, it does not ensure that all of the independent school standards are met. Leaders and the management committee have not been able to sustain improvements in the school that were evident during the progress monitoring inspection in April 2019. Not all of the standards around the quality of education are met, because the planned curriculum is not implemented well enough. Pupils do not have the opportunity to play outside often enough, so this part of the standards relating to premises is not met.

p.3

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Pupils are safe, because staff know them well and are alert to signs that pupils may be at risk of harm. Staff and leaders are appropriately trained in safeguarding and safer recruitment. Adults share 3–5 December 2019

p.3

4

information about potential concerns as a matter of routine. This helps everyone to work together to protect and support pupils. Systems for recording relevant information are adequate. Where necessary, leaders work with the local authority to support pupils and families to access the support they need.

p.4

(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The planned curriculum, while broadly appropriate, is not implemented consistently well across the school. Adults do not all take pupils’ academic needs and prior learning sufficiently into account. Leaders must invest in ensuring that pupils throughout the school experience coherently planned teaching, so that their learning builds successfully over time.  Reading is not prioritised successfully. Leaders must ensure that precise and systematic phonics teaching supports less fluent readers to improve rapidly. In key stage 3, leaders should develop how pupils read for understanding and purpose, so that they can do this without being reliant on adult support.  Leaders and the management committee do not check standards in the school closely enough. They need to ensure that they use and develop the information that tells them what is working well and what needs to improve, so that they can prioritise their future work to make the biggest difference to pupils.

p.4

(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Leaders and the management committee must make sure that they understand the independent school standards and check that they are being met routinely.

p.4

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.

p.4

How can I feed back my views?

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

p.4

How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 3–5 December 2019

p.4

School details

Unique reference number 142411 DfE registration number 887/6009

p.5

School details

Inspection number 10103878 Type of school Other Independent Special School

p.5

School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £15,600 – £23,000

p.5

School details

Date of previous inspection 15–17 May 2018 3–5 December 2019

p.5

Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, a number of staff have joined and left the school. Two of the three classes do not currently have a teacher.  Pupils are admitted to the school via the local authority. All have social, emotional mental health needs. A third have an education, health and care plan relating to these needs. Some have been permanently excluded from other schools. As such, the school is an alternative provider of education. Pupils from Manorway Academy do not attend any other alternative provision. After a period of time, some pupils move on to another mainstream or special school.  The school has a management committee which fulfils a governance role. This committee currently has four members, including the headteacher and school business manager. The headteacher is also the school’s proprietor.  The school received a progress monitoring inspection in April 2019. The school was judged to meet the independent school standards that were reviewed at this

p.6

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.

p.6

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.

p.6

Information about this inspection

The school has applied to the Department for Education (DfE) to make a ‘material change’ to its registration. At the DfE’s request, we checked whether the school is likely to meet the relevant independent school standards if the DfE decides to approve the change. This part of the inspection was carried out under section 162(4) of the Education Act 2002.

p.6

Information about this inspection

The outcome of this part of the inspection is: The school is unlikely to meet the relevant independent school standards if the material change relating to the school provision is implemented. This is because it is not currently meeting all of the independent school standards. Additionally, the school’s current premises do not include a suitable space to accommodate an additional group of pupils.

p.6

Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher, school business manager and other staff. We spoke to parents and carers at the start of the day. The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the school’s management committee on the telephone.  We did deep dives in reading, mathematics, geography and religious education. This involved talking to leaders and teachers about how these subjects are planned and taught. We then visited lessons to see learning in action, talk to 3–5 December 2019

p.6

7

pupils and look at their work. We also scrutinised pupils’ books in these subjects.  We reviewed safeguarding arrangements. We looked at the school’s safeguarding policy and checked the school’s central record of recruitment checks on staff. We talked to staff, pupils and governors about the school’s work to keep pupils safe. We also scrutinised relevant records.  In addition to deep dive and safeguarding activities, we observed pupils in lessons and during social times. We reviewed a wide range of relevant documents, including those relating to the independent school standards. The lead inspector listened to a pupil reading and took account of one response to the Ofsted Parent View online questionnaire. There were no responses to the staff and pupil surveys.

p.7

Inspection team

Kathryn Moles, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

p.7

Inspection team

Sue Cox Ofsted Inspector 3–5 December 2019

p.7

Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if–

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 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

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

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

p.8

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;

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(2) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(1)(a), the matters are–

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(b) that pupils acquire speaking, listening, literacy and numeracy skills;

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(h) that all pupils have the opportunity to learn and make progress;

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

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

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(c) involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time;

p.8

Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 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;

p.8

Part 5. Premises of and accommodation at schools

 29(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that suitable outdoor space is provided in order to enable–

p.8

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–

p.8

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; 3–5 December 2019

p.8

9

– 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently; 3–5 December 2019

p.9

10

to achieve 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.10

10

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.10

10

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.10

10

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

p.10

10

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10