Include - Oxfordshire

Inspection of Include - Oxfordshire The Community Centre, Blackbird Leys Road, Oxford OX4 6HW

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school flourish and do well. They are surrounded by staff who work hard to understand them and meet their needs. A caring ethos permeates the school. Everyone has a determination to make a difference for these pupils, all of whom have experienced significant disruption to their education prior to joining Include - Oxfordshire.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are endlessly patient. They skilfully support each pupil to learn to manage their emotions and behaviour. This takes time and is not simple. There are times where pupils struggle but the clear structures and expectations in place support them well. Pupils recognise the improvements each make and are, rightly, proud of their achievements.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships are very strong throughout the school. Everyone understands that they are working together to achieve the best for pupils. Pupils are happy here. They say that bullying does not happen because everything is talked through and sorted out quickly. Many pupils expressed their confidence and trust in staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are positive about the school. One commented that, ‘This is an amazing place.’ Another said that, ‘The team support my son in so many ways… and he feels safe in their care.’

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better?

Leaders are highly ambitious for pupils. All adults subscribe to the moral purpose of the school and the proprietor, the ‘social business’, Catch22. They aim to ‘build resilience and aspiration’ and support pupils to succeed in life. They have created a school community that exudes calm positivity. Staff build productive, respectful relationships quickly. They know pupils exceptionally well. They understand pupils’ special educational needs and/or disabilities. They know how to meet these needs effectively.

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better?

Leaders manage pupils’ entry to the school carefully. Often, pupils’ transition into the school is necessarily slow. Leaders create bespoke timetables and support for pupils. These help to ensure that this transition is successful. By the time pupils attend full time they are more positive and determined. Attendance is high, including for pupils who previously missed large periods of education.

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better?

Leaders carefully assess pupils’ needs. Staff keep a close eye on how pupils are doing. They pay close attention to pupils’ education, health and care (EHC) plans. Assessment processes are thoughtful and robust. They are linked to pupils’ EHC plans as well as the curriculum. Staff discuss each pupil in the ‘daily debrief’ to check on how they are doing. They tweak pupils’ timetables and curriculum accordingly. Leaders communicate well with parents and external specialists who work with pupils. 3–5 March 2020

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The curriculum is increasingly ambitious. Leaders aim to make it relevant and meaningful for pupils. Pupils study a wide range of academic and vocational subjects. Their exact curriculum is determined by their specific needs and progress. Leaders make good use of external providers where needed.

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Pupils take a wide range of qualifications. Recently, leaders have introduced more GCSE options. This is in order to increase academic opportunities and ambition for pupils. Examinations and qualifications are not seen as an end in themselves. Rather, they are vehicles by which staff can help to facilitate pupils’ personal, social and emotional development. This is increasingly successful. The vast majority of pupils successfully sustain the college placement or apprenticeship they move on to when they leave.

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Leaders have increased their endeavours to create a ‘community of readers’. This shows signs of success. However, leaders have not evaluated how well it is achieving what they intend.

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Pupils’ personal, social, health and economic learning is carefully judged. Pupils engage well when exploring moral dilemmas and international issues. This work helps them to develop their social skills. It also helps to develop their abilities to recognise legal boundaries and understand potential consequences of actions. In these lessons, and throughout the work of the school, equality and respect for others are promoted well.

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The strong focus on pupils’ personal development is effective. It helps pupils to develop determination. Pupils receive unbiased careers information, advice and guidance. Leaders help to extend pupils’ options through work experience and taster sessions at colleges. At all times, there is a sense of hope and positivity about what pupils might do post-16. Staff work hard to ensure pupils have every opportunity that might support them.

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Pupils’ behaviour can be challenging. Staff manage this very well. Relationships are respectful and warm. These help staff to enforce the clear expectations for behaviour. Leaders support staff with managing pupils’ behaviour well.

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Staff benefit from being part of the ‘Catch22 family’. This provides opportunities to work with staff at other schools and share ideas. Staff appreciate the ongoing training and support. This helps them, especially when they are teaching out of their main area of expertise. However, leaders have not checked carefully enough on the quality and content of some lessons. At times, the subject knowledge of staff is not secure enough. This is the case for a small minority of GCSE subjects.

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All independent school standards are met. However, the proprietor representatives recognise that their oversight can be sharpened. For example, during the inspection, leaders corrected some minor administrative errors in published policies. The proprietor has started work to establish a local advisory board (LAB). This LAB is intended to more stringently hold leaders to account. 3–5 March 2020

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All at the school have a secure understanding of their role to keep pupils safe. Staff are well trained and know the potential risks faced by pupils. The ‘daily debrief’ contributes well to the strong culture of safeguarding. Staff also use the reporting procedures appropriately.

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Safeguarding

Leaders take swift and effective action when needed. They work very well with external agencies.

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Safeguarding

All aspects of the independent school standards regarding the welfare, health and safety of pupils are met.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Leaders are determined to create life chances for pupils. To this end, they have recently introduced more GCSE examination courses. This ambition is laudable, but leaders must ensure that the quality of education is as they intend throughout the curriculum. Leaders must increase the rigour of their support for staff teaching outside of their main areas of expertise.  Leaders constantly adapt the curriculum to meet pupils’ individual needs. They need to systematically think through what outcomes they intend from larger, whole-school initiatives, for example those around promoting reading. This will enable them to more accurately know if actions have the desired impact and what, if anything, needs to change.  The proprietor must sharpen their scrutiny of leaders and managers and ensure that the independent school standards are met consistently.

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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 are the provider and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 3–5 March 2020

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Headteacher

Claudia Giarrusso (Executive Headteacher) Annual fees (day pupils) £18,000

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Website

www.catch-22.org.uk/services/include- oxfordshire/ Email address Claudia.Giarrusso@catch-22.org.uk

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Website

Date of previous inspection 19–21 September 2017 3–5 March 2020

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Information about this school

 Include – Oxfordshire is a school for pupils aged from 13 to 16. It is part of Catch22, a not-for-profit ‘social business’ that designs and delivers services to tackle social, behavioural and/or emotional barriers that may be preventing pupils from achieving.  The school is registered to provide full-time education for up to 25 pupils. All pupils have EHC plans for social, emotional and mental health needs. All have an additional diagnosis, such as autism spectrum disorder.  Pupils can be admitted to the school at any point in Years 9, 10 and 11. Most are referred by the local authority because they have not engaged in, or have been excluded from, their previous school or education provider. Many have missed long periods of formal education.  At the last standard inspection in 2017, the school was found to require improvement. It moved premises in 2018 and was subject to a material change inspection in September 2018.

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Information about this school

 The executive headteacher is also responsible for another Catch22 Include school. The day-to-day running of the school is undertaken by the curriculum learning lead.  The school uses the following alternative provision: – Path Hill Outdoors, – Ignite Sport, – Horsewyse CIC.

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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 meets the independent school standards. These are the requirements set out in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 We worked closely with the executive headteacher and the curriculum learning lead throughout the inspection. We also met with the special educational needs coordinator, teachers and support staff.  We met with the executive principal from Catch22 as representative of the proprietorial body. We also had a telephone call with the director of education for Catch22.  We visited one of the external providers to consider provision for pupils. 3–5 March 2020

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 We took account of the two responses by parents to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. We also considered four responses to the online staff survey.  We spoke to most of the pupils and considered the views of the four who responded to Ofsted’s online pupil survey.  We evaluated the effectiveness of safeguarding by reviewing leaders’ knowledge, recording and actions. This included looking at documentation, including the school’s single central record. We met with the designated safeguarding lead and spoke to pupils and staff about this aspect of their work.  We did deep dives into these subjects: English, science, art and mathematics. This involved discussions with the teachers of each subject and visits to lessons. We looked at pupils’ work and spoke with some of them about their learning and their school.

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Inspection team

Lucy English, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

David New Ofsted Inspector 3–5 March 2020

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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.

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