Abbey Rose School

School progress monitoring inspection report

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Abbey Rose School Gloucester Road, Tewkesbury GL20 7DG

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Main inspection findings

Part 1. Quality of education provided Paragraph 2(1), 2(1)(a), 2(1)(b), 2(1)(b)(i), 2(2), 2(2)(a), 2(2)(e), 2(2)(e)(i)–(iii), 2(2)(h) and 2(2)(i)  The lack of capacity in the leadership to improve the quality of the curriculum, found at the previous progress monitoring inspection in February 2020, emergency inspection in December 2019 and at the standard inspection in November 2019, continues. The head of education recognises that leaders have given insufficient focus to the curriculum and the quality of teaching. The current school action plan includes the introduction of assessments for reading, mathematics and pupils’ attitudes. Leaders intend to use these assessments to make individual plans for pupils, known as ‘flight paths’. However, actions to create these for each pupil, due in September, have not been completed.  The overall curriculum plan does not demonstrate how pupils will acquire the knowledge

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Main inspection findings

they need to appreciate other cultural traditions. Also, the plan does not match with pupils’ needs or abilities. For example, the plan does not take into account what pupils with very limited English or who speak English as an additional language can do. There is no reference to how pupils’ reading will be developed. Teaching staff are not clear about the strategies that they are using to build up pupils’ phonics knowledge.  Medium-term and daily plans are not thought through well. They do not include what pupils will actually learn or how it will be assessed.  The curriculum, particularly for pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9, contains very little careers education, advice or guidance. The school does not currently ensure that pupils receive accurate, up-to-date careers guidance. There is no provision in place to allow pupils to access careers specialists. Where older pupils undertook work experience previously, this

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Main inspection findings

has stopped. In part, this is due to additional restrictions as a result of the school’s response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.  The standard in this paragraph remains unmet. Paragraph 3, 3(a)–(h)  Some of the improvements in teaching seen at the February 2020 inspection have not been sustained. Most teachers in place at that time have now left.  Teaching staff, including the leaders, do not have a sufficiently detailed understanding of pupils’ needs. They do not put in place the academic and therapeutic strategies that are necessary. Assessments of what pupils know lack precision. Teaching staff lack awareness of the strategies that can be most effective when teaching pupils who speak English as an additional language. Teachers’ plans lack rigour about what is to be learned and how.  Teaching staff have not given thought to the ordering of content within the curriculum or the importance of sequencing. In plans, they have not identified how learning can be

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Main inspection findings

broken down into manageable ‘chunks’. The approaches staff take to teaching mathematics are confused; the sequencing is erratic. This approach does not promote success for pupils or address their particular needs.  Curriculum plans for subjects other than English, mathematics, science and personal, social and health education (PSHE) contain little subject content. Learning goals do not set out the subject-specific knowledge that is to be learned. Pupils learn very little about world faiths, religions and cultures.  The proprietor has invested in teaching resources for the school but some of these, for example reading books, are not being used by teaching staff. As seen in previous inspections, specialist resources are not good enough.  The standards in this paragraph remain unmet. Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils Paragraph 5, 5(b), 5(b)(ii), 5(b)(iii) and 5(b)(v)

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Main inspection findings

 Leaders’ current action plan does not provide for improvements in promoting tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions. Their curriculum plans do not identify how pupils will learn about different cultures in a meaningful way. There are few opportunities to do this planned across the year.  Pupils do not show respect for the expectations of conduct that some staff have. These expectations vary from staff member to staff member. Pupils are openly defiant. As was reported at the previous progress monitoring inspection, pupils continue to struggle to distinguish between right and wrong. Pupils do not take responsibility for their own behaviour. Leaders’ arrangements to support this are not effective.  These standards remain unmet. Paragraph 5(a) and 5(b)(iv)  Pupils now engage in activities that help them to understand some of the fundamental British values. For example, pupils watch and talk about items in the news to consider

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Main inspection findings

topics such as democracy.  Teachers plan activities in PSHE lessons and assemblies that introduce pupils to public institutions. Pupils’ work shows an appreciation of the armed forces and the emergency services and the important role they play.  These standards are now met.  Overall, the standards in this part are not met. Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils Paragraph 7, 7(a) and (b)  The arrangements for safeguarding pupils and promoting their welfare still do not meet the requirements set out in guidance issued by the Secretary of State.  Leaders’ arrangements for checking that prospective staff members are safe to work with children lack rigour. Some of the required checks have not been completed fully. Leaders have not maintained the record of safeguarding checks accurately.  Some staff who work in the school have not received updated safeguarding training. Therefore, they are unaware of some of the changes to the guidance.

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Main inspection findings

 Where child protection concerns have met the threshold for referral to the local authority, leaders have managed this appropriately. These records are detailed. However, this same rigour is not applied in relation to concerns that are below the local authority’s threshold. For example, records are not maintained to demonstrate leaders’ and managers’ investigations into the appropriateness of actions or their rationale for the decisions they make.  Leaders’ oversight of medication administration is not fully effective. Errors in recording are not identified because the process is not audited independently. Leaders have not ensured that a suitably qualified medical practitioner, or pharmacist, advises staff about the safe use of PRN (pro re nata), meaning ‘as and when required’, medication alongside pupils’ prescribed medication.  The additional arrangements to keep pupils and staff safe as a result of the risks posed

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Main inspection findings

by COVID-19 are not as robust as they could be.  The mechanisms by which leaders maintain safeguarding records hamper the monitoring of trends and patterns of concerns. Consequently, safeguarding is not as effective as it should be.  The standards relating to safeguarding remain unmet. Paragraph 9, 9(b) and (c)  The head of education prioritised improving pupils’ behaviour during the summer term. Leaders continue to work with staff to ensure that they have greater confidence in managing pupils’ behaviour. However, this has not been fully successful. By their actions, or inaction, staff do not manage behaviour consistently well. This leads to incidents continuing or escalating. Pupils do not behave as they should. Pupils engage in unacceptable behaviours including spitting, throwing objects and defiance.  Support plans and risk assessments for pupils contain conflicting information. They do not provide sufficient information to assist staff to understand strategies that bring about

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Main inspection findings

good behaviour.  Changes in therapists and the inability to engage specialists, such as educational psychologists, have hampered leaders’ work to improve pupils’ behaviour. In part, this is due to constraints caused by COVID-19 restrictions. However, where therapists have identified strategies, staff are not following the plans consistently.  Often, staff do not detail all the required information when completing incident records. Leaders do not pick up these gaps through their monitoring. This hinders leaders’ analysis of patterns and trends, and taking necessary actions. There is a lack of challenge and questioning of practice from those who scrutinise this work.  This standard remains unmet. Paragraph 11  Leaders’ implementation of the health and safety policy has been identified as a weakness at every inspection since the school opened in 2019. This continues. The recording of safety checks is not cohesive. There is a lack of management oversight. As

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Main inspection findings

a result, errors and omissions have gone unchecked. Some records are poorly organised.  The cleanliness of the building is poor. There are defects internally and externally which have not been repaired, including gaps in the lowest brick course.  The standard in this paragraph remains unmet. Paragraph 15  When inspectors reviewed the school’s admissions and attendance registers in February 2020, they identified errors. For the attendance register, this is still the case. The attendance register contains missing marks to identify if a pupil was present or not. There are errors in the codes used to record the reasons that pupils are absent.  There is no meaningful oversight of the registers.  The standard in this paragraph remains unmet Paragraph 12  All of the necessary checks with respect to fire have been carried out and are recorded on the company’s electronic system. There are no follow up actions.

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Main inspection findings

 The standard in this paragraph is now met.  Overall, the standards in this part remain unmet. Part 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors Paragraph 21(1), 21(3), 21(3)(a), 21(3)(a)(ii) and 21(3)(a)(v)  The single central register of pre-appointment checks is not accurately maintained. The date of issue of an enhanced criminal record certificate and check against persons barred from working in regulated activity is recorded incorrectly.  The standards in this paragraph are now unmet. Part 5. Premises of and accommodation at schools Paragraph 25  At the previous inspection, inspectors noted a lack of rigour and oversight of health, safety and welfare checks of the premises. This continues. The housekeeper post has been vacant for some time. This has led to a deterioration in the cleanliness and hygiene of the premises. This compromises the management of infection control.  Site staff are aware of defects internally and externally, including missing grilles, loose

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Main inspection findings

cables and holes in external walls, some in the lowest brick course. However, these have not been repaired yet.  The standard in this paragraph remains unmet. Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools Paragraph 34(1)–34(1)(c)  Leaders and the proprietor have not ensured that the unmet standards identified at the previous inspection have been met in full. Although there are some standards that are now met, there are others that have been added as unmet.  Changes to strengthen governance have been put in place but the systems that are relied on are not sufficiently robust. Errors in recording information by staff, an array of, often disjointed, recording systems and analysis which lacks accuracy continue to impede the work of leaders. Furthermore, those responsible for governance do not demonstrate a secure understanding of the requirements set out in the independent school standards. Several members of this group have had oversight at proprietor board

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Main inspection findings

level since the school opened.  Leaders have given insufficient attention to the quality of education.  Although the proprietor has invested heavily in staffing and resources, and continues to do so, this is not bringing about the improvements that are necessary. There is a lack of evidence of rigorous challenge and oversight, especially in important areas of the school’s work to actively promote the well-being of pupils, such as the administration of medication, behaviour management and safeguarding.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school does not meet the requirements of the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements that were checked during this inspection. This included the standards and requirements that the school was judged to not comply with at the previous inspection. Not all of the standards and associated requirements were checked during this inspection.

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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

School status Independent special school

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School details

Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed

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School details

Of which, number on roll in sixth form 0

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £70,000 – £95,000

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School details

Website www.orbis-group.co.uk/abbey-rose- gloucester Email address michelle.stone@orbis-group.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous standard inspection 5–7 November 2019

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Information about this school

 Abbey Rose School is operated by Orbis Education and Care Limited. The proprietor also operates four schools in Wales.  The school offers education for pupils who either have a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or have similar behaviours and needs. All pupils have an education, health and care plan or are about to have one. All are placed at the school by their respective local authority.  The school was registered and opened on 14 March 2019. The first standard inspection of the school was carried out on 5–7 November 2019, when the school was judged to be inadequate.  An emergency inspection took place in December 2019, as a result of concerns regarding pupils’ welfare and safety. A progress monitoring inspection took place on 26–27 February 2020.  No pupils are currently attending alternative provision.  There are currently no students in the sixth-form provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out at the request of the registration authority for independent schools. The purpose of the inspection was to monitor the progress the school has made in meeting the independent school standards and other requirements that it was judged to not comply with at its previous inspection.  This was the second progress monitoring inspection. The first progress monitoring inspection was carried out in February 2020. The school was judged not to be meeting the independent school standards.  In accordance with the arrangements in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, this inspection was conducted with 30 minutes’ notice.  Inspectors met with senior leaders, staff and those responsible for governance. They also met with pupils to discuss their learning and experience of school.  Inspectors visited lessons with leaders. They looked at pupils’ work, scrutinised assembly books and heard pupils read.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including registers, records of safeguarding, health and safety and behaviour, the school’s action plan, staff development records and minutes of meetings.

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Inspection team

Iain Freeland, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paula Lahey Social Care Regulatory Inspector

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The school does not meet the following independent school standards

Standards that were not met at the previous inspection and remain un-met at this inspection

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

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

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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.

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

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

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(a) full-time supervised education for pupils of compulsory school age (construed in accordance with section 8 of the Education Act 1996), which gives pupils experience in linguistic, mathematical, scientific, technological, human and social, physical and aesthetic and creative education;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(e) for pupils receiving secondary education, access to accurate, up-to-date careers guidance that-

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(e)(i) is presented in an impartial manner;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(e)(ii) enables them to make informed choices about a broad range of career options; and

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(e)(iii) helps to encourage them to fulfil their potential;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

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

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 2(2)(i) effective preparation of pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in British society.

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

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(f) utilises effectively classroom resources of a good quality, quantity and range; – 3(h) utilises effective strategies for managing behaviour and encouraging pupils to act responsibly.

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Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

 5 The standard about the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at the school is met if the proprietor-

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Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

– 5(b) ensures that principles are actively promoted which-

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Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

– 5(b)(ii) enable pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;

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Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

– 5(b)(iii) encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative and understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality in which the school is situated and to society more widely;

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Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

– 5(b)(v) further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures.

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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-

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

– 7(a) arrangements are made to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at the school; and

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

– 7(b) such arrangements have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

 9 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor promotes good behaviour amongst pupils by ensuring that-

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

– 9(b) the policy is implemented effectively; and

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

– 9(c) a record is kept of the sanctions imposed upon pupils for serious misbehaviour.

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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

 15 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that an admission and attendance register is maintained in accordance with the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006.

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Part 5. Premises of and accommodation at schools

 25 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the school premises and the accommodation and facilities provided therein are maintained to a standard such that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of pupils are ensured.

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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; and

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

– 34(1)(c) actively promote the well-being of pupils.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

Standards that were met at the previous inspection, but are now judged to not be met at this inspection

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) 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(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;

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

– 3(e) demonstrates good knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being taught;

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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 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors

 21(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor keeps a register which shows such of the information referred to in sub-paragraphs (3) to (7) as is applicable to the school in question.

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Part 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors

 21(3) The information referred to in this sub-paragraph is-

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Part 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors

– 21(3)(a) in relation to each member of staff ("S") appointed on or after 1st May 2007, whether- – 21(3)(a)(ii) a check was made to establish whether S is barred from regulated activity relating to children in accordance with section 3(2) of the 2006 Act;

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Part 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors

– 21(3)(a)(v) an enhanced criminal record certificate was obtained in respect of S

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Part 4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors

– including the date on which each such check was completed or the certificate obtained.

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standards

 5(a) actively promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs;

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standards

 5(b)(iv) enable pupils to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England.

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standards

 12 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. 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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standards

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standards

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standards

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standards

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standards

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standards

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