Brighton and Hove Clinic School

Inspection of Brighton and Hove Clinic School 14–18 New Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 4FH

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Sixth-form provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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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 are highly committed to their education. They trust adults to help them do their very best. They work hard and take responsibility for their own studies. Consequently, they learn well, despite their health challenges.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s supportive culture helps pupils to do their academic best. Adults maintain high expectations for what pupils can achieve, while being sensitive to their varied, complex and changing medical needs. They successfully help pupils to keep up or catch up with what their peers have been learning while away from their home school. Parents value the difference that this makes to their children’s education and well-being.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils view their school as a safe haven. They are kind and thoughtful to each other. They respond well to the routines that staff have put in place to keep them safe. New pupils settle quickly into the school community because they are welcomed and cared for. Staff are highly effective in ensuring that pupils feel able to come to school. Incidents of poor behaviour are extremely rare.

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better?

Most pupils continue with the curriculum they would be studying if they were at their home school. This provides them with suitably ambitious learning across a broad range of subjects. Those working towards qualifications such as GCSEs and A levels continue to do so.

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better?

Teachers lead and teach their own subjects. They do this well, demonstrating strong subject knowledge. Teachers liaise effectively with their counterparts at pupils’ home schools. This enables them to identify where pupils should have got to with their learning before joining the school, as a starting point for future work.

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better?

Staff know that pupils’ education is likely to have been interrupted by the impact of their medical conditions. Teachers are skilful in identifying gaps in pupils’ prior knowledge, via formal and informal assessment. They address these learning gaps well as they work through the sequence of learning provided by the home school. As a result, pupils develop secure knowledge of the subjects that they study.

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better?

Sixth-form students learn a diverse range of subjects. To manage this, leaders have adopted a tutoring-style approach to learning. Subject leaders’ thoughtful medium- term planning helps students to manage their studies well, working with increasing independence. Non-specialist teachers who work with sixth-form students are supported well by their subject-specialist colleagues. Each student receives some support from a subject specialist teacher over the course of the week, but not necessarily as much as that received by pupils in key stages 3 and 4. Consequently, some sixth-form students receive feedback about their work in a less timely manner than others. Leaders note that arrangements for delivering the sixth-form curriculum 13–15 July 2021

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have become more challenging to manage since the proportion of post-16 students has increased.

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Pupils are prepared well for their next stage in learning. Many return to their home school, having kept up to date with what their peers were learning while they were away. Some make the transition from Year 11 into post-16 study while at the school. Leaders ensure that these pupils are able to gain accreditation in the subjects they have been studying. This means that Year 11 pupils are well placed to take up places at sixth-form colleges or school sixth forms when they leave the clinic school. Similarly, those completing Year 13 are supported in moving on to appropriately aspirational and relevant further study.

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Personal, social and health education (PSHE) is a key element of the school’s curriculum. Leaders and teachers are mindful about delivering the health and nutrition elements of this learning sensitively, complementing pupils’ ongoing medical treatment. They make good use of expertise from clinical staff in teaching some of these themes, such as via the ‘nourish to flourish’ programme. Leaders recognise that pupils are likely to be at the school for a relatively short period of time. The recently introduced PSHE programme takes account of this, prioritising topics that are most important to pupils’ well-being. As teachers gain confidence in delivering this programme, leaders are keen to develop it further, helping pupils to engage more deeply with some of the themes being explored.

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Pupils all study citizenship as part of their learning programme. This provides them both with useful knowledge and a relevant qualification. Leaders have recently introduced opportunities for pupils to engage with current affairs, through daily reflections and a weekly debate club. These activities are in the relatively early stages of implementation. As such, leaders note that there is more work to do to connect them more closely to pupils’ wider personal development programme.

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Leaders are mindful of keeping pupils connected with life beyond the hospital. Pupils engage in a suitably wide range of enrichment activities, such as music, craft, driving theory and cake decoration. These respond to pupils’ interests and make use of staff expertise beyond their subjects. Despite the need to restrict visitors and trips during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, pupils recently visited a local art gallery.

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The headteacher knows the school very well. She and her deputy headteacher make an effective team. Staff have overwhelming confidence in their joint leadership. They benefit from relevant training that enables them to meet pupils’ learning and mental health needs successfully.

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The proprietor body is suitably informed about the school’s work, supported by the head of education. The management committee has systems in place that help it to check on standards in the school. This includes keeping careful oversight of staff and pupils’ attendance and of reported safeguarding concerns. These checks and balances reassure them that the school meets the independent school standards securely and consistently. 13–15 July 2021

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

School staff work seamlessly with clinical staff from the clinic. Ongoing communication ensures that they understand pupils’ medical needs and vulnerabilities. School staff have a deep knowledge of context-specific safeguarding risks which they need to be alert to. They are constantly vigilant, knowing that circumstances can change rapidly. They act swiftly when necessary, securing timely extra help for pupils who need it. Helpful systems enable school leaders to closely monitor patterns of potentially concerning behaviour. They put relevant training in place that supports staff in managing emerging concerns and knowing when to seek further help from beyond the school.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The proportion of students in the sixth form has recently increased significantly. This has magnified the challenges of managing the diverse range of courses and qualifications being studied. As a result, students do not all receive the same intensity of specialist subject support as in the rest of the school. Leaders should review how the curriculum is implemented in the sixth form, strategically adapting in a more agile way to changes in the school cohort.  Some aspects of PSHE provision are relatively new. Currently, they do not join together as well as they could, to give all pupils an equally diverse and rich experience. Leaders should review and refine how the taught PSHE programme links to enrichment opportunities and learning about current affairs, so that these elements contribute even more meaningfully to pupils’ personal development.

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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 . 13–15 July 2021

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School details

Unique reference number 146036 DfE registration number 846/6026

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School details

Inspection number 10167862 Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

Gender of pupils in the sixth form Mixed

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sixth form

Website https://www.elysiumhealthcare.co.uk/edu cation/schools/brighton-hove-clinic- school/ Email address info@elysiumeducation.co.uk

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sixth form

Date of previous inspection 15–17 January 2019 13–15 July 2021

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Information about this school

 Brighton and Hove Clinic School provides full-time education for up to 16 pupils aged 11 to 19. Pupils are all patients at Brighton and Hove Clinic, which is a 16- bed child and adolescent mental health services unit for patients with eating disorders. Pupils join the school roll when they are admitted to the clinic. They usually also remain on roll at their ‘home school’ for the duration of their stay.  All of the current pupils are female, although the school is also registered to accept male pupils. Of the 16 pupils presently on roll, half are in the sixth form. Pupils stay at the school for different lengths of time, returning to their home school or moving on to other appropriate education when their treatment ends.  Pupils all have special educational needs and/or disabilities, linked to their medical diagnosis. All pupils have social, emotional and mental health needs. Some also have other learning needs. None of the current pupils have an education, health

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Information about this school

and care plan.  The school is owned and operated by Elysium Healthcare Limited. Elysium owns and runs three other independent schools, as well as a range of healthcare settings. The head of education, who took up his post in January 2021, provides the proprietor body with oversight of the four schools.  Staff from Elysium provide governance to the school via a management committee. This incorporates leaders from the school and clinic, the head of education and other leaders within Elysium Healthcare Limited. The chair of the management committee is the director of policy and regulation for Elysium.  The school does not use any alternative providers.

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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

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school, and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  This inspection was brought forward in the normal cycle, in response to two complaints received by the Department for Education in July 2020. These complaints had not previously been shared with school leaders via the school’s published complaints procedure. Inspectors did not investigate these complaints as part of the inspection. They considered the issues raised as part of their work to gather evidence across the inspection framework. 13–15 July 2021

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 Pupils in Year 11 and students in Year 13 were attending school during this inspection. They were completing preparatory work for future study, including some short-course qualifications.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, teachers and other adults working in the school and, where relevant, the clinic. The lead inspector spoke separately with the head of education and the chair of the proprietor body.  The lead inspector toured the school site and reviewed relevant documents to check compliance with the independent school standards.  Inspectors did deep dives in English, mathematics, science and PSHE. These involved talking to teachers who lead and teach these subjects, visiting lessons, talking to pupils and looking at their work. Adults were present when inspectors spoke to pupils.  Safeguarding arrangements were reviewed. This included looking at the school’s single central record of recruitment and vetting checks on staff. It also involved

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scrutinising leaders’ arrangements for identifying, reporting, recording and acting on any concerns that may emerge about a pupil, and considering relevant staff training.  Inspectors considered nine responses to the staff survey, and two responses to the Ofsted Parent View online questionnaire. An inspector also spoke to one parent and a representative from one pupil’s home school.

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Inspection team

Kathryn Moles, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Yasmin Maskatiya Her Majesty’s Inspector 13–15 July 2021

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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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