Rowden House School

Inspection of Rowden House School Rowden House, Winslow, Bromyard HR7 4LS

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding 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?

Leaders and staff know every pupil inside out. They understand the complexity of pupils’ special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff provide a high level of care and nurture for all pupils. Pupils feel safe because the staff look after them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

When pupils join the school, many have failed at their previous setting and have been out of education for some time. Pupils are often totally switched off from learning. Leaders and staff work tirelessly to get pupils to a point where they engage in their learning. Positive relationships exist between staff and pupils. Staff maintain clear and consistent routines. They support pupils to manage their behaviour exceptionally well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Bullying is unlikely to happen due to the one-to-one support that every pupil receives. However, in preparation for life after school, leaders and staff help pupils to understand what appropriate behaviour looks like.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are overwhelmingly positive about all aspects of school life. In particular, they value the open lines of communication with the school. Parents are pleased, relieved and assured that their children are well looked after and cared for. A parent commented, ‘Since my son started at Rowden, it has been life changing for him and my family.’

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better?

Leaders organise a wide range of baseline checks on pupils’ abilities and learning behaviours when they join the school. This helps staff to understand pupils’ starting points. The multi-disciplinary team, which includes occupational therapists and speech and language therapists, contribute to this. Staff use the outcomes of these checks, alongside targets from pupils’ education, health and care (EHC) plans, to set specific learning outcomes for pupils. This supports leaders’ aims for every pupil to experience a personalised curriculum that is sharply focused on their needs. The range of half-termly topics, including ‘healthy lifestyles’ and ‘festivals’, provide interesting backdrops for pupils’ learning experiences. Pupils get the opportunity to work towards qualifications in order to recognise their achievements.

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better?

The development of pupils’ communication and language skills underpin all aspects of school life. Leaders and staff promote a total communication approach for pupils effectively. This includes a combination of speech, photographs, pictures, symbols and signing. Staff make the most of every opportunity to develop pupils’ skills in these areas.

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better?

Leaders have not lost sight of the importance of developing pupils’ reading, writing and mathematical knowledge and skills across the curriculum. Staff are successfully encouraging pupils to develop a love of reading through sharing stories, such as The 28 to 30 June 2022 Gruffalo. Staff help pupils to practise their early writing skills well through a range of sensory and more traditional approaches. The mathematics curriculum builds on pupils’ starting points and includes the necessary level of repetition.

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better?

Staff explain concepts and give instructions clearly. This helps pupils to understand activities. Staff use questioning well to develop pupils’ language skills and check on their level of understanding. Where learning is purposeful and provides an appropriate level of challenge, pupils engage well in their learning and achieve well. However, there are some instances where learning activities are not providing a sufficient level of challenge for pupils. In these instances, pupils are less engaged and do not achieve as well as they could.

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better?

Pupils’ personal development is a whole-school priority. The relationships and sex education curriculum supports this. Staff help pupils to understand what is, and what is not, appropriate in different situations and relationships. Staff do this in a way that pupils understand and relate to. Pupils have a voice in the school. For example, they make choices linked to the selection of school trips. Leaders provide opportunities for pupils to contribute to the local community. Recently, pupils entered a Glastonbury themed scarecrow competition in the local village and won one of the categories.

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better?

Specialised teaching in yoga and rebound therapy is part of the weekly timetable. These sessions support pupils’ needs well. Pupils enjoy the wide range of activities that staff organise in the extensive school grounds and woodland area, such as mini beast hunts. Leaders organise a range of enrichment activities linked to the needs of pupils. These include looking after chickens, horse riding and visits to the local swimming pool. In addition, special trips, such as visiting the local lido and attending a pantomime, are enjoyed by pupils.

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better?

Leaders ensure that preparing pupils for adulthood underpins the curriculum, especially in the post-16 provision. The curriculum raises students’ awareness of healthy lifestyles and personal hygiene effectively. Staff support students to understand aspects of independent living, such as budgeting, the preparation of meals, visiting shops and cafes, as well as tolerating haircuts. Post-16 students attend a range of carefully selected work experience settings. Pupils have a say in the choice of setting. Settings include a chicken farm, a café and a local care home.

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better?

The proprietor and school leaders have a clear vision for pupils. They are keen for pupils and students to be the best they can be and to be prepared for adulthood. The proprietor has put effective systems and procedures into place to keep them informed about what is happening in school. This helps to make their vision a reality.

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better?

Staff are right behind leaders in their efforts to constantly improve the school. Staff value the training they receive linked to safeguarding, behaviour and SEND. Staff say that leaders recognise potential in the workforce and encourage them to develop professionally. However, leaders have not organised subject-specific training for staff. Staff say that workload is manageable and there is no duplication of tasks. They add 28 to 30 June 2022 that leaders are considerate of their well-being. Staff say, ‘The little things that leaders do make a big difference.’

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better?

Leaders ensure that the school meets the requirements of schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 as a suitable accessibility plan is in place.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff understand pupils’ increased vulnerability due to their additional needs. Safeguarding is everyone’s priority and responsibility. The proprietor has made sure that staff are well trained. Consequently, everyone knows what to do if they have a concern about a pupil’s welfare. Training includes updates linked to government guidance as well as specific aspects, such as peer-on-peer abuse. Health and safety are managed effectively. Pupils say they feel safe in school because the staff look after them. Leaders check staff’s suitability to work with young people.

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Safeguarding

The safeguarding policy meets current government guidance and is available on the school’s website.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 In some instances, the curriculum is not providing a sufficient level of challenge for pupils. Consequently, at times, pupils are not achieving as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum consistently provides an appropriate level of challenge to meet the individual needs of pupils.  Leaders have not organised subject-specific training for staff. As a result, some staff are not as well equipped as they could be to deliver subject-specific aspects of the curriculum. Leaders should organise subject-specific training and/or support for staff to further improve the delivery of the curriculum.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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 . 28 to 30 June 2022

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School details

Unique reference number 117042 DfE registration number 884/6006

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School details

Inspection number 10212767 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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form

Dates of previous inspection 28 to 30 November 2017 28 to 30 June 2022

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Information about this school

 Rowden House School is an independent special school that caters for pupils with severe learning difficulties and challenging behaviour. Pupils’ prime areas of need are cognition and learning, and communication and interaction. Most pupils have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.  The school is registered to admit up to 48 pupils. Pupils can join the school at different points in the school year.  The school is in the same grounds as a children’s home, which is also owned by the SENAD Group. Most pupils who attend the school reside at the children’s home. The children’s home is inspected separately.  The school is surrounded by extensive, picturesque grounds and woodland that are used to support the delivery of the curriculum.  All pupils have an EHC plan. A range of local authorities place pupils in the school.  The school does not use any alternative providers.  The school’s last full inspection was in November 2017. The school was judged to

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors 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 school leaders and have taken this into account in the evaluation.  The children’s home was inspected at the same time as the school. A separate set of judgements has been made and a separate report has been written.  The lead inspector conducted a video call with the chief operations officer, who is the proprietor’s representative. He met with the headteacher and the head of learning, who are members of the school’s safeguarding team. The lead inspector also met with the lead teacher in her capacity as behaviour lead.  As part of the inspection, inspectors carried out deep dives in communication and language, mathematics, physical development, and personal, social, health and economic education. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with

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Information about this inspection

senior leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and teaching assistants, and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 28 to 30 June 2022  Inspectors spoke to pupils formally and informally about their learning and experiences at school.  The lead inspector toured the school premises to check their suitability.  Safeguarding documents were checked, including the checks that leaders make on staff’s suitability to work with children. The inspectors checked that staff implement safeguarding policies and procedures effectively across the school.  Inspectors were unable to consider responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View, due to the small number of responses. The lead inspector held telephone conversations with three parents during the inspection.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation provided by the school. This

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Information about this inspection

included school policies, curriculum documents, SEND records, behaviour records and attendance information.  The inspectors looked at information published on the school’s website.

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Inspection team

Wayne Simner, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Antony Edkins Ofsted Inspector 28 to 30 June 2022 regulates and inspects 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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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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