Clannad Education Centre

Inspection of Clannad Education Centre C/O Five Rivers Child Care Ltd, 47 Bedwin Street, Salisbury SP1 3UT

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Inspection dates: 29 November to 1 December 2022

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding 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 succeed and achieve well. They enjoy their lessons and their learning. This is because staff make lessons fun and interesting and help pupils to build up their knowledge. Pupils appreciate the opportunities to learn out of school, for example by visiting a local farm. Pupils feel safe and are kept safe by the care, expertise and diligence of staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils experience a curriculum that is underpinned by a strong vision and clarity of purpose. This vision runs from senior leaders to those staff working with pupils in classrooms. Pupils’ needs and well-being are at the centre of this vision, which is based on an approach that gives pupils the social and emotional skills that they need to learn. Staff help pupils to recognise why and when they might find things difficult, and how to manage their feelings. As a result, pupils overcome their difficulties and become keen to learn the broad curriculum that the school provides.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour improves hugely during their time at Clannad. While incidents still arise, these become less serious over time. Pupils take greater responsibility for their behaviour and are more switched on to learning. Bullying is rare and dealt with effectively by staff if it does occur.

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better?

Much of what the school does to promote pupils’ well-being and learning is highly effective. Leaders ensure that everyone working in the school receives expert training to help pupils to develop their resilience and self-esteem. Staff manage pupils’ behaviour and promote their self-confidence very successfully. As a result, pupils, all with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are ready to learn and keen to do their best.

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better?

Leaders have tackled the weaknesses identified at the last inspection rigorously. The curriculum for English, mathematics and science is carefully planned so that knowledge and skills are identified and prioritised. A lot of emphasis is put on identifying gaps in pupils’ learning and providing a bespoke experience for each pupil. This helps to ensure that the curriculum covers the learning that pupils have missed.

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better?

The curriculum as a whole has also improved so that pupils experience a broad range of subjects. Nevertheless, in some subjects, the specific knowledge and skills that pupils need to learn are not as clearly identified or organised. For example, in computing, art and geography, the essential building blocks of knowledge are not tightly structured in a way that helps pupils to learn the basics before moving to more complex ideas.

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better?

Staff provide well-planned activities for pupils to practise and apply what they have been taught about writing. Pupils enjoy using what they know to write extended pieces. Building up pupils’ spelling and handwriting are regular parts of the 29 November to 1 December 2022 curriculum programme. Leaders ensure that pupils have a range of resources to support their learning, for example when studying electricity in science.

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better?

The personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme includes careers education as well as relationships and sex education (RSE). PSHE is carefully planned and staff work successfully to promote the development of pupils’ personal skills. Leaders and staff have also increased the choice of after-school activities on offer with the aim of broadening pupils’ learning further. These experiences all form part of leaders’ work to prepare pupils successfully for the next steps in their lives. The statutory requirements for RSE are followed.

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better?

Improvements have been made to the way that teachers check pupils’ learning. This means that teachers and teaching assistants identify misconceptions or gaps in pupils’ knowledge in good time. Teachers have helpful information with which to adapt the planned programmes of learning. Where a pupil has not grasped fully an idea, staff will go over it again but in a different way. A focus on getting pupils to remember what they learned in the previous lesson helps to embed ideas and knowledge more firmly in pupils’ memories. For example, staff get pupils to add and subtract numbers over and over again, so that they can do the sums in their head automatically.

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better?

The reading curriculum is well planned and delivered. Staff make sure that pupils read frequently and practise their knowledge. This helps to ensure that pupils become fluent readers. Pupils study a range of authors, including Shakespeare and Philip Pullman.

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better?

Governance is strong. There are rigorous systems for holding leaders to account and providing support. Regular and frequent meetings with senior staff help to ensure that success is celebrated and action taken to avoid problems.

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better?

Staff well-being goes hand in hand with pupils’ welfare. For example, staff can discuss their feelings with expert clinicians every week, as can pupils. This focus on the well-being and welfare of all helps to enhance the school’s positive ethos.

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better?

The proprietor and senior leaders fulfil their statutory duties effectively. The independent school standards are met in full and the school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that the school meets it statutory responsibilities. The safeguarding policy is published on the school’s website and reflects the most up-to-date government guidance.

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Safeguarding

Staff are well trained and knowledgeable about safeguarding. They know about the potential safeguarding risks to their pupils and what to look out for. Regular 29 November to 1 December 2022 meetings between senior leaders and school staff ensure that no pupil is allowed to fall between the gaps. Staff know how to refer any concerns that they may have to leaders. The procedures for checking the suitability of staff are robust and records are up to date.

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Safeguarding

All staff know their pupils well. They use this knowledge to ensure that pupils not only feel safe but are kept safe.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The curriculum as a whole has improved so that pupils experience a broad range of subjects. However, in some subjects, including art and computing, the essential building blocks of knowledge are not organised in a way that ensures that pupils fully master the basics before moving on to learn about more complex ideas. Leaders need to ensure that, across the school, subject-specific knowledge and skills are logically sequenced and that staff are clear about what to teach and when to teach it.

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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. 29 November to 1 December 2022

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School details

Unique reference number 138378 DfE registration number 305/6005

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School details

Inspection number 10226772 Type of school Other Independent Special School

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £44,200 to £52,780

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School details

Email address Utibe-Abasi.Umoren@five-rivers.org

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 to 28 November 2019 29 November to 1 December 2022

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Information about this school

 Clannad Education Centre is part of the Five Rivers Child Care group.  The school specialises in providing an education for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.  The school is registered for boys and girls aged from eight to 17. However, the school focuses on catering for pupils aged eight to 12.  All pupils are placed by local authorities.  Leaders do not use alternative provision for pupils.  The school’s last full inspection took place in November 2019, when it was judged as requires improvement overall.

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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

 The inspection was carried out with one day’s notice.  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 that into account in their evaluation .  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: English and reading, mathematics and PSHE. He met with leaders and staff to discuss the curriculum. Other subjects were also considered as part of this inspection.  The inspectors met with the pupils to talk about their work and discuss their views about the school, including behaviour and safety.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, the leaders responsible for safeguarding and the lead clinician.  The inspector met with senior leaders from the Five Rivers Child Care group, which is the proprietor body. He also held telephone discussions with the chair and chief executive officer of the group.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector toured the premises and reviewed additional information in relation to the independent school standards.  A range of policies and documents, including curriculum plans, policies relating to safeguarding and the school’s staff vetting checks and procedures, were reviewed by the inspector. 29 November to 1 December 2022

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Inspection team

Brian Oppenheim, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 29 November to 1 December 2022 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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