Jigsaw Primary Pupil Referral Unit

Inspection of Jigsaw Primary Pupil Referral Unit Stannyfield Drive, Thornton, Liverpool, Merseyside L23 1TY

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Previous inspection grade Good 25–26 April 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Jigsaw Pupil Referral Unit is an oasis for the pupils who come to this welcoming school. All pupils have unique special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have created an environment which supports pupils to begin to learn to love education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils excel at this highly ambitious school. From the moment pupils arrive, leaders and staff work as a cohesive team to provide the pupils with a world-class education. Staff strive to find ways to enhance pupils’ lives, including through the delivery of an individualised ‘gaps-led’ curriculum. Jigsaw Pupil Referral Unit is transforming pupils’ experiences of education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All staff set remarkable expectations for pupils’ achievement and behaviour. This is lived and breathed every single day. Pupils respond positively because they clearly understand these expectations. From their starting points, pupils make praiseworthy progress with their academic studies and their behaviour. This ensures that pupils are ready for the next step that they take in their education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that staff care for them. Warm, trusting relationships exist between pupils and staff. Staff help pupils manage their behaviour so that they do not impact other pupils in school. This helps pupils feel secure and safe in school. On the rare occasion that bullying occurs, leaders are thorough in their response.

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better?

Leaders set the tone of this highly effective school. They understand the challenges that pupils face. Leaders ensure that every aspect of the school’s provision is of the highest quality. They have captured the support of everyone within the school’s community. Staff are respected. Leaders develop staff to be highly effective in their role, whatever that may be in school.

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better?

Leaders’ clear vision for the curriculum is unmistakable. They expertly use the assessment information that they glean on pupils’ entry to the school to plot an individual and ambitious curriculum that meets pupils’ needs exceptionally well. Leaders have shaped the curriculum to ensure that pupils gain the knowledge that they will need to thrive when they return to their mainstream school.

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better?

Teachers deliver the curriculum very successfully. Teachers skilfully craft the activities that help pupils know and remember more. They think about the order in which learning happens. Their knowledge of the subjects that they teach is shaped well so that they can support pupils to be successful. This allows pupils to excel throughout their individualised curriculum.

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better?

Leaders ensure that reading is front and centre of learning for pupils. Leaders have taken great care to introduce a phonics programme that matches pupils’ needs. 25–26 April 2023

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Pupils are exposed to a wide variety of literature, which they enjoy and respond to well. The books that pupils read match the sounds that they know. This develops pupils’ fluency and confidence in reading. Pupils spoke to inspectors about how much they now enjoy their reading.

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Once pupils gain secure phonic knowledge, their achievement in other areas of the curriculum gathers pace. Leaders ensure that pupils develop the mathematical fluency and understanding they need to succeed. Pupils develop knowledge in other identified areas of the wider curriculum, which supports their understanding.

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Pupils settle into school life quickly. Even though pupils come from different settings, staff are experts in ensuring that pupils work and play together in harmony. Staff are also highly skilled in managing pupils’ behaviour and improving their attitudes towards learning. Lessons proceed without interruptions. Pupils’ concentration in lessons is admirable. They are absorbed in what they are learning. Pupils demonstrate pride in their work. Pupils’ behaviour and their attitudes transform while they are at Jigsaw.

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The curriculum that underpins pupils’ personal development is well thought through for the pupils who attend Jigsaw. Leaders ensure that pupils get enough wider experiences in their individualised curriculum. The way that leaders develop pupils’ wider development is exemplary. For example, opportunities for pupils to develop their resilience, confidence and independence are central to their learning. They learn what makes a relationship positive or negative. This aids pupils to build relationships with their fellow peers, which some pupils previously found tricky.

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Pupils with SEND have their needs identified clearly and comprehensively. This begins even before pupils join the school through the transition programme. Pupils’ needs are met carefully and successfully with the provision they receive.

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Members of the school’s management committee are resolute that pupils will receive the best education while they remain at the school. Members hold leaders to account for the progress that pupils make through the curriculum. They maintain a forensic focus when reviewing information and asking questions. Leaders consider staff’s well-being with upmost importance. They offer staff occasions during the day to debrief, which supports their well-being. The cohesive team at Jigsaw is part of their success story.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 25–26 April 2023

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Safeguarding is of upmost importance to staff at this school. Staff are exceptionally well trained to spot signs that pupils might be at harm. Staff report their concerns, using the school’s systems, with diligence and detail. This helps leaders to have a well-informed strategic overview of all the pupils who attend. Leaders clearly identify what pupils and their families need to help keep pupils safe. Leaders are tenacious in their interactions with other agencies, including with the pupils’ mainstream school.

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Leaders ensure that pupils learn to keep themselves safe in many ways, particularly online. Pupils learn about specific safeguarding issues, including pressures which may exist in their local community.

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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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 25–26 April 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10226197 Type of school Pupil referral unit

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21 May 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been several new members of staff since the previous inspection, including a new deputy headteacher.  There are currently no pupils on roll who are in the early years.  Leaders do not make use of any alternative provision.  Most pupils are dual registered with their mainstream primary school within the local authority.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 25–26 April 2023

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. They met with a range of leaders including those who are responsible for behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and personal, social and health education. For each deep dive, they met with subject leaders, visited lessons, talked to pupils and looked at pupils’ work.  The lead inspector met with members of the management committee, including the chair of the management committee. He also met with the school improvement partner and a representative of the local authority.  The lead inspector observed some pupils in Year 1 to Year 3 reading to a familiar adult.  Inspectors reviewed leaders’ policies and procedures for keeping pupils safe. They discussed safeguarding arrangements with leaders and staff.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at lunchtimes and as they moved around

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the school. They scrutinised leaders’ records of pupils’ behaviour.  Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at the school. They spoke with staff about their workload and well-being.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff and pupils.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Stuart Perkins, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Pippa Jackson Maitland His Majesty’s Inspector 25–26 April 2023

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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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