All Saints School

Inspection of All Saints School School Road, Lessingham, Stalham, Norwich, Norfolk NR12 0DJ

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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 start the day excited and keen to learn. They value the warm welcome given by staff. Social times are happy and calm. Almost all pupils are kind and considerate to each other and to staff. They proudly take home their work at the end of the day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are very well supported by staff to manage their emotions and feelings. On the rare occasions where pupils fall out with their classmates, staff are quick to help sort out any problems. Pupils feel very confident that staff will help them. Pupils feel safe and are safe. Pupils receive exceptional support to become increasingly independent and to transition into adulthood.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are enthusiastic about the things they are learning. Pupils’ early reading and mathematical skills develop quickly. Pupils work very hard in lessons. They achieve a good range of accreditation and qualifications.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the extensive range of opportunities for visitors, trips, visits, lunchtime clubs and work experience. They value the roles and responsibilities they can take on, such as school council representatives, diversity champions or literacy leaders. These roles and responsibilities give pupils a real voice in how the school improves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Almost all parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. Many say that leaders and staff have changed the life chances of their children.

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better?

The headteacher has galvanised leaders and staff to focus sharply on improving the curriculum that is available to pupils. Leaders have achieved substantial improvements in curriculum planning, including in reading, mathematics and personal, social and health education (PSHE).

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better?

Leaders provide high-quality guidance and training for staff to deliver most of the curriculum. Leaders have recruited some subject-specialist staff, such as in art, to support the qualification and accreditation offer. Leaders and staff use a range of assessment strategies to identify what pupils know and can do. Pupils get timely help when they need it. They learn well, and can apply their learning in increasingly complex ways.

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better?

A few subjects are less well developed. In these subjects, curriculum planning, staff expertise and leaders’ monitoring are weaker. Pupils complete tasks and enjoy learning but do not develop a rich understanding of the curriculum content as leaders intend.

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better?

Pupils get timely help to learn to read. Staff deliver the school’s chosen phonics programme effectively. Pupils read books and use resources that closely match the sounds they are learning. Pupils access high-quality daily phonics sessions, one-to- one reading with adults and wider reading opportunities. Many pupils go on to read 13 to 15 June 2023 fluently and independently. They talk excitedly about the progress they have made. Pupils have many opportunities to read. Pupils of all ages and abilities enjoy stories and reading. Many are now reading at home for pleasure.

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better?

Most pupils arrive after extended periods out of education. Many have significant difficulties in managing their emotions and behaviour. Staff are very well trained to support pupils in a calm and thoughtful way. Over time, most pupils go on to achieve remarkable improvements in their behaviour and attendance.

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better?

Pupils have a meaningful voice in the creation of the PSHE curriculum, assemblies, trips and visitors that they access. Pupils value what they learn about important aspects of life such as faith, lifestyles, law and relationships. They particularly enjoy the annual well-being week that they help plan and deliver.

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better?

Pupils receive very high-quality support that focuses on their wide-ranging needs. Leaders ensure that pupils get timely help for areas such as their fine motor skills, communication needs, social interaction skills, physical development, and much more. Leaders engage an array of professionals to support pupils, such as mental health experts, occupational therapists, counsellors and speech and language specialists.

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better?

Pupils receive incredibly high-quality support and guidance related to further education, training, employment and careers. Almost all go on to highly appropriate post-16 destinations very closely matched to their abilities, interests and aspirations. By the time pupils leave in Year 11, they have achieved a huge amount of success. Almost all have made friends, engaged in clubs, trips and visits, achieved relevant accreditation and qualifications, succeeded in work experience and secured part- time jobs around their studies. They are well prepared to be responsible young adults in society.

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better?

The proprietor has ensured that all the requirements for the independent school standards are met. The advisory board members provide high-quality challenge and support. They collectively ensure leaders are acting in the best interests of pupils. However, they had not identified some administrative errors and gaps in their records prior to the inspection starting.

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better?

Staff value the support they receive. They feel that the proprietor and leaders are incredibly considerate of their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work tenaciously to provide support for the most vulnerable pupils. Staff are well trained and refer all concerns about pupils to leaders. Leaders piece together this information to ensure that pupils get access to the right services in a timely way. Records are well kept and detailed. 13 to 15 June 2023 Pupils are taught about how to keep themselves safe. Staff are adept at supporting pupils who struggle to understand some of this learning, so that it is accessible to them. Leaders work hard to ensure that pupils have regular opportunities to give their feedback on how safe and secure they feel.

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Safeguarding

The safeguarding policy is published on the school website. Safeguarding policies and processes are routinely reviewed. The pre-employment checks made on staff and visitors are undertaken appropriately and in line with legal guidance. Some minor administrative changes were made to the single central record of checks during the inspection.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 A small number of curriculum areas are not well planned, delivered, assessed and monitored. Pupils complete activities but do not develop the subject understanding that leaders’ intend. Leaders should ensure that planning, assessment, staff training and delivery, and leaders’ monitoring, work collectively to ensure that pupils are learning these subjects effectively.  Some aspects of the proprietor and advisory board monitoring do not identify gaps in provision or administrative errors. This includes on minor medical incidents, and in a small number of risk assessments. The proprietor and advisory board should ensure that their monitoring identifies any gaps or errors and addresses these in a timely way.

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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. 13 to 15 June 2023

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School details

Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £16,720 to £23,260

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School details

Website http://www.allsaintslessingham.co.uk

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School details

Email address admin@allsaintslessingham.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 23 to 25 June 2021 13 to 15 June 2023

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Information about this school

 All Saints School is a privately owned day school with one proprietor. It opened in 1987 as an independent school. The school is registered to admit 85 pupils.  In March 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) agreed to register the school as a special school.  Almost all pupils are in receipt of an education, health and care plan. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities. At the time of the inspection, almost all pupils were placed by Norfolk County Council.  Prior to the inspection, the proprietor had sought a temporary arrangement to extend the age range of pupils to include pupils aged 17 years. This was agreed by the DfE. This temporary arrangement ends in July 2023.  The proprietor is also the managing director. The proprietor is applying to the DfE to add a joint proprietor, Rachel Smith.  The school makes use of two registered and three unregistered alternative providers.

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Information about this school

 The school has a well-established advisory board. The board was in place at the time of the previous standard inspection.  Inspection history: – Ofsted conducted a standard inspection in March 2007. The quality of education was judged to be good. Four of the independent school standards were not met, including the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 2002. – Ofsted conducted a standard inspection in October 2009. Inspectors judged the quality of education to be good, and all independent school standards were met. – Ofsted conducted a standard inspection in November 2016. The school was judged to be inadequate. The requirements of the independent school standards were not met. – The DfE issued the school with a notice on 12 January 2017 and commissioned Ofsted to review the school’s action plan related to how the proprietor intended to meet the unmet independent school standards. In February 2017, this action plan was deemed not acceptable.

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Information about this school

– The DfE commissioned Ofsted to undertake a progress monitoring inspection on 17 May 2017. The independent school standards that were in the scope of this inspection, remained unmet. – The DfE commissioned Ofsted to undertake a second progress monitoring inspection on 2 May 2018. The independent school standards within the scope of this inspection remained unmet. – Ofsted conducted a standard inspection in September 2018. Inspectors judged the school to be inadequate. The requirements of several independent school standards were not met. 13 to 15 June 2023 – The DfE issued the proprietor a notice to improve in November 2018. – The DfE commissioned Ofsted to conduct an evaluation of the school’s action plan to address the unmet standards. This was deemed not acceptable in December 2018. – The DfE commissioned Ofsted to conduct a progress monitoring inspection in March 2019. Inspectors found that the school met the requirements of all of

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Information about this school

the independent school standards that were unmet at the previous inspection. – Ofsted conducted a standard inspection in June 2021. Inspectors judged the school to require improvement. All of the independent school standards were met.

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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

Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors conducted deep dives in early reading, mathematics, art and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with the subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to adults teaching and/or supporting pupils, and reviewed pupils’ work and spoke to pupils about their learning. The lead inspector listened to a selection of pupils reading to a familiar adult. Inspectors also considered aspects of other subjects on the school’s curriculum.  Inspectors considered the views of 35 parents and carers expressed through Ofsted’s online survey of parents, Ofsted Parent View. This includes the comments received via a free-text facility.  The inspectors also reviewed 28 responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s survey for pupils. Instead, inspectors spoke to pupils on site. Inspectors also reviewed the school’s own recent survey of pupil views.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, staff, the proprietor and the proposed co-proprietor. The lead inspector held telephone discussions with the advisory board. The lead inspector also spoke to a local authority commissioning officer representing Norfolk County Council. 13 to 15 June 2023  Inspectors considered a range of documentation provided by school leaders, including minutes of advisory board meetings and documentation related to safeguarding.  Inspectors also undertook tours of the site and reviewed information related to the independent school standards for aspects of the school’s work, such as health and safety.

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Inspection team

Kim Pigram, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Russell Ayling Ofsted Inspector 13 to 15 June 2023 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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