Seva Education

Inspection of Seva Education 205 Uxbridge Road, West Ealing W13 9AA

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils like coming to this school. They are happy, and they feel safe. Each one of the three school sites is a welcoming environment. Pupils have a chance to get out in the fresh air by going to different places like local parks, cafes and shops. This helps to make up for the absence of outdoor space at some of the school sites.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of pupils. A new team are putting these expectations into place, but they need more time and training to do this well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils are placed at the school because they need extra help and understanding to manage their emotions. Most of the time, pupils behave well. If pupils do get upset or need help to manage their own behaviour, adults provide support in a calm and professional way.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has grown in size very quickly this year. There are lots of new staff. Leaders are also quite new. This has meant that the plans leaders are working on need more time to become established.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils say that bullying is not a problem at the school and they know who to talk to if they are worried about anything.

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better?

As a result of the rapid growth in pupil numbers, a high proportion of the school staff are quite new, including leaders. This period of significant change has had an impact on curriculum and staff development. Leaders have put a new curriculum in place since the last inspection, but it is still at the early stages of development. As it stands, the curriculum does not give teachers clear enough direction on what they need to teach and when. This is particularly the case for those pupils in Years 3 to 11.

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better?

Teachers check to see what pupils have learned and can remember from their lessons. However, because the curriculum is not fully developed, teachers are not able to accurately check how pupils are progressing through the curriculum in a systematic and sequenced way. In the post-16 provision, staff use external qualification frameworks to check on how well students are learning.

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better?

Staff care about the pupils. They treat pupils with dignity and respect. They are gaining the specialist skills that they need to fully understand pupils’ complex needs and how best to support them.

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better?

Teachers understand the importance of teaching all pupils to read so that they can access the rest of the curriculum. Some pupils are learning phonics, but input is often based on the individual teacher’s own knowledge about how to deliver this. This means that the approach to teaching pupils to read is not consistent. Leaders 6 to 8 June 2023 have not ensured that staff have had sufficient training in teaching pupils at an early stage of reading.

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better?

Teachers set lessons and activities which focus on pupils’ personal and social development. These opportunities include learning about online safety, shopping and cooking. There are also some interesting outdoor activities which include canoeing and gaining work skills in a local café. At present, the personal development of pupils is not thought through in sufficient detail to ensure that all pupils have a wide range of experiences that logically develop over time. Sometimes, similar activities are repeated too often, and teachers do not have clear direction from leaders about the most important things that pupils should cover, particularly with regard to relationships and sex education and protected groups of people. In the post-16 department, students are taught important life skills and about careers. Leaders have not yet provided teachers with enough clarity about what they should teach these students to help them be as independent as possible in the future.

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better?

Pupils behave well in school. Because of their complex needs, they are still learning how to manage their emotions independently. If a pupil does become dysregulated, adults calmly provide support. This helps pupils to get back on track with their work as soon as possible. Pupils like the small class sizes and the help they get from the adults who work with them.

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better?

Staff feel well supported by leaders and like working at the school. They say that workload is not a problem and that leaders consider their well-being. Staff are enthusiastic and motivated. They work hard, with pupils’ best interests at heart. The proprietor and the director of operations were involved throughout the inspection. They have clear plans for the future. Leaders are working well together to bring about necessary improvements.

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better?

Leaders have ensured that the school meets the independent school standards. They maintain the premises to a high standard. Their accessibility plan 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 have ensured that there is a well-organised approach to recruiting and checking new staff before they start working at the school. This includes arrangements for temporary staff.

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Safeguarding

Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities. They know how to recognise the signs that a pupil might need help and how to report concerns. There are some minor weaknesses in the way that the school maintains safeguarding records, and leaders should address this as a priority.

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Safeguarding

New leaders who support the designated safeguarding lead have not yet completed their induction and training. The school has made other arrangements to strengthen 6 to 8 June 2023 the oversight of safeguarding during this period, but this should be addressed urgently.

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Safeguarding

When concerns arise, school leaders work with external safeguarding partners to support pupils and their families. However, on occasion, leaders have not taken full account of advice from external partners before taking action.

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Safeguarding

The school’s safeguarding policy, which is published on its website, complies with the latest statutory guidance.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The school curriculum is still in development. It does not give teachers enough clarity about what to teach and when. This means that pupils do not gain all of the knowledge and cultural capital they need for the future. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum is explicitly planned and tailored to pupils’ individual needs.  Provision for pupils’ personal development is not set out in sufficient detail to ensure that all pupils have a wide range of experiences that develop over time in a logical way. This means that pupils do not have enough opportunities to develop their resilience and to be ready for the next stage of their education. Leaders should: – provide teachers with clarity on what should be covered in personal development activities – ensure teachers have the skills and knowledge to develop pupils’ character with confidence.  Some aspects of leaders’ safeguarding practice lack rigour. Leaders should:

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

– ensure that safeguarding records are organised clearly and systematically so that information is quickly available for all key leaders – complete new leaders’ induction and training as soon as possible so they can fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities in the absence of the designated safeguarding lead – strengthen partnerships with external safeguarding agencies so that full account of their advice is taken before taking action.

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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. 6 to 8 June 2023 The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 6 to 8 June 2023

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School details

Type of school Other independent special school

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sixth form

Headteacher Meleter James (Executive Headteacher)

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sixth form

Annual fees (day pupils) £22,500 to £81,000

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sixth form

Email address education@sevacaregroup.com

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sixth form

Date of previous inspection 12 to 14 October 2021 6 to 8 June 2023

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Information about this school

 The school’s last standard inspection was in October 2021.  The school operates on three sites. The registered address at 205 Uxbridge Road, West Ealing, London, W13 9AA is the provision for pupils who are aged 17 to 25 years old. The two other sites are for pupils aged seven to 16 and are located at 203 Station Road, Harrow, London, HA1 2TS and 519 North Circular Road, Neasden, London, NW2 7QG.  The school uses no alternative provision.  All pupils who attend the school have special educational needs and/or disabilities. All pupils have an education, health and care plan which identifies social, emotional and mental health difficulties as the pupil’s primary area of need. Some pupils also have additional communication and interaction needs and/or autism spectrum disorder.

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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

 During the inspection, inspectors met with senior and middle leaders.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and personal, social, health and economic education. For each deep dive, inspectors met with leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  When inspecting safeguarding, inspectors had discussions with leaders, scrutinised the school’s safeguarding policy and checked safeguarding records and systems. Inspectors spoke to pupils and staff about safeguarding. Inspectors also spoke to local authority designated officers.  To check that leaders had ensured that the independent school standards were met, inspectors carried out a site inspection at each of the school’s three sites.

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Information about this inspection

They also met with leaders and checked the school’s policies, records and other 6 to 8 June 2023 evidence of compliance.  As part of this inspection, inspectors considered the six responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey and the five responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Gary Pocock, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Jayne Jardine Ofsted Inspector 6 to 8 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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