Bere Clinic School

Inspection of Bere Clinic School Hemlock Road, Waterlooville, Hampshire PO8 8QT

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value how staff care for them and appreciate how teachers help them to build their self-esteem. All pupils benefit from highly individualised support, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This encourages pupils to develop resilience and confidence and to value themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are highly ambitious for every pupil. This leads to pupils being determined to make the most of their time at Bere Clinic School. Pupils are keen to concentrate and work hard so they return to their home school feeling self-assured about the progress they have made with their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is excellent. They are highly respectful, kind and polite to others. Pupils of all ages get on very well and strongly support one another. There have been no cases of bullying. Pupils know that they will be listened to by staff if they have a concern. They know that staff are alert to any issues and will swiftly support them to resolve worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A wealth of external speakers enrich pupils’ experience. Visitors help to broaden pupils’ horizons while they stay at the hospital and inspire them to consider different interests. Recent speakers have included a veterinary assistant, a haematologist and a politics graduate.

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better?

Leaders promote pupils’ personal development exceptionally well. They prioritise supporting pupils to understand their physical and mental health. Pupils learn about positive body image through a specialised ‘nourish to flourish’ programme. This includes studying how to eat healthily and to give and receive compliments. Staff provide highly effective sessions about online safety linked to social media. This enables pupils to confidently negotiate the challenges and opportunities of communicating online. Leaders creatively provide enrichment groups to broaden pupils’ outlook in areas such as finance and citizenship.

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better?

Leaders and staff provide a coherent and interesting education for pupils. They work in close partnership with pupils’ home schools. Expert staff make precise use of the curriculum thinking from these schools in most subjects. As a result, pupils receive a highly individualised education which supports their smooth transition back into their home school. In a couple of subjects, staff deliver their own curriculum to groups of pupils. Leaders have identified that this subject planning needs refining to take account of pupils’ prior learning.

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better?

Pupils learn well once they have settled into the hospital. Leaders are quick to identify if pupils have additional SEND. Staff are knowledgeable and provide highly tailored support to pupils across the curriculum. Typically, pupils have missed large periods of school and have gaps in their learning. Teachers skilfully prioritise teaching the most important content from the home school curriculums to support 21 to 23 June 2023 pupils to keep up. They present information very clearly and use a helpful range of resources to help bring learning alive. Leaders swiftly adjust the range of provision when new pupils arrive, especially for those who join in the middle of studying GCSEs and A levels to enable them to successfully continue with their studies.

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better?

Leaders strongly promote reading. Staff relentlessly encourage pupils to develop a love of reading. They expose pupils to a range of diverse texts based in different cultures and time periods. This encourages pupils’ thinking about the world around them. Staff prioritise supporting pupils who arrive with weaker reading skills to enable them to become fluent and confident readers.

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better?

Staff’s checks of pupils’ learning are at an earlier stage of development. They do use careful baseline checks when pupils first join the school, and this informs future teaching. However, staff do not consistently check if pupils have learned the most important knowledge and skills over time. Sometimes pupils complete checks from their home schools about content that they have not yet learned. Leaders recognise that this needs further strengthening.

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better?

Leaders swiftly support pupils to learn the clear school routines and expectations. Staff skilfully engage them in individualised learning, which leads to pupils developing highly positive attitudes so they are motivated to learn. Most pupils have previous poor attendance but all pupils attend this school regularly, and leaders minimise disruption to learning from medical interventions.

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better?

Leaders have established a comprehensive careers programme. They provide impartial and bespoke careers advice, taking account of pupils’ needs and interests. They are supported to understand different technical and academic routes and the options available in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace. Leaders creatively provide work experience within the setting to give pupils the opportunity to develop independence and a sense of achievement.

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better?

Leaders are highly effective and enjoy a positive partnership with hospital leaders. They continually evaluate and refine the provision for the benefit of pupils, including maintaining a sharp focus on inclusion. As a result, they are fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010 and sufficiently implement the statutory guidance on relationships and sex education and health education.

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better?

Members of the proprietor body provide strong challenge and support for leaders. They understand their responsibilities and are knowledgeable about the strengths and aspects to be developed. They securely fulfil their statutory duties regarding safeguarding and SEND. The proprietor body’s work to ensure compliance with the independent school standards is robust.

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better?

Staff and parents are highly complementary about the provision. Parents overwhelmingly appreciate the help for pupils, which supports them to successfully return to their home schools. Staff highly value the guidance they receive from leaders to manage their workload. This helps them to feel empowered and to focus on the pupils. One teacher commented, ‘I come away each day thinking what a 21 to 23 June 2023 wonderful place this is to work and what an important job that we do.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders maintain safeguarding as the key priority. They provide high-quality training for staff and then check to ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities. Staff know what signs to be alert to and are swift to report concerns. Leaders are vigilant in working with external agencies to get pupils the help that they may need.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn about wider aspects of safeguarding such as drugs and alcohol.

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Safeguarding

The proprietor body takes action to assure itself that safeguarding is effective. It closely reviews any incidents and follows up on concerns promptly.

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Safeguarding

Leaders publish a suitable safeguarding policy on the school website.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Assessment is at an early stage of development. This means that staff are not consistently clear about what pupils have learned and remembered over time. Leaders should ensure that strategies to check pupils’ learning are accurate and inform future teaching.  In a couple of subjects, leaders use similar curriculum planning for all pupils. This means that on occasion, pupils do not sufficiently build on prior learning. Leaders should ensure that in every subject, pupils are taught content that helps them to incorporate smaller component parts of knowledge into larger ideas.

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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. 21 to 23 June 2023

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School details

Website www.elysiumheathcare.co.uk/education/b ere-clinic-school Email address staylor@elysiumeducation.co.uk 21 to 23 June 2023

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Information about this school

 Bere Clinic School opened in September 2022. In order to set up the new school, the headteacher started in her post in September 2021 and the deputy headteacher started in her role in January 2022.  This was the first standard inspection. The pre-registration inspection was in May 2022.  Bere Clinic School is a mixed independent school within Bere Clinic, which occupies the same site. The clinic provides medical care for 11- to 18-year-olds who have diagnosed eating disorders. Patients reside at the clinic for the duration of their treatment, which averages between six to nine months. Pupils are dual registered with their home school.  Elysium Healthcare is the proprietor body. It operates a number of other specialist education and healthcare settings, including four other schools. The head of education provides a link between the school and the proprietor body.  The school’s facilities are contained in the building occupied by the clinic. The

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Information about this school

school and clinic have sole use of these facilities.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other school staff.  The lead inspector met with the head of education, the chair of the proprietor body and the director of the hospital. She also met with representatives from two local authorities.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, personal, social and health education and art and design. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors spoke with staff and pupils. The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead to review 21 to 23 June 2023 their knowledge, records and actions. The inspectors also looked at safeguarding records and actions and reviewed information about the safer recruitment of staff.

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Information about this inspection

 To make wider judgements, inspectors spoke to staff and groups of pupils from different year groups and observed behaviour.  The views of staff, parents and pupils, including responses to Ofsted’s online staff survey, were considered.

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Inspection team

Laurie Anderson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Alan Johnson Ofsted Inspector 21 to 23 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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