Orchard Centre (The Nightingale Home and Hospital Service)

Inspection of a good school: Orchard Centre (The Nightingale Home and Hospital Service) Lawnswood Campus, Lawnswood Avenue, Parkfields, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV4 6SR

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Outcome

Orchard Centre (The Nightingale Home and Hospital Service) continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive here. They enjoy school and feel safe. Most attend regularly. Leaders recognise that, in the past, many pupils have not had a positive experience of school. Leaders pay close attention to pupils’ past experiences and develop a deep understanding of pupils’ individual needs. They use this knowledge to good effect to provide pupils with the help and support they need. Because of this, pupils quickly begin to re-engage with education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff care deeply about pupils’ well-being. Leaders build strong, trusting relationships with pupils and their families. As a result, if pupils have a concern, they willingly share these with staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values of ‘support, trust, achieve and respect’ are clear to see. There is a clear culture of mutual respect between staff and students. Pupils behave well in lessons and get along well with their peers. A comment from one pupil echoes the views of many: ‘I feel seen here; for the first time, I now have friends.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum that extends beyond the academic. For example, pupils take part in a wide range of activities, such as forest school and enterprise activities. These opportunities help pupils gain an understanding of their social and moral responsibilities, while also supporting their financial awareness.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The headteachers, supported by their leadership teams, have created a culture where personal growth and academic challenge go hand in hand. Leaders’ high ambitions for pupils, including pupils who are taught in the hospital room, are clear to see. In the short 6 and 7 June 2023

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time that pupils are here, leaders do all that they can to ensure that pupils’ passion for learning is maintained and where needed, revitalised. Pupils value this. They behave well in lessons and around the school site. When necessary, leaders make use of a wide range of bespoke interventions, thoughtfully tailored to pupils’ needs. These ensure that any poor behaviour is swiftly resolved.

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Across most subjects, leaders have planned the curriculum carefully. They make sure that the things pupils learn build sensibly on the things they already know. This helps pupils to make strong progress. However, this is not always the case. Leaders have not identified the small steps that pupils need to take to be successful across all subjects. Where this happens, the things pupils learn do not always build on the things they have already been taught. This hinders learning.

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All pupils that attend the school have special educational needs and or/disabilities (SEND). They are very well supported here. Leaders work closely with a range of external agencies to carefully assess the needs of pupils when they join the school, often identifying previously undiagnosed needs. Leaders have made sure that all staff have the knowledge they need to meet the academic and therapeutic needs of pupils. Teachers expertly adapt their teaching to make sure that pupils can access their learning. As a result, pupils with SEND flourish.

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Leaders are committed to developing pupils’ love of reading, but leaders’ plans to ensure that those pupils who are at an early stage of reading get the help they need are not yet well established. As a result, some pupils do not learn to read as soon as they should. This holds pupils back.

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Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ wider personal development is a strength of the school. There are a wide range of carefully planned opportunities that help to develop pupils’ understanding of their social and moral responsibilities. For instance, pupils recently raised money for a local palliative care charity. Pupils also benefit from a range of extra- curricular activities delivered through the school’s enrichment programme. Pupils value these experiences. Pupils in key stages 3 and 4 benefit from a comprehensive range of work-related experiences tailored to their individual needs, interests and aspirations. Leaders make sure pupils receive ample information about the world of work. Transition mentors work closely with pupils as they move on to the next stage of their education. This work is having a profound impact on the success of pupils’ next steps.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders pay particularly close attention to the safety and well-being of pupils. Leaders have made sure that all staff receive ongoing training that highlights the heightened vulnerabilities of the pupils who attend the school. Staff are vigilant. They raise all concerns, no matter how small. Leaders act on all concerns swiftly so that pupils are kept as safe as possible. 6 and 7 June 2023

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Some records of concerns do not contain enough information. In some instances, record- keeping is disjointed. This means that leaders do not have as clear an oversight of safeguarding-related actions as they might.

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Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe from harm and how to build and maintain healthy relationships.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 While there is a culture of safeguarding, leaders have not made sure that all records of concerns contain the detail they need to have a clear oversight of safeguarding-related issues. This means that there is a risk that pupils may not receive the help they need at the right time. Leaders should ensure that safeguarding records are sufficiently detailed so that they can easily see the detail of the concern, the discussions had, and the actions taken to support the pupil.  In a few subjects, leaders have not identified the precise knowledge that pupils need to learn. As a result, pupils are not always taught the important things they need to be successful and new learning does not always build on the things pupils already know. This means that pupils do not make as much progress as they otherwise could. Leaders should ensure that curriculum planning is equally well developed across all subjects to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

enable all pupils to make strong progress.  Leaders’ plans to support pupils who are at an early stage of reading are at an early stage of development. As a result, a small number of pupils do not learn to read quickly enough. These pupils struggle to access the curriculum. Leaders should accelerate their work to ensure that pupils get the help and support they need to improve their reading.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2017. 6 and 7 June 2023

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 6 and 7 June 2023

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School details

School category Maintained Pupil referral unit

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School details

Chair of governing body Robert Stephenson

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School details

Date of previous inspection December 2017

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Information about this school

 The Orchard Centre provides education for pupils aged 11 to 16 who require support for social, emotional and mental health needs.  The Nightingale Home and Hospital Service provides education for pupils aged 5 to 16 with additional medical needs either on site, at home or at the local hospital.  The Orchard Centre and the Nightingale Home and Hospital service are part of a federation of pupil referral units called The Lawnswood Campus. All of the providers in the federation share the same site. An executive headteacher oversees provision across Lawnswood Campus but was absent during this inspection.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 7 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.  The school currently uses one registered alternative provision. 6 and 7 June 2023

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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.  Inspectors met with the headteachers and other senior leaders, including from across the governing body. Meetings were held with curriculum leaders and the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator. Inspectors also met with a range of other staff. An inspector also visited the hospital school site.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: mathematics, English and personal social, health and economic education. 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.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of safeguarding information, including the school’s

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Information about this inspection

safeguarding policy, spoke to staff and pupils about safeguarding and looked at how pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. The lead inspector spoke to the safeguarding leaders about the reporting and recording of any safeguarding incidents.  Inspectors took account of parents’ and carers’ responses to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, including the free-text comments. Inspectors also considered the responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Alexander Laney, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

David Lisowski Ofsted Inspector 6 and 7 June 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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