Partnership London SCITT (PLS)

Partnership London SCITT (PLS) c/o Sydney Russell School, Parsloes Avenue, Dagenham RM9 5QT

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Inspection judgements

Primary and secondary age-phase combined

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education and training Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Trainees are extremely positive about their experiences. Relationships across the partnership are positive and professional. Trainees feel totally supported, both with their well-being and their development as teachers. The links between what trainees learn at the centre and in schools are strong. This means that the messages that trainees receive are consistent and coherent.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Communication is a strength. All stakeholders are crystal clear about their responsibilities in supporting trainees’ development. They both understand and share leaders’ vision. Trainees and partnership schools particularly appreciate the weekly newsletter and the handbooks and documentation that leaders provide.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Trainees are made fully aware of the demands of teaching. They have realistic expectations of the rewards and challenges that lie ahead. Course leaders and trainers show them how they can manage their time effectively and prioritise and signpost them to time-saving resources.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Trainees are supported to be confident and skilled in their behaviour management. Training at the centre equips them well with strategies to use from the very start of their first placement. Carefully integrated training also means that trainees learn about how to best support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. Alongside the support they get in school, the programme enables trainees to be very confident in making adaptations for these pupils.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Trainees are fully prepared to teach their subject and phase. Well-planned centrally delivered training means that primary trainees get the right foundations in how to teach pupils how to read. This is followed up effectively by in-school training and tasks. Programme and school leaders ensure that trainees are prepared well to carry out their role in safeguarding pupils’ welfare.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ Partnership London SCITT currently has 16 primary-phase trainees and 45 secondary-phase trainees. ◼ The SCITT provides programmes for the School Direct (salaried and non-salaried) route and the Postgraduate Certificate of Education route. ◼ The provider has 15 partnership schools in the primary phase and 16 in the secondary phase. ◼ All the schools have either a good or outstanding Ofsted grading.

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Information about this inspection

◼ The inspection was carried out by two of His Majesty’s Inspectors and two Ofsted Inspectors. ◼ Inspectors met with the provider’s leaders, including the director, leaders of the primary and secondary phases and the partnership steering group. ◼ Inspectors met with headteachers from schools that work with the provider. Inspectors held meetings with trainees, school-based mentors, professional tutors, and early career teachers (ECTs). ◼ In the primary phase, focused reviews were conducted in early reading, mathematics and history. Five schools were visited. In the secondary phase, focused reviews were conducted in English, mathematics, religious education and physical education. Six schools were visited. Other aspects of the ITE curriculum in each phase were considered as part of this inspection. ◼ Inspectors scrutinised the provider’s documents related to compliance, improvement planning and curriculum content.

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Information about this inspection

◼ Inspectors reviewed the responses to the trainee survey and staff survey. They spoke to 10 primary-phase trainees, 38 secondary-phase trainees and 27 ECTs.

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better?

Course leaders have made sure that the training programme is highly ambitious. They have worked hard to design a curriculum which carefully links educational theory and practice. The curriculum is sequenced well to develop the knowledge and skills that trainees need. Leaders have a clear vision that is informed by up-to-date and credible research. Across all subjects and phases, they have made sure the curriculum offers trainees a well-considered balance of subject knowledge and pedagogical approaches. Each week, training starts with generic professional studies which are then purposefully and coherently linked to the phase or subject-specific context.

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better?

Course leaders are equally ambitious in making sure that school-based mentoring is strong. High-quality guidance and training for mentors underpin leaders’ successful work. School leaders recognise and value this. Mentors too appreciate the support they receive, commenting that it is a privilege to be chosen to mentor trainees at their school. All of this means that school-based mentoring focuses effectively on helping trainees put their knowledge into practice. This is consistent across both phases and all subjects.

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better?

The primary ITE programme develops trainees’ knowledge of early reading, including the use of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP). Trainees are shown how to use the key principles of SSP. They build on this through school-based tasks. Leaders evaluate curriculum content carefully. They are taking steps to strengthen the approach to the teaching of early reading, including increasing the amount of time that the centrally delivered curriculum dedicates to this.

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better?

Leaders make fostering high-quality professional relationships a top priority. This is clear in the way they work in partnership with trainees’ school placement settings. Regular and purposeful communication, with both trainees and school leaders and mentors, means that everyone can share their views and experiences. This creates a high level of trust which enables all parties to provide detailed and honest feedback to each other. Leaders identify trainers, trainees and mentors who need additional support or guidance and act effectively to secure swift improvement. For example, trainees complete subject knowledge audits at regular intervals which are reviewed periodically by subject leads. This information is used effectively to inform the delivery of subject sessions. For example, when needed, these sessions provide time to go over again any subject matter that trainees need to revisit.

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better?

Quality assurance systems are rigorous at all levels. For example, leaders regularly check the helpfulness of feedback trainees receive from the mentoring programme. Leaders also check the quality of the training and are quick to make changes if sessions do not meet their high expectations.

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better?

Course leaders assess the provision thoroughly to ensure it is compliant with all the requirements. Leaders anchor curriculum content to the core content framework (CCF) and have carefully woven its key principles into what trainees learn. This is particularly explicit in the professional studies modules, where leaders are exceptionally precise in their expectations for how the entitlement of the CCF should be delivered, practised and reinforced. However, in a few instances, leaders’ expectations are not as explicit and well embedded in the subject-specific elements of the course. For example, there are occasions where the delivery of subject-specific sessions does not draw out as precisely how the principles of the CCF can apply to adaptive teaching in that subject. At times, this dilutes the clarity of messages that trainees receive.

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better?

Course leaders maintain strong recruitment processes. They are committed to recruiting a high calibre of trainees to serve their partner and local schools. Assessment of trainees is well thought out across the year. All stakeholders are clear about their role in the assessment process.

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

◼ The ITE curriculum overview covers the full entitlement described in the CCF. However, in a few instances, the way in which leaders have coherently and precisely exemplified how the CCF applies to the teaching of a subject is not fully embedded. This means that in a few subjects, trainees are not taught with precision how to contextualise generic principles such as those related to adaptive teaching. Leaders need to ensure that subject-specific training supports trainees fully in the application of all generic teaching principles.

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comply with the ITE compliance criteria?

◼ The provider meets the DfE statutory compliance criteria.

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ITE provider details

Unique reference number 70366 Inspection number 10278809

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ITE provider details

This inspection was carried out in accordance with the ‘Initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook’.

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ITE provider details

This framework and handbook sets out the statutory basis and framework for initial teacher education (ITE) inspections in England from September 2020.

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ITE provider details

Type of ITE provider School-centred initial teacher training Phases provided Primary and secondary combined Date of previous inspection 23 April to 5 November 2018

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Inspection team

Aliki Constantopoulou, Lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Annabel Davies His Majesty’s Inspector Kate Fallan Ofsted Inspector Kate O’Shaughnessy Ofsted Inspector

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Annex: schools

Inspectors visited the following schools as part of this inspection:

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Name URN ITE phases

Riverside School 142133 Secondary Sydney Russell Secondary School 141683 Secondary Sydney Russell Primary School 141683 Primary Robert Clack Primary School 101245 Primary Robert Clack Secondary School 101245 Secondary St Helen’s Primary School 141925 Primary St Angela’s Ursuline School 102786 Secondary Greatfields School 142908 Secondary Newham Collegiate 6th Form 144511 Secondary Eastbury Primary School 142699 Primary Scotts Primary School 102316 Primary guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Name URN ITE phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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Name URN ITE phases

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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