St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College

Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 1 St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College Boothferry Road, Hessle HU13 9AR Residential provision inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential special school

This residential special school is maintained by a local authority. The school has 168 children on roll, who have a range of complex learning and physical disabilities. Most children have education, health and care plans.

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Information about this residential special school

There are 47 children, aged between seven and 19, who enjoy short breaks in the residential provision. Up to 17 children can stay in the residence at a time. Most children have one or two overnight stays per week, with some also having weekend and holiday breaks. There is flexibility for extra nights on a planned and emergency basis.

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Information about this residential special school

The head of care has been in post for 14 years. She has qualifications appropriate to her role in the residential special school.

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Information about this residential special school

The school is based in Hessle, Hull. The school and residential provision are newly built and are contained within the same building. The school has a range of facilities, including sensory rooms, a hydrotherapy pool, outside play equipment and gardens.

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Information about this residential special school

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this school.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The residential special school provides effective services that meet the requirements for good. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 2 Date of previous inspection: 29 November 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staying in the school’s residence provides children with the opportunity to form friendships and socialise with their peers. The trusting relationships children develop with staff provide them with warmth, nurture and a secure connection to adults that helps them to feel safe when staying away from home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from daily planned activities, such as sensory play, bowling and trampolining. Additionally, they have use of the school’s on-site facilities. They also attend group trips to specialist activities with children with similar needs. These experiences help to build the children’s self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise the needs of the children by ensuring that they have ample opportunities to share their views and have their personal choices respected. The children can pick what activities they do and the food they want to eat. Regular visits from a children’s rights worker further strengthen the children’s voices by providing them with impartial advocacy through children’s meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are established relationships with specialist staff, including the school nurse, a speech and language therapist and an occupational therapist. As a result, staff have continued access to expert support and advice, and specialist equipment is available to enable staff to care for children who have complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most parents recognise the progress their children make from their time in residence and speak highly about the head of care and the staff team. Parents say that staff go ‘above and beyond’. One parent said, ‘I would be lost without the staff, they have really supported us. They have helped us through so much and are patient and understanding.’ This demonstrates that children staying in residence can have positive outcomes for children’s families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The residential building remains bright and spacious, and staff continue to use the environment well to care for the children. However, this does not come without a variety of frustrations for staff and children due to improvement work needed for the new building that has not been completed. For example, certain areas of the building become too warm due to the wrong grade of glass being fitted in the roof space when the school was built. School leaders have repeatedly pushed for these shortfalls to be rectified without success. The impact on children is minimised through the love, care and attention they receive during their stay in residence.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The staff’s knowledge of children’s individual needs and preferred style of communication enables staff to provide a responsive level of care. This allows the children to feel protected and safe during their stays in residence. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 4 The school’s strong safeguarding culture is visibly promoted through a variety of ways, including information available for parents, training completed by staff and educational activities with children. During the school’s recent safeguarding week, parents received information about online safety. This coincided with the children taking part in activities relating to internet safety, healthy relationships, road safety and the community while in school. This demonstrates the school’s strong commitment to keeping children safe by keeping children and their families and carers informed of current safeguarding issues at the same time.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The designated safeguarding lead (DSL) role has been strengthened with the pending appointment of a new lead person. The head of care will stand down from the lead role to be the deputy DSL. More recently, the school has recruited a pastoral staff member for the children. Delegated responsibilities within these roles have improved the safeguarding infrastructure and response to concerns for children’s well-being. However, these changes have yet to be fully embedded.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

School leaders have completed the required safer recruitment checks for the recent staff additions to the residence team. This ensures the suitability of staff to care for vulnerable children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The use of physical interventions in residence is not common practice. A team of behaviour management trainers support the head of care to have oversight of physical interventions when they occur. However, there are delays with the staff involved in physical interventions receiving debriefs after an incident has occurred. There is also no record of how children who are held are communicated with after an incident occurs to evaluate their safety and well-being. This could lead to delays in staff receiving the guidance they need to keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

One child’s risk assessment was increased to high after an incident occurred in school time involving a ligature. The level of supervision and monitoring provided to the child in residence reduces the likelihood of a repeat incident occurring. Residence staff have yet to receive relevant training and ligature cutters have not been made available. This limits staff’s response should a similar incident occur in residence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The head of care is an inspirational leader for the team who wants the best for the children. The quality of her leadership continues to strengthen the team after a period of transition and adjustment. The head of care is highly valued by the children, staff and parents alike.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The actions outlined in the head of care’s development plan correspond to the shortfalls found during the previous inspection as well as other areas that require improvement in residence. There is a focus in the development plan on enhancing the quality of staff supervision and setting realistic targets for children. This signifies a commitment to learning from practice and feedback and will help to enhance the care and experiences for the children. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 5 Staff are positive about their roles and feel well supported by leaders and managers. A positive team culture led by an experienced head of care helps to ensure that children are well cared for. Staff are proactive in their responses to meeting children’s needs when the weather is hot. This demonstrates the team’s adaptable approach to caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive supervision that is focused on their practice and the needs of the children they care for. When staff experience difficulties in their roles, they are supported with explorative and reflective conversations. Some gaps remain in the annual appraisal of staff’s performance. However, these are being progressively carried out as the head of care continues to address previous shortfalls following the last full inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have a wide range of learning opportunities to help them maintain the skills required to meet the needs of the children. Training provided to staff is diverse and a reflection of the head of care’s creative approach to learning. For example, staff were provided a unique learning experience about safeguarding through a workshop led by actors. This helped to bring to life sensitive child protection issues to further enhance staff’s safeguarding awareness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The school’s governors have oversight of the residence through various meetings and forums where they hear about progress and learn of any issues. The school leaders provide reports and updates which enable the governors to provide support or challenge where needed in the residential provision. This is helping to drive forward positive changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor’s half-termly visits to the residential provision focus on the experiences of children and progress they are making. The visitor explores essential aspects of the children’s care and the leadership and management of the residence. This includes the head of care’s oversight of incidents and physical interventions. This helps senior leaders and governors to be assured that progress is being made to develop the services provided in residence. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 6

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special schools

The school does not meet the following national minimum standards for residential special schools:

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special schools

 All children and staff are given an opportunity to discuss with a relevant adult (who was not directly involved) incidents of restraint they have been involved in, witnessed, or been affected by, where possible within 24 hours. Discussions should take account of the age of the child, their capacity and cognitive ability and communication needs, and the circumstances of the restraint. (‘Residential special schools: national minimum standards’, 20.6)

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Point for improvement

 Staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of the children resident in the school. Staff are well trained and up to date with professional, legal and practice developments and the policies and legal obligations of the school. This particularly relates to the risk of ligatures. (‘Residential special schools: national minimum standards’, 26.1)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Children Act 1989 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 7

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Residential special school details

Social care unique reference number: SC056736

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Residential special school details

Headteacher/teacher in charge: Hendi Longman

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Residential special school details

Type of school: Residential special school

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Residential special school details

Email address: hendi.longman@stannes.eriding.net

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Inspectors

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector (lead) Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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