Manchester Jewish School for Special Education

Inspection of Manchester Jewish School for Special Education Manchester Jewish Community Centre, Bury Old Road, Manchester M7 4QY

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly school where pupils feel happy and safe. Pupils settle into the routines of school life well when they join the school. They appreciate how staff listen to them and respond to their needs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers a broad curriculum. Pupils enjoy small-group, and sometimes one- to-one, teaching in a nurturing environment. Staff use the information in each pupil’s education, health and care (EHC) plan to match learning to pupils’ individual needs. There are high expectations for all pupils. All staff want pupils to achieve as much as they can. Pupils are proud of what they achieve.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Throughout the school, there is a calm and harmonious environment. Pupils nearly always behave well. When they do not, staff understand that this is because they are trying to communicate their feelings. Over time, pupils develop their confidence and learn to manage their emotions. They learn to interact with their peers effectively and engage in learning willingly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff in the school share the goal of ensuring that pupils are ready to take advantage of the opportunities that await them once they leave the school. Pupils develop their independence and prepare for adulthood well. They enjoy cooking, arts and crafts and swimming. Post-16 students enjoy work experience in the community.

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better?

Pupils who attend the school all have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has designed a broad and varied curriculum. It includes opportunities to pursue vocational awards and recognised qualifications. The school creates individual plans and programmes for each pupil to ensure that they achieve the best possible outcomes from their starting points.

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better?

Teachers make sure that the things pupils learn build on the things they already know. They tailor activities to get pupils hooked on their learning. In lessons, they regularly check what pupils know. Teachers are quick to pick up on, and address, any gaps or misunderstandings that pupils may have in their learning. This helps pupils to make strong progress.

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better?

Typically, pupils who join the school are at the early stages of learning to read or have significant gaps in their reading knowledge. A suitable phonics programme is in place. This helps pupils to develop their knowledge of sounds and early reading skills. Well-trained staff support those pupils who need specialist phonics support. Pupils are given reading books that are matched precisely to the sounds that they have learned. This helps them to become more confident and fluent readers.

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better?

The school has identified the need to develop a reading culture in the school, but this is at an early stage. Leaders have started work on this. They have developed 6 to 8 February 2024 the library area and launched whole-school reading events. However, opportunities for pupils to read for pleasure are not consistently championed across the curriculum. This means that some pupils do not read widely or access a range of books often enough.

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better?

The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND quickly and accurately. There are prompt assessments of pupils’ specific additional needs. Each pupil has a personalised plan, which details the strategies and resources that they need to help them learn successfully. Staff skilfully adapt lessons, and other activities, in response to pupils’ SEND.

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better?

Behaviour that disrupts learning does not often happen. Pupils feel that staff understand their needs and respect them. The school has recently set out the language, communication, social and emotional strategies that it wants staff to use to best engage pupils in learning. It has provided training on these approaches. This helps staff to spot swiftly when a pupil is struggling to regulate their behaviour or having difficulty communicating. However, not all staff are using these methods consistently well. As a result, some pupils, at times, can remain unsettled and can struggle to return to learning promptly.

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better?

The school places great importance on pupils’ personal development. There are a range of carefully planned opportunities that help to develop pupils’ independence, confidence and resilience. For example, pupils enjoy circus skills workshops, outdoor learning and adapted rounders. There is a well-organised programme of personal, social and health education (PSHE). Pupils learn about themselves and the world around them. This includes learning about how to stay healthy and safe. The school’s teaching of relationships and sex education complies with statutory guidance.

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better?

Careers education begins by staff identifying pupils’ strengths and the types of careers that they would like to pursue. Staff support pupils to map out the pathway they need to follow to work towards their chosen career. This process is supported by an external careers adviser. Students in the post-16 provision develop skills that prepare them for adult life. For example, they learn how to travel safely when using public transport and how to manage money. These planned experiences build pupils’ interests and their self-esteem and prepare them well for their next steps.

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better?

Staff enjoy working at the school. They say they feel supported by leaders. They value the training that they have received to carry out their roles well.

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better?

The proprietor brings a wealth of relevant expertise and experience to support the school well. They have robust systems to check the effectiveness of different aspects of the school’s work. The proprietor, together with leaders, makes sure that the school consistently meets the independent school standards (‘the standards’). They ensure that the school fulfils the statutory requirements of the early years foundation stage.

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better?

The school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. 6 to 8 February 2024 The school does not have a website. Leaders ensure that copies of all policies, including the safeguarding policy, are made available to parents on request.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The school has not encouraged pupils to read for pleasure sufficiently well. Consequently, some pupils do not read widely, often or for pleasure. This hinders their learning across the curriculum. The school should make sure that staff routinely encourage pupils to read a rich variety of texts, authors and genres.  A few staff do not support pupils’ individual social and emotional needs in the classroom confidently or consistently well. This means that some pupils, at times, struggle to regulate their emotions and behaviour. The school should help staff to apply the school’s policy effectively so that pupils are helped to manage their behaviour.

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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. 6 to 8 February 2024

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School details

Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

School category Independent special school

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School details

Date of previous inspection 20 to 22 November 2018 6 to 8 February 2024

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Information about this school

 The school’s previous standard inspection was 20 to 22 November 2018.  The school is located at Manchester Jewish Community Centre, Bury Old Road, Manchester M7 4QY.  The school is a Jewish faith school.  The Manchester Jewish School for Special Education is housed in a Jewish community centre in north Manchester. It was proposed as part of the material change inspection that took place in July 2020 that a second site was to be opened close to the school at the local cricket club. However, the proprietor no longer makes use of these premises.  All pupils have an EHC plan. Most pupils have moderate learning difficulties, and some have more complex needs.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school has a small governing body.  Pupils attend for four and a half days a week. The school day is shorter on a Friday for religious observance.  At the time of the inspection, there were no children in the early years provision

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Information about this school

at the school. Therefore, no judgement has been formed for the early years. However, the inspector considered the early years curriculum and welfare requirements through her inspection activities.  The school is registered to admit up to 40 pupils.  A very small number of sixth-form students were on the school roll at the time of the inspection. Consequently, no judgement for the sixth form has been made. However, the inspector considered the education and welfare of these students when judging other aspects of the school.

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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

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 6 to 8 February 2024  The inspector carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and PSHE. She talked to leaders and staff about the curriculums in these subjects and also talked to pupils about what they knew and remembered. She looked at pupils’ work and visited lessons. The inspector also evaluated the curriculums in other subjects and reviewed case studies of pupils in this small setting.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector reviewed the school’s policies and documentation related to pupils’ welfare and their education. She talked with staff and pupils about pupils’ personal development and pupils’ behaviour and attitudes. She observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.  The inspector checked the school’s compliance with the standards. As part of these checks, she made a tour of the school’s premises, accompanied by a school leader.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, as well as to Ofsted’s online pupil and staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Kate Bowker, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 6 to 8 February 2024 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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