Maple Medical PRU

Inspection of a good school: Maple Medical PRU Cedar Road, Balby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN4 9HT

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Outcome

Maple Medical PRU continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel valued, understood and cared for. They say that they ‘fit’ here. As a result, they attend well, feel safe, read well and are successful in their learning. Pupils and families are overwhelmingly positive about the difference that the staff and education at the school make to them. Pupils’ behaviour and the respect pupils and adults show one another are strengths.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school does everything possible to engage pupils in school life and education when they join the school. Many pupils previously have not been attending school regularly or at all. Staff work closely with families, with good success, to ensure that pupils are in school as frequently as possible.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The education in the hospital school is rooted in establishing good relationships so that children and their families are comfortable and receptive to the learning that is on offer. Books, story time and reading across subjects feature highly. The school provides routine and normality for children when they are ill.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Some pupils are at the school for short periods of time. Some complete the rest of their education here. This school is improving the curriculum to meet the demands of the changes in school provision and the needs of pupils, however long they may be part of the Maple family.

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

Maple Medical PRU is a good place to be. Classrooms and corridors reflect the school’s ambition that kind, calm, positive relationships form strong foundations for learning. Each moment of the day is a learning moment, whether this is in a lesson, a lunchtime activity or during breaktime when pupils make their own snacks and socialise comfortably with adults and other pupils. School is calm and purposeful throughout the day. 6 and 7 February 2024

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Leaders at all levels, including those responsible for governance (the management committee), have thought carefully about the people they want pupils to grow up to be. They make sure that pupils are as well prepared for life outside Maple as possible.

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The staff team has been working together to determine ambition in the curriculum for all pupils. Staff in the ‘Nurture’ provision have set out what they want pupils to learn and remember over a four-year-rolling programme. They have made connections to the national curriculum as well as making sure that the needs and stages of individuals are met. They have taken pupils’ education and health care (EHC) plans into account.

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Work in reading has been prioritised. Welcoming reading areas and displays are commonplace across school. Phonics lessons and individual reading sessions are a very positive part of the day. Pupils who have completed the phonics programme continue to develop their reading with a fluency project. Pupils cannot wait to read their text to anyone who will listen. They read with expression and close attention to punctuation.

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In subjects such as mathematics and science, there is high aspiration for pupils to achieve their potential. In some subjects, the curriculum coverage and content rely on the expertise of individual staff rather than being defined in the curriculum. This means the way that pupils build on, and broaden, their knowledge varies across subjects and phases. Teachers have a secure knowledge of the subjects they teach. They use resources and adaptations well to support learning, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Clear systems are in place to check what pupils have learned and remembered. There are plenty of opportunities for pupils in ‘Nurture’ to revisit and practise learning.

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Improving careers education has been a school priority. The school works with employers, such as the Department of Work and Pensions, to look at current jobs and those that may be available in the future. Pupils learn about connections between income, budgeting and lifestyles.

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Senior leaders want to better define curriculum leadership. Currently, there are teachers with expertise in subject areas, but there is no specific leadership of subjects. This is potentially inhibiting some improvements in the curriculum. Good practice is not routinely widely shared.

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Staff feel valued and that their workload is considered. They feel consulted about changes and informed about why these may be made.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 6 and 7 February 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leadership at all levels to support curriculum improvement is not clearly defined. Work to improve aspects of the quality of education can sometimes occur in isolation. The subject expertise of staff is not, therefore, capitalised on. This lack of oversight means that less breath in the curriculum for some pupils has not been addressed. Leaders should work together to understand everyone’s role in fulfilling the vision to ensure that the curriculum offer for all pupils is the very best it can be.  Some aspects of the curriculum are still in development, in response to changes in the provision and in leaders’ vision. While leaders have defined key concepts pupils will learn over a period of time, they have not set out the detail in some subjects that pupils will cover and practise as they progress through school. There is sometimes inconsistency in the ambition for pupils in broadening their learning. The school should

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

continue its work to refine the sequencing detail in the curriculum so that all pupils achieve well across a broad and balanced curriculum.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2015.

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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. 6 and 7 February 2024

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 6 and 7 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school caters for pupils who have: medical needs; mental ill health; and/or autism. Most pupils have an education, health and care plan.  The school has two sites: the main site at Cedar Road and the hospital school at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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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

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 6 and 7 February 2024

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher and members of the senior leadership team. Meetings were held with teachers about the curriculum, safeguarding leaders and leaders for behaviour, attendance, personal development and careers. The lead inspector met with members of the management committee.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and science. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also looked at wider subjects and discussed the curriculum as a whole.  The lead inspector visited the hospital school at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took into account the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding and puts pupils’ interests, and their specific needs, first.  Inspectors considered a range of school documents, including the school self- evaluation plan and the school improvement plan.  Inspectors met with staff to seek their views. They took into account the views of parents through Ofsted Parent View. They spoke to staff and took into account responses to the online Ofsted staff survey.

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Inspection team

Kate Rowley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Angela Spencer-Brooke Ofsted Inspector 6 and 7 February 2024

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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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