Tunmarsh School

Inspection of Tunmarsh School The Tunmarsh Centre, Tunmarsh Lane, Plaistow, London E13 9NB

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good 14 and 15 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a nurturing school, where pupils feel safe. Positive working relationships between staff and pupils develop quickly when pupils join the school. Staff identify support for each pupil, tailored to their needs. Pupils said that the staff team ‘have superpowers’ because staff seem to know when pupils may need support or help, even before any issues arise. Behaviour inside and outside the classroom is mostly calm. Many pupils successfully return to continuing their academic education in their mainstream school or in a new school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school encourages pupils to develop ‘habits for life’: kindness, resilience and confidence. Personalised sessions with trained staff, opportunities to take part in performances and sporting competitions, and volunteering at a local soup kitchen all support pupils’ personal, social and emotional development strongly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with wider experiences outside subject lessons, including raft building, visits to places of worship and outings to the theatre. The student council suggests ideas to raise money for charity and arranges the collection of donations to help the victims of global disasters.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers spoke positively about the school and the education their children receive. Typically, they expressed appreciation for the work of the school.

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better?

The school has high ambitions for all pupils. The school’s curriculum has been carefully designed to enable pupils to progress back to mainstream school or move on to attend specialist provision. The curriculum and subjects offered enable pupils at the school until the end of Year 11 to prepare for their future steps in training or education.

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better?

Typically, subject curriculums are well ordered so that pupils build on their prior knowledge. This is because the school has thought about the key knowledge and skills that pupils need to learn and remember in these subjects. However, some curriculum thinking is not as well thought through. The detail of what content pupils need to learn and remember over time is not specified as clearly. Teaching is less clear what pupils need to be taught, and checks carried out to measure what pupils know and can do in these subjects are not as effective.

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better?

When pupils join the school, leaders ensure that pupils’ reading confidence and fluency are checked. In both the primary and secondary phases, where gaps are identified, pupils receive support through the school’s systematic approach to teaching phonics. Pupils are given books that are matched closely to their phonics knowledge. The teaching of reading beyond phonics is also prioritised to ensure that pupils can read fluently and understand what they have read. 14 and 15 March 2024

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The school ensures that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from all that the school has to offer. Leaders work well with other professionals to ensure that the right provisions are in place for the individual needs of pupils with SEND.

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The school has ensured that all staff have had the necessary training to understand and manage the behaviour needs of pupils. Staff said they value this training and that this has had a positive impact on their well-being. Staff are quick to resolve behaviour incidents and provide pupils with strategies to deal with their emotions and address any frustrations themselves in the future.

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The school’s carefully planned and sequenced personal, social and health education curriculum helps pupils to develop their understanding of how to keep mentally and physically healthy. Pupils are taught about the dangers of substance misuse and the importance of personal hygiene. They are taught about healthy relationships and, more widely, the consequences of making poor choices.

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The school encourages pupils to think carefully about their next steps in education, training or employment. It introduces pupils to a range of opportunities and qualifications, including motor-vehicle maintenance and construction skills. Pupils are provided with impartial advice and guidance and have the chance to learn and practise skills needed for interviews.

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The school works with pupils, parents and the local authority to improve pupils’ attendance rates. The school knows the barriers that hamper pupils’ regular attendance. Leaders have improved their tracking of pupils’ attendance so that they can act swiftly whenever attendance rates become a concern. There has been some impact already, and for a number of pupils their attendance at school has improved over time.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some curriculum thinking does not detail precisely the subject content that pupils should learn or the order in which it should be taught. Gaps in pupils’ knowledge are not checked and identified as effectively in those subjects as in others. The school should ensure that curriculum thinking across all curriculum subjects specifies what pupils should learn, know and be able to do so that pupils build up knowledge or skills cumulatively and progressively. 14 and 15 March 2024

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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.

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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). 14 and 15 March 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school operates on two sites in Newham. Pupils in Years 1 to 6 attend the Phoenix provision at Storey Centre, London E16 2LS. Pupils in Years 7 to 11 attend the site in Tunmarsh Lane, London E13 9NB.  Pupils are referred by the local authority or mainstream schools for short- or longer- term placements.  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

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point in time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 14 and 15 March 2024

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 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.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and creative arts. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders to discuss the curriculum, had discussions with staff and pupils, visited lessons and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also considered the curriculum in other subjects as part of this inspection.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record of pre-employment checks; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an

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open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors met with senior leaders, teachers and the wider school team.  Inspectors met with the chair and other members of the management committee.  Inspectors also considered responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for parents, staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Kieran Bird, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Andrew Hook Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 March 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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