The Fountain School

Inspection of The Fountain School 109 - 111 New Cross Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire, Bradford BD5 8BP

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

The Fountain School is a warm and welcoming school. Pupils are proud to attend. They recognise that the care and support they receive from their teachers helps them to be the best they can be. The relationships pupils have with each other and the adults they work with underpin the family feel of the school. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive. They work in calm and orderly classrooms and focus on their learning effectively. Pupils feel happy and safe at this school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the range of lessons they participate in. The school wants pupils to achieve well. Leaders have high ambitions for and expectations of all pupils. Pupils rise to these expectations. The school has developed a curriculum which is enabling pupils to achieve well in some areas. Sometimes, the breadth of the curriculum is not as wide as it could be. Some gaps in pupils’ knowledge are not picked up on quickly in lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school thinks carefully about how to give pupils access to different educational experiences beyond the classroom. Pupils benefit from opportunities to learn about different jobs and careers, including through visits to local universities and/or careers fairs. Pupils are proud to raise money for international aid issues.

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better?

The school has developed a curriculum to enable pupils to be successful in their next stage of learning. Pupils learn through an Islamic faith-based curriculum and a range of national curriculum subjects. Leaders’ ambitions for the curriculum are clear. In some subjects, such as mathematics, the small steps of learning pupils need to complete are carefully mapped out. Pupils build and revisit their learning over time. This helps them to embed their previous learning and acquire new knowledge and skills. In some subjects, learning is not mapped as precisely and the breadth of the specific subject material being studied is more limited. Sometimes, there is too much focus on examination preparation. This narrows the curriculum offer for all pupils.

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better?

Following the previous standard inspection, the school has focused on developing language across the curriculum. Leaders have picked out the important vocabulary pupils need to know and use correctly. Pupils use this language and vocabulary in context well. This knowledge helps pupils to engage with different texts across the curriculum. Newly introduced initiatives, such as resilient reader, are helping pupils to develop a greater love of reading. Pupils recognise the importance of reading and read regularly.

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better?

Newly developed assessments are beginning to help pupils recognise their achievements. Pupils talk about their learning with increasing confidence. Currently, the school does not have any pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, pupils arrive at this school with widely differing educational experiences. Pupils have different starting points. Some have gaps in their knowledge and skills. In some subjects, these gaps are not addressed as 12 to 14 March 2024 promptly as they could be. In some subjects, the ability to shape the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils is not fully understood by the school.

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better?

Behaviour across school is positive. Pupils set a good example to each other in the way in which they behave. Respect and tolerance are ever present in classrooms, including when talking with pupils. Leaders have effective ways to track and support individual pupils when their behaviour is not well matched to the school’s high expectations. Pupils know what is expected of them. Behavioural rewards and sanctions are applied fairly.

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better?

The school focuses on developing pupils’ understanding of the wider world well. Pupils engage with representatives from the United Kingdom’s parliament. This enables pupils to have a thorough grasp of how laws are made and other aspects of British values. Pupils’ knowledge of faiths helps them to understand commonalities between different religions effectively. While pupils are tolerant and understand that you cannot discriminate, a full understanding of the protected characteristics is not as well embedded. Leaders ensure that pupils receive age-appropriate careers advice and guidance. This includes work experience. Pupils have high aspirations for their future careers, such as being a barrister or working in education. They know the skills needed to pursue these careers.

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better?

The school works with stakeholders, such as staff, parents and carers, well. Parents are happy with the offer the school provides for their children. Staff are very proud to work at the school. Leaders listen to them and consider their workload and well- being.

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better?

The school has broadened the range of professionals it works with since the previous inspection. This is beginning to enable leaders to precisely check the impact of their school improvement plans. The school has developed the training offer for staff. This now includes networking with other school leaders and the use of national professional qualifications. This has supported the school in understanding how to improve the quality of the curriculum and address some previously unmet standards.

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better?

During this inspection, the school needed to address some standards, such as those linked to the provision of information. Leaders acted to resolve these shortcomings promptly and by the end of the onsite inspection, all independent school standards had been met. The school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. The proprietor has ensured that the safeguarding policy meets the latest statutory guidance. The policy is available on the school’s website.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 12 to 14 March 2024

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 In some subjects, the curriculum is narrow. Pupils spend too much time preparing for examinations. The school must ensure there is breadth to the curriculum offer so that it gives pupils a wide secure knowledge base on which to build future learning.  The school does not address gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills consistently well. Pupils are unable to access the whole curriculum because in some subjects, they are missing key foundational knowledge and skills. The school must identify any gaps in pupils’ knowledge and enable teachers to change the curriculum to meet pupils’ needs.  Systems and procedures for quality assuring the impact of changes made by the school and compliance with the standards are inconsistent. Some standards are not thoroughly checked to ensure they are being met continuously. These had to be rectified during the onsite standard inspection. The school should develop processes and procedures to assure themselves that the independent school

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

standards are systematically reviewed and consistently met over time.

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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. 12 to 14 March 2024

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School details

Unique reference number 134587 DfE registration number 380/6116

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School details

Inspection number 10299197 Type of school Other independent school

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School details

Email address admin@fountainschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 to 18 February and 30 March 2022 12 to 14 March 2024

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Information about this school

 A progress monitoring inspection of the school took place on 10 January 2023. The progress monitoring inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. At the time of the progress monitoring inspection, there were unmet independent school standards.  The last school inspection took place on 15 to 18 February and 30 March 2022. This was a standard inspection carried out under section 109(1) and (2) pf the Education and Skills Act 2008. At this inspection, the school was graded inadequate for overall effectiveness.  The Fountain School is an Islamic school currently providing education for girls between the ages of 11 and 16 years.  During morning lessons, all pupils study the Islamic ‘Alimah’ curriculum. This includes Islamic religious studies and the study of Arabic and Urdu languages. In the afternoon lessons, pupils study a range of national curriculum subjects and

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Information about this school

religious education.  The school building is used across the day and at weekends as a Madrassah.  There are no pupils currently on roll with SEND.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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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

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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with those responsible for the leadership and management of the school including the headteacher and the proprietor.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, computer science and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, looked at curriculum plans, visited lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 12 to 14 March 2024  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and looked at pupils’ work in other subjects and visited lessons as part of the Islamic curriculum.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single

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Information about this inspection

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.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s policies and documentation relating to pupils’ welfare and to their education. They talked with staff and pupils about pupils’ personal development and pupils’ behaviour and attitudes. They observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.  Inspectors checked the school’s compliance with the standards. As part of these checks, an inspector toured the school’s premises, accompanied by a school leader.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, as well as Ofsted’s online surveys for staff.

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Information about this inspection

The school’s progress in meeting previously failed standards During the inspection we checked whether the school now meets the independent school standards that it was judged to have failed at its previous progress monitoring inspection on 10 January 2023.

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Information about this inspection

 The outcome of this part of the inspection is: the school now meets the previously failed standards.  At the previous monitoring inspection of The Fountain School, inspectors found that not all subjects were well sequenced. Pupils were not able to reflect on their learning to demonstrate what they know and remember. Further work was needed to ensure pupils made good progress and to foster self-motivation in pupils.  The school uses pupils’ voice more effectively to make checks on pupils’ learning and motivation. Pupils are able to recall their learning with more detail and enthusiasm. For example, pupils recall the texts they have studied with increasing clarity. In discussions about school life, pupils articulate well how they are improving their knowledge and skills over time. Work shows, in mathematics, pupils build their mathematical understanding through small well-planned steps.  During the previous monitoring inspection, inspectors found leaders had begun to

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Information about this inspection

make necessary changes to improve the quality of education in the school. However, this work was yet to bring about the necessary changes needed.  The school now identifies more effectively the impact of some of the changes actioned. Regular work between the proprietor, headteacher and the teaching team enables the school team to work together with more precision. The school actively works with a wider professional network to further quality assure itself of the changes it has made. A more rigorous offer of training for all of the teaching team enhances this further. 12 to 14 March 2024 The school now meets the following standards

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school- – 3(a) enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught; – 3(b) fosters in pupils’ self-motivation, the application of intellectual, physical and creative effort, interest in their work and the ability to think and learn for themselves; – 3(c) involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time; – 3(e) demonstrates good knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being taught.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34 (1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school- – 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; – 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently.

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Information about the progress monitoring inspection

 Inspectors scrutinised the school’s policies, curriculum plans and training records linked to previously unmet standards. This work was triangulated with evidence taken from lessons visits and from speaking with pupils.  Inspectors met with leaders and members of the proprietorial body about their oversight of previously unmet standards and the impact of the work completed to address them.

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Inspection team

Emily Stevens, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Gordon Watts Ofsted Inspector 12 to 14 March 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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