Beacon Business Innovation Hub

Inspection of Beacon Business Innovation Hub Woodford Bridge Road, Clayhall, Ilford, Essex IG4 5LP

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

The executive principal of this school is Kathryn Burns, who is also the chief executive officer. The head of school is Kevin Howarth. This school is part of Beacon Multi-Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Dr Elizabeth Sidwell CBE. 17 and 18 April 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders, staff and members of the trust are ambitious for pupils’ futures. All pupils who leave the school at the end of Year 11 move on to further education, employment or training.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ attitudes towards their learning are positive. They are keen to listen and respond effectively to teachers’ instructions. Low-level disruption rarely occurs. If it does, staff quickly and skilfully respond, therefore pupils’ learning in class is mostly uninterrupted.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school gets to know pupils and their circumstances well. Staff and pupils develop strong working relationships that help pupils to feel safe in school. All pupils have adults here that they trust and can talk to if they are worried or upset.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ development is enriched through a range of experiences, visits and activities. Pupils have opportunities to work alongside peers from other schools within the trust through sports teams and taking part in cultural events and theatrical productions. They go on visits that provide insight into life in modern Britain and the world of work. Pupils plan fundraising events and raise money for charities in which they may have a personal interest.

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better?

The school has in place a curriculum that helps pupils to learn new content in a logical order and to build up their knowledge steadily over time. The curriculum is designed to cater for pupils who are on either academic or vocational pathways. It equips pupils with the skills and qualifications that they need for their future steps. The school recently changed its pupil intake to include pupils in Year 8. The school is refining curriculum thinking further to ensure that in all subjects, pupils’ knowledge and skills build cumulatively in all year groups.

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better?

When pupils join the school, teachers check what pupils already know and can do in different subjects. This enables teachers to identify any gaps and misconceptions and plan learning that will enable pupils to catch up. Teachers said these checks have had a positive impact on their workload. However, the school does not clearly identify pupils who have gaps in their phonics knowledge. Even though staff use additional lessons to support pupils’ reading skills generally, these do not routinely focus on developing pupils’ phonics knowledge for decoding and building fluency.

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better?

The school ensures that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have what they need to access their learning. Teachers put into practice the training they have received through the school and information from specialists and professionals to make adaptations to lessons, resources and teaching. This enables pupils with SEND to learn alongside their peers. 17 and 18 April 2024

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The school has put in place personalised mentoring support to help pupils resolve personal challenges. Alongside mentors, pupils work on goals and develop strategies that will help them to manage their own emotions, behaviour and well-being. This mentor support is newly introduced and therefore it is too soon to measure the impact of this.

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Pupils are encouraged to think about the implications of making poor choices, in relation to their health, relationships and actions in and outside school. Pupils are taught about the dangers of substance misuse through the school’s personal, social and health education curriculum.

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The school provides pupils with impartial careers advice and guidance, which helps pupils to think and make decisions about their next steps. The academic curriculum and personal development programme provide pupils with opportunities to gain experience of different vocations, such as finance, catering, and health and social care.

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Leaders make a point of getting to understand the barriers that may have impeded pupils’ attendance in the past. Leaders monitor the regularity of pupils’ attendance and intervene if attendance rates fall. Typically, as a result of the school’s work, pupils’ attendance and consequentially their engagement in learning improves here.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Support with early reading for pupils who join the school with significant weaknesses in reading and gaps in their phonics knowledge is not tailored specifically enough to the phonics they know and the gaps in their phonics knowledge. This limits the impact of this work in helping weaker readers to build reading fluency and confidence. The school should ensure that support for weaker readers is sharply focused on building pupils’ phonics knowledge so that they catch up quickly and develop fluency in reading.

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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. 17 and 18 April 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). 17 and 18 April 2024

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School details

Principal Kathryn Burns (Executive Principal) Kevin Howarth (Head of School) Website www.bbih.org

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 10 and 11 December 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This school provides full-time placements for pupils in Years 8 to 11 who typically have experienced disruption to their previous schooling.  The head of school has been in post since September 2023.  The school also provides short-term assessment placements for pupils in Years 8 to 11 for up to six weeks.  This school shares a campus with Beal High School.  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.  The school makes use of two alternative providers.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 17 and 18 April 2024

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 Inspections are a point in time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  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: early reading, English, mathematics and physical education. 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,

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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 met with senior leaders, teachers and the wider school team.  Inspectors met with the chair of the trust and other trustees.  Inspectors met with the vice-chair of the governing body.  They also considered responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for parents and carers, staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Kieran Bird, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Emma Watford Ofsted Inspector 17 and 18 April 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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