Raise Rochdale Pupil Referral Service

Inspection of Rochdale Pupil Referral Service Saxon Hall Site, Samson Street, Belfield, Rochdale, Greater Manchester OL16 2XW

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 21 and 22 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers pupils a fresh start to their education. Pupils recognise the positive impact of the school’s work in supporting them to get back on track with their learning. Small classes help pupils to regain confidence in themselves and in their ability to do well. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Since the previous inspection, the school has raised its expectations for pupils’ academic and social success. Pupils are beginning to benefit from a strengthened curriculum that has been well designed in most subjects. However, these subject curriculums are not consistently delivered well. This prevents some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), from achieving as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils respond well to the positive relationships that they have with staff. From when pupils start at school, their behaviour and attitudes to learning show steady signs of improvement. However, too many pupils are regularly absent from school. This means that they miss lessons and develop gaps in their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Younger pupils relish opportunities to learn how to be active citizens in their local community, for example, through charity fundraising events and trips to the foodbank. They enjoy a range of activities, including cookery, rugby and a trip to the pantomime. However, pupils in key stages 3 and 4 do not have the same suite of well-considered activities to broaden their experiences, talents and interests.

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better?

In recent times, the school has experienced turbulence in leadership and staffing. With support from the local authority, the recent formation of the school’s management committee has brought much-needed clarity to the school’s core purpose. The school is now clear in its vision of delivering a curriculum that supports pupils to progress successfully back into mainstream education, or their next stages in employment or training.

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better?

Across subjects, the school has identified the knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which it should be taught. In the main, teachers have secure subject knowledge and, particularly in key stages 1 and 2, choose activities that meet pupils’ learning needs. However, this is not the case elsewhere. Sometimes, teachers do not choose the most appropriate activities to help pupils to learn new information. Furthermore, assessment strategies to check how well pupils are learning are underdeveloped. This means that the gaps that some pupils have in their learning widen further still. These pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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better?

Reading has high priority. The school has identified that many older pupils have gaps in their reading knowledge when they join the school. In response, it has established programmes of support to help these pupils to catch up quickly with their peers. Skilled staff support pupils to develop their phonics knowledge well. Pupils are given 21 and 22 May 2024

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reading books that match the sounds that they already know. This helps them to become confident and fluent readers. Regular activities, such as ‘drop everything and read’, are effective in fostering a culture of reading for pleasure across school.

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Many pupils, due to their previously disrupted education, have significant gaps in their learning. Despite this, the school’s systems to identify the additional needs of pupils, including those with SEND, are not systematically organised. As a result, teachers do not have the most important information that they need to adapt the delivery of the curriculum. Occasionally, this means that these pupils do not receive effective support to help them to learn as well as they should.

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Most pupils behave well and have positive attitudes towards their learning. Staff typically use calm and positive approaches to manage behaviour well. They provide effective support for pupils who find self-control difficult.

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The school has recently strengthened its strategy to identify the barriers that prevent pupils from attending school each day. It is starting to take appropriate action to address high absence rates. However, this work is in its infancy. The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent, including those on part-time timetables, remains too high. In addition, due to unsuitable premises, the school is unable to provide pupils in Year 10 with face-to-face learning on a full-time basis.

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The school has designed a personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) curriculum that teaches pupils about the important issues that they may encounter in modern Britain, such as the risks of knife crime. Pupils understand the importance of looking after their mental health. They highly value the mental-health services offered in school. However, the school has not given enough thought to wider curriculum and enrichment opportunities for pupils in key stages 3 and 4. As such, these pupils have limited opportunities to broaden their horizons beyond the classroom.

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Pupils receive independent careers advice and guidance. There is a suitable programme in place to promote further education, employment and training options. Older pupils have increasingly meaningful encounters with local employers, for example through ‘workplace safaris’ and careers fairs.

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The newly appointed management committee understands the challenges that the school has experienced and continues to face. It has overseen the beginning of the school’s improvement journey. This includes the introduction of coherent policies and procedures. However, some protocols are not consistently implemented across the three sites. This means that there is variability in how well staff and pupils understand the school’s expectations.

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Staff value the support that they receive. They said that this helps them to manage their well-being and workload effectively, so that they can fulfil their roles well. 21 and 22 May 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The school has a strong culture of vigilance and is proactive in its approach to protect pupils. However, while the arrangements for safeguarding are effective, the premises available to pupils in key stage 4 are unsuitable. The Saxon Hall site for Year 10 pupils does not have sufficient capacity to allow all pupils to attend on a full- time basis. These pupils are on part-time timetables and only attend school for half- day sessions. This means that they miss out on essential learning. Furthermore, the premises at the St Albans Hall site that accommodate pupils in Year 11 are not fit for purpose as a place of education.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The delivery of the curriculum is too variable. Some teachers do not choose appropriate learning activities to implement the intended curriculum, nor do they use effective approaches to check pupils’ understanding. This means that some pupils’ subject knowledge is not secure. The school should equip teachers to deliver the curriculum consistently well, and to check how well pupils are learning.  The approaches for identifying pupils’ additional needs and the specific barriers that they may face are underdeveloped. This includes for pupils with SEND. This means that teachers do not have the information that they need to make suitable adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum, which hinders pupils’ achievement. The school should ensure that information about pupils' additional needs is shared with staff and that staff are suitably trained to adapt the delivery of the curriculum so that pupils learn as well as they should.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils’ levels of attendance are not high enough. Persistent absence is too high. This means that some pupils, including those on part-time timetables, miss essential learning. The school should improve its work in ensuring that pupils attend school regularly and on time.  Pupils in key stages 3 and 4 do not benefit from a wide range of experiences to enhance their curriculum knowledge or nurture their talents and interests. This means that these pupils have limited experiences beyond the classroom. The school should map out wider development opportunities, including those to enhance the curriculum, to support pupils’ talents and interests and their personal development.  The school does not consistently apply its policies and procedures across the three separate sites. Consequently, staff and pupils do not always understand the school’s expectations and some procedures are not followed effectively. The

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

school should ensure that all stakeholders have clarity around shared policies and procedures and how these should be implemented.  The school premises for key stage 4 pupils are not fit for purpose. This means that some pupils miss out on their entitlement to full-time education, as they 21 and 22 May 2024

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cannot attend as often as they should. Other pupils experience poor-quality premises that are unsuitable as a place of learning. The management committee must ensure that suitable premises are arranged urgently so that all pupils can attend school full-time and in a suitable learning environment.

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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). 21 and 22 May 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 11 and 12 July 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 All pupils attending the school have been permanently excluded from their mainstream schools. The school admits pupils throughout the year.  The school operates from three separate sites. The Saxon Hall site at Samson Street, Belfield, Rochdale OL16 2XW accommodates Year 10 pupils. The Darnhill Centre at Sutherland Road, Heywood OL10 3PY accommodates pupils in key stages 1 to 3. The St Albans House site at Drake Street, Rochdale OL16 1UQ accommodates Year 11 pupils. Inspectors visited all three sites during this inspection.  A new headteacher was appointed in September 2022. At the time of this inspection, there was an acting headteacher who took up post in March 2024.  Recently, there have been a number of changes to the membership of the management committee. This includes the appointment of a new chair.  The school uses nine unregistered alternative providers for a small number of pupils, predominantly in Years 9 and 10.

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Information about this 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. 21 and 22 May 2024

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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.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, other school leaders and staff. Inspectors also met with members of the management committee, including the chair, and a representative of the local authority. An inspector spoke with representatives of some alternative providers.  Inspectors spoke with pupils about their experiences of school and their views on behaviour and bullying. Inspectors also observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and at breaktimes.  Inspectors reviewed a wide range of evidence, including leaders’ self-evaluation documents, improvement plans, minutes of committee meetings and records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance.  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 carried out deep dives in English, including early reading, mathematics, science and PSHE. For each deep dive, they discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers and with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors spoke with leaders about the curriculum in some other subjects.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments, and the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for pupils and for staff.

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Inspection team

Kate Bowker, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Pippa Jackson Maitland His Majesty's Inspector 21 and 22 May 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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