Park View School

Inspection of Park View School Temple Park Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear NE34 0QA

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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 5 and 6 June 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending Park View School. They feel valued and safe. Staff have an exceptional understanding of every pupil’s needs. They nurture caring and supportive relationships with pupils. These relationships continue once pupils have left school. For example, some former pupils ask for help to fill in job application forms. One pupil echoed the view of many other pupils: ‘Teachers do not treat the job just as a job, they care and they are not teaching us for their monthly wage, but for our futures.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations for all pupils both emotionally and academically. They meticulously plan support for pupils to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to be independent and successful learners throughout school and when they leave. Pupils respond positively to the support that they receive from well- trained and knowledgeable staff. Pupils behave well in the classroom and around the school. Bullying is not tolerated by the staff or pupils themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop their confidence and resilience during their time at school. Leaders ensure pupils experience a rich and relevant curriculum that meets their needs. This includes a range of opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Pupils who attend the vocational centre regain their love of learning. They learn skills such as motor mechanics, bricklaying and welding. This prepares them for their next steps in education and employment.

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better?

Leaders create a positive learning culture where they expect all pupils to achieve. Many pupils have previously experienced disruption to their education. On joining the school, leaders consider pupils’ starting points, identifying any gaps in their knowledge. Leaders carefully plan the exact skills and knowledge that they want pupils to gain. As a result, pupils learn a broad, well-sequenced curriculum. They are keen to learn and enjoy the highly personalised work and tasks that are given to them.

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better?

Leaders promote the love of reading. They seek the views of pupils to select books that they can enjoy. Pupils enjoy reading in the new library that they have designed. Many pupils join the school unable to read with confidence and accuracy. The school has a phonics programme in place. However, staff do not follow the curriculum when they pronounce sounds or help pupils to practise spelling. Pupils’ misconceptions and errors are not identified consistently. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to read books that are matched to the sounds that they know. As a result, pupils are not learning to read with fluency and confidence as quickly as they should.

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better?

Pupils benefit from a range of well-thought-out interventions and strategies. A school therapist and social, emotional and mental health lead work with individual pupils and their families to ensure that they receive the right support at the right time. For example, all pupils have access to touch therapy sessions and writing 5 and 6 June 2024

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social stories. All pupils are supported by a highly skilled pastoral team. They ensure that pupils learn strategies to self-regulate their behaviour and to cope with any issues that affect them. As a result, pupils’ behaviour improves over time after joining the school.

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Leaders have developed a comprehensive package of support to prepare pupils for adulthood. Most pupils go on to further education, employment or training. Pupils experience a range of opportunities to learn how to keep themselves healthy. Pupils enjoy preparing and cooking balanced, nutritious meals and listening to professionals from external agencies about how to keep safe. There is a well- developed personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum. However, some teachers have not been trained to deliver the curriculum as leaders intend. This limits the subject knowledge and expertise of staff to teach the PSHE curriculum.

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Improving pupils’ attendance is a priority for leaders. They know and understand why some pupils do not attend as regularly as they should. The school has a range of bespoke strategies to help pupils and their families improve attendance. This ranges from vocational support to daily mentoring sessions with pupils each day. As a result, attendance rates are improving. There has been a significant improvement in attendance for some pupils who are persistently absent.

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Governors are kept informed of the school’s improvements through frequent meetings and monitoring. Staff say that leaders listen to them. They feel supported by leaders to look after their physical and mental well-being. Leaders support staff to prioritise their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has not ensured that staff have the expertise to teach the phonics programme with precision or address gaps in pupils’ phonics knowledge. Pupils do not read often enough. This hinders pupils’ reading development. The school should ensure that staff receive the training and development they need to teach phonics effectively.  Staff have not accessed relevant, high-quality training to teach the ambitious and well-developed PSHE curriculum. This limits their subject knowledge and expertise to maximise the learning offer for pupils. The school should ensure that all staff receive high-quality training in PSHE to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need. 5 and 6 June 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). 5 and 6 June 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.parkview-school.co.uk/

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 2 and 3 March 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Park View School is a special school for pupils aged between 11 and 16 years. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Most pupils have a primary need of social, emotional and mental health.  The school uses two unregistered alternative education providers.  The school measures itself against the Gatsby benchmarks to ensure pupils receive high-quality careers advice.

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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. 5 and 6 June 2024

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, governors, including the chair of governors, the local authority school improvement partner, curriculum leaders, teachers and support staff.  The team inspector spoke on the telephone with the headteacher from one of the unregistered alternative providers.  The lead inspector visited the school’s vocational centre, met with the head of the centre and spoke with some staff.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading and English, mathematics, art and PSHE. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors observed pupils during social times and spoke with pupils and leaders about opportunities for pupils’ personal development.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single

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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.  The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View. They also took into consideration the responses to the survey for staff.

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Inspection team

Jenny Thomas, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

John Lucas His Majesty’s Inspector 5 and 6 June 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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