Summit School

Inspection of Summit School Cygnet Joyce Parker Hospital, 2 Lansdown Street, Coventry CV2 4BF

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Care, hope and understanding surround the pupils at Summit School. ‘Learning to be all that you can be’ is more than a vision statement; staff see it instead as a call to action to change the lives of each young person in their care. From often very difficult and traumatic lives, Summit empowers a sense of ambition and belief for pupils who attend.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils often arrive at Summit with negative school experiences or significant trauma in their lives. Most arrive feeling that school is not something for them, or they feel let down by previous experiences or relationships. Summit works closely with parents, carers and pupils to overcome the barriers caused by a difficult growing-up journey.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s partnership with the clinical and care staff develops a strong understanding of the pupils’ mental health needs and the support they need for learning. Pupils are positive about the support and care they receive. Consequently, there is often a calm, purposeful, and productive environment.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Lessons and therapy help pupils to regulate their feelings and manage their own emotions. Well-planned and considered visits to local parks or places of interest help to restore pupils’ relationships with the world around them and inspire awe and wonder.

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better?

Since the last inspection, several changes have occurred at Summit. A new academic curriculum and enhanced focus on social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) provision are improving the quality of provision at the school. Recently appointed leaders and staff have brought a renewed sense of enthusiasm and inspiration to the school.

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better?

The proprietor body highly supports the school and shares the leadership team’s ambition. There is a deep and unwavering commitment to further improvement and a strong capacity to make any changes swiftly. They have robust systems to ensure standards are regularly monitored and do not drop. They have ensured that the independent school standards are consistently met.

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better?

Pupils arrive with complex SEMH needs and often a lived reality of traumatic experiences. Many have been known to child and adult mental health services for some time, and some have had previous hospital stays. From the moment pupils start, social workers, occupational therapists, psychologists, nurses, and school staff are committed to ensuring that the pupils get back to education and learning swiftly. Parents who spoke to inspectors said that school sessions were the ‘highlight of their days’ for their children and that all staff were committed to ‘keeping their education on track’. 25 to 27 June 2024 Restoring the pupils’ ability to engage in education is a real strength. In partnership with health professionals, the school has developed intense sequences of therapy and learning to develop pupils’ mental health functioning and ability to stay emotionally regulated when learning. This means pupils quickly regain their interest

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better?

Across the school, there is a real tenacity to understand what pupils know and understand from previous schools or settings. Teachers at the Summit work hard to understand what pupils need to know next and create bespoke learning pathways for them that are implemented quickly. However, this is not always done well as well as it might be, and the broad range of assessment information teachers gather is sometimes not used as well as it could be. This means the resulting planned learning can be too difficult or too easy for the pupils.

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better?

In mathematics, English, and science, staff have developed a clear expectation of what should be taught and when. Teachers have strong subject knowledge. Subject ambassadors across the three schools constantly support teachers in what and how to adapt the curriculum for the pupils.

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better?

A colourful and well-thought-out library allows pupils to read an increasing range of books and genres or have a personal moment of calm with a carefully chosen book. When needed, staff are skilled at providing additional help for those who might need more help with phonics or early reading.

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better?

Staff work hard to incorporate pupils’ interests and hobbies into learning sequences. For example, inspectors saw teachers using pupils’ special interests, such as coding, algebra, or animal care to engage and support them. However, in some cases, learning sequences are too focused on these special interests for too long. This means there are missed opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge pupils need to succeed when they return to their schools or colleges.

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better?

Over time, pupils from the hospital attend Summit more often. Staff closely monitor pupils’ class attendance and how they engage best in learning. The resulting information helps staff construct a plan to overcome barriers to being in school more and build enjoyment in being with staff and learning. Consequently, over time, pupils restore their faith in education and empower their self-belief.

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better?

As the pupils’ time is brief at the Summit, every moment counts in preparing them for life afterwards. This means that provision for personal development is often different for different pupils. Some pupils might focus more on careers, whilst others focus more on staying safe in their local community. Consequently, pupils often learn those skills or experience those opportunities to keep themselves safe, be healthy or develop personal visions for jobs and the workplace.

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better?

Leaders ensure that the school meets the requirements of Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 and a suitable accessibility plan is in place. 25 to 27 June 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The school does not consistently prioritise the curriculum needed for pupils to be successful when transferring to long-term provision. This means pupils’ development of skills and knowledge is often too linked to areas they prefer to study and not a suitable broad understanding of the core subjects. The school needs to ensure that all pupils access a curriculum that suitably provides them with the skills and knowledge they need to be well prepared for education after the Summit.  The school has not ensured that all staff consistently use assessment data when planning the subsequent learning sequences. This means that in some cases, the work provided is too challenging or not challenging enough, making it harder for pupils to build prior on knowledge successfully. The school should ensure that all staff consistently use assessment data when planning sequences of learning to enable pupils to build on prior learning experiences.

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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. 25 to 27 June 2024

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School details

Unique reference number 148079 DfE registration number 331/6005

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School details

Inspection number 10322607 Type of school Other Independent Special School

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School details

School category Independent residential special school

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School details

Website https://www.cygnethealth.co.uk/locations /cygnet-joyce-parker-hospital/summit- school/ Email address Edwardhall@cygnethealth.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 7 to 9 July 2021 25 to 27 June 2024

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Information about this school

 Summit School is based in Cygnet Joyce Parker Hospital in Coventry. The hospital is a tier 4 CAMHS hospital that supports young people with mental health needs in psychiatric intensive care and low-secure environments.  The proprietor, Cygnet Health Care, provides a national network of services for individuals with mental health needs, autism spectrum disorder, and learning difficulties. Two other schools in the group provide similar services.  Pupils are able to continue their education at Summit School if they have been admitted to the hospital.  Pupils will have various social, emotional and mental health needs. Some may have SEND, and others have education, health and care plans.  Referrals to the school will likely come from integrated care boards nationwide.  The previous headteacher left the School earlier this year and was replaced by the current interim headteacher, while a permanent headteacher is being

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Information about this school

appointed.  Since the last inspection, the staff group has undergone considerable changes, with a number of teachers and support staff recently joining the group.

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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.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record, considered 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.  During the inspection, inspectors completed deep dives in the following subjects: English, including reading, mathematics, and science. In these subjects, they visited lessons, looked at pupils' work, and talked with pupils and staff about how these subjects were taught. Inspectors also looked at other subjects in less detail to check how they were planned and taught.  The team also evaluated the school's in-depth approach to developing mental health functioning for education. For this, they met with leaders, reviewed

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Information about this inspection

25 to 27 June 2024 systems and assessment records and observed how the curriculum was adapted based on this information.  Inspectors observed informal times to evaluate safeguarding and pupils' behaviour.  During the inspection, the inspectors had formal meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, subject teachers, the chair of the proprietorial body and pupils. They also talked informally with parents, carers, pupils and staff to gather general information about school life.  Inspectors also joined the professionals meeting with hospital staff to evaluate how information was shared between clinical, care and education staff.  Inspections also visited the hospital's own seclusion space to evaluate how this was occasionally used to support pupils at the school who were facing mental health crises.  An inspector also spoke with representatives of the proprietorial organisation.  An inspector held phone calls with parents and carers to gather their views about

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Information about this inspection

the quality of provision for their child and communication between the school and home.

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Inspection team

Chris Pollitt, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Corinne Biddell His Majesty's Inspector 25 to 27 June 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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