Shepwell Short Stay School (PRU-Medical)

Inspection of a good school: Shepwell Short Stay School (PRU-Medical) Bilston Lane, Willenhall, West Midlands WV13 2QJ

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Outcome

Shepwell Short Stay School (PRU-Medical) continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

At Shepwell Short Stay School, pupils’ lives are changed for the better. Many arrive with little self-belief and little trust in schools, education or people. Some join with a chequered school attendance history, often due to social, emotional, medical or health needs. Whatever the reason, they leave as caring, respectful, and inspirational young people who are proud to be part of their local community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Whether at the school site, the alternative provision, or through the hospital and home tuition, ambition and staff expectations of what pupils should achieve are high. Pupils thrive on this expectation. Many pupils achieve well and successfully take their next steps in education, employment or training.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Care, belief, and a strong focus on mental well-being underpin relationships between staff and pupils. Staff work hard to understand the pupils’ needs and provide the support they need. Consequently, when pupils need help, they get it quickly. This means that pupils’ behaviour is always positive and industrious.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Work experience, trips, and inspirational visitors enrich pupils’ lives. The library minibus, garden and outdoor gym bring excitement to everyday learning. Careers education, courses at technical colleges, or working in the school’s pop-up shop, help pupils understand what they want to achieve when they leave Shepwell.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils arrive at Shepwell for many different reasons. As soon as pupils start at the school, staff work hard to understand their additional needs, including special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Partnerships with families and services, such as educational psychology, help staff to understand what will best help pupils and meet their needs.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Personal belief and positive mental health are the absolute priorities. Emotion coaching and relationship training inspire pupils to develop a sense of trust and belief in 9 and 10 July 2024

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themselves. One parent, whose views reflect many others, told inspectors that her child ‘has come along in her confidence so much and has been enabled to discover not only her talents but herself too’.

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Across all subjects, the school has planned precisely what needs to be learned and when. This is particularly strong in the home and hospital tuition service, where highly skilled staff work with other schools to plan sequences of learning, meaning pupils keep up with their learning when away from their own schools.

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Learning is exciting, and knowledgeable staff find creative ways to inspire pupils’ thirst for knowledge. Whether pupils are learning or performing a Shakespeare play or discussing social issues such as knife crime, violence, or gang culture, pupils are interested and enthusiastic. Most pupils get the most from the lessons because learning precisely builds on what they already know or can understand. However, a few pupils often find accessing the learning too hard because the learning is not always adapted well enough to their cognitive or learning needs.

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The school has made reading a priority. Some pupils join the school with little interest in reading. Others arrive lacking confidence in their own reading ability. Staff are skilled in spotting where the pupils might need more help with reading and act quickly to provide support. Teachers are also skilled at teaching reading and phonics. A reading book vending machine and books to meet pupils’ specific interests enthuse a belief that reading can be enjoyable and rewarding.

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Recently, the school has welcomed many new pupils who have previously not attended school enough. Leaders act quickly and work closely with the families to understand what is stopping pupils from attending well. Consequently, over time, the attendance of many pupils has started to improve.

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The school has worked hard to understand what being a pupil growing up in Walsall is like. They know that young people face many risks and challenges outside school, such as county lines, gang culture or criminal exploitation. Staff, parents and carers, and pupils are united in their ambition that pupils will become active members of the world around them. Lessons in personal, social, health, and economic education help pupils recognise, understand and manage the risks they face so that they can stay safe.

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All pupils benefit from high-quality enrichment during their time at Shepwell. Visits to theatres, theme parks and even the Houses of Parliament develop their understanding of life beyond Walsall. Lessons in shopping, washing and cooking develop their sense of personal responsibility. Bike-ability and travel training inspire an understanding of getting about independently and safely.

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Staff are unequivocally positive about the school and the support they receive. They feel trusted to innovate, be creative in lessons, and find different ways to inspire pupils. They believe the school is well-led and managed, and inspectors would agree. 9 and 10 July 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The implementation of the curriculum is not always precisely adapted for pupils with the most complex cognition and learning needs. This makes learning more challenging for them and consequently slows the rate of progress over time. The school needs to ensure that the curriculum implementation is sufficiently adapted for all pupils and in all lessons to ensure that all pupils have the necessary prior skills, knowledge, and understanding to access the current learning.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2014.

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How can I feed back my views?

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 9 and 10 July 2024

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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). 9 and 10 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 March 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Shepwell is a provision based on one site and one outreach service. The school also operates an alternative provision called the Hive, which supports pupils of primary and secondary age with additional needs including social, emotional and mental health needs.  The school also operates a ‘pop-up’ shop at different times in the school year in a church building in Walsall town centre.  Hospital education is provided by Shepwell at Walsall Manor Hospital.  The school also runs an outreach provision that supports pupils at home until they can access education at their previous school, alternative provision, or at Shepwell itself.  There is also a service to support reintegration into mainstream schools that involves staff working alongside staff from mainstream and specialist provisions to support pupils back into their previous or into new schools.  Since the last inspection, a new headteacher was appointed in September 2022,

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Information about this school

previously acting as interim headteacher for some time.  The school uses one alternative provision, which is registered. 9 and 10 July 2024

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the school’s first routine inspection 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.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single 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.  During the inspection, inspectors completed deep dives in the following subjects: English, including reading; personal, social, health and economic education; 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

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Information about this inspection

subjects in less detail to check how they were planned and taught.  Inspectors visited all the Shepwell and tuition service sites, including hospital provision. One inspector also visited home settings to evaluate the quality of the outreach service.  One inspector also visited the school’s own ‘pop-up’ shop in Walsall town centre to evaluate its approach to careers and destination preparation.  During the inspection, inspectors had formal meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, subject teachers, teachers and pupils. They also talked with parents, carers, pupils and staff to gather general information about school life.  An inspector spoke with representatives of the local authority. A conversation was also held with a representative of the governing body.

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Inspection team

Chris Pollitt, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Gwen Onyon Ofsted Inspector 9 and 10 July 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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