St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College

Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 1 St Anne's School and Sixth Form College Boothferry Road, Hessle, HU13 9AR Residential provision inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential special school

This residential special school is maintained by a local authority. The school has 165 children on roll, who have a range of complex learning and physical disabilities. Most children have education, health and care plans.

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Information about this residential special school

There are 47 children, aged between seven and 19, who enjoy short breaks in the residential provision. Up to 17 children can stay in the residence at a time. Most children have one or two overnight stays per week, with some also having weekend and holiday breaks. There is flexibility for extra nights on a planned and emergency basis.

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Information about this residential special school

The head of care has been in post for 17 years. She has qualifications appropriate to her role in the residential special school.

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Information about this residential special school

The school is based in Hessle, Hull. The school and residential provision are contained within the same building. The school has a range of facilities, including sensory rooms, a hydrotherapy pool, outside play equipment and gardens.

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Information about this residential special school

The inspectors only inspected the social care provision at this school.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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good

The residential special school provides effective services that meet the requirements for good. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 2 Date of previous inspection: 26 June 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The residence maintains a happy and relaxed atmosphere due to the trusting relationships between children and the adults who care for them. Established bonds with staff provide children with comfort and a sense of safety, allowing them to maximise their stays away from home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children progress at their own pace, providing focused support until children master their targets. For example, one child improved their vocabulary and use of specific words while another child adapted to a new sleep pattern and sleep position, enhancing their night-time tolerance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The speech and language therapist has an established role at the school and an insightful understanding of the children’s needs. Training and supporting staff in using various communication aids tailored to the children’s needs, helps to ensure that the children can express themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Other specialist staff, including the school nurse and an occupational therapist, ensure that staff have continued access to a broad range of expert advice to meet the children’s complex health and mobility needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents highly value the care and support for their children in residence and recognise the staff’s flexibility and the time they invest in getting to know their children. Parents commented, ‘It is very much like a home from home.’ ‘[Name of Child] has made friends, they’re more confident, and more able to do things on their own.’ The supportive relationships parents develop with staff, extends the value of the residential provision beyond the children's overnight stays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop their confidence and self-esteem through a variety of social opportunities and activities. Trips to social settings under the supervision of staff enables children to develop their tolerance and coping strategies in unfamiliar surroundings. Thoughtful consideration and planning around the children’s needs, helps to ensure that children have fun in the residence and the community. Activities and themed events organised during the summer holidays extend the broad range of experiences available to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive in supporting children to share their views and have choices. This is periodically assisted by a local project that gives children with special educational needs and/or disabilities a voice to make a positive difference to service delivery. This helps children to influence the care and support that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and children engage in meaningful conversations and enjoy mealtimes together. Staff understand the children’s social cues to promote reciprocal communication and participation for those children who do not use spoken words. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 4 School transitions are smooth and help children to be better prepared for their day ahead. The new pastoral worker has strengthened the process and ensures that children experience consistency, and that their start and end to the school day is as positive as it can be.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop their independence skills through an accredited learning programme that is woven into their routines when in residence. For example, children develop personal care skills, choose their own clothes, and learn about domestic dangers in their environment. Staff validate the children's learning through reflective conversations and where need be revisiting the task until learning has been retained. This promotes a sense of achievement for the children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children are well cared for by a staff team who understand their needs and risks. The school’s strong safeguarding culture is a testament to school leaders making safeguarding everyone’s responsibility. Regular training, effective recording systems and protocols, and learning from serious events, provides children with a safer environment in which to stay.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

A serious incident of a child being injured in residence by another child was sensitively and effectively managed by the head of care. They completed a thorough investigation into the incident and worked collaboratively with other safeguarding professionals to reach an outcome.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Medication errors are rare. When they do occur, appropriate action is taken to review practice and identify learning for staff. After one incident occurred, the procedure for taking medication out of residence to support the children’s needs was reviewed and the protocol strengthened, helping to reduce the risk of repeat incidents.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Leaders are proactive in their approach to social media and online safety. They seek external scrutiny to test out their procedures to continually develop their practices. This helped to validate their effective safeguarding practice around online safety.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The new designated safeguarding lead is fully immersed in their role and has strengthened the school’s safeguarding practices. Collaborative working with colleagues in school and external professionals ensures that relevant people are kept informed about the children’s safety and well-being. A wealth of information and training available for staff supports them in upholding their safeguarding responsibilities.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Safer recruitment checks are well managed and help to ensure that only suitable people are appointed to care for the children in residence.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff use restraint proportionately and in the best interest of keeping children safe. The school’s behaviour management team provide an extra layer of scrutiny to restraint incidents, helping to reduce the need for restraint practice in residence. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 5 Consistently seeking the children’s views is a strong part of staff’s practice. However, this is not in keeping after children are involved in a restraint incident. How staff should do this is also not embedded in the children’s plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The head of care is vastly experienced and an exceptional leader and manager. They are highly respected and valued by their peers and other professionals. The head of care leads by example and their motivational practice is helping to drive forward the residential team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Competent school leaders share the head of care’s aspiration to make a difference to the lives of children and provide the best possible care. Clarity about one another’s role enables a healthy culture of challenge to achieve the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The head of care is confidently aware of the residential provision’s strengths and areas for continuous development to ensure that children continue to receive high- quality care. Robust and meaningful monitoring supports this effective oversight. Leaders consistently seeking external scrutiny of their practice further demonstrates the learning culture at this residential provision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Thoughtful leadership has created a culture of positivity in the residential team. Staff feel very happy and valued at work. They confidently go to leaders and managers about any worries or concerns, knowing they will be listened to. The head of care has worked hard to minimise the adversity of the school’s recent challenge with funding and staffing matters.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff speak positively about their training and use it in their practice to meet the children’s needs. Reflective conversations strengthen the quality of learning. Role play and the use of scenarios brings to life the training experience and embed their learning, such as how to respond in the event of a fire.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Supportive conversations and practice related supervisions help staff to cope with the demands of the role. The structured process follows up on current themes in residence and training to strengthen staff's learning and reflection on their work experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

New staff are effectively welcomed into the team. They are supported by an induction plan that includes shadow shifts. They are given time to get to know the children in the company of more experienced workers. This greatly benefits the children as they see trusted staff welcoming new people to the home. Professional relationships with partner agencies help them to feel welcomed with open arms when they visit the school. These established relationships coordinate a multi-agency approach to care to meet the children’s diverse range of needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The residential provision is a standing item at the full governor meetings in addition to the conversations and visits that occur outside of these meetings. The residential Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 6 governor’s tenacity plays an important role in promoting the residential provision with those governors who are less familiar.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The quality of the environment has been greatly improved. Unique wall art and lovely photos of children adds warmth to the residential provision. Children can identify with their pictures on the wall. The minimal rooms are exceptionally well maintained with splashes of homeliness added where possible. The process of designing the environment demonstrates the head of care's high expectations and commitment to providing children with a lovely place to stay.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The independent visitor speaks with a variety of people and looks at a range of documents to evidence and evaluate their findings about the effectiveness of the care. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 7

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Point for improvement

 All children should be given an opportunity to discuss with a relevant adult (who was not directly involved) incidents of restraint they have been involved in, witnessed, or been affected by, where possible within 24 hours. Discussions should take account of the age of the child, their capacity and cognitive ability and communication needs, and the circumstances of the restraint. The children's plans should guide staff on the children's communication needs and how staff can best capture the children's views. ('Residential special schools: national minimum standards', page 26, paragraph 20.5)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people using the 'Social care common inspection framework'. This inspection was carried out under the Children Act 1989 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 8

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Residential special school details

Social care unique reference number: SC056736

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Residential special school details

Headteacher/teacher in charge: Hendi Longman

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Residential special school details

Type of school: Residential Special School

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Residential special school details

Email address: hendi.longman@stannes.eriding.net

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Inspectors

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Jo Birtwhistle, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential special school - St Anne's School and Sixth Form College 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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