Grove Park School

Inspection of Grove Park School Church Road, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 1BN

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The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Inadequate Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Inadequate Sixth-form provision Inadequate Previous inspection grade Good 1 and 2 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including students in the sixth form, do not receive an acceptable standard of education. Though some curriculum development has begun, this is at a very early stage. Staff lack the skills that they need to support pupils with very complex special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils experience a series of disjointed lessons that do not build their knowledge, skills or understanding because the curriculum is not carefully designed. This means that pupils do not achieve well, and their education, health and care (EHC) plans are not taken into account sufficiently well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s expectations of pupils are low. Pupils have few opportunities to gain meaningful qualifications. The school does not support pupils well to explore pathways into future education or employment. This hampers pupils’ future choices and means they are not well prepared to make a positive and meaningful contribution to the world.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils attend school regularly. However, when in school, lessons are often disrupted and transition times around the school are, at times, disorganised. This is because pupils are not provided with clear and consistent routines. A lack of staff training and specialist knowledge means that most adults are ill-equipped to support pupils to regulate their behaviour. Many staff do not know how to provide for pupils’ sensory needs.

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

A period of turbulence in leadership and staffing instability have contributed to a significant decline in the quality of provision to adequately meet the needs of pupils. While a new whole school curriculum is in early development, this is not in place. Without clear curriculum guidance across all subject areas, it is difficult for teachers to design learning that helps build pupils’ knowledge over time. As a result, teachers often work in isolation. They lack direction and sufficient information to be clear about what pupils should learn, as well as when and how to teach subject content. In addition, the school does not have a system to check what pupils have learned. This means that staff do not know how well pupils have understood what they have been taught. Consequently, the school and staff do not know what pupils, including children in the early years and students in the sixth form, are learning or how well they are doing.

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

Children in the early years are exposed to books and stories. The school is in the process of implementing a collection of stories and texts they want pupils to access over their time in school. The school aspires to prioritise reading and it has adopted a published phonics scheme. However, the way this programme is delivered does not help pupils to become fluent, confident readers. Staff do not know how to appropriately adapt the scheme to teach phonics effectively. As a result, many pupils are not able to read. Furthermore, those pupils who would benefit from early reading activities to develop their listening and engagement skills do not receive appropriate support.

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

As pupils progress through the school and on to sixth form, there are no clearly mapped out accreditation pathways. Therefore, most pupils are not offered, and do not gain appropriate qualifications to support them to achieve their aspirations. Alongside this, 1 and 2 October 2024

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there is a lack of consideration about how to best develop pupils’ social communication and independent living skills. Careers information education advice and guidance are not provided in a coherent and organised way. This limits pupils’ future aspirations. They are not well prepared for their next steps and life in modern Britain.

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Pupils have limited opportunities to learn how to build positive and healthy friendships and keep themselves safe. The school has plans to address this weakness. Currently, there are few opportunities for pupils to experience enrichment activities, such as educational trips, visits and extra-curricular activities. The school does not promote pupils’ wider development effectively.

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Staff are eager to do their very best for pupils. However, the staff team as a whole do not have the necessary expertise and knowledge to provide pupils with the specialist support that they require. For example, there is a distinct lack of a consistent approach to support pupils to develop their functional communication or access communication aids correctly. Alongside this, many staff do not understand how to support pupils to use the sensory equipment appropriately. This results in pupils becoming heightened rather than regulated through sensory activity. Many pupils struggle to engage in lessons because too often pupils are dysregulated. Interim leaders have introduced a new behaviour policy and delivered some initial training. However, it is too early to see the impact of this new approach.

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For some staff, the many recent changes have been difficult. Some staff reported difficulty in managing their workload as new initiatives have come and gone and as they support the high number of temporary staff that are currently in school. As a result of the decline in standards, the local authority has replaced the governing body with an interim executive board (IEB). Board members have an understanding of the school and have contributed to some initial improvements. They are also aware of the urgent action that is needed to tackle the weaknesses in the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff are well trained to spot signs that a pupil may be at risk. They know how to report any worries in line with the school’s policy. While this means pupils are kept safe, the school recognises the need to instil tenacity into the culture of safeguarding. At times, some of the records that are kept related to keeping pupils safe lack sufficient detail. This prevents the school from being fully assured that vital information is not overlooked or missed.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Ongoing changes to leadership and staffing have resulted in a decline in pupils’ education. In addition, the school continues to be reliant on external support. The 1 and 2 October 2024

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school, therefore, lacks the capacity to bring about much needed change. The school should work with stakeholders, including the IEB and local authority, to ensure that leadership and staffing are stabilised and to implement a clear and sustainable plan to improve the school.  Sometimes, some safeguarding and behaviour records lack sufficient detail about the action that has been taken in response to an incident. This means that vital information could be missed. The school should make sure that all actions related to safeguarding pupils are clearly and consistently recorded.  The school’s curriculum does not meet the needs of the pupils. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school must continue to implement an appropriately designed curriculum that ensures pupils learn to read, communicate and achieve ambitious qualifications.  Pupils do not receive enough information or enrichment experiences to make informed

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choices about the next steps in their education, employment or training. This prevents them from setting aspirations for their future. The school should ensure that pupils receive appropriate guidance to support their preparation for adulthood.  Assessment strategies, including checks on pupils’ EHC plan targets, are not used methodically to understand how well pupils learn and make progress. This means that the school and staff do not have accurate information to identify and support pupils’ next steps. The school should ensure that effective processes are established so that leaders and staff gain information about pupils’ learning so that pupils achieve well.  The vast majority of staff do not have the specialist expertise or knowledge that they need to overcome pupils’ different barriers to learning. This means that pupils’ special educational needs are not consistently well met. The school should prioritise identifying

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and addressing the lack of specialist expertise. It should provide relevant training to ensure staff have the necessary skills and pedagogical knowledge to ensure that pupils learn and achieve well.  The school’s new behaviour policy and procedures are not fully in place. Additionally, consistent routines and expectations are not well established, and pupils’ sensory needs are not met effectively. Too often this disrupts learning. The school should ensure that staff are provided with the necessary training to be able to follow the school’s agreed approaches and help pupils manage their behaviour effectively. The school may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection. The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.

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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. 1 and 2 October 2024

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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). 1 and 2 October 2024

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form

Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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form

Headteacher Paul Prest (interim headteacher)

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form

Dates of previous inspection 13 and 14 March 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the school has experienced a number of changes in senior leadership, including governance and the establishment of an IEB.  Grove Park School provides specialist support for pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities, severe learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulties and autism spectrum disorder. All pupils attending the school have an EHC plan.  The school does not currently make use of alternative education provision.  The school operates across three sites.  The school does not meet 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. 1 and 2 October 2024

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024, will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 met with the interim headteacher and other members of the school leadership team. The lead inspector met with the chair of the IEB and one other member of the IEB.  The lead inspector also met with representatives from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, mathematics, art and personal, social and health education. 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 also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour around the school and in lessons. They also

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Information about this inspection

spoke to pupils in lessons and around the school.  Inspectors considered a range of documents including leaders’ evaluations of the school, their school improvement plan and minutes from IEB meetings.  Inspectors took into account the views of parents and carers through their responses to Ofsted Parent View.  Inspectors took account of the views of staff through conversations and the responses to the online staff survey.  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. 1 and 2 October 2024

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Inspection team

Jo Petch, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Emma Law Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 October 2024

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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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