George Hastwell School Special Academy

Inspection of George Hastwell School Special Academy Moor Tarn Lane, Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA14 3LW

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Sixth-form provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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The headteacher of this school is Karen Kellett. This school is part of The Fells Multi- Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Paul Slater, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Beth Curl. 5 and 6 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a strong sense of belonging at this warm and inclusive school. They feel valued members of the school community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy strong, caring relationships with adults, who know them well. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe. They benefit from the wide range of pastoral and therapeutic support that adults offer them. They trust that there is always an adult available to help them if they are worried.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school expects all pupils, all of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well. However, there are weaknesses in how well the curriculum is taught to pupils, including children in early years and students in the post-16 provision. This means that some pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school expects pupils to behave well. Staff are quick to notice when pupils experience distress. They are successful in helping pupils to manage their behaviour and their emotions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the opportunities that the school offers them to develop themselves personally and to ready themselves for adult life. For example, pupils learn to keep themselves healthy, go shopping and cook meals. These valuable activities equip them well for life outside school.

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

The school has designed an appropriate curriculum. It ensures pupils of all ages are offered a curriculum that considers their complex needs. The curriculum is designed to give pupils the knowledge and understanding to be confident learners and to achieve success. To this end, the school has thought carefully about what pupils should learn and when they should learn it.

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

Staff help pupils to remember and revisit learning through regular activities that repeat important learning. They are also adept at taking advantage of every chance to reinforce learning informally during the day.

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

The school uses a range of useful information, including education, health, and care (EHC) plans to set targets for pupils and to review how well pupils are learning. However, some staff do not use the information they have about pupils as well as they should. For example, there are inconsistencies in how well staff set and review pupils’ targets. Some teachers lack the confidence and expertise to effectively adapt their teaching to meet pupils’ needs. Overall, pupils across the school are not learning as well as they should be.

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

An important part of the school’s work is the focus on developing pupils’ communication and language skills. Staff have a thorough understanding of pupils’ individual communication needs and identify personalised communication pathways for each pupil. 5 and 6 November 2024

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Staff successfully apply a wide range of strategies across the school to help develop pupils’ ability to communicate.

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Throughout the whole school, reading is important. There is a secure understanding of where all pupils are in their reading development. Pupils enjoy learning the foundational knowledge in reading, for example, through listening and responding to sounds around school. Pupils who are ready to learn phonics develop their early reading skills well. They decode texts and read books that are closely matched to the sounds that they already know. Pupils who are increasingly confident readers have access to an appropriate range of more challenging books.

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Pupils typically behave well around school. There are thorough systems in place to analyse the behaviour of individual pupils. However, some pupils struggle to settle and do all they can to avoid learning. In these cases, it is often because the activities that pupils are being asked to do are not matched closely enough to their learning needs. Many pupils attend school regularly. The school analyses individual pupils’ absence thoroughly. The school is sensitive to the difficulties and barriers that pupils and their families face around attendance.

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Central to the work of the school is pupils’ personal development. The school offers a range of opportunities to increase pupils’ awareness and enjoyment of the world around them. Pupils enjoy regular outings and trips. They can be regularly seen around their local community, visiting the library, supermarket and travelling on public transport. Older pupils enjoy taking part in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme and residential experiences.

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The school has made significant improvements to the career, advice and guidance that is available to pupils. Pupils benefit from a comprehensive offer which includes visits to, and by, local employers. Past pupils inspire present ones when they come to talk about their next steps. Post-16 students are offered work experience and other practical opportunities. These experiences develop students’ confidence and independence.

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The trust has made sure that the school is supported while the school’s move to The Eden Academy Trust is finalised. The trust acknowledges that its capacity to support the school has not been as it should be. However, the school has welcomed the effective and substantial support from the new trust. The school has made significant improvements to the curriculum. However, it has not been sufficiently rigorous in checking how well the curriculum is being taught and that information gathered about pupils’ learning needs is used effectively.

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Staff value the support that they receive for their well-being and workload. For example, they appreciate the recent survey about their well-being. Staff are proud to work at the school and share the school’s determination to make a real difference to the lives of pupils and their families. 5 and 6 November 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some teachers do not routinely adapt their teaching, nor use the information they have available to them, well enough to meet pupils’ individual needs. Consequently, some pupils, including children in the early years and students in the post-16 provision, do not learn as well as they should. The school should ensure that teachers are confident in their target setting and have the expertise to adapt their teaching so that they meet pupils’ individual needs more effectively.  For some pupils, learning activities are not matched closely enough to their learning needs. This means that they find it difficult to settle to activities and employ behaviours to avoid engaging in their learning. The school should make sure that learning activities are closely matched to pupil’s learning needs and engage pupils.  The school, including those responsible for governance, does not have enough oversight of the quality of education provided to pupils. As a result, the curriculum is

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

not sufficiently embedded across the school. The school and those that are responsible for governance, should ensure that they have rigorous oversight of the implementation of the curriculum so that they can support staff to embed it effectively.

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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 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 November 2024

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School details

School category Academy special sponsor-led

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form

Dates of previous inspection 7 and 8 June 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 George Hastwell School became an academy, joining The Fells Multi-Academy Trust, in September 2015. However, the school is in the process of moving to The Eden Academy Trust. There are several schools in this trust, all of which specialise in provision for pupils with SEND.  The school is a special school for pupils and students with a range of SEND needs, including severe learning difficulties, profound multiple learning difficulties, and autistic spectrum disorder. All pupils have an EHC plan. 5 and 6 November 2024

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 Pupils in key stage 4 and students in post-16 are educated at a site across the road from the main school. The address of this site is GHS@Walney, Sandy Gap Lane, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria LA14 3JT. The provision is a separate and self-contained annex within Walney School.  The new headteacher took up post in September 2024.  At the time of this inspection, The Eden Academy Trust has been providing extensive support for the school. This includes support for leadership and management and curriculum development.  The school meets 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.  Leaders do not use alternative provision.

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the second routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Where appropriate, inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading and communication and language, my thinking (covering mathematics and science) and myself and my body (covering personal, social, health and economic education and physical development). For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with curriculum leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors spoke with some pupils about their learning. They also looked at the curriculum in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single

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Information about this inspection

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.  Inspectors spoke with pupils about school life.  Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher, all of whom are also designated safeguarding leads. They also spoke to 5 and 6 November 2024

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the SEND coordinator and those responsible for careers advice and guidance. An inspector also met with the member of staff responsible for the single central record.  Inspectors held discussions with staff, which focused on the well-being and safeguarding of pupils.  The lead inspector met with the chair of the local governing board and spoke to the chair of the board of trustees and the CEO of the trust.  The lead inspector also spoke with the CEO of The Eden Academy Trust. Inspectors also met with the leadership consultant from The Eden Academy Trust that has been working with the school.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including documents relating to school improvement.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. They also considered the responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff. There were no responses to Ofsted’s survey for pupils.

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Inspection team

Sue Eastwood, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Cleo Cunningham Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 November 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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