Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy

Inspection report for residential special school - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 1 Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy Parkwood Hall School, Beechenlea Lane, Swanley, Kent BR8 8DR Residential provision inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this residential special school

Parkwood Hall Co-operative Academy is a residential special school providing day and residential placements for children and young people between the ages of eight and 19 years. Children have a wide range of special educational needs, including speech, language and communication needs, moderate to severe learning difficulties, and autism. Children may also have ongoing medical needs. At the time of the inspection, seven children were staying in the residential provision.

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Information about this residential special school

The inspector 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 good

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good

The residential special school provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 10 October 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report for residential special school - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Residential children make good progress through the consistent care and relationships they have with staff. The staff know the children well and have supported them to adapt and become confident in their surroundings after the recent move to a new residential area in the school grounds, following the heating breaking in the residential area in the main school building. Parents and social workers are positive about the experiences children have when they are staying in the residential provision, commenting on the progress the children have made and the support they receive to develop their skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Strong joint working with the speech and language and occupational therapy team in the school ensures consistency in communication approaches and promoting independence. Staff are skilled in communicating with children through their personalised approaches. Children are helped to make as many choices as possible throughout their stay to increase their communication skills and independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities throughout their stays. They enjoy a signing choir, dancing to favourite songs, and making cookies in addition to relaxing and choosing videos or playing in the grounds. Trips out in the community help children to increase their social and independence skills. For example, children choose their own items to buy and pay for them at the self-service tills, and these experiences are captured through photos. The school’s scout group helps children learn new skills and work towards badges. A parent expressed how proud they are that their child used sign language to make the scout promise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans and progress tracking are consistent across the residential provision and school. Personalised plans highlight areas from their education, health and care plans and how these will be supported during the school day. Parents have access to the plans to track their child’s development and add their own comments and photos. Staff are constantly supporting children to develop their skills linked to the targets, creating a portfolio of photos of children accomplishing key tasks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health and well-being are well supported. Dedicated school nurses liaise with parents, health professionals and the staff to ensure that children’s health and well-being needs are being promoted. In addition, they are available during key points of the day and support with medication in the residential provision. Children learn first aid, how to call for an ambulance and manage minor cuts and bruises. Student first aiders have a badge and keyring to show their success in learning these skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves to their next school are being well supported with the upcoming closure of the residential provision. The staff are assisting parents with identifying new schools where needed, completing comprehensive plans to ensure that transitions are as smooth as possible. Liaison with schools is strong, including Inspection report for residential special school - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 3 challenging decisions where appropriate to ensure that children move to a suitable new environment.

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

Children show that they feel safe in the residential provision. Staff have a good understanding of each child’s risks and vulnerabilities and are confident in the processes to follow should they be worried or concerned about a child’s safety or well-being.

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

Safeguarding practices in the residential provision are strong. Staff can easily access the electronic safeguarding reporting tool. The responses and monitoring of concerns among the safeguarding team are swift and comprehensive. Joint working with partner agencies is a strength and residential children benefit from the actions taken when concerns arise.

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

Staff understand that all behaviours are a form of communication. They work as a team to support children when they are becoming anxious or overwhelmed, while keeping the other children safe and calm. They use their relationships to calm children and help them work through what is upsetting them. Physical interventions are only used when necessary, and behaviour support and restraint reduction plans are clear on how to support children at these times, with a focus on managing distress in other ways. Incidents and physical interventions are recorded well. However, records are not consistently clear on the content of children’s debriefs.

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

Children are protected from avoidable risks through regular checks of the residential area. Day-to-day monitoring of the environment did not identify exposed threads on the carpet on the stairs, this was remedied during the inspection. It is recognised that the building is not to the standard it could be due to the quick move of the residential provision, and leaders are clear on how they would like to improve the building otherwise.

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

Safer recruitment practices are followed, which ensures that children are only cared for by suitably vetted adults.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have high aspirations for the children across the school. In the residential provision, staff support children to be as independent as possible. The residential lead works directly with the children and leads by example.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Two new senior members of staff have been appointed in the team to help and support the residential lead and staff through the upcoming changes and closure of the residential prevision. The staff team is committed to ensuring that the final months are positive for the children with the least disruption possible. Inspection report for residential special school - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 4 Staff mostly feel that they are well supported by senior leaders. They are regularly supported through one-to-one sessions and team meetings. They feel they have the training they need to meet the children’s needs. They feel supported to take up new roles in the school if appropriate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s progress is tracked and monitored through their personal plans. The staff talk proudly of the progress that children make, no matter how small it is. Staff comment consistently on the changes and improvements in children’s skills since moving to the new residential area in the school grounds in December. However, their in-house plans have not been updated with this new information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders continue to evaluate the quality of children’s care, support and experiences. They utilise the good-quality evaluative reports by the independent visitor to consider areas that can still be developed while the residential provision remains open. Inspection report for residential special school - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 5

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Points for improvement

 Maintain the residential environment to a safe and acceptable standard.  Ensure that debriefs with children after an incident or physical intervention are recorded as per the school’s guidance.  Update children’s plans in line with their changing and developing skills.

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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 - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 6

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Residential special school details

Social care unique reference number: 1159380

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Residential special school details

Headteacher/teacher in charge: Simon Collins

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Residential special school details

Type of school: Residential special school

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Residential special school details

Email address: Simon.Collins@parkwoodhall.co.uk

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Inspector

Jennie Christopher, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for residential special school - Parkwood Hall Co-Operative Academy 7 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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