Rowan Education

Inspection of Rowan Education Heslam Park, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN16 2AG

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Inspection dates: 11 to 13 February 2025

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils arrive at Rowan with negative experiences from their previous education. Some pupils have previously spent prolonged periods out of school. Staff are mindful of this. They have a sensitive understanding of the barriers that pupils have faced. They take time to understand pupils and consider their specific needs. As a result, pupils develop warm and supportive relationships with staff. Pupils are valued. This helps them to feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school develops pupils’ personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education well. Pupils value the enriching activities that widen their experience and build character. The school’s aspiration to develop pupils’ academic understanding is less well embedded. In some subjects, they do not learn as well as they should.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils generally conduct themselves well due to the calm environment established by leaders. The behaviour policy is applied consistently and fairly. In most cases, pupils meet the school’s expectations. When pupils struggle to manage their behaviour, the school provides support to help them to quickly return to more positive conduct.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy being involved in making decisions about aspects of school life. For example, at the beginning of the school year, they help to devise classroom rules. Pupils are keen to take up positions of responsibility, for example by leading end of the day assemblies.

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better?

The school has a clear vision for pupils to be successful in their future lives. It has designed an ambitious and varied curriculum. This is carefully mapped out, identifying the specific knowledge and skills pupils need to develop. However, for many pupils, these high aspirations are not realised. In too many subjects, teaching does not enable pupils to build the knowledge, skills or behaviours they need. As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they should. Leaders have not made sure that the independent school standards relating to teaching are consistently met.

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better?

There are too many instances where teaching does not meet leaders’ ambitious curriculum aims. On too many occasions, the knowledge that pupils need to learn is not mapped out sufficiently well and pupils are unable to build on what they already know. At times, the tasks that pupils are set do support learning goals. On occasions, pupils are given too long to complete simple tasks or they are provided with tasks which are not sufficiently demanding. This means that pupils lose interest. They choose to disengage, and staff do not effectively address this. However, there is better practice elsewhere in the school. Pupils taught in the school’s small nurture provision receive well-considered sequences of lessons which challenge and inspire them. High expectations for pupils to focus and persevere result in pupils doing more and remembering more. 11 to 13 February 2025 The school does not evaluate the impact of its work well enough. As a result, it is

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better?

not able to pin-point those areas which require development. For example, staff are not aware that strategies to engage pupils in their learning are less effective in some areas than in others.

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better?

Most pupils join the school with gaps in their reading knowledge. The school’s reading programme supports pupils’ early reading skills. This helps pupils to read and understand a variety of texts. Leaders intend that pupils read widely and often throughout the curriculum. The school uses creative methods, such as ‘Rowan Coins’, to reward pupils’ efforts.

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better?

The school’s programme of PSHE education enables pupils to learn important content about topics such as democracy. Pupils know a lot about how to keep themselves safe, including when online and when using social media. Pupils talk well about the importance of respect for other people, regardless of their differences. In relationships and sex education, pupils develop their understanding of healthy relationships, including concepts such as consent.

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better?

Many pupils have faced considerable disruption to their education before joining the school. Over time, their attendance improves significantly. The school responds promptly to absences, taking a proactive approach. Staff conduct regular home visits when needed and collaborate with external agencies and families to prioritise pupils’ safety and well-being.

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better?

Pupils gain recognised national qualifications before moving on to post-16 destinations, such as college or apprenticeships. Leaders provide pupils with relevant careers education and advice about paths available to them. These and other experiences, such as opportunities to engage in vocational studies with an external partner, prepare pupils well for their next stage of education, employment or training.

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better?

The school maintains high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Pupils receive tailored support in how to manage their emotions. This helps them understand how they are feeling and how they can manage heightened feelings. Consequently, pupils rarely display the challenging behaviours which may have affected previous school experiences. However, teachers do not consistently expect or reinforce positive learning behaviours. Pupils demonstrate a lack of resilience. When they choose to opt out of some aspects of the curriculum, this reluctance is not challenged well enough by staff.

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better?

The proprietor ensures that key policies are in place and updated appropriately. These are available to parents and carers on the school’s website. Thorough and regular checks help to keep the premises maintained to a high standard. Routine checks on fire-fighting equipment and fire drills, and clearly signed evacuation routes, ensure that staff and pupils understand what to do in an emergency. The school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. 11 to 13 February 2025

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The implementation of the curriculum is less effective in some areas than in others. On occasions, learning activities do not enable pupils to learn well enough. Some tasks are often too easy. This has a negative impact on pupils’ achievement and motivation to learn. The school should ensure that their well- sequenced and ambitious curriculum is implemented well for all pupils.  The school does not identify weaknesses in the quality of teaching well enough. This means that weaknesses persist and pupils’ progression through parts of the curriculum is hampered. The school should check the implementation of the curriculum more thoroughly and address any weaknesses so that pupils learn well across all areas.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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. 11 to 13 February 2025

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School details

Unique reference number 149592 DfE registration number 813/6015

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School details

Inspection number 10321508 Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £43,875 to £61,425

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School details

Email address hhockaday.rowaneducation@gmail.com

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected 11 to 13 February 2025

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Information about this school

 The proprietor caters for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This includes pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs, autism, cognitive learning needs, speech, language and communication needs, and moderate learning difficulty.  The school operates from a single site at Heslam Park, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN16 2AG.  The school does not have any religious character.  The school uses the services of one registered alternative provider.  The school’s previous inspection was a pre-registration inspection in March 2023. A material change inspection took place in November 2023. This was to consider a request from the proprietor body to increase the maximum permitted number of pupils on the school roll from 15 to 25 pupils.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent 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.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the proprietor, who is also the headteacher, and with the business manager, staff and pupils. The lead inspector met with the interim chair of the governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and PSHE. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.

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Information about this inspection

 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.  Inspectors considered a wide range of evidence to check compliance with the independent school standards. 11 to 13 February 2025  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey of parents’ views, Ofsted Parent View, as well as staff’s and pupils’ responses to online surveys.

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Inspection team

Marcus Newby, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector James Duncan His Majesty’s Inspector 11 to 13 February 2025

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 3 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that the teaching at the school– - 3(a) enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught; - 3(b) fosters in pupils self-motivation, the application of intellectual, physical and creative effort, interest in their work and the ability to think and learn for themselves.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34(1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school– - 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; - 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. 11 to 13 February 2025 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

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

services for looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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