Parkview Academy

Inspection of Parkview Academy 8 Approach Road, Margate, Kent CT9 2AN

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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 Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils behave well in school. Clear and consistent routines ensure that pupils understand what staff expect of them. Pupils trust adults to help them if required. A culture of mutual respect, built on positive relationships, fosters a sense of community and calm. Everyone enjoys social times where pupils can chat respectfully about their opinions and aspirations for the future. In lessons, pupils typically pay attention to their teachers and follow instructions well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils have significant gaps in their skills and knowledge due to receiving a disrupted education in the past. The school does not support pupils effectively in addressing these gaps. These gaps include pupils’ ability to read, write and use mathematics fluently. This prevents pupils from building a secure foundation of knowledge that prepares them for further learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff show deep care for pupils’ happiness and well-being. They carefully select enriching experiences that reflect pupils’ interests, for example joining the army cadets or learning how to fish. Pupils learn to cook and manage finances. They regularly go out in the community and interact positively with new people and use public transport safely. This enables pupils to develop important life skills that prepare them for independent living.

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better?

The school has experienced considerable disruption to its leadership and staffing. Despite this, expectations have been raised, and clear systems put in place to ensure pupils are safe. The school works closely with external professionals to assure the effectiveness of safeguarding and ensure staff follow appropriate behaviour management policies. The school has implemented robust processes to ensure it meets statutory obligations relating to health and safety, as well as safeguarding. It meets its responsibilities under schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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better?

The proprietor and school leaders lack an accurate understanding of how well the school complies with aspects of independent school standards. Leaders have not established strong oversight to evaluate the curriculum’s impact. As a result, leaders are not suitably informed when forming strategic improvement plans. Some parts of the independent school standards relating to the planning and delivery of the curriculum have not been met.

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better?

The school’s curriculum is clearly structured. Each subject identifies the specific skills and knowledge that pupils need to support future learning. Pupils study a range of qualifications in preparation for post-16 education and employment pathways. However, the curriculum design does not reflect the support many pupils need to address gaps in their foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Leaders have not developed a systematic approach to identify and close gaps in pupils’ phonics knowledge. As a result, pupils do not read, write or apply mathematical knowledge 15 to 17 July 2025 as skilfully as they should. This limits their ability to access learning in other areas of the curriculum.

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better?

Sometimes, teaching focuses on helping pupils pass accreditations instead of building knowledge in a structured way. At times, pupils struggle to articulate their ideas accurately or complete work independently. While pupils do achieve a range of different qualifications, they can struggle to apply their learning across subjects in more complex ways. This limits how well pupils are prepared for future learning.

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better?

All pupils have education, health and care (EHC) plans that identify how staff should support their special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff identify the specific barriers some pupils face accurately. However, staff do not have sufficient expertise to design and deliver targeted therapeutic support. Staff do not develop strategies using pupil voice or specialist input. Strategies are not consistently shared clearly or revisited. This means teaching is not intentionally precise in helping pupils to achieve personalised goals.

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better?

Staff routinely check pupils’ progress toward accreditation outcomes. However, checks across other subjects lack detail. Staff do not accurately spot and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge, especially in subjects such as geography. Teaching sometimes moves on before pupils have fully grasped concepts. Some adaptations do not support learning effectively.

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better?

Most pupils attend school very well. Staff work with parents, carers and professionals to overcome attendance barriers. Pupils express pride in their school and describe it as a welcoming, happy place. There is minimal disruption to learning, as pupils typically behave well and want to succeed. The school is reviewing how it co-produces plans with parents and pupils to encourage pupils to take ownership of managing their own behaviour strategies.

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better?

The school prepares pupils for life in modern Britain well. Pupils explore the meaning of equality and value listening to different perspectives. Pupils debate important ideas maturely, for example how micro-aggression can contribute to misogyny. Pupils learn how to form positive and healthy relationships through a comprehensive curriculum in relationships and sex education and health education. Pupils influence important decisions such as sanctions and rewards in the behaviour policy. Pupils are proud of themselves and their many achievements. Careers education enables pupils to be informed and optimistic about their future.

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better?

Changes in leadership are still ongoing to ensure there is appropriate capacity and expertise to address the unmet independent school standards. Systems to evaluate the impact of the school’s work are still in very early stages. The school is still planning how to achieve the ambitious intentions it has for pupils’ education. However, staff are very positive about the support they have received. They express confidence in the school’s vision and commitment to moving forward. 15 to 17 July 2025

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Support for pupils at the earlier stages of reading is not prioritised. Systems to check how well pupils can read and spell are imprecise. There are currently no systematic processes in place to address gaps in pupils’ fluency and comprehension. The school should ensure that staff have the skills and expertise to support pupils in learning to read and write with increased fluency and confidence.  There are inconsistencies in how well the curriculum is adapted to meet pupils’ needs and the aims in their EHC plans. This hinders pupils’ progress through the curriculum from their different starting points. The school must ensure the curriculum and teaching are well matched to pupils’ needs, and pupils build their knowledge and skills securely over time to meet the targets set out in their EHC plans successfully.  The school does not ensure that staff check how effectively pupils are achieving the aims of the curriculum. This means that subsequent teaching does not

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

address gaps in pupils’ knowledge. In addition, the school is unable to evaluate how effectively staff are helping pupils to achieve well. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise and understanding of how to identify what pupils know and can do accurately, so that they can use this information to inform future teaching.  The proprietor does not have robust systems for oversight or assurance of the quality of education. School improvement planning lacks precision and accuracy. This means the proprietor does not receive robust information to identify and evaluate the school’s areas for improvement strategically. The proprietor should ensure that systems to evaluate the school’s work and hold its leaders to account are strengthened.

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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. 15 to 17 July 2025

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School details

Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

Headteacher Steven Bing (Interim teacher in charge)

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School details

Website www.parkviewcare.co.uk/services/educati on/parkview-academy Email address parkview.academy@parkviewcare.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 7 to 9 November 2023 15 to 17 July 2025

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Information about this school

 The school received its last standard inspection in November 2023 and was judged to be inadequate. The first progress monitoring inspection took place on 20 February 2024. A second progress monitoring inspection took place on 17 December 2024. An action plan evaluation was also conducted on 30 May 2024. The proposed action plan was found to be acceptable.  All pupils are placed at the school by a local authority that funds their place. They all have EHC plans for social, emotional and mental health needs.  The school is owned and operated by Parkview Education Limited, with a sole director.  There has been a change of leadership since the last standard inspection. The interim teacher in charge took up post from 22 April 2025. The new director of education took up post in July 2025.  The school uses two unregistered alternative provisions.

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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 judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

The school has failed to meet the independent school standards. These are the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the interim teacher in charge, the director of education for Parkview Education Ltd and the proprietor.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, personal, social and emotional development and vocational pathways. For each deep dive, inspectors met with leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, attended a school trip with pupils and staff, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also spoke to leaders about the quality of education provided in other subjects and reviewed schemes of work for some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and

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Information about this inspection

considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first. 15 to 17 July 2025  Inspectors carried out other activities to check that the school meets the independent school standards. These included a check of the school’s premises and wider work to comply with health and safety laws, including fire safety.  Inspectors considered the school’s approach to risk management. Inspectors also checked the relevant policies and the school’s website.  Inspectors reviewed and scrutinised a range of the school’s documentation, including leaders’ plans for improving the school, minutes of leadership meetings, records of visits completed by Kent local authority and records of attendance and behaviour incidents.

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Inspection team

Michelle Payne, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Caroline Clarke Ofsted Inspector 15 to 17 July 2025

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if- – 2(1)(b) the written policy, plans and schemes of work- – 2(1)(b)(i) take into account the ages, aptitudes and needs of all pupils, including those pupils with an EHC plan; and  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(d) shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the pupils, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons; – 3(g) demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess pupils’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that pupils can progress;

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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; and 15 to 17 July 2025 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

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

for children looked after, 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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