Fox Hollies School

Fox Hollies School

Address: Highbury Community Campus, Queensbridge Road, Moseley, Birmingham, West Midlands, B13 8QB Unique reference number (URN): 103625

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Put simply, pupils want to be in school. Attendance in key stages 3 and 4 is very positive. Figures compare favourably with national values for secondary schools and are significantly above those for special schools. This is particularly positive given the unavoidable absence associated with ongoing medical needs that require some pupils to attend regular appointments. Post-16 attendance remains positive, but is lower due to the additional challenge around supporting transport. Leaders maintain an accurate overview of attendance and take a firm approach to avoidable absence. When pupils are away, staff carry out timely checks to understand why pupils are away and work with parents to address any barriers.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Behaviour is a significant strength. Lessons and transition times are calm with little disruption. Pupils are immersed in their learning, happy, settled and feel safe. Relationships are consistently warm and supportive and pupils are kind to one another. Zones of regulation are used routinely to support pupils' self-regulation and provide them with a voice to express their feelings. Staff show high levels of skill in supporting pupils with their behaviour. The focus on de-escalation and being proactive in anticipating pupils' anxieties minimise dysregulation and disruption. Staff and parents alike praise the behaviour of pupils.

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Inclusion Strong standard

What is fundamental to the success of this highly inclusive school is the extent to which staff and leaders understand pupils' SEND needs precisely. This deep understanding, combined with the considerable expertise of staff, shapes every aspect of the school’s work and development. This includes refining the curriculum and arranging class groupings and learning spaces. In lessons, teachers make highly effective adaptations that ensure pupils can access the curriculum. This is particularly true for how well staff use communication strategies with pupils, including symbols, objects of reference and signing.

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Inclusion Strong standard

All pupils have education, health and care plans that set out their individual targets. Pupils understand what they are working towards because staff break these targets down into small, achievable steps and communicate them clearly. Staff and leaders monitor pupils' progress rigorously. Through this, staff identify changes in pupils’ needs and make systematic adaptations to ensure those needs continue to be met consistently. High-quality, ongoing training for staff has brought this consistency about, including when staff are in post for short periods.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders are aware of the additional barriers faced by children in care and work closely with the virtual school, implementing personal education plans to help overcome these. In addition, an effective pupil premium strategy is in place which successfully enhances the experiences of eligible pupils.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders and governors share an absolute dedication for providing pupils with a high-quality, enjoyable education. They have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and are highly strategic in setting priority actions for further improvement. They make regular checks on provision and use external advisers to provide additional challenge and quality assurance. There is a clear drive for continuous improvement and a culture that welcomes scrutiny.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders are proactive, responding swiftly to the challenges of changing cohorts and pupil numbers. Despite several unforeseen and prolonged staff absences this year, leaders have taken decisive action to ensure that the quality of provision for pupils has remained consistent. Strategic planning, along with staff training, is highly effective. This shows, for instance, in how well embedded and effective the school's assessment and evidence gathering systems are despite only having been introduced relatively recently. Also, where cover staff have been used, successful induction and guidance means they implement school polices effectively.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

There is strong engagement with external partners including the local authority, a wide range of arts organisations and with parents. Leaders' work extends beyond the school, with the local authority recognising the extent to which leaders contribute to and support the wider sector. Engagement with families is a real strength and parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school's communication and support.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Staff are proud to work at Fox Hollies and say that leaders are considerate of wellbeing and workload. They describe the school as being just like one big family.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school's 'my body, my rights' personal, social and health education programme has been thoughtfully tailored by leaders to make it meaningful and accessible. This has been done with real precision, with leaders sensitively adapting key learning to pupils' SEND needs. Pupils learn about staying safe, healthy and about the world around them. This, along with positive relationships and effective pastoral support, helps pupils to become confident, self-advocating and secure in themselves. Work with families is also highly effective. Workshops in which the school shares advice with families are well attended and the use of a local counselling service is one example of how the school, in the words of several parents, 'goes above and beyond'.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Preparation for adulthood is a clear and consistent priority and is something that is genuinely embedded throughout the school's work. This is reflected in the carefully planned opportunities pupils have to develop the skills they need for their next stages, including effective support to transition to colleges. These are not tokenistic: rather, they are thoughtfully integrated and closely aligned to each pupil’s aspirations and ongoing development. Life-skills are threaded into learning in a natural way. For example, regular use of local highstreets, parks and cafés help pupils gain the skills, understanding and experience they need to become independent in their communities.

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Expected standard

Curriculum enrichment is a real strength and is carefully thought through. Pupils benefit from a wide range of meaningful and motivating experiences. These include projects with such partners as the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Midlands Art Centre and visits to a local farm park. Pupils visit the supermarket and even grow their own food. This rich offer really helps bring the school curriculum to life.

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Achievement Expected standard

From their starting points, pupils achieve well. Robust assessments ensure that staff have a precise understanding of how pupils progress through the curriculum and towards the outcomes specified in their education, health and care plans. The school defines achievement broadly to include pupils’ social development. Strengths in communication strategies and support for other special educational needs and/or disabilities have a positive impact on pupils’ achievement. This is evident in pupils’ strong engagement in learning across the curriculum and their increasing confidence in using expressive language. Pupils apply these skills effectively both in lessons and in wider social contexts, supporting their ability to communicate with clarity and assurance and preparing them for their next steps and for adult life.

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Achievement Expected standard

On the whole, pupils develop appropriate foundational knowledge across reading, writing and mathematics. Some inconsistency in teacher expectations and support for some foundational skills, including early writing, limits progress for some pupils or embeds misconceptions such as with letter formation.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The curriculum across all three pathways is ambitious and under constant review and refinement by leaders who have an accurate understanding of the quality of its implementation. It is well considered and sequenced, rooted in meaningful, real-life contexts. Active, multisensory approaches are consistently used, with a strong focus on vocabulary development and repetition. This is underpinned by successful communication strategies which are embedded in the school as a core teaching tool.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

In lessons, adults offer skilful support to pupils without over-supporting and making pupils over-reliant. This is helping pupils to develop independence. Staff present information clearly and make regular and precise checks on pupils' understanding to capture small steps of progress. In turn, this information is used to plan next steps.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The level of adaptation and personalisation of the teaching of early reading speaks to the high knowledge that staff have of pupils. The school has carefully adapted a systematic synthetic phonics approach to match the needs and interests of pupils, including choosing books that are engaging for secondary age pupils.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have successfully embedded teaching and communication approaches, including for temporary staff. However, some pedagogical strategies are less refined, which reduce the effectiveness of teaching some foundational skills, including early writing. This shows, for instance, in inconsistent modelling of letter formation.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

Leaders provide clear strategic direction for the post-16 provision, ensuring it is responsive to pupils’ complex and changing needs. The structure of provision is similar in essence to the rest of the school. This includes adapted pathways and working closely with external partners, including colleges and the local authority, to secure appropriate next steps. Students achieve well from their starting points, developing and enhancing their communication and independence. They are highly engaged in learning and are supported to apply their knowledge in meaningful, real-life contexts.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

The curriculum is purposeful, individualised and rooted in preparation for adulthood. Teaching is typically effective, with staff demonstrating deep understanding of pupils’ needs and making consistent use of communication systems to enable full participation. As a result, pupils contribute confidently in lessons and make steady progress over time. Preparation for next steps is carefully planned, with transition arrangements and workplace experience opportunities increasingly tailored to individual circumstances and aspirations.

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Post 16 provision Expected standard

Pupils benefit from a range of opportunities beyond the classroom, including extensive community access, which support their confidence and independence. Inclusion is a strong feature of the provision. Learning is thoughtfully adapted and there is a clear focus on ensuring all pupils can participate fully and have a voice in their education.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils at Fox Hollies are part of a vibrant, caring special school in which staff know and understand pupils' special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) very well. Pupils' needs are central to everything leaders and staff do and they work tirelessly to support them. Relationships across school are warm and welcoming, creating a learning environment in which pupils are safe, valued and almost always smiling.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils manage their behaviour and regulate their emotions well because staff support them consistently and skilfully in lessons, at transition times and throughout other times of the day. Pupils behave calmly and benefit from clear, embedded routines and expectations that they understand. Pupils, including those who are pre-verbal, use effective communication strategies to express their thoughts, feelings and worries. They show confidence in approaching staff, who respond quickly and deal with concerns effectively. As a result, instances of poor behaviour, including bullying, are rare.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils are consistently encouraged to be as independent as possible. They benefit by becoming more confident in their own abilities, more resilient to setbacks and less reliant on adult support. This is helping them to prepare for their next steps of education and in the wider world.

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Team inspector:

Aliki Constantopoulou, His Majesty's Inspector The curriculum has been designed to provide the necessary learning and skills pupils need to prepare them for their future learning and for life beyond school. Pupils engage well in lessons because staff understand their needs and interests and so make learning purposeful and motivating. This careful, personalised approach helps pupils to enjoy learning and they throw themselves into activities with gusto. They achieve well from their starting points because staff carefully structure lessons, planning small steps in learning that build securely over time. This school is a hive of activity in which pupils learn, laugh and thrive.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that all staff apply an agreed approach to teaching foundational skills across all classes and pathways so that pupils make consistent progress in these areas, including in early writing.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Sarah-Jayne O'Kane. Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs. Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, governors, other leaders and representatives of the local authority during the inspection. 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.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school: The school is a foundation special school, specialising in supporting pupils with severe learning difficulties. The school is a member of Birmingham Special Schools Cooperative Trust. The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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What does this mean?

The type of Special Educational Needs provision provided at the school (if applicable).

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Destinations after 16

Percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4).

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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