Hillingdon Grange School

Hillingdon Grange School

Address: Datchet Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL3 7LR Unique reference number (URN): 151478

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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. Insufficient evidence: Inspectors were unable to gather sufficient evidence to judge whether safeguarding standards are met.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils make suitable progress from their different starting points in a range of subjects. When they join the school, they often have substantial gaps in knowledge caused by a disjointed experience of formal education. As a result, pupils’ starting points and needs vary widely. The school’s well-sequenced curriculum enables them to develop increasingly secure foundational knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics. Staff adapt and tailor the curriculum carefully to support pupils’ learning.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils make notable progress in their personal, social and emotional development. They learn reliable strategies to communicate their views and ideas. This success enables pupils to access academic learning and ensures that they are increasingly well prepared for the next steps in education.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils who are at the earliest stages of reading learn to recognise different sounds, while those able to access the school’s phonics programme develop secure early reading skills. They learn key writing skills and develop an increasingly secure knowledge of number.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Work to support pupils’ attendance is a strength of the school. Pupils attend regularly and develop positive attitudes to learning. Leaders monitor attendance closely. They provide effective and successful support for pupils who are attending less well so that their attendance improves.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Clear expectations and well-established routines provide a firm foundation for pupils’ behaviour and wellbeing. Familiar and predictable routines help pupils to feel confident about the school day. Staff use resources such as visual timetables consistently well to ensure that pupils know what they will be doing.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Staff care deeply about pupils. They maintain warm and positive relationships with pupils. This builds pupils’ trust and sense of security in school. As a result, pupils are increasingly able to sustain focus and engagement in lessons. Carefully targeted support enables them to recognise and express their emotions with increasing success. This makes an important contribution to pupils’ ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with their peers.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Typically, pupils behave well and have positive attitudes to learning. Leaders review behaviour records regularly. They use this information well to identify any trends or patterns of behaviour and to address any concerns. Leaders provide staff with helpful advice and training so they can support pupils’ behaviour well.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The school’s curriculum is suitably broad, balanced and ambitious. Pupils are placed on one of the school’s curriculum pathways, which are thoughtfully designed to support pupils’ different needs and abilities. These pathways enable pupils to access curriculum content successfully, so that what they know and can do builds securely over time.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff use information about pupils’ needs and starting points effectively to plan activities. They use a range of resources well to support learning. The school prioritises building pupils’ foundational knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics. Curriculum content is clearly identified in these subjects, but is less clearly defined in other subjects, such as history, geography and physical education. Leaders have rightly identified the need to ensure that the content is more explicitly identified in these subjects.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The teaching of phonics is a notable strength of the school’s work. The school’s phonics programme is well established and taught consistently well. Staff assess pupils’ progress in reading continuously, successfully identifying and addressing any gaps in pupils’ phonics knowledge.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Procedures for checking pupils’ progress are well established in English and mathematics. However, these procedures are not as well developed in those subjects where the content is less clearly identified.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Hillingdon Grange is an inclusive and welcoming school. Many pupils have had negative experiences of formal education before joining the school. Leaders and staff are committed to providing each pupil with a positive experience of education and they do this well.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have established secure procedures for identifying pupils’ starting points. This process begins with pupils’ education, health and care plans. Leaders use these to identify appropriate short-term targets to support and inform teaching and to support pupils’ progress and development. Leaders and staff review these plans regularly to check how well pupils are learning and to make any adjustments required.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff use a range of strategies and adaptations well to enable pupils to access the curriculum. Clinical therapy support, such as occupational therapy and speech and language therapy, is embedded in the school’s provision. Therapists and other staff work closely together to ensure that pupils’ ongoing needs are supported. For instance, they regularly review whether communication aids used by pupils are working well enough and make changes wherever needed. The school’s well-planned and cohesive approach to supporting pupils’ individual needs is successful in helping to reduce barriers to pupils’ learning and wellbeing.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have a clear understanding of strengths in the school’s work and have identified appropriate priorities for development. In the past year, they have successfully focused on strengthening consistency across the school.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Inclusion is central to leaders’ vision for the school. They liaise positively with specialists and agencies, such as social care, to help to reduce barriers to pupils’ learning and wellbeing. Leaders understand pupils’ needs and contexts. They make sure that staff have the knowledge and information they need to support pupils’ learning and development.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders are committed to maintaining constructive relationships with parents, staff and the wider community. A small proportion of parents completed Ofsted’s survey, Parent View. Most were very positive about the school’s work, but a few felt that communication between school and home could be better.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors and the proprietor maintain a detailed knowledge of the school’s work. Leaders provide governors with comprehensive reports about the school’s performance. Governors and the proprietor supplement this information through a range of activities, such as discussions with leaders and school visits. They provide appropriate challenge and support for the school, ensuring that decisions are always taken in pupils’ best interests. The proprietor ensures that all statutory duties are met and that the school complies consistently with the independent school standards.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors monitor staff wellbeing and workload closely and the majority of staff are positive about recent changes. A few members of staff, however, are unclear about the school’s direction and about the part they will play in its development.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils’ personal development and wellbeing are central to school life. Pupils benefit from a positive and supportive culture that helps them to feel that they belong. Leaders use what they know about pupils’ needs to ensure that pupils experience success from the outset. Well-established routines provide a predictability to the school day which helps pupils to feel secure. Staff know pupils well and provide caring and committed support. They use every opportunity to promote pupils’ personal development, such as assemblies, 'circle times' and everyday activities and conversations. Over time, pupils make small but significant steps in their personal development.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school successfully equips pupils with important knowledge and skills to support them in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to make choices through everyday interactions, such as choosing an activity or asking for more support. Staff respect pupils’ views. Pupils feel safe and valued as a result. Pupils learn to understand and manage their feelings increasingly well. They develop resilience and important co-operation skills. The school council meets regularly to discuss issues of interest, such as what additional equipment pupils would like to have in the playground.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The content of the school’s personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme includes a suitable range of topics and themes. The content is appropriately sequenced and adapted to support pupils’ different ages and stages of development. The school provides a range of enrichment opportunities, such as trips to the local shops, the library and the park, as well as trips further afield. Pupils are encouraged to develop interests and to try new things, such as gardening and football. Pupils learn about different faiths, beliefs and cultures through a range of world festivals, such as Diwali, Eid and Christmas. The school’s religious education curriculum includes content about world religions.

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

Leaders and staff maintain a calm, peaceful and welcoming atmosphere across all three school sites. Classrooms are generally settled and pupils behave well during break times. They enjoy using the play equipment, playing quietly on their own, or joining in with organised games, such as tag or water play.

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

Staff establish warm, attentive and good-humoured relationships with pupils. They are alert to signs that pupils are feeling worried. The school’s commitment to ensuring that all pupils have ‘a voice and a choice’ is central to its work. Pupils learn how to use different strategies to communicate their views successfully. Their needs mean that pupils can sometimes become anxious and unsettled. Staff respond with kindness and an abundance of patience when this is the case. These factors make a valuable contribution to pupils’ sense of security and belonging. Bullying is extremely rare.

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

Pupils have often been outside formal education for extended periods of time prior to joining the school. Leaders ensure that pupils receive the nurturing support they need to progress and develop. As a result, pupils achieve well from their starting points, both personally and academically. They are increasingly well prepared for the next stage of their education and for life in the future.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue work to identify the content of the curriculum in subjects such as history and PE and ensure that systems for checking pupils’ progress in these subjects are securely established. Leaders should strengthen the quality of communication to ensure that parents have consistently high levels of confidence in the school’s work and that all staff understand their role in developing the school.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this standard inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, and checked the school's compliance with the independent school standards. These are the requirements set out in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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About this inspection

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.

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Independent school standards

Independent school standards are either met or not met for each category. Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, head of school, the chair of governors/regional director, the UK operations director for the proprietor and other leaders and staff.

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Independent school standards

The inspectors confirmed the following about the school:

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Independent school standards

The school is part of P Bloom Limited group of schools within the Outcomes First Group.

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Independent school standards

All places at this school are commissioned by local authorities. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities and all have an education, health and care plan. Pupils have autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Many pupils also have associated communication difficulties. Most pupils have been outside formal education for considerable periods of time prior to joining the school.

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Independent school standards

The school operates from 3 sites: Upton Grange, Datchet Road, Slough SL3 7LR; Yiewsley Grange, Yiewsley UB7 7QP; and Colne Grange, Cowley Mill Road, Uxbridge UB8 2UZ. All 3 sites were visited during this inspection.

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Independent school standards

The school does not use alternative provision currently.

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Independent school standards

Since the last inspection, the proprietor has appointed a headteacher and a head of school.

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Independent school standards

The chair of the proprietor body is Peter Marshall.

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Independent school standards

The fees currently charged are within the range of £72,510 and £99,275.

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Independent school standards

The school's email address is office@hmschool.org.uk.

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Independent school standards

1. Quality of education provided Standards met

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Independent school standards

2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils Standards met

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Team inspectors:

Louise Ling, Ofsted Inspector Sue Cox, Ofsted Inspector 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils Standards met

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Team inspectors:

4. Suitability of staff, supply staff, and proprietors Standards met

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Team inspectors:

5. Premises of and accommodation at schools Standards met

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Team inspectors:

6. Provision of information Standards met

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Team inspectors:

7. Manner in which complaints are handled Standards met

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Team inspectors:

8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools Standards met

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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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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Insufficient evidence

Inspectors were unable to gather reliable enough evidence to grade an evaluation area. This is rare and normally only happens if there are no pupils on roll at the school.

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Insufficient evidence

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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Insufficient evidence

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Insufficient evidence

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Insufficient evidence

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Insufficient evidence

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

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