St Anthony's SchoolOfsted inspection, 14 Mar 2006

119037 Unique Reference Number Kent LEA 280445 Inspection number 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006 Inspection dates Jacque Cook AI Reporting inspector

p.1

This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.1

St Anthony's Way School address Special Type of school Margate Community School category Kent CT9 3RA 3 to 16 Age range of pupils 01843 292015 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01843 231574 Fax number 139 Number on roll Mrs Daphne Peachy Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Raymond Odell Headteacher 4 December 2000 Date of previous inspection

p.1

Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280445 14 March 2006 - 3 to 16 14 March 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

p.2

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

p.2

Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector.

p.3

Description of the school

St Anthony’s has recently been re-designated as a school for pupils with behavioural and learning needs. While most pupils have social, emotional and behavioural needs, there are 12 with moderate learning difficulties, seven with speech and language difficulties and six with autistic spectrum disorder. A few other pupils have physical, sensory or severe learning difficulties. There are almost four times as many boys as girls and very few pupils from ethnic minorities. Twenty pupils are looked-after children.

p.3

Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: St Anthony's School, 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006

p.3

Grade: 2

The overall effectiveness of the school is good. There are significant strengths in the outstanding quality of the personal development of the pupils and in the care, welfare and support provided. Many pupils make significant improvements in their behaviour after they join the school, and this contributes to the very good behaviour overall. A very few pupils with more complex difficulties do not improve as quickly as their peers because staff do not have sufficient specialist expertise to meet their needs. Overall, pupils make good progress. However, there is a weakness in their achievement in reading which the school is aware of. The curriculum for pupils in Years 10 and 11 is very good, with an excellent range of work-related courses. The quality of the provision in the nursery is excellent. Children make an excellent start to their education as they make outstanding progress. They are very well taught

p.4

Grade: 2

and work is extremely well planned so they also learn from their play experiences successfully. Leadership and management are good, contributing to very good staff teamwork. The school has an accurate awareness of its strengths and weaknesses, though its self-evaluation judged overall effectiveness to be better than its accurate judgement on pupils’ progress. The good track record in improvement since the last inspection and the vision and high expectations of the headteacher and senior managers mean that the school has a good capacity to improve further. Value for money is good.

p.4

What the school should do to improve further

•Improve pupils’ progress in reading. •Ensure that staff training includes strategies to meet the needs of the very few pupils with more complex difficulties.

p.4

Grade: 2

Achievement is good. As a result of pupils’ learning difficulties and disabilities, their standards on entry to the school are extremely low and remain far below those expected for their age. However, they make good progress and a few, in the secondary part of the school, achieve standards that are similar to their mainstream peers in mathematics and science. Progress in English is satisfactory overall. Pupils improve their speaking and listening skills well. As they become more confident, they learn to voice their opinions effectively. Their work is hampered, however, by slow improvement in reading. Strategies being used are not fully successful. Pupils make particularly good progress in personal, social and health education and citizenship because the topics are carefully selected and taught well. Children at the Foundation Stage make outstanding progress because they are taught very well. This provides an excellent start to their education and many transfer to

p.4

Grade: 2

2 Inspection Report: St Anthony's School, 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006 mainstream schools. Pupils in Year 11 make very good progress towards gaining suitable accreditation. They all gain awards in vocational subjects from their work at college. There is no measurable difference between the progress of boys and girls. Looked-after children and pupils from ethnic minorities achieve as well as their peers. Pupils make good progress towards the suitably challenging targets they are set throughout the year.

p.4

Grade: 1

Pupils’ personal development and well-being are outstanding. Their spiritual and cultural development is good and their moral and social development is excellent. They enjoy their education enormously. Very young children in the nursery are pleased to greet the staff in the morning. They quickly learn to play amicably alongside each other and to take turns. Older pupils say they work very hard and enjoy getting merits. They have mature and responsible attitudes, for example, not being prepared to tolerate bullying. Behaviour is outstanding. Many pupils join the school with significant problems with their behaviour. For most this improves dramatically. Attendance is good. Pupils say they feel safe in school and they know exactly what they should do to keep safe. They adopt a healthy lifestyle, very well, enjoying sporting activities and being very aware of the ‘good food’ in their lunch boxes. Pupils make an excellent contribution

p.5

Grade: 1

to the community and prepare for their life after school extremely well. Members of the school council are pleased about the changes they have been able to make, particularly to improving playtime equipment. Pupils regularly fundraise for charities and Year 10 pupils enjoy working with young children or the elderly as part of their work experience. Workplace skills are further gained from their vocational courses and through learning independence skills such as travelling unsupervised to college.

p.5

Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff are very good at working together as a team and know the needs of the pupils well. Strategies to improve behaviour are consistently applied and are very effective in helping most pupils learn to conform to high expectations. However, in a few instances pupils’ needs are very complex and staff do not have sufficient training to make improvements quickly enough, which slows learning. Work is planned well, with good attention to including literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology as much as possible. In the best lessons, what pupils are expected to learn is made clear to them at the start and then their progress is evaluated at the end of the session. Staff provide good role models for the pupils, for example, using a cursive script when they write on the board or in pupils’ 3 Inspection Report: St Anthony's School, 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006

p.5

Grade: 2

books. Homework is set regularly for pupils and often builds on what they have been learning in school successfully. Teaching and learning at the Foundation Stage are very good. This is because lesson planning is extremely thorough. Also the staff are very skilled in using questioning techniques which encourage the children to work things out and to develop their speaking and listening skills effectively. Assessment procedures overall are good. An on-line recording system is being introduced to fine tune recording and make target setting easier. The school is aware that the assessment of progress in reading requires a radical review.

p.6

Grade: 2

The curriculum is good and is well matched to the needs of the pupils. It is very good for pupils in Years 10 and 11, where there is excellent provision for work-related courses, college attendance and work experience. The range of accreditation caters for all abilities within the school, including opportunities for taking a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination where appropriate. The long-term planning for subjects is good. This ensures that there is a clear progression for pupils from year to year. On the whole, time is well divided between subjects, but more time needs to be devoted to teaching reading skills to help remedy the current weakness. In the nursery, all areas of learning are planned exceptionally well so that the children get an excellent start to their education. There is a good range of enrichment activities, including a music club, sporting activities, many visits out

p.6

Grade: 2

and residential experiences. Older pupils, for example, gain a great deal from a course where they learn to sail.

p.6

Grade: 1

The care, guidance and support of pupils are outstanding. The staff are very committed to ensuring pupils are safeguarded. There are robust procedures for child protection. High levels of supervision and very clear school rules that are understood by pupils contribute to a calm atmosphere where pupils are able to learn effectively. The role of the Health and Welfare Officer is very effective. Attendance is improving through the first day of absence phone calls to parents and very good liaison with the education welfare officer for following up where necessary. In addition, pupils who are troubled know they can talk to her and that she will help them. Looked-after children are exceptionally well tracked to ensure they are doing the best they can. This enables staff to spot if there are any difficulties quickly before they become a problem in school. Careers education and guidance are very good. Pupils have very good opportunities

p.6

Grade: 1

to learn about different careers; for example, they attend careers fairs and a few spend 4 Inspection Report: St Anthony's School, 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006 a few days with the army. The Connexions service is used well to support planning for the next stages. There are good links with parents and very good information about what pupils will be learning is sent home so they are well informed.

p.6

Grade: 2

The leadership and management of the school are good. The headteacher and senior management team provide a strong vision for the future and set the tone of high expectations of staff and pupils. They are rightly proud and confident that these expectations are highly consistent across the school, and contribute to the very good behaviour of the pupils. There are good procedures for monitoring how well the school is doing. As a result, the quality of teaching and learning has remained high even though the staff have needed to adjust to the new designation as a school for pupils with behavioural and learning needs. The views of a wide range of stakeholders such as parents are taken into account when evaluations take place. This process is effective. The school’s self-evaluation is accurate, with the exception of the overall judgement on effectiveness, which was pitched too high to reflect the progress made by pupils.

p.7

Grade: 2

Governance of the school is good. The governing body are very supportive and keen to ensure the school continues to do well. They question senior managers appropriately. However, although they make school visits, for example, to the Christmas concert, they do not visit classrooms on a regular basis to gain further first-hand information. Since the last inspection improvement has been good. The accommodation has been improved significantly and further radical building work is due to start shortly. The strong teamwork of the staff and governors and the proven track record show they have a good capacity to improve further. 5 Inspection Report: St Anthony's School, 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006 .

p.7

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: St Anthony's School, 14 March 2006 to 14 March 2006

p.8

Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

p.9

learners?

NA 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 1 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

p.9

Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 4 The standards 1 reached by learners

p.9

Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

p.9

learners?

NA 1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 1 The behaviour of learners NA 2 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 1 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

p.9

needs and interests of learners?

NA 1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

p.9

needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

p.9

and supporting all learners?

NA 2 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 2 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

p.10

The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are educated about sexual health

p.10

The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

p.10

The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

p.10

The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams Yes Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form Yes Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

p.10

Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you very much for making me feel so welcome when I visited your school recently. I enjoyed seeing you working and talking with you. I would like to especially thank the members of the school council and the other pupils who told me about the school. This is what I liked about the school: •you behave very well, work hard and enjoy school a great deal •you are looked after extremely well at school and given help when you need it •you do well in your lessons •many of you improve your behaviour very well •children in the nursery do very well •in Years 10 and 11, you have excellent chances to learn about the world of work •your teachers and other staff work very well together as a team •your headteacher and senior staff have high expectations that the school will continue to improve. This I what I have asked the school to do now: •work on improving your reading •get further specific training for the staff.

p.11