Portal House School

119062 Unique Reference Number Kent LEA 280453 Inspection number 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006 Inspection dates Alan Dobbins AI Reporting inspector

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

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Sea Street School address Special Type of school St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Non-maintained School category Dover, Kent CT15 6SS 9 to 13 Age range of pupils 01304 853033 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01304 853526 Fax number 32 Number on roll Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr L Sage Headteacher 13 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280453 21 June 2006 - 9 to 13 21 June 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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.

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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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This school for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) provides specialist provision for a wide area of Kent that includes the Isle of Sheppey and Maidstone in the north, Canterbury and Ashford in the middle and the coastal fringe from Folkestone to Sittingbourne. All pupils travel to and from the school on transport provided by the local authority (LA). For some this involves a journey of more than one hour each way. All have statements of special educational needs and almost all the pupils are White British. Since the last inspection the school has been re-designated as a secondary day school for 60 boys and girls with SEBD. The first group of pupils started Year 7 in September 2005. It is planned that pupils currently in Years 4, 5 and 6 will remain at school and enter Year 7. As part of the re-designation the school is to be relocated to a new site somewhere in east Kent that has yet to be identified.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Portal House School, 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006

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Grade: 1

Portal House School is an outstanding school, which provides excellent value for money. It is too modest in judging it effectiveness, which it believes to be good. Outstanding leadership and management have improved the school since the last inspection despite the uncertainties caused by re-designation as a secondary special school. Pupils feel safe and comfortable at school and, because they learn to control their behaviour and their emotions, respond excellently to outstanding teaching. They make exceptional progress over a curriculum that meets all requirements, including those to do with their development as young people. Nationally derived data shows that pupils achieve outstandingly well against their targets for learning. The school is well aware of its strengths and weaknesses, and its capacity for improvement is outstanding. The school recognises that review processes will have to be built on as

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Grade: 1

the age range of its pupils extends, and has clear plans in place to ensure this.

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What the school should do to improve further

•The school currently has no significant areas for further improvement.

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Grade: 1

The standards pupils attain are broadly average, but this represents excellent progress from their levels on entry to the school. For each of the last three years, Year 6 pupils have exceeded the targets predicted for them during Year 2 sufficiently to place the school within the top 5% of schools nationally. In most subjects, typically, they gain one National Curriculum level for each year at school, a rate greater than that of pupils in most equivalent schools. In the two subjects where the school has gained specialist awards, science and French, the typical annual gains are greater at more than one National Curriculum level. Pupils do exceedingly well in physical education. Most gain distance, water skills and the challenge awards of the Amateur Swimming Association, as well as other awards that reflect excellent performance in athletics. Pupils are excited about the progress they make because they know it is much better

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Grade: 1

than at their other schools. Many parents are amazed. One said, ‘I cannot believe how well my son is doing. He is reading brilliantly and is helping his older brother who goes to a mainstream school with his mathematics homework.’ Last year the progress made by three pupils, in their personal development and their learning, was sufficient for them to return to mainstream settings.

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Grade: 1

Pupils’ personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is outstanding. The excellent relationships they have with staff contribute to them feeling safe at school and they are comfortable when they talk with staff, 2 Inspection Report: Portal House School, 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006 even on matters that are difficult for them. Taking part in residential visits provides valuable opportunities to practise the social skills required to get on with new people. The School Council is taken seriously by pupils and helps them learn about the procedures of democracy and the need to be socially responsible. All help pupils gain in self-confidence and make excellent progress toward becoming mature and responsible young people. They attend fully to their learning because of the considerable progress they make in controlling their behaviour. Rarely does inappropriate behaviour limit learning and some pupils, for the first time, say they

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Grade: 1

really enjoy working hard to do their best. Through well established links and a programme of visits, they find out about the lifestyles of children in other countries, especially those in Belgium, France, South Africa and Thailand. The school is a Healthy School. Pupils are routinely encouraged to take part in physical activity and when at school they eat healthily. The outstanding progress they make in their basic skills prepares them extremely well for their future economic well-being. The school is well respected locally, in part because of the way in which it opens its doors to older folk in the community, especially at Christmas. Attendance is good, even for those who travel the greatest distances.

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Grade: 1

Teaching and learning are outstanding. This is because class sizes are small and teachers and their assistants are quick to provide pupils with help and encouragement. Most lessons are taught by teachers with specialist knowledge and are based on very good long and medium term planning. Teachers and their assistants know the pupils very well. Classrooms are spacious and attractive places for teaching and learning and teachers are expert at using computers to aid learning. All subjects are resourced well and the rooms for art and design, design and technology, science and music contain a very good range of specialist equipment. Behaviour is exemplary. The excellent relationships pupils have with staff help them to be confident learners who are unafraid of making a mistake and always eager to try out new equipment and new ways of learning. In many lessons, pupils are given responsibility for their own learning, for example when they measure the resistance

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Grade: 1

of a circuit in a science lesson. They enjoy this and try hard to do their best because learning is often fun and rewarding. Careful planning involving the very good use of resources, especially the interactive whiteboards and pupils’ own computers, helps all pupils make equivalent progress, irrespective of the cause or level of their learning difficulties. 3 Inspection Report: Portal House School, 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006

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Grade: 1

The curriculum for the primary aged pupils is very well established and is outstanding. It is broad, well balanced and closely matches with pupils’ learning and other needs. It meets all National Curriculum requirements and is extended by meaningful additional opportunities, such as learning French and taking part in the excellent programme of residential visits. The experiences pupils gain on the activity residentials, and especially when they visit France and Belgium to join with pupils from their link schools, hasten their development as young people and enrich their learning. More time is allocated to physical education than is often the case. This is used well in developing skills in many sports and games and in having pupils recognise the importance of being active as part of a healthy lifestyle. Pupils’ additional needs are met well. Meetings with specialists from many agencies as well as those from education, such as the educational psychologist, are arranged

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Grade: 1

according to need, although many meetings, for example with those from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), tend to take place at the specialist location and not at the school. This means that pupils lose learning time travelling to and from the school. The Year 7 curriculum is developing very well.

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Grade: 1

The quality of care, guidance and support is outstanding and the procedures for child protection are robust. Risk assessments for lessons, visits off site, and for individual pupils are carried out very well. Health and safety checks are rigorous. Pupils are eager to say how the staff are quick to give them help and advice. Statutory requirements that relate to statements of special educational needs are met. Attendance is monitored very effectively. A primary focus of the work of the school is to improve behaviour. The very well thought out procedures are applied consistently by all staff and are seen as meaningful by pupils. The tracking system is detailed and gives an accurate judgement of pupils’ improving behaviour against their specific targets. The targets for learning work equally well and assessment is closely linked to the levels of the National Curriculum. This means that pupils are able to recognise the progress they make, and this motivates

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Grade: 1

them to do even better. In order to meet the needs of pupils over all the secondary years, which is the ongoing challenge since re-designation, links need to be formed with other professionals, especially those who help prepare pupils to continue their learning after they leave school and for the world of work. 4 Inspection Report: Portal House School, 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006

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Grade: 1

Since the last inspection, outstanding leadership and management have helped improve the school despite many enforced changes and the challenge of being re-designated as a secondary school, ultimately at a new location. Pupils are making better progress over a wider curriculum and the school has gained a number of prestigious awards, including Investors in People, Healthy Schools, the European Award for Languages, the Basic Skills Quality Mark and the International Schools award. Day-to-day the school is calm and organised and pupils know that they are expected to do their best; and that is the expectancy for staff also. The national information on the value added to pupils’ progress indicates that both groups are achieving this. The quality of the school’s self-evaluation is good. The school is well aware of its strengths and relative weaknesses, although it modestly judges itself to be only good.

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Grade: 1

Many detailed records are kept on the performance of pupils. This information has been used very well in improving the quality of the current provision, but will need to be built on as the age range of the pupils extends. Governance is outstanding. Governors fully meet their remit to the school. They have ensured that all key issues identified at the last inspection have been resolved. They are doing their best to ensure that re-designation does not disadvantage current pupils or diminish the high quality of the provision. The capacity for continued development is outstanding. 5 Inspection Report: Portal House School, 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006 .

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

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Portal House School, 21 June 2006 to 21 June 2006

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Overall

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

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learners?

NA 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA NA 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

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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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 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 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

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needs and interests of learners?

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

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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.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 1 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 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 1 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 1 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

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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

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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

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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

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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 NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I very much enjoyed my time with you and would like to thank you for talking with me and for helping me find out about your school. I was very impressed with what I saw at your school. I think that it is among the very best of schools because: •You make excellent progress in your learning and in becoming responsible and mature young people. •You like being at school and you like the staff very much. •You behave excellently in lessons and around the school, and are extremely polite in the way in which you deal with each other and with visitors to the school. •Your headteacher, deputy headteacher, and all staff work very hard to ensure that you are able do your best at all times. They are outstanding. •Teaching is excellent and you work as hard in lessons as do your teachers and teaching assistants. •The many opportunities you have to stay at places, especially in France and Belgium, help you in your learning and, especially, in your development as young people.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I share your opinion and that of your parents and carers. Portal House is an outstanding school.

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