Coventry Extended Learning Centre

134269 Unique Reference Number Coventry LEA 282521 Inspection number 25 January 2006 to 25 January 2006 Inspection dates John Lilly AI Reporting inspector

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

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City College Tile Hill Campus School address Special Type of school Coventry Pupil referral unit School category CV4 9SU 12 to 14 Age range of pupils 024 76468670 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 024 76468670 Fax number 16 Number on roll Mrs Caroline Hart Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Stephen Garside Headteacher Not applicable Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282521 25 January 2006 - 12 to 14 25 January 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 is a small pupil referral unit for 12- to 14-year-old pupils and is located on the campus of a further education college. There are twice as many boys as girls. A small but significant number are from minority ethnic backgrounds. The main aim of the unit is to take pupils in danger of exclusion and return them quickly to mainstream schools. The unit also offers six week courses for pupils as a preventative measure.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Tile Hill PRU, 25 January 2006 to 25 January 2006

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Grade: 2

Tile Hill Pupil Referral Unit offers good provision and has many strengths. Leadership is strong and promotes high standards, and skilled management brings together the various aspects the Unit offers effectively. Teaching is good, although more attention needs to be given to developing the pupils’ speaking and listening skills. Self-evaluation is rigorous and accurate, matching the findings of this inspection. Pupils make good progress in their academic work and personal development and are well prepared for return to mainstream schools. Pupils benefit from a good curriculum, and standards of care and welfare are good with many outstanding features. Guidance is satisfactory with many good features, but pupils need better guidance on careers and on understanding their emotions. Pupils receive very helpful guidance in one-to-one interviews but this helpful feedback needs to play a greater part in lessons. The

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Grade: 2

behaviour of pupils is good and they say they enjoy their time at the Unit. They also feel safe and cared for and that they are learning how to keep themselves safe and healthy, and how to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour. Most say they are being well prepared for their return to mainstream schools and for future employment. The majority of pupils make a successful return to mainstream schools. The Unit offers good value for money and is well placed for further improvement. An outstanding strength is the Unit’s partnership with other schools and the wider support service.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Develop the pupils’ speaking and listening skills by planning more opportunities for pupils to practise these skills in lessons. • Give more feedback throughout lessons to pupils on why they succeed, why they meet problems and what they need to learn next. • Develop further ways to help pupils deal with their emotions and to respond to those of others appropriately.

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Grade: 2

Most pupils join Tile Hill with below average attainment because of previously disrupted education. Although in the Unit for a comparatively short time, most make significant progress especially in reading, writing and mathematics, although they do not make enough progress in their speaking and listening skills. They make good progress in science, information and communication technology and art, and very good progress in personal and social education. Pupils say that they enjoy and are proud of the way they are 'really learning' in the Unit, comparing this with their previous more negative experiences. Staff are skilled at assessing academic attainment and progress, and also the pupils’ attitudes towards learning. As a consequence, they are able to set and agree challenging targets with each pupil. These are measured at the end of each lesson and progress is evaluated 2 Inspection Report: Tile Hill PRU, 25 January 2006 to 25 January 2006

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Grade: 2

with the pupil. These sessions would have even more benefit if teachers fed back throughout lessons to pupils on how they can improve. If necessary, targets are updated and in most cases targets are met. Although attainment when pupils leave the Unit is still below average, pupils are much better prepared for learning in mainstream schools, and the receiving schools are much better informed as to the pupils’ learning needs.

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Grade: 2

When they join, many pupils challenge the Unit’s high expectations. However, they quickly come to realise that what is being asked for is both sensible and achievable. Consequently, personal development is rapid, always good and sometimes very good. The pupils have good attitudes to their learning and other people, and there is little evidence of bullying or racism. The pupils behaved well throughout the inspection. Exclusions are relatively rare because they are not needed. Attendance is satisfactory for almost all pupils, but this remains an area for further improvement. Pupils say they enjoy their time at the Unit when they do attend because they feel safe, cared for and helped to succeed. Targeted teaching helps them to understand why their emotions are important, as are the emotions of others. However, they do not receive enough help in applying this knowledge to their own lives and when responding appropriately to the emotions of others. Pupils say they are learning how

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Grade: 2

to manage their own safety and how to look after their own health. Above all, they say their self-esteem has risen because they are helped to contribute to the life and work of the Unit, and also when on visits outside the Unit. They look forward to the future because they feel better prepared for success both back in mainstream school and also in future employment. As one pupil said, ‘I read much better and that will help – and I think I will get a good job’. This good personal development has breadth and richness. Art work shows significant spiritual and cultural awareness. Pupils gain a secure understanding of right and wrong. They become much better at teamwork, taking pride in the Unit, for example, by successfully completing a gardening project.

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Grade: 2

Lesson observations and samples of work show that teaching is good and occasionally outstanding. Pupils learn ‘how to learn’ and how to take responsibility for their own learning, and this is evident in their good progress. The teaching used a wide range of techniques and was pacy, humorous and challenging. Lessons were well planned with a good range of activities and pupils saw these as both interesting and relevant. Sometimes, however, teachers gave too little priority to developing the pupils’ speaking and listening skills and gave pupils too little opportunity to think through ways to offer the best answer. 3 Inspection Report: Tile Hill PRU, 25 January 2006 to 25 January 2006

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good with some outstanding features. It is planned without the compromise that could have come from the limited time pupils spend in the Unit. There is high priority given to reading and writing, mathematics and personal and social education, but this does not detract from good science, art, design and technology, physical education and information and communication technology. An outstanding feature is the range and appropriateness of activities outside lessons, for example the wider practical activities and visits away from the Unit and visitors to the Unit. Pupils said they particularly enjoyed the visits to the leisure centre and the gardening project to improve the Unit’s environment. They also said that they enjoyed the range and different things they studied, for example art.

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding feature of the Unit. Staff gain a deep and detailed understanding of each pupil’s emotional and learning needs by making use of specially designed tests. This process brings in advice from other professionals and means that both guidance and care are highly focused on the needs of each individual. Staff use this information effectively to inform the frequent one-to-one guidance sessions with pupils on academic and personal progress. This increases the pupils’ confidence that adults understand the problems they face and that they can work with them to find solutions. As a result, pupils are well prepared for their future placements. Pupils say they feel very safe and cared for at the unit, and this allows them to 'get over' their past experiences, although some feel that they may not be able to deal with the negative emotions they may feel when they return to mainstream school. Good attendance is

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Grade: 1

well promoted by the Unit and other professionals, but is still not as good as staff would like. Standards of care and welfare are outstanding. Guidance is also strong and consistent, although more could be done to help pupils deal with the negative emotions they sometimes feel. A significant feature is the way professionals from the wider service work together for the benefit of the pupils. For example, staff receive an expert diagnosis from specialist educational psychologists of what may be hindering the pupils’ learning and personal development.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management overall are good, and result in good provision and standards. The leaders work very well with other agencies and partner mainstream schools. There is a crystal clear vision as to the mission and purpose of the Unit and the high quality provision it seeks to achieve. The leadership is strong and consistent, and generates shared and determined commitment and high expectations. Effective management ensures that the right things happen at the right time and at the right 4 Inspection Report: Tile Hill PRU, 25 January 2006 to 25 January 2006 high quality. Effective support for staff ensures that performance is good and improving, and that people willingly accept responsibility and accountability for delegated tasks. The different roles of Unit staff and support service staff are very complex but work seamlessly together as communication is very effective. The Unit and service produce

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Grade: 2

very good data and evidence on the Unit’s performance and this leads not only to accurate identification of strengths and weaknesses, but also opportunities to grasp and risks to avoid. Managers need to research more deeply, however, to find out and then develop how to improve the pupils’ speaking and listening, and their ability to deal with their emotions. Feedback from mainstream schools, pupils and parents is sought actively and used to make self-evaluation even more rigorous. Letters and questionnaires from parents show they value very highly what the Unit is achieving for their children. All staff place equality of opportunity at the top of their agenda. Financial systems and deployment of resources are robust and produce good value for money. The management committee of the Unit has yet to meet, but committees within the service ensure that the work of the Unit remains on track. There are adequate qualified staff, considerably enhanced by colleagues from the

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Grade: 2

service. Recent and continuous improvement, linked to the powerful support of the service, suggests that the Unit is well placed for further improvement, above all because staff want to improve and know what they need to do next. 5 Inspection Report: Tile Hill PRU, 25 January 2006 to 25 January 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: Tile Hill PRU, 25 January 2006 to 25 January 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 1 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 NA Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

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

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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

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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 3 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 2 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 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 3 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 Yes 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

Thank you for making me so welcome in your lessons and during the time some of you spent talking with me. I enjoyed my day in your school very much. You told me you felt happy and safe in the Unit, and that you felt you were learning a great deal. Most of you said that you were much more confident about returning to a mainstream school, although some of you were a bit anxious about this. I think that the Unit is a good one. You are making good progress because you are well taught and you are growing in self-confidence. You are rightly proud of your work. You learn interesting things and feel teachers understand and help with any problems you are trying to overcome. I felt the Unit was well led and managed and that you are playing your part in making it a good place to be. To become an even better school, I suggested that your teachers: help you to express your ideas more clearly when speaking and to understand even better when

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

listening to other people gave you more advice in lessons on how to improve your work help you to understand the way you feel sometimes and to understand how other people feel help you to attend school well and, of course, you have your part to play by attending school everyday. I would like to thank you again for making my day in your school such a good one.

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