Hailey Hall School

117673 Unique Reference Number HERTFORDSHIRE Local Authority 290892 Inspection number 13 °14 December 2006 Inspection dates Charlie Henry HMI Reporting inspector

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

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Hailey Lane School address Special Type of school Hailey, Hailey Community School category Hertford, Hertfordshire SG13 7PB 11 °16 Age range of pupils

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01992465208 Telephone number Boys Gender of pupils 01992460851 Fax number 68 Number on roll (school) Mrs Reena Shah Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Steve Watt Headteacher 11 June 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 290892 13 °14 December 2006 11°16 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 two of Her Majesty's Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Hailey Hall is a day and residential special school for pupils who have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. All pupils are boys and have statements of special educational needs. They have a wide range of abilities. Some have additional difficulties, including autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Pupils attend from across the local authority; some day pupils have car journeys of almost two hours at the beginning and end of the school day. Fourteen pupils are residential and stay at school from Monday to Friday. Almost all pupils are White British; a small number of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, including a few for whom English is an additional language. A small number of pupils are looked after by the local authority.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006

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Grade: 2

The inspection agrees with the school that Hailey Hall is a good school. Pupils achieve well and make good progress from the low starting points related to the difficulties experienced earlier in their education. They enjoy school and gain in self-confidence; most pupils progress to further education after leaving Hailey Hall. Teaching and learning are good. Good relationships and effective management of behaviour enable pupils to learn effectively. The assessment and monitoring of progress are satisfactory overall; they are good with respect to pupils' personal development but too inconsistent for the subjects of the curriculum. Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. They make good improvements in their behaviour and their attitudes to education and learning. Pupils understand the progress they are making to achieve their own targets, although they are not involved enough in setting the academic targets. The quality of care, support and

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Grade: 2

guidance is good and reflects the positive ethos of the school. The school is valued by both pupils and their parents. The curriculum is good. Pupils study a suitable range of subjects and have good opportunities to extend what they learn outside of the normal school day, especially in sports and outdoor education. Leadership and management are good. The headteacher and other senior staff have established high expectations for pupils to improve, especially in their personal development. The school's self-assessment is satisfactory although improvement planning is not sufficiently rigorous and informed by how well pupils are making progress. Governors are enthusiastic about the school although they are not sufficiently knowledgeable about its strengths and areas for improvement, and especially how well pupils are learning. The school shows satisfactory capacity for further improvement. It provides good value for money.

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Grade: 2

The residential provision makes a good contribution to pupils' welfare and to their education. There is good liaison between care staff and school staff, including jointly setting and reviewing pupils' targets within their individual education plans and implementing their personal development programmes. There is a good range of extra-curricular activities, including swimming and other sports, and the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. The residential provision within the school was last inspected by the Commission for Care Standards Inspections (CSCI) on the day before this school inspection. The most recent published CSCI report, from February 2006 can be found at http://62.73.173.233/CSCI/RSS/97/DS0000056397.V270860.R01.S.pdf This report judged that almost all of the standards were being met. The school has addressed the very few minor areas for improvement raised in the report. 2 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006

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What the school should do to improve further

• Provide guidance to pupils about how well they are achieving in each subject and how they can make even more progress, especially in literacy and numeracy. • Make rigorous use of information about pupils' progress to inform overall improvement planning. • Improve governors' understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development, in order to provide effective challenge and support.

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Grade: 2

As a result of their learning needs, most pupils enter the school with standards that are well below what is expected for other youngsters of their age. Overall, pupils make good progress across all areas of the curriculum during the time they are at school, given their abilities and starting points. This judgement supports the school's own estimate of the progress made. Inspectors found that all groups of pupils achieved equally well, given their individual needs, including both day and residential pupils; those looked after by the local authority also do as well as others. Pupils' good progress in the core subjects of the National Curriculum is reflected in the high 'value added' scores achieved in national assessments at the end of each key stage. Pupils at Key Stage 4 make good gains in the skills that they develop in preparation for when they leave school, particularly through work experience and

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Grade: 2

part-time attendance at college. Pupils make good progress towards the targets set within their individual education plans (IEPs). The school has correctly identified that it needs to continue to improve the quality of its literacy and numeracy provision to promote the use of these skills in all areas of the curriculum. It is not possible to accurately evaluate whether the school has successfully met the targets set for the core subjects of the curriculum due to weaknesses in record-keeping relating to the pupils who contributed to these targets. Pupils are pleased with the progress they make. This is also reflected in the positive view of the school held by most parents.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. Their moral, social and cultural development is good and spiritual development is satisfactory. Pupils' behaviour improves significantly during their time in school and makes a substantial contribution to their good achievement and progress, and development of their self-esteem. They enjoy lessons and their attitude to work is good. Pupils are keen to learn and there is scope to give them responsibility in relation to setting their own academic targets for improvement. Pupils have good social skills, are polite and show consideration to others. They make positive contributions to the community. Some help at local primary schools with their sporting activities. A Christmas pantomime and social evening is 3 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006 organised and performed by pupils for senior citizens who live near to the school.

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Grade: 2

Pupils organise fund raising events and activities to support their outdoor pursuits and residential activities. The school council provides pupils with good opportunities to raise any issues they consider important. Healthy lifestyles are effectively promoted. Many pupils benefit from the breakfast club at the start of the day. They are able to choose from a good range of healthy food options at lunch times. Pupils are enthusiastic and show high levels of participation in the wide variety of sporting activities on offer, including outdoor pursuits available out of school hours. Health and safety is given appropriate attention within lessons and pupils demonstrate good working practices. Pupils develop good work-related skills useful for their future education and training beyond 16. There are few recorded incidents of bullying and pupils report they feel safe and know what to do, and who to go to if they have concerns or problems. Pupils' attendance is satisfactory overall.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good. This supports the school's own evaluation, established through its lesson observation programme. Relationships between staff and pupils are usually good. This establishment of trust supports the effective use of behaviour management within the classroom. Staff have consistently high expectations of pupils, for both their work and behaviour. Pupils respond appropriately and are pleased when they are successful in achieving points in the school's reward system. Lessons are usually well planned to provide a range of interesting activities and this helps to maintain pupils' enthusiasm and concentration. However, occasionally the pace of the lessons is too fast and does not allow consolidation of learning for a few pupils. Satisfactory use is made of information and communication technology (ICT) to support learning and the school recognises the need for continued developments. For example, opportunities are missed for pupils

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Grade: 2

to be more actively involved in using the interactive whiteboards to demonstrate their understanding and skills. Homework is not set consistently throughout the school. Assessment is satisfactory. The framework used to assess and track improvements in pupils' behaviour is now being applied to their progress across the curriculum, bringing together the different approaches that are currently used. Pupils are routinely involved in assessing their own progress and setting new targets for their behaviour, but not consistently so for their subject work.

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Grade: 2

The school provides a good curriculum with a wide range of academic and vocational programmes that are appropriate to meet the needs of the pupils. In several subjects there are opportunities for pupils to take short course and entry level qualifications, 4 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006 where appropriate. Aspects of health, citizenship and careers education are incorporated well into the life skills programme. The school provides many opportunities for pupils to participate in sporting and recreational activities both within the school day and as part of the extended curriculum. These are particularly successful in reinforcing acceptable behaviour and the development of social and work related skills, through teamwork and co-operation. The school has made effective links with colleges to provide almost all pupils in Year 11 with the opportunity to achieve a vocational qualification in a range of trades, such as motor vehicle and catering. All pupils

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Grade: 2

undertake work experience and a few pupils have extended placements to meet their individual needs. Links with local businesses are developing further so that pupils will benefit from a wider range of work experience placements in the coming year. The school is aware that it needs to develop further opportunities to apply the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy across all subjects.

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support are good. The school provides a good caring and supportive environment. Pupils' behaviour improves as a result of the good relationships which exist between pupils and staff. Pupils' emotional and social needs are accurately assessed and support is deployed effectively. Behaviour support plans identify appropriate targets for pupils to achieve and these are closely monitored by form tutors. The very effective behaviour reward system provides meaningful incentives for pupils to improve their behaviour. They take great pride in achieving reward points and know what they need to do to improve their behaviour. Teachers use the information effectively to improve pupils' motivation and learning. A new academic target monitoring system is being piloted within the science department and is to be adopted across the school in the spring term. This is intended to improve the identification and analysis of pupils' academic progress, which the school recognises

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Grade: 2

is an area for improvement. A few parents report they are not sufficiently informed of their sons' progress; again the school is aware of this and has good plans to improve. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils, including risk assessments, are satisfactory but are not reviewed frequently enough. To safeguard pupils, checks are made on adults working in the school but these are not yet collated into a single central register, as outlined by the most recent DfES guidance. The quality of careers advice and guidance is good and promoted well through the personal, health and social education (PHSE) curriculum. However, transition planning to ensure progression for pupils beyond the age of 16 is under-developed.

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Grade: 2

The quality of leadership and management is good overall. This judgement supports the school's self-evaluation. The school has improved well since the last inspection, especially in developing a supportive ethos. 5 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006 The leadership by the headteacher and other senior staff has set a clear direction leading to the promotion of good quality care and education. The resulting ethos of respect and commitment to pupils' well-being is strong and shared by staff. The school runs smoothly day to day. Equality of opportunity for pupils is promoted well through the curriculum. The school's evaluation of its strengths and areas for improvement has been sound. The monitoring of teaching and learning has been effective, accurately assessing the strengths and providing helpful information to teachers for further improvement. There is also very effective monitoring of pupils'

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Grade: 2

personal development, especially their behaviour, which promotes their overall self-esteem and achievement well. Academic progress is tracked through pupils' results in national assessments undertaken at the end of key stages. The school has begun to implement procedures to ensure more regular, accurate record-keeping across all subjects to improve tracking further. These features contribute well to the good quality provision. However, the systems for development planning do not take sufficient account of how initiatives will be planned and monitored to check that they continue to have a positive impact on pupils' achievement and ensure even better quality provision. There has recently been significant change in membership of the governing body. Governors are enthusiastic and very keen to develop their roles. Nevertheless, the relative lack of experience and training means that they are currently not fulfilling

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Grade: 2

their roles well enough, especially in relation to providing effective critical support. Governors understand the need for improving the information they receive both from visits to the school and from school managers, especially about how well pupils are doing. 6 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006

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Inspection judgements

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

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The effectiveness and efficiency of boarding provision 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 4 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 8 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 9 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

15 December 2006 Dear Pupils Hailey Hall School, Hailey Lane, Hailey, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 7PB As you know we recently visited your school to find out how well you are doing. Thank you for making us feel so welcome and for looking after us. We really enjoyed our visit and learned a lot about Hailey Hall. Thank you for telling us about the things you do and how you think your teachers and other staff are helping you to learn. Hailey Hall is a good school. It is successful in helping you learn. Here are some of the things that we thought were good: • The progress you make; this is due to the good progress you make in improving your behaviour and in your attitude to learning. • The way you enjoy what you do and try hard. • The good relationships between pupils and staff. • The quality of the teaching and the care, guidance and support that staff give you. • The range of things you learn, especially the outdoor and other physical activities.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

• The way is the school is led and managed. There are a few things that we discussed with your teachers that could make school even better; here are the most important ones: • Working with you to set targets for what you can achieve in each subject and making sure you know how you can make even better progress. • Using information about how well you are learning to improve the school. • Improving governors' understanding of the school's strengths and areas for further improvement. Best wishes Charlie Henry Her Majesty's Inspector 10 Inspection Report: Hailey Hall School, 13 °14 December 2006

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