The Helix Education Centre

Harrow Tuition Service Inspection report

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102180 Unique Reference Number Harrow Local Authority 323596 Inspection number 2 July 2009 Inspection date Margaret Goodchild 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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Pupil referral unit Type of school Pupil referral unit School category 5–16 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 58 School (total) The local authority Appropriate authority Ms Claire Nicholls Headteacher 2 May 2006 Date of previous school inspection 82 Gayton Road School address Harrow HA1 2LS 020 8863 9149 Telephone number 020 8861 5076 Fax number

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5–16 Age group 2 July 2009 Inspection date 323596 Inspection number .

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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. 2 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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Introduction

An Additional Inspector carried out this inspection. The inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the service and investigated the following issues:

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Introduction

■ pupils' achievement and how well their learning needs are met at each site;

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Introduction

■ the quality of teaching and how the service uses assessment information to inform teaching and learning; ■ how rigorous and effective self-evaluation and monitoring are in driving improvement.

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Introduction

The inspector gathered evidence from performance data, observations of teaching at each of the four sites, samples of pupils' work, scrutiny of records and monitoring information, parents' questionnaires, discussions with staff at each of the sites and with a representative of the local authority adviser who is also a member of the management committee. Other aspects of the service's work were not investigated in detail, but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified, and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

Harrow Tuition Service provides for pupils who have been permanently excluded from school or who are at risk of permanent exclusion. It also supports pupils who have a range of physical and/or mental health problems. The service operates on four separate sites and employs a wide range of professionals. The primary pupil referral unit provides for a small number of pupils who have been excluded from school and offers preventative support, including respite sessions, work in schools and training for mainstream staff. The secondary pupil referral unit makes full-time provision for pupils in Years 8 to 11 onsite or through alternative placements. The Helix Centre, which opened in September 2007, provides early intervention programmes to prevent exclusion and supports a small group of vulnerable pupils who are school refusers. All pupils at the Helix Centre remain on roll at their mainstream school or are in transition from

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Description of the school

one school to another. The education service at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital School provides teaching for children and young people admitted as patients on a short-term, medium-term or recurring basis, and home tuition for sick children who are still on roll but unable to attend their own school. In the last academic year, the service provided education for 99 pupils through the primary and secondary pupil referral units, the Helix Centre and home tuition, and for 298 at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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Grade: 2

Harrow Tuition Service has sustained and built on the good quality provision found at the last inspection. The headteacher provides good direction to the service's work and responsibilities are delegated well to other senior leaders across the four sites. The service has a stable, experienced staff who work effectively as a team, with a shared commitment to meeting pupils' diverse needs. The local authority in its governing body role, and the management committee, oversee the service's work well. There is a clear strategy for the service's work and development, and the local authority has put in place some very good structures to ensure that it is able to succeed. In particular, the holistic nature of the service provides maximum flexibility, enabling staff to place pupils in the element of provision most suited to their needs. For instance, school refusers begin by having one-to-one tuition, then staff gradually encourage them to work in

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Grade: 2

a group at the Helix Centre in preparation for an eventual return to school. As well as providing part-time support for primary-age pupils who are experiencing difficulty in school, staff work increasingly alongside mainstream teachers to prevent exclusions occurring. The success of this work is evident in the decreasing numbers being referred to the primary pupil referral unit. Outstanding links with local schools result in a very high proportion of pupils, currently 80%, successfully reintegrating into mainstream schooling. The very good transition arrangements also mean that few pupils fail in their new placements. Good teaching and a curriculum matched closely to pupils' needs ensure that they achieve well. Standards are below average but progress is good, given pupils' low starting points and a history of underachievement for many pupils before joining the service. Effective procedures are in

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Grade: 2

place for checking pupils' prior attainment in literacy and numeracy when they join the service, and identifying their personal and behavioural needs. Teachers take these needs into account well when planning lessons. Some outstanding teaching was observed, including an English lesson at the secondary pupil referral unit and a lesson at the bedside of a pupil who has profound and multiple learning difficulties at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. In both instances, teachers showed excellent sensitivity to pupils' needs, displayed communication skills of a very high order and were extremely skilled in engaging pupils' interest. Across the service, teachers nearly always manage pupils' behaviour skilfully and convey high expectations. On the few occasions where teaching is only satisfactory, planning lacks the depth found in most lessons and staff do not use the sanctions available to them to deal firmly with

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Grade: 2

inappropriate behaviour. A satisfactory range of accredited courses is offered within the service, including GCSE and key skills courses. These opportunities are supplemented exceptionally well through the outstanding partnerships the service has established with colleges, training providers and local businesses. The extent of these links ensures that courses and activities can be matched very closely to the learning needs of individual pupils. As a result, the positive experiences pupils have in Years 10 and 11 contribute considerably to the high proportion who go on to further education, training or employment when they leave the service. Pupils receive outstanding care, guidance and support. The service meets safeguarding requirements and works exceptionally well with a wide range of agencies to promote pupils' personal development. Pupils develop increasingly positive attitudes to learning as they build

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Grade: 2

trusting relationships with the staff and gain greater self-awareness. Their personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is good. They make appreciable improvements in their behaviour and generally behave well. Behaviour is outstanding in the 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009 best lessons and only a minority of pupils behave at times in ways that are likely to disrupt learning. Pupils have a good understanding of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and know the importance of keeping safe. At the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, short-stay pupils help teachers to identify their learning needs, and pupils at the secondary pupil referral unit are encouraged to reflect on their personal qualities and set themselves targets, for instance identifying skills and achievements in their progress file achievement planners. The service

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Grade: 2

gives many pupils a chance to succeed where previously they faced certain educational failure and, thus, prepares them well for future economic well-being. The service has recently put in place a number of measures to improve attendance and punctuality, which has brought about a distinct improvement in punctuality and some improvement in attendance. The attendance rate across the service is satisfactory overall and most pupils attend regularly. However, the unauthorised absence of a minority of pupils, mainly at the secondary pupil referral unit, reduces their achievement. Staff seek to build relationships with parents through home visits and regular communication, and most parents have positive views about the service's work. The service promotes community cohesion well. Pupils make a good contribution to the extended community that makes up the Harrow Tuition Service. For instance, pupils in the primary pupil

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Grade: 2

referral unit have created a magazine for children at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and older pupils take it in turns to prepare refreshments for everyone to share. Through its links with a range of external agencies, the service encourages pupils to play a positive role in society and seeks to connect with hard-to-reach members of the community. Visits by a range of organisations teach pupils about choices and consequences, death and bereavement, animal rights, the environment, disability, life choices, respect and social responsibility. Twenty pupils from the Harrow Tuition Service successfully took part in a week-long course, run by local firefighters, to raise their awareness of issues within the community, and one pupil gained a Jack Petchey Achievement Award as a result. Through the youth service, pupils learn to cooperate with others beyond the Centre, undertaking a variety of challenges, such as problem

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Grade: 2

solving and orienteering. Pupils at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital have some very good opportunities to expand their horizons by working, for instance, with visitors from the National Gallery, the Imperial War Museum and the Bethnal Green Toy Museum. The service is generally accurate in judging its own effectiveness and identifies the right priorities for development. During the self-evaluation week that is held each term, the views of pupils are gathered to complement senior leaders' own monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning. When observing lessons, leaders use helpful criteria provided by the local authority on what makes for good teaching, but they do not always analyse the findings closely enough to identify the impact of teaching on pupils' academic achievement. Pupils' behaviour and personal development are carefully tracked, and staff regularly assess and record pupils'

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Grade: 2

attainment. The service has begun to seek ways of collating information about the attainment and progress of different groups of pupils within the many different strands of its provision. It is at an early stage, however, in developing a coherent system that evaluates the impact of academic, vocational and work-related opportunities on pupils' progress. The complexity of the service makes this difficult but it is a necessary development if the service is to fulfil its intention of becoming outstanding. Based on a good track record of improvement since the last inspection, the service is well placed to develop further. 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Take further action to improve pupils' attendance, especially at the secondary pupil referral unit. ■ Strengthen self-evaluation by developing more coherent methods for measuring the progress pupils make academically, in vocational courses and work-related learning. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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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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needs of learners?

Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well being? 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 3 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/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 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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learners' needs?

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 2 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 2 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

13 July 2009 Dear Pupils Inspection of Harrow Tuition Service,Harrow,HA1 2LS Thank you for making me welcome when I came to visit the tuition service to find out how well you are getting on. I enjoyed my time there, visiting the primary and secondary pupil referral units (PRUs), the Helix Centre and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. The tuition service provides a good education. For those of you who attend the PRUs and the Helix Centre, the service helps many of you to avoid permanent exclusion from school or prepare for a successful return to mainstream school. It helps those of you in Years 10 and 11 to get qualifications and vocational skills so that you can go on to further education, training or work when you leave. For those of you who are patients at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital or who receive home tuition, it helps you to continue with your education until you are well enough to be back at school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

You make good progress because the teaching is good and the staff provide you with a lot of support. This helps you to make very good improvements in your behaviour and to see learning in a more positive light. Most of you attend regularly but a few of you, especially at the secondary PRU, miss some sessions and this means that you make less progress than you should. All the adults in the service, including the headteacher, teachers and support staff, work hard to make things as good as possible for you. I have asked them to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ take further steps to make sure everyone attends regularly, especially at the secondary PRU;

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ find ways to measure the progress that individuals and different groups of you make as a result of all the different parts of the service's work. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time at Harrow Tuition Service and that you remember to keep working hard and attend regularly. Yours faithfully Ms M J Goodchild Lead Inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Harrow Tuition Service, 2 July 2009

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