The Key Education Centre

Quayside Education Centre Inspection report

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133778 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 328764 Inspection number 25–26 November 2008 Inspection dates Bill Stoneham 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 81 School (total) The local authority Appropriate authority Mrs Linda Alavi Headteacher 9 November 2005 Date of previous school inspection Mill Lane School address Gosport PO12 4AF 023 9252 8653 Telephone number 023 9252 9748 Fax number

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5–16 Age group 25–26 November 2008 Inspection dates 328764 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 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Quayside Education Centre offers three services. The main Quayside Centre in Gosport provides for students aged 11 to 16 who have been permanently excluded, or who are at risk of permanent exclusion, from secondary schools. This centre was the prime focus for inspection. Quayside Emotionally Vulnerable Unit caters for the needs of emotionally vulnerable students of secondary school age who are unable to attend mainstream schools. This service is located in shared facilities in Fareham, some four miles from the Gosport base. In addition, individual tutors based at the Quayside Centre provide one-to-one tuition for students aged 5 to16 who are at home for a variety of reasons. This service was not formally inspected but key staff were consulted. Nearly all students are from White British backgrounds and boys outnumber girls by about three to one. The majority of students have special educational needs, usually associated with

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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Grade: 2

Quayside Education Centre provides a good level of education. There are some outstanding features of this provision. These include the quality of the care, guidance and support, partnership work, and the powerful leadership of the headteacher. All three services offer high quality education. This is despite the fact that the two main centres are housed in accommodation that is so poor that it substantially impedes the curriculum provision that otherwise would be outstanding. In turn, this constrains the overall effectiveness of an otherwise excellent service. Students entering the service have usually had a disrupted education and their standards of work are frequently exceptionally low. By the time they leave, their attainment levels have risen and are closer to the national average. Most students gain some qualifications, including some GCSE passes. In relation to their starting points, the progress students make is good.

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Grade: 2

Students' good achievement stems from the outstanding care, guidance and support offered. All staff are supportive of the students, especially in terms of helping them to adjust to their situations and encouraging them to develop friendships. There is an excellent reward system and students are encouraged to take responsibility, especially for their own actions. Supporting this is a wealth of other measures to offer help and encouragement. Very good work is done in terms of careers advice. This collaborative support helps the students to progress to the next stage of their education, or to enter the world of work This is particularly impressive for some students, who were predicted to gain no qualifications. Levels of academic monitoring are especially strong and detailed. This is an area where significant improvement has been made since the previous inspection. The use of targets, and the monitoring of them, is thorough and

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Grade: 2

effective in raising standards. The good progress made by the students also results from good teaching and a good curriculum. All teaching and learning seen during the inspection was good. Teachers are confident and knowledgeable. In lessons, the set tasks challenge and extend the students. Teaching staff have high expectations of the students and this aids learning. Staff have worked extremely hard, in difficult conditions, to provide a curriculum at both sites that meets students' needs. The accommodation is inadequate in terms of size and resources. It is not possible for the service to provide all students with a full-time education, and the provision for subjects like science, art and physical education is hindered by poor facilities and resources. The service has successfully tackled many obstacles by working with numerous partners and providing off-site options. Such enterprising approaches have assisted the students, but the poor accommodation,

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Grade: 2

which has been highlighted on many occasions, limits what can be done and means that the curriculum can be no better than good. Despite these limitations, the curriculum offers a good balance between academic study, vocational work and extra-curricular activity such as sport. Good provision is made for the students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, especially through the cultural studies course. Other good aspects of the service's work are the way students' responsibility is developed, and the contribution that is made to community cohesion, through the student council for example. The students take responsibility for their own environment and they raise money for local charities. Though the accommodation is poor in quality, it is well cared for and this reflects well on the attitudes of the students. Leadership and management are good. The service is led by an outstanding headteacher who

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Grade: 2

is well supported by a dedicated, committed and hard-working staff. Senior staff have produced 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008 a good improvement plan and there is a good commitment to raising academic standards and achievement. Self-evaluation is good. Good improvement has been made since the previous inspection and the centre provides good value for money. There is a good capacity for further improvement. The management committee are supportive and they recognise the challenge that faces them in the need to work with the local authority to engineer a real improvement in accommodation. Quayside Education Centre is successfully changing the lives of vulnerable youngsters. All respondents to the inspection questionnaire were fulsome in their praise, with some highlighting the very good work undertaken by the home tuition service. One parent was so impressed with

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Grade: 2

this service that she commented that one of the staff deserves to be canonised. Other respondents praised the outstanding care, dedication and unfailing support provided by the staff in all three services.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Tackle the accommodation issues with urgency to ensure that all students are offered a full-time education and a curriculum that is adequately resourced.

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Grade: 2

Most students have experienced considerable disruption to their education prior to entering the centre, and their levels of prior attainment are usually exceptionally low. Once they enter the service, every student is given considerable encouragement to adopt good study practices. The students receive good support and they are offered appropriate opportunities to study GCSE and other qualifications. At both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, the range of courses available offers the students appropriate opportunities to be reintegrated into mainstream education, or progress to the world of work, or to further education. Work seen during the inspection showed standards to be below average, but not greatly so, and improving. In relation to their starting points, the progress students make is good. Most leave the service at the end of key Stage 4 with some GCSE passes. The standards students reach while in the service, while

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Grade: 2

remaining below average do improve and levels of achievement are good.

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Grade: 2

Both buildings used by the service offer calm and welcoming working environments. The students engage in a friendly manner with each other, with staff and with visitors. Students say they enjoy attending; they feel safe and valued and they are appreciative of the encouragement offered. Attendance is average but is improving. Many students have greatly boosted their attendance since joining the service; many now have attendance records that are close to, or even exceed, the national average. A small minority, however, do not have such good attendance habits and this has a detrimental effect on their learning. Students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. This aspect of personal development is promoted well through cultural studies, which includes personal, social and health education, and religious education. Students are constantly encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions.

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Grade: 2

The strong emphasis placed on personal development and responsibility is seen in the students' good behaviour. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008 Despite the severe limitation on outdoor facilities at both sites, participation in physical activities is good. The students understand the importance of physical education in keeping healthy. They know about balanced diets and they have a good understanding of the ill effects of smoking and of drug and alcohol abuse. The students are confident that their views matter. They like having their own council and they appreciate all the help and encouragement given to them by their staff. Sterling work is done to prepare the youngsters for life beyond the age of 16, but preparation for their future economic well-being is no better than satisfactory because of the difficulties that many continue to encounter in their basic skills of literacy and numeracy.

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Grade: 2

In all three services and across all key stages, students make good progress because they are consistently well taught. Staff expectations are high, suitably challenging work is set, lesson planning is good, and the students are keen and eager to participate. All lessons observed were good, with staff taking care to ensure that key language was understood by highlighting and displaying key words. In some lessons, the learning outcomes were either not displayed, or were listed but not referred to, and recap sessions were not used consistently. In all other respects, learning benefited from the thoroughness of the teaching. Classrooms are peaceful and are well presented, often with thoughtful displays of students' work.

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Grade: 2

The inadequate accommodation at both sites severely impairs the quality of the curriculum and results in some students not receiving their full entitlement in terms of time. Senior managers are acutely aware of these limitations and have worked tirelessly to ensure good provision. By working with many partners, both in the public and private sector, the service has managed to improve provision markedly by having many students educated off-site for substantial parts of each week. As a result of these exceptional efforts, the curriculum does meet the varying and complex needs of the students and helps them reintegrate into mainstream education, or to progress to employment or further education. The National Curriculum is followed, with the students able to study the core subjects of English, mathematics and science. A suitable range of other subjects, including various vocational options, is available. The inadequate

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Grade: 2

accommodation, however, means that facilities for teaching science, art and aspects of physical education are woefully inadequate.

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Grade: 1

Care, guidance and support are outstanding. The quality of pastoral care is excellent. Highly successful and extensive partnerships with a range of agencies are very well organised to deal with the students' social and emotional circumstances. The centre's multi-agency approach and use of outside professional agencies successfully enhances the quality of support. High-quality and effective personal and careers advice and guidance helps students back into mainstream school, or into the best options available in education, work or training at the end of Year 11. Staff act swiftly to address any antisocial behaviour such as bullying, though such incidents are rare. The reintegration of students into mainstream education is managed very 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008 well and is praised by local secondary schools. Academic support is similarly outstanding. Detailed but pragmatic systems for tracking all aspects of students' work, attendance and

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Grade: 1

behaviour are in place. The students know their target examination grades well. These procedures make a significant contribution to the progress made by the students in their learning and the improvements that are recorded in attendance and behaviour. The sensitiveness and effectiveness of the care, guidance and support available is hard to fault. All current government guidelines on child protection are met, and the provision for ensuring health and safety is good.

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Grade: 2

The leadership offered by the headteacher is outstanding and she is extremely well supported by all her staff. Together they form a highly effective and dedicated team who are fully committed to improving the lives of groups of students, many of whom are vulnerable and have had problems in dealing with daily life. The service has improved well since its previous inspection and these improvements have been made against the backdrop of the inadequate accommodation. The centre's current management committee has only recently been formed. They are supportive of the centre's work and are aware of the severe accommodation issues. They are developing their role as critical friends, but they have the additional challenge of working with the local authority to ensure that accommodation is substantially improved, so that all students can be offered a full and properly resourced curriculum. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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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 3 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 3 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

09 December 2008 Dear Students Inspection of Quayside Education Centre,Gosport,PO12 4AF Thank you for the welcome you gave me on my recent visit. I enjoyed learning about the work you are doing. You receive a good standard of education and there are some outstanding features. The service is very well led by your excellent headteacher and her very good staff are all working hard to help you. Overall, your standards of work are below average, but you are making good progress in your studies. You are given excellent support in your work and I was impressed by the reward system and the way that staff monitor your work, attendance and behaviour. Many of you have at least satisfactory attendance records and your behaviour is good. Your work also benefits from some excellent partnerships that have been established, with local colleges for example. I have suggested one important area for improvement. Your accommodation is not fit for

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

purpose, and this limits the quality of the curriculum offered to you. I am recommending that your accommodation be improved as a matter of urgency, so that a better-resourced curriculum can be provided. Thank you for your contribution to this inspection. I really enjoyed meeting you all. I enjoyed hearing about the work of the student council and I would like to wish you every success in your future endeavours. Yours sincerely Bill Stoneham Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Quayside Education Centre, 25–26 November 2008

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