Wathen Grange School

Wathen Grange School Independent school progress report

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DCSF registration number 937/6104 Unique Reference Number (URN) 134614 Inspection number 361295 Inspection dates 23 June 2010 Reporting inspector Declan McCarthy AI

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Published: 12 July 2010 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 08456 404040, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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T: 08456 404040 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk No. 090137 Inspection report template – progress monitoring

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Purpose and scope of the visit

This inspection visit was carried out by Ofsted under Section 162A of the Education Act 2002 1 , as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005 2 . The visit was conducted at the request of the Registration Authority for independent schools in order to monitor the progress the school has made in implementing its action plan following the previous inspection.

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Information about the school

Wathen Grange School offers day provision for a maximum of 40 students aged 11 to 16 years with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. The school operates on two sites. The original buildings in Leamington Spa, which opened in September 2000, have a tutorial unit for five students who have severe emotional difficulties and who require 1:1 tuition. The main site was established some 25 miles away in Mancetter near Atherstone in 2007. The site currently has 11 students on roll. Most of the pupils currently come from Warwickshire, Leicester City and Leicestershire. The school aims to prepare its students for social challenges, economic independence and the demands of adulthood. It also aims to offer a curriculum that broadly follows the National Curriculum while incorporating an appropriate range of knowledge, skills and experiences beyond the classroom. The school fosters partnerships with carers and other professionals who are significant in students’ lives

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Information about the school

and aims to promote positive relationships with all students. The headteacher has been absent since September 2009, and the deputy headteacher has assumed the overall leadership responsibilities as acting headteacher. She is supported in this role by the school improvement partner and a consultant headteacher.

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Context of the visit

The school was last inspected by Ofsted in May 2008. Following this inspection, the school produced an action plan that was accepted by the DCSF in July 2008. The school then had three monitoring visits to determine the extent to which it had implemented its action plan. On the third monitoring visit in December 2009, the school was judged to have made satisfactory progress in implementing its action plan which showed that it had met nearly all outstanding regulations, except for teachers’ use of assessment in planning. Since then the action plan was further reviewed and evaluated in February 2010. The purpose of this visit is to determine how well the school has implemented the revised action plan in order to meet the remaining regulation.

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Context of the visit

1 www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2002/ukpga_20020032_en_14#pt10-ch1-pb4-l1g162 2 www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2005/ukpga_20050018_en_15#sch8 Inspection report template – progress monitoring

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action plan

The school has made good progress in implementing its revised action plan following its review and evaluation in February 2010. The school held staff meetings in January 2010, to train teachers in the use of assessment of pupils’ progress, and how to use assessment information in the planning of lessons. As a result, all students now have challenging individual targets and progress against these is monitored by teachers on a termly basis. Records of progress show students are at least meeting and sometimes exceeding their targets, which indicates at least satisfactory progress in learning. Progress is recorded against National Curriculum levels for younger students and, where applicable, against grades for students’ following accredited courses.

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action plan

Termly reports are written for each student, highlighting their attainment and progress in terms of gains in knowledge, skills and understanding. Since April 2010, these have been considered by the senior leadership team, who are now regularly assessing the impact of new strategies.

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action plan

Teachers’ lesson plans, as seen in lessons and in scrutiny of subject plans, show that assessment information has been used to sharpen planning. As a result, planning focuses on more precise opportunities to meet individual needs. More consistent use of marking now informs students how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve. Subject leaders and senior leaders have scrutinised lesson plans and sampled students’ work to ensure that assessment is being used more consistently in planning. This is a good response to the issue of teachers’ use of assessment in planning, raised at the time of the last inspection.

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action plan

Safeguarding arrangements continue to meet requirements; scrutiny of the single central register of staff checks shows that vetting procedures for staff appointed since the last visit fully comply with the regulations

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school has made good progress and now meets all regulatory requirements. Inspection report template – progress monitoring

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School details

Name of school Wathen Grange School DCSF number 937/6104 Unique reference number (URN) 134614 Type of school Special day school Status Independent Date school opened 21 January 2004 Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number on roll (full-time pupils) Boys: 16 Girls: 0 Total: 16 Number on roll (part-time pupils) Boys: 0 Girls: 0 Total: 0

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special educational need

Number of pupils who are looked after Boys: 3 Girls: 0 Total: 3 Annual fees (day pupils) £55,000 Address of school Church Walk Mancetter Atherstone CV9 1PZ Telephone number 01827 714 454 Fax number 01827 716 509 Email address wathen.grange@completecare-warks.co.uk Headteacher Ms Diane Molyneux Proprietor Completecare Ltd Reporting inspector Declan McCarthy Dates of inspection 23 June 2010

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