8 June 2007 Mr W Chatwin Principal Elmete Wood BESD ... - Ofsted

CfBT Inspection Services
Suite 22
West Lancs Investment
Centre
Maple View
Skelmersdale
WN8 9TG
8 June 2007
Mr W Chatwin
Principal
Elmete Wood BESD SILC
Elmete Lane
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS8 2LJ
Dear Mr Chatwin
Special Measures: Monitoring Inspection of Elmete Wood BESD SILC
Introduction
Following my visit with Jan Bennett HMI to your centre on 6 and 7 June 2007, I write
on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector to confirm the inspection findings.
The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the centre became subject to
special measures in February 2007.
This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website. Please inform the Regional
Inspection Service Provider of any factual inaccuracies within 24 hours of the receipt
of this letter.
Evidence
Inspectors observed the centre’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the
principal and other senior leaders, a group of pupils, two governors, two
representatives from the local authority and the consultant headteacher.
Context
The centre currently has four temporary teachers and ten temporary support staff.
The principal is working in earnest with the local authority’s human resources team
to resolve personnel issues and there are promising signs that progress is being
made. A consultant headteacher appointed by the local authority has been working
with the senior leadership team since April 2007. The senior management team has
not been consistently at full complement since January 2005 due to staff absence.
The centre’s re-designation from provision for pupils with moderate learning
Version 1 – April 2007
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difficulties to provision for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties
(BESD) since September 2004 has come to fruition; from January 2007, all of the
pupils at the centre now have BESD needs, with the severity of recent referrals
increasing.
Achievement and standards
Although pupils are assessed against the levels of the National Curriculum, the centre
is concerned that some of these assessments are inaccurate. It is therefore
reviewing its assessment arrangements and training is planned to develop staff’s
skills in accurately assessing pupils’ attainment. The achievement data held on pupils
are at an individual level and are not collated in a form that enable senior managers
to analyse them for patterns and trends. For these reasons, it is difficult for the
centre to be confident in judging the progress made by the pupils. The discontinuity
many of the pupils have experienced in their education, along with the poor
attendance of some, means that the progress they make has been significantly
hampered. Nevertheless, inspectors’ observations of lessons showed that the
progress of pupils was very mixed but satisfactory overall. Pupils with the least
pronounced behavioural difficulties make most progress; the progress made by many
of these pupils is good. The most challenging pupils make least progress. The
standards of most of the pupils are below those of a similar age nationally, although
there is a very small number whose abilities in some subjects compare favourably
with national expectations.
Personal development and well-being
The pupils’ attitudes and behaviour in lessons were mixed. In lessons on the Elmete
Lane site, where pupils with the lesser behavioural difficulties are based, attitudes
and behaviour were generally never less than satisfactory and sometimes good.
Other pupils’ behaviour and attitudes were often satisfactory but some displayed
very poor behaviour at times; more pupils were obstreperous and disengaged from
the lessons at the Stonegate Road site. The management of behaviour by staff was
generally effective, although on occasion there was a lack of clarity given to pupils
about behaviour that was acceptable and that which was not. Attendance this year is
around 76% but this masks significant variations between the centre’s sites. The
pupils at Elmete Lane site average 84% whilst at Stonegate Road attendance is
particularly low at 51%. This is in part due to the persistent absence of some pupils
who attend very rarely if at all. The centre is working with the local authority’s
education welfare service and an audit of provision has been undertaken. A group of
pupils were interviewed on the Elmete Lane site and they say they enjoy lessons and
recognise that the centre’s meals have become more healthy.
Quality of provision
Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall. There are reliable indications that the
quality of teaching at the Elmete Lane site has improved; in the lessons observed,
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teachers carefully planned a good range of activities to motivate pupils. Information
and communication technology (ICT) was used well to capture pupils’ interest.
Lesson plans were detailed and the best included objectives for individual pupils that
were carefully tailored to their needs. Many pupils were making good progress and
enjoying their learning. Behaviour support workers and teachers worked well
together to manage behaviour effectively and to create a good learning environment.
Teaching observed at the Stonegate Road site, however, was not better than
satisfactory. Relationships between the staff and pupils were at least sound and
sometimes good and staff’s commitment to the pupils was clear. They provided good
role models for the pupils. Lessons were prepared using the centre’s agreed format
and, in the main, lesson objectives were helpfully measurable. However, lessons
lacked excitement and failed to motivate the pupils sufficiently well. They were
hampered by the limited availability of interactive whiteboards and staff talked of the
unreliability of computer equipment. Lesson plans did not include targets for
individuals, despite their being few pupils in the lessons. All staff have received some
training in assessment for learning and further training is planned. In the best
lessons, teachers are already using assessment to improve learning and
achievement. For example, skilful questioning is used well to consolidate and check
on learning and to stretch the most able pupils. Across the centre, however,
assessment for learning is underdeveloped.
The centre has taken satisfactory steps to strengthen the curriculum since the
inspection. Despite the long-term absence of key staff, a sensible interim programme
for personal, social, health and citizenship education (PSHCE) has been introduced
that includes modules on sex education and staying healthy. A new PSHCE
curriculum is being devised, with the support of specialist staff from the local
authority; this will be introduced in September. There is still work to be done to train
teachers and develop resources to support the new programme. The staffing
problems in physical education continue but the centre is maintaining the provision
for pupils to take appropriate exercise each week with an instructor. Sporting
enrichment activities have been suitably enhanced. A centre football team now plays
fixtures against mainstream schools and arrangements have been made for pupils to
access sporting activities, in the evening and during holidays, at venues close to their
homes. A review of vocational off-site provision is under way, as some of the existing
provision is no longer appropriate to the changing needs of Elmete’s pupils.
Meanwhile, additional qualifications in subjects such as ICT are being offered at the
centre as an alternative to some of the less appropriate off-site provision.
The centre has recently established partnership agreements with a number of other
agencies to help coordinate support to meet the pupils’ needs. These are promising
arrangements but their impact is not yet evident. Each pupil has a behavioural target
which is very regularly reviewed. Impressively, all the pupils interviewed were able to
cite their current targets. However, the centre’s arrangements for devising academic
targets and sharing these with pupils are underdeveloped. These are not
systematically used by all teaching staff and do not inform planning sufficiently well.
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The pupils say that the centre’s rules are clear and well administered and that they
value the rewards they can earn through the points system. They report that any
bullying is effectively and swiftly dealt with by staff.
Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in February 2007:
� Ensure pupils achieve well by improving the quality of teaching and the
curriculum - satisfactory progress
Leadership and management
The atmosphere in the centre is positive and upbeat and staff are rising to the
challenges facing them. Senior staff are benefiting from the support of the consultant
headteacher. The roles and responsibilities of members of the senior leadership team
have been clarified and made more equitable following a review of job descriptions.
Senior leaders are taking responsibilities for leading on the priorities in the centre’s
improvement plan, which itself is strongly linked to the areas for improvement
identified at the last inspection. The centre has concentrated in the few months since
its inspection on identifying aspects of its work which are to be evaluated and
establishing the systems to do this. Measures of outcomes are beginning to feature
more prominently in the centre’s planning and evaluations. Staff at all levels are
helpfully members of ‘change groups’, reviewing behaviour and teaching and
learning. Although these systems are promising and are beginning to be embedded,
in practice their impact is not yet sufficiently evident. The centre’s improvement plan
is a good road map for the centre in addressing its priorities. The plan has benefited
from the inclusion of short-term actions and measures of success and there are
regular evaluations of the progress made. Senior staff, supported by the local
authority’s advisers, have developed their skills in monitoring lessons and planning,
and a schedule of monitoring is being implemented. The centre has utilised the local
authority’s service to place some pupils with alternative providers. However, there
are insufficiently robust arrangements for monitoring their attendance and progress.
Senior staff recognise that better use could be made of the data that is collected.
The work of middle managers is inconsistent and is affected by staff absence.
However, the linking of senior staff to curriculum areas is a helpful move in
supporting curriculum leaders and in holding them to account. The governors have
received some training and more is to be delivered by the consultant headteacher to
help the governors develop their role as a ‘critical friend’ of the centre.
Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in February 2007:
� Establish robust systems to monitor the effectiveness of the SILC and its impact
on learning and achievement - satisfactory progress
� Make the workload of the leadership team more equitable and effective -
satisfactory progress
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External support
The local authority has tackled the points identified in Ofsted’s response to its
original statement of action and this now meets requirements. Since the inspection in
February 2007, the local authority has bolstered its support of the centre through the
appointment of a consultant headteacher and the allocation of an additional school
improvement adviser. Along with the centre’s nominated adviser they are each
supporting an identified member of the centre’s senior leadership team in driving
forward plans to address the points for development from the last inspection. The
centre is further supported by the local authority’s consultants, psychology and
assessment service, health initiatives team, human resources team and an advanced
skills teacher. There have been some delays in the provision of some of this support
but, nevertheless, the centre has valued the input that has been made. The external
support for the centre has been satisfactory and has enabled it to develop
management systems and to begin to improve the quality of teaching and learning
and the curriculum. The consultant headteacher has a good view of the centre’s
strengths and weaknesses and his work is particularly valued by the senior leaders of
the centre. The arrangements for the progress of the centre to be monitored are
suitable and the minutes of the meetings of the task group and joint review group
show that the reviews are thorough and comprehensive.
Main Judgements
Progress since being subject to special measures – satisfactory progress
Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.
Priorities for further improvement
� Ensure that all staff know accurately the level at which pupils are working and
use these assessments to better track the progress pupils make.
� Develop the use of academic targets for pupils; use these in lesson planning and
convey them to the pupils.
� Improve the arrangements for monitoring the attendance and progress of pupils
placed with alternative providers.
I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the chair of governors and the
Director of Children’s Services for Leeds.
Yours sincerely
Eric Craven
H M Inspector
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