Garratt Park School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve leaders’ use of information available to them to strengthen the impact of the curriculum on learning and evaluate the impact of teaching on subjects they lead.
• Continue to focus sharply on ensuring that pupils with the poorest attendance records come to school more often.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • ensuring that teachers make consistently effective decisions about how to strengthen and deepen pupils’ skills and knowledge as soon as they are ready
  • securing further improvements in how well teachers summarise the progress pupils make for review of EHC plans.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has very recently been substantively appointed to this role after a period of acting headship. The deputy headteacher has recently left and an interview for his replacement was taking place during the inspection. Through this period of significant change, leaders and governors have maintained an accurate understanding of the school’s effectiveness and are tackling the right priorities for improvement in a competent way.
• Leaders ensure that teachers are held to account for implementing agreed assessment procedures and supporting pupils to sustain typically good progress. However, a measure of variability has emerged since the last inspection in how skilfully teachers judge the challenge and support they offer pupils in some subjects. Subject leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of teaching in their subjects. However, there are differences in the skills they employ to use this knowledge to hold teachers to account.
• The funding for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is used very well. All current pupils have education, health and care plans and the objectives set for their learning are reviewed consistently thoroughly. As a result, pupils of all ages and backgrounds make consistently strong progress whatever their starting point.
• Leaders know how well disadvantaged pupils are doing with their learning and use this information to make sensible decisions about the use of additional funding. The thorough reviews of pupils’ progress which happen each term ensure that any disadvantaged pupils whose learning, behaviour or attendance is a cause for concern are provided with timely and effective support.
• Many pupils attending the school arrive with limited abilities for independent decision- making and sometimes narrow ambitions. Leaders make sure that guidance on future careers and training options help them to grow in confidence and understand what is available to them. Pupils appreciate this guidance, though a few told inspectors that they would appreciate a wider range of subject options at key stage 4.
• The curriculum for each subject is well organised and its implementation ensures that pupils receive a broad and balanced education. The wide range of needs and starting points of pupils do not stop pupils typically acquiring good knowledge and skills across a wide range of subjects. However, leaders recognise that their work to make more coherent links between subjects and help subject leaders to be more effective in using the extensive information available to drive further improvement remains a priority.
• There is excellent provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. Pupils speak eloquently about their learning and enjoy the wide range of cultural activities which demonstrate leaders’ very high expectations. For example, older pupils are working on an art project with Tate Modern, linking visual art to dance and movement. Some pupils have given talks to the public at the museum.

Governance of the school

• The well-established governing body knows the school well and benefits from regular visits, together with clear information about the school’s current performance. Governors ensure that funding is spent well and make suitable checks on leaders’ work in meeting the school’s statutory duties.
• The work of governors is well organised, which enables them to pick up on issues and ask challenging questions of leaders. For example, they have provided suitable challenge to leaders in responding promptly to the recommendations from the recent short inspection. However, at times, governors do not have precise enough knowledge to provide even more challenge and support. The local authority uses its detailed knowledge of the school to make wise suggestions about how governors might strengthen their work.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The responses of parents, carers, staff and pupils to inspectors’ questions express a typical confidence in the way leaders work to keep pupils safe.
• Leaders make sure that staff understand how to pick up on and report concerns. This is a particularly specialist task in this school because some pupils may have difficulty in expressing or communicating concerns.
• Leaders provide pupils with lessons about how to keep themselves safe. Leaders make sure that the range of risks covered by this work reflects the predominant risks which pupils may face. They recognise that some pupils may be more vulnerable to dangerous influences on their behaviour. However, they occasionally lack attention to detail in their record-keeping.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers support pupils’ development of skills in reading, writing and mathematics well. They are relentlessly focused on helping pupils gain the skills they need to make a success of independent living in their future lives. Pupils use books appropriately and with increasing skill as they get older. Their current writing shows that they typically understand teachers’ comments aimed at helping them to improve their spelling and grammar.
• Teachers understand how to assess and support pupils to make good progress in achieving the objectives in their EHC plans. They contribute wholeheartedly to annual reviews and help pupils gain confidence in learning independently. However, there is variability in the sharpness with which some teachers summarise pupils’ progress.
• Teachers and additional adults put the agreed curriculum and learning plans into practice consistently. As a result, pupils are usually interested in lessons and remain focused on learning. However, subject teachers sometimes do not decide how and when to introduce more challenge into lessons by recognising when pupils are ready to apply their skills or deepen their understanding.
• Teachers ask questions to help them understand how well pupils are learning and to make pupils think hard. Pupils make good progress in accepting that others may have different views to their own. However, at times, teachers’ follow-up questions remain limited in depth and then pupils’ interest diminishes.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils benefit from a wide range of good opportunities to gain access to support to develop healthy lifestyles. For example, the school’s partnership with a local leisure centre means that pupils enjoy access to fitness and sporting activities frequently outside of school hours.
• Pupils understand that the internet and mobile technology present risks as well as benefits. They have a sound understanding of e-safety.
• The careers and course guidance that leaders provide is effective. It is accessible to and influential on pupils whose needs sometimes mean they need adapted resources and additional information. Objectives in EHC plans consistently cover aspects of learning which help pupils to make an early and effective start to preparing for adulthood.
• Pupils play an active part in identifying ways in which they can contribute to their school and the wider community. They think of their own ideas for raising charitable donations and benefit from the many opportunities the school offers them to experience London’s cultural life.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. They usually concentrate on learning in lessons and work hard. Around the school, pupils are polite and demonstrate pride in their school. Most pupils and parents who spoke to inspectors were positive about pupils’ behaviour.
• The work teachers put in to helping pupils understand bullying and other discriminatory behaviour ensures that pupils are not typically concerned that they will experience this in school. On occasion, some pupils do behave poorly and leaders ensure that this is responded to promptly.
• Girls, who are in a very small minority in school, say they are treated with respect by male pupils.
• Leaders have been successful in improving punctuality. Although most pupils attend well, the proportion of those who are persistently absent is not improving rapidly.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils sustain good progress because the objectives for their next steps for learning in EHC plans are effective and well assessed. This ensures that pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education and their transition to employment, education or training when they leave the school.
• Pupils typically arrive at the school with limited self-confidence and overdependence on adult support in their learning. The very effective range of specialist support and good communication between professionals ensures that pupils typically grow into assured and articulate young people.
• Disadvantaged pupils make similar progress to that of other pupils from their starting points. Leaders quickly pick up on and respond when pupils begin to struggle or miss lessons.
• Leaders have ensured that the most able pupils get the chance to try and gain a GCSE qualification in a range of subjects.
• Pupils sustain typically good progress in English, mathematics and across other curriculum subjects. However, variations exist when there has been discontinuity in staffing and when teachers do not recognise skilfully when pupils need more challenge.

16 to 19 study programmes Good

• Leaders ensure that students make good progress in their studies and professional development. They use information about their starting points well to assess which courses and experiences will suit individual students best. As a result, all students progress to appropriate destinations when they leave.
• Leaders work tenaciously with other providers to ensure that courses for leavers are accessible for them. They are also ambitious for developing the curriculum so that a wider range of subjects are offered. GCSE English literature has been introduced this year and GCSE statistics is planned to be offered from September 2019.
• Teaching is good. Teachers implement the curriculum well and assess students’ progress against objectives in their EHC plans effectively. As a result, they make good progress over time.
• Students say they appreciate the guidance and advice they receive from teaching staff. However, the same variations in the skills of teachers to decide when to provide additional challenge to students in lessons seen in the rest of the school also apply to 16 to 19 study programmes.
• Safeguarding is effective. Leaders ensure that staff are familiar with the arrangements to report any concerns. The curriculum provides good opportunities for students to understand how to keep themselves safe.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101103 Wandsworth 10083942 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Special School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Number of pupils on the school roll Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes Community 11 to 19 Mixed Mixed 180 45 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Caroline Roberts Michael Reeves 020 8946 5769 www.garrattpark.wandsworth.sch.uk/ info@garrattpark.wandsworth.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 June 2014

Information about this school

• Pupils attending the school all have moderate learning difficulties, a diagnosis of autism or speech, language and communication needs. All the students have an EHC plan.
• Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. A small proportion of these speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils entitled to the pupil premium is above the national average. The school does not use alternative provision.
• The number of boys far exceeds the number of girls on roll.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work in classes throughout the school, often alongside school leaders.
• Meetings were held with school leaders, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.
• A wide range of documentation was scrutinised relating to school improvement, assessment of pupils’ progress and safeguarding.
• Inspectors reviewed 13 written comments provided by parents, 51 staff survey responses and 83 questionnaires submitted by pupils. Inspectors took into account the 15 responses to the online Parent View survey. Meetings were held with pupils, some of whom read to inspectors. An inspector also met informally with a number of parents at the beginning of the second day of the inspection.

Inspection team

Andrew Wright, lead inspector Paula Farrow Joanna Tarrant

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector