Hendon Brook School Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management at all levels, including governance, by:
  • establishing a culture of high ambition for all pupils which is communicated to and shared by everyone: staff, pupils and parents
  • ensuring that school leaders have a well-informed strategic plan that provides clear direction for the school and will move it forward
  • ensuring that self-evaluation is based on an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses
  • ensuring that they have up-to-date, reliable information about key aspects of the school’s performance, including pupils’ academic achievement, behaviour and attendance
  • reviewing the school’s performance regularly and using the outcomes of these reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic plan and hold senior leaders to account
  • taking urgent and decisive action to stabilise staffing, ensuring that finances are used well to put in place a staffing structure which distributes responsibilities appropriately
  • providing middle leaders with the time, resources and support to ensure that they contribute to the raising of standards in their subjects across the school
  • making sure that classroom monitoring focuses on the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning
  • ensuring that there is a suitable policy and procedures in place so that pupils’ attendance improves rapidly
  • making sure that the school’s website meets statutory requirements and provides parents with frequent, useful information about the school and what their children are doing
  • providing relevant training and support for governors and senior leaders to enable them to fulfil their duties effectively
  • checking regularly on the progress that all the different groups of pupils make and taking swift action if any group are not achieving as well as they should
  • making sure that the additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, as well as that intended to improve primary physical education and sport provision, is well used so it improves outcomes for pupils.
  • Improve teaching, learning and assessment to ensure that all groups of pupils, especially the disadvantaged and the most able, make much better progress than at present by ensuring that all teachers:
    • have the highest expectations of what pupils can achieve
    • assess pupils’ work and learning accurately and set them work which is well matched to their abilities
    • plan learning which engages and challenges pupils, particularly the most able
    • plan work which pupils find interesting and purposeful so that they develop positive attitudes to learning, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics
    • make sure that pupils make better progress in reading, comprehension and writing composition as a result of a frequent and specific focus on the development and assessment of these skills
    • provide opportunities for pupils to investigate and solve problems, think for themselves and develop fluency in the fundamentals of mathematics
    • make sure that pupils know how to improve their work and are given timely opportunities to respond to teachers’ advice and correct mistakes
    • meet the requirements set out in the teachers’ standards
    • have a secure understanding of the age group they are working with and the relevant subject knowledge
    • closely scrutinise the impact of the interventions employed to help pupils catch up to ensure that they are making a positive difference, particularly to pupils with low starting points
    • plan a cohesive curriculum, which meets the needs of pupils and enables teachers to build on pupils’ prior learning across the full range of subjects
    • plan lessons effectively so that lesson time is well used to optimise pupils’ learning
    • ensure that activities are planned to develop pupils’ positive attitudes to learning and develop essential behaviours for learning, including resilience, independence and perseverance. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management maybe improved. An external review of the school’s use of pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Senior leaders and governors have failed to take the decisive action required following the findings of the previous inspection. Too often they have hidden behind excuses rather than actively seeking out solutions to the challenges faced by the school. Consequently, the school’s effectiveness has declined since the previous inspection.
• Senior leaders and governors have failed to stabilise the high turnover of staff. A significant proportion of staff are on temporary contracts or hired from supply agencies, many working for relatively short periods of time at the school. Moreover, senior leaders and governors have allowed the absence of key senior staff to exacerbate the issues further. Consequently, any improvements have not been sustained.
• The lack of effective strategic leadership by senior leaders and governors has directly contributed to the school’s decline. Too much time is being spent by the headteacher dealing with day-to-day operational tasks.
• Leaders do not have a deep and accurate understanding of the school’s performance. The school’s self-evaluation exemplifies leaders’ and governors’ ignorance of the school’s current inadequate performance. Leaders’ failure to identify the school’s strengths and weaknesses accurately means that the strategic plan does not prioritise the school’s most pressing issues.
• Senior leaders and governors have been too slow in implementing a reliable system to check pupils’ progress. Leaders have put in place a new system this academic year. However, they have not carried out the necessary checks to make certain that teachers are carrying out the assessments correctly and the results are reliable. Furthermore, leaders are not making use of the information provided. For example, no one is analysing assessment and tracking information to evaluate the performance of different groups of pupils. As a result, the school’s weak assessment practice continues.
• The school’s curriculum is weak. Senior leaders have not given sufficient consideration to the design, review and implementation of the curriculum. There are too few opportunities for pupils to study subjects other than English and mathematics. Moreover, little consideration has been given to the allocation of time across the day, week and term for each subject. Senior leaders have not made sure that teachers are following the school’s curriculum plans. As a result, pupils are not acquiring the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to stand them in good stead when they move on from Hendon Brook.
• The management of the performance of teachers is not rigorous enough. This is because leaders do not have an accurate, in-depth view of weaknesses in teaching and learning. Monitoring of classroom performance is cursory and does not pay heed to the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress. Leaders do not pay sufficient attention to the quality of the work in pupils’ books, the views of pupils about learning, the appropriateness of the work set or the quality of teachers’ subject knowledge. Consequently, pupils, including the most able and disadvantaged, are not doing as well as they should because what is being taught and how it is being taught are not meeting their needs.
• Senior leaders have been too slow to develop the roles of middle leaders. Despite the lack of support, time and resources needed to carry out their roles effectively, the English and mathematics subject leaders are starting to take some responsibility for their subjects across the school. However, it is early days and the impact of their work so far is limited.
• Since September, the newly appointed special educational needs coordinator has taken decisive action to address the backlog of referrals for statutory assessment. She has refined and improved the school’s systems and procedures. However, the special needs coordinator has not had the time or resources to evaluate the quality of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities in school. Consequently, the school is unsure of the impact of additional funding for this group of pupils.
• The additional funding for physical education (PE) and sports is being used to fund a sports coach, provide additional lunchtime activities and purchase playground equipment to encourage pupils to be more active at break and lunchtimes. Pupils talked enthusiastically about the range of sports clubs available. However, the school have not monitored or analysed the impact of these resources on pupils’ rates of participation or attainment in sport.
• The school strives to promote equality of opportunity. Unfortunately, leaders fall a long way short of this aim. This is due to their lack of understanding of the barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils. It is also as a result of leaders’ tardiness in securing additional resources for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and failure to ensure that the most able achieve the high standards of which they are capable.
• Pupils enjoy meeting the visitors who come to school. They talk enthusiastically about the multi-faith days they have taken part in. Pupils look forward to trips and visits, including going to watch the pantomime and visiting a local mosque. The school council planned a range of activities, including a cake sale, to raise money for Comic Relief.
• Pupils are encouraged to keep up to date with current affairs, but teachers do not expose pupils to a range of news sources. Instead, pupils are limited to watching a children’s news programme on a daily basis. This is hampering older pupils’ ability to find things out for themselves and to learn how to discriminate between reliable and unreliable sources.
• Opportunities for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and the promotion of British values are limited by weak teaching and a disjointed curriculum

Governance of the school

• Governors have not fulfilled their statutory duty and requirement to provide the best possible education for the pupils at the school.
• Governors have failed to take decisive and timely action to address staffing issues. Governors have allowed the headteacher to take on the day-to-day management of too many key aspects of the school’s work. As a result, any improvements made in the early days following the previous inspection have been squandered.
• Governors have not monitored and evaluated the work of senior leaders carefully enough. Governors have not checked on the school’s performance thoroughly or made sure that the areas of weakness identified at the previous inspection have been eradicated. Consequently, governors have allowed standards to decline further.
• Governors are unsure about how effectively additional funding for disadvantaged pupils, PE and sport and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is being spent.
• Despite the school commissioning an external review of governance following the previous inspection, governance remains weak.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school carries out checks on all staff before they take up post, to make sure that they are suitable to work with children. Leaders make sure that staff are up to date in their training and know what to do if they have any concerns about a child. The designated safeguarding leads have developed good partnerships with external agencies.
• Leaders seek advice and guidance to make sure that they deal with all concerns appropriately. Parents value the support that they receive from the school’s family support worker. Pupils are confident to speak to an adult if they have any worries. Pupils agree that teachers are swift to address any issues before they escalate, for example name-calling. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe online as well as on the road and near water. Pupils, parents and staff agree that pupils are safe and well cared for.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

• Far too much of the teaching is weak. At key stage 2, teachers’ expectations of pupils are too low. Teachers are too quick to use pupils’ challenging behaviour as an excuse for planning tasks which are dull, repetitive and too easy. Too often, teachers miss opportunities to plan learning with purposeful activities which capitalise on pupils’ interests.
• In mathematics at key stage 2, pupils spend too much time completing similar calculations. Despite pupils getting most, if not all, of these correct, teachers do not move them on quickly enough to more difficult work. There is very little evidence of pupils being given opportunities to develop their mathematical thinking through reasoning and problem-solving.
• At key stage 2, teachers rely on online learning programmes to develop pupils’ reading skills. Teachers are not ensuring that pupils are accessing a range of literature including plays, poetry and non-fiction to develop their understanding of language, including vocabulary. Although adults do hear pupils read on a one-to-one basis, the lack of formal teaching of reading is hampering pupils’ progress.
• Pupils have too few opportunities to develop their skills as writers in key stage 2. Although pupils spend time completing activities to improve their grasp of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, they are not using this knowledge to improve the effectiveness of their writing. Teachers are not teaching pupils to develop their skills as writers by teaching pupils how to plan, draft, evaluate and edit their work.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge is weak. Teachers do not plan lessons which foster and maintain pupils’ interest in the subject. They do not demonstrate a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of how to teach English and mathematics. They are not skilled in using questioning effectively and reshaping tasks so that they continually move pupils’ learning forward.
• Teachers fail to make accurate and productive use of assessment. At key stage 2, teachers do not use the information available to them about pupils’ previous learning to help them plan lessons. Teachers miss opportunities to move learning on quickly when pupils have demonstrated success in the tasks set.
• Pupils do not always understand what is expected of them, as teachers are not clear about the measures of success. The targets set for pupils have little impact on their achievement. Pupils’ academic targets are often overly simplistic, not related to the tasks teachers set and reviewed infrequently. The most able older pupils have a very limited understanding about what they need to achieve to reach the expected standards by the end of Year 6.
• In key stage 1, the teacher has quite rightly prioritised the teaching of early mathematics and phonics for most pupils. She is aware of the pupils’ capabilities and previous learning. She uses this information well to plan lessons which are precisely targeted to the diverse needs of the pupils. She makes good use of pupils’ enthusiasm for outdoor play as well as table-top games to reignite their love of learning. However, the high turnover and variable expertise and experience of support staff in this class limits the effectiveness of provision.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Almost all pupils have disengaged from education when they join the school. Most have experienced failure both academically and socially. Staff are expert at rebuilding pupils’ self-confidence and self-esteem. The school employs a range of specialist staff to help pupils overcome their barriers to learning, including a speech and language therapist, a counsellor and behaviour mentors. As a result, most pupils look forward to coming to school and want to do well.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyle choices. Support staff encourage pupils to be active at break and lunchtimes, offering a range of clubs and activities. During the inspection, pupils were enjoying trying out the new outdoor exercise equipment. Pupils talked to inspectors about their learning during a recent project on healthy eating.
• Staff develop good relationships with pupils. In most classes, pupils respect their teachers and are keen to please them. Pupils are confident to ask for help and share any worries.
• Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe online. Teachers make sure that they give pupils regular reminders about how to act responsibly, particularly when playing games online at home. Visits from the local police and fire brigade help pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe in their local community, including near roads and water.
• Staff help pupils to develop a good understanding of right and wrong. Pupils told inspectors that no one is treated differently because of their faith or culture. When pupils do call each other names, staff make sure that pupils understand why racist, sexist and homophobic language is unacceptable. Pupils are adamant that any very rare incidents of bullying would be dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Older pupils are proud of the contribution they make to the local community through their work at the local nature reserve. Pupils enjoy the visitors who come to the school, including local faith leaders and visitors from local and national charities. Although pupils have visited the local theatre and mosque, pupils are frustrated that the school does not make good use of the wealth of local amenities to enhance their learning experiences, including galleries and museums.
• The work of the school’s family worker is appreciated by parents and carers. Parents who responded to the online survey and spoke to inspectors value the frequent communication between school and home. Some parents told inspectors how the school’s work had not just helped their child, but also made a positive difference to family life.
• The school does not provide enough opportunities for pupils to develop resilience and perseverance. Teachers shy away from setting work which challenges pupils. Therefore teachers do not capitalise on the success they have in settling pupils into school successfully and getting them ready to learn. Moreover, for those pupils who are ready, there are not enough opportunities to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Pupils’ attendance is an issue. Too many pupils are persistently absent. Although leaders and governors have recognised this, they have not ensured that the school has an effective policy and procedures to improve attendance. Leaders and governors are unclear about which members of staff are responsible for improving attendance and what each of their roles is. Although attendance has improved slightly compared to the same time last year, it falls well below both the school’s own target and the national average.
• Although teachers record any incidents of poor behaviour, the school does not use this information to identify patterns and trends. Consequently, although staff agree that behaviour has improved, there is no evidence to support this view. In addition, leaders are not using this information to tailor support for the minority of pupils who continue to present with challenging behaviour.
• Pupils are keen to please their teachers, but where expectations are low, pupils’ attention wanders and they become distracted. Teachers encourage pupils to stay on task and complete work using a range of rewards. However, sometimes too much learning time is lost to reward time. Little effort is made to develop pupils’ intrinsic motivation to achieve academic success.
• Pupils generally behave well. Almost all pupils were permanently excluded from their previous schools. Staff are skilled in helping pupils to conform to expectations at Hendon Brook. There are high levels of staffing, both in class and at break and lunchtimes, to ensure that any issues are nipped in the bud. For the most part, pupils are polite and respectful, both to staff and each other.
• Pupils enjoy the range of clubs and activities that staff organise at break and lunchtimes. Pupils told inspectors that generally they get on well together and any fall-outs are resolved quickly.

Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

• The school does not have reliable information about the standards that pupils achieve. Too few pupils have taken part in national standardised assessments. The school has no accurate information available to provide any insight into whether standards have declined further over the past two years.
• The school introduced termly assessments for reading, writing and mathematics at the beginning of this academic year. During the inspection, it emerged that these are not being administered correctly by teachers. The headteacher admits that the school’s current and historical assessment and tracking information is inaccurate.
• Standards in writing are an ongoing problem across the school. Work in books shows that pupils do not have enough opportunities to practise writing. Pupils are rarely helped to improve their work, other than teachers correcting spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. Teachers blame the low standards on pupils’ reluctance to write. However, there are too few examples of teachers planning tasks which capitalise on pupils’ interests and enthusiasms. Moreover, there are few opportunities for pupils to write extensively across the curriculum, as the low-level tasks set limit pupils’ responses.
• In mathematics in key stage 2, teachers do not take pupils’ prior learning into account when planning learning. Pupils told inspectors that they are often given tasks that cover concepts they have already grasped or work that is too easy. Pupils spend very little time reasoning and problem-solving and becoming fluent in fundamental principles. Teachers use pupils’ behaviour as an excuse for not setting more-challenging tasks.
• Key stage 2 pupils do not develop their proficiency in reading quickly enough. Teachers rely on online reading programmes which do not provide the face-to-face teaching needed to develop independent, fluent and enthusiastic readers. The weak curriculum means that teachers do not develop pupils’ understanding and enjoyment of stories, plays, poetry and non-fiction. The lack of systematic, effective teaching of reading skills limits pupils’ potential to improve.
• Current weaknesses in teaching mean that all groups of pupils at key stage 2, including boys, girls, disadvantaged pupils, most-able pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not achieve as well as other pupils nationally with similar starting points.
• The limited curriculum offer and weak teaching mean that pupils do not achieve well in subjects other than English and mathematics.
• Pupils in key stage 1 fare better. Work in books and reliable assessment information confirm that these pupils make good progress from their starting points when they join the school in reading, writing and mathematics. Daily, focused phonics lessons ensure that pupils grasp new sounds quickly. Moreover, the development of well-planned opportunities to learn outdoors and a range of problem-solving activities are helping pupils to secure their knowledge and skills with numbers. As a result, these pupils are catching up the ground lost in their early years.
• The school cannot evidence whether the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is making a positive difference.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 119110 Lancashire 10032210 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Pupil referral unit School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Pupil referral unit 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 33 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Tony Harrison Nicola Fielding 01282 693432 www.hendonbrook.lancs.sch.uk head@hendonbrook.lancs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 24–25 March 2015

Information about this school

• The school caters for boys and girls who have been permanently excluded from school. A small number of pupils who are at risk of permanent exclusion also attend the school.
• An increasing number of pupils have an education, health and care plan. A number of pupils are in the process of statutory assessment for a plan.
• The proportion of pupils entitled to support through the pupil premium is above the national average.
• The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The deputy headteacher was absent from school at the time of the inspection.
• There has been considerable turbulence in staffing since the previous inspection. A number of staff are on supply or have temporary contracts, including two teachers and the bursar.
• Three new governors have been appointed since the previous inspection.
• The school does not meet requirements on its website on the publication of the following: information about pupil performance, curriculum, the measures determined by the headteacher under section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2005, pupil premium grant, PE and sport premium grant, governance arrangements and equality objectives.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning across the school, including joint lesson observations with the headteacher.
• Discussions were held with the headteacher, middle leaders and members of the governing body.
• Inspectors also spoke to a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors examined a wide range of documentation, including that relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance, school improvement planning and assessment information.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils informally during the school day and observed them during playtime and lunchtime. An inspector also met formally with a group of pupils.
• Inspectors heard a number of pupils read.
• Inspectors checked a range of pupils’ books with the headteacher.
• Inspectors spoke with a number of parents during the inspection and considered the five responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire.
• Inspectors spoke with a group of staff and also considered the 16 responses they received to the inspection questionnaire for school staff.

Inspection team

Pippa Jackson Maitland, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Bernard Robinson Ofsted Inspector