Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School, Horsham Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management, by:
  • continuing to develop the roles of newly established middle leaders so that they have more of an impact on improving pupils’ outcomes.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher, ably supported by her deputy headteachers, has successfully created an ethos of uncompromising focus on ensuring that pupils leave the school as confident and successful learners. Leaders have been instrumental in changing the lives of pupils and their families by inspiring staff who, as a result, work tirelessly to meet every individual’s needs.
• The development of pupils’ communication skills is effective and permeates the entire curriculum. Teachers prepare well-considered opportunities for pupils to interact with staff and each other during the school day. This has an extremely positive impact on pupils’ outcomes.
• Staff have excellent professional development opportunities to hone their practice, including how they best manage some very challenging behaviours. This, together with the comprehensive induction programme, equips staff extremely well for their roles.
• Leaders ensure that school improvement is driven by the routine exchange of very effective teaching ideas at all levels of the school. This has been successful in securing rapid rates of improvement in all areas of the school’s performance, particularly pupils’ outcomes in reading.
• Leaders have implemented highly effective systems to monitor pupils’ learning and track the difference that staff are making to progress. This allows them to review how well staff are doing and identify areas that need improving. As a result, teachers and other staff are clear about what they need to do to improve and leaders hold them to account rigorously for the progress that pupils make.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a high priority for leaders. Pupils are encouraged to show respect and tolerance for each other, especially through the school’s creative arts curriculum. This is successful and prepares them exceptionally well for life in modern Britain.
• Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. All parents who expressed a view would recommend the school to another parent. On Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, almost all parents either agreed or strongly agreed that their children are well cared for, well behaved, and make good progress. One parent stated that: ‘The school is a fabulous school. It is run by remarkable staff who have the children’s best interests at heart. Whenever you go into school you can feel the positive vibes.’
• An extensive range of extra-curricular activities, combined with strong community links, prepare pupils superbly well for life beyond the school. The opportunities for pupils to participate in events such as the ‘Rock Challenge’ and ‘The Shakespeare Schools Festival’ are meaningful and significant moments for the pupils.
• Middle leaders use information about the achievement of pupils well. This helps them to identify specific priorities for improvements in teaching, linking their work closely to the aims of the school’s overall improvement plan. However, as some leaders are new the impact of their actions on improving pupils’ outcomes is not yet as developed as it could be.

Governance of the school

• Governance arrangements are highly effective. This is because the governing body provides rigorous challenge and support to leaders.
• Governors share the headteacher’s commitment to the school and its pupils. Governors are proud of the education that the school provides and have a secure knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for development.
• Governors ask probing questions of senior leaders in order to understand the effectiveness of the school’s work. They have a very accurate view of the school’s priorities for future improvement and use their expertise to help drive the school forward.
• Governors have a clear oversight of the impact that the pupil premium and sports funding have had on pupils’ outcomes and monitor the use of this funding effectively.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The headteacher ensures that all staff receive the necessary training to support them to carry out their responsibilities to safeguard children. Staff embrace this training and use their knowledge effectively to ensure that children are well looked after.
• Leaders follow up all child protection referrals tenaciously until they believe that appropriate action has taken place to ensure a pupil’s safety.
• Parents, staff and pupils are very positive about the school’s work to promote the safety and well-being of its pupils. Helpfully, the school provides an extensive amount of support to parents through a range of events and workshops that aim to increase parents’ understanding of key issues, such as online safety.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• High-quality teaching is consistent across the school. Teachers and specialist support assistants know pupils extremely well because they make excellent use of assessment information. They plan lessons that challenge pupils of all abilities and, as a result, pupils’ progress is rapid.
• Teachers plan lessons to build on pupils’ prior learning and support their likely future destinations. This helps to ensure that learning is meaningful and helps pupils make excellent progress towards gaining key life skills and independence.
• Rigorous checks on the accuracy of assessment information are routine. Evidence of pupils’ learning is collated from a wide range of sources. Teachers use this information very well to inform their planning.
• Pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties explore and develop through intensive interaction with adults. Teachers use their expertise to carefully plan activities that engage pupils in their learning through sensory stimulation. As a result, pupils make rapid progress in their communication skills.
• Teachers have very high expectations of pupils at all times. They ensure that lessons consistently meet the differing needs of pupils. Staff model activities effectively. This enables pupils to access challenging tasks and quickly move their learning on.
• Specialist support assistants add significant value to pupils’ learning. They are highly skilled and have an in-depth knowledge of the pupils they support. This enables them to question pupils precisely and deepen their learning.
• The teaching of literacy and reading is very effective. The curriculum is designed to give pupils the opportunity to communicate as much as possible. Where pupils are not able to read yet, specialist support assistants help them to understand the key aspects of a story and question them appropriately, successfully building on their pre-reading skills.
• The teaching of mathematics is also very effective. The mathematics curriculum covers a wide range of content and gives pupils the opportunity to apply key number skills outside of the school and in the local community. This helps to ensure that what they learn is useful to them in life generally.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. This is because staff have an in-depth knowledge of pupils’ needs and are able provide highly individualised programmes of support as a result.
• Staff work very effectively with a number of external professionals to ensure that pupils and their families receive the support they need, both inside and outside of school. This helps pupils to become successful learners.
• Parents spoken to during the inspection commented on the approachability of the headteacher and staff. Such comments as, ‘This is a fantastic school and my child loves going here’ typify parents’ opinions. On the rare occasion that parents are unhappy over an issue, leaders will follow up concerns until they are resolved.
• Excellent guidance ensures that pupils acquire a good understanding of what it means to stay safe and keep healthy. Pupils are able to discuss intelligently the dangers that they face when out in the community and how they can reduce any risks to their own safety. Inspectors heard pupils discussing what constitutes a healthy diet and why it is important. Pupils were also able to tell inspectors how to cross a road safely and how to stay safe on the internet when using social media.
• The proficiency of pupils to develop confidence in travelling independently to and from school is noteworthy. School staff provide strong support to pupils and their families for this to happen.
• Staff provide pupils with a wide range of exciting and challenging tasks in the classroom that encourage pupils to act responsibly and be independent. These include organising aspects of the classroom, collecting items from around the school, and supporting other pupils with their work. Pupils enjoy having these responsibilities, and show a sense of pride when they complete them.
• Pupils raise money for a number of charities, both at home and abroad. This enables them to have a greater understanding of different cultures and the challenging issues that face others, both across the world and within the UK. This helps to develop pupils’ attitudes and appreciation of difference.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning are consistently positive and they value the education that they receive. There are very strong relationships between staff and pupils and this encourages pupils to behave well.
• When pupils’ behaviour becomes more challenging due to their individual needs, staff manage these situations very positively. As a result, there is minimal disruption to other pupils’ education and those involved re-engage with learning quickly.
• Pupils have an opportunity at the end of each day to think about the impact that their behaviour has had on others. This reflection time supports pupils’ moral development and provides them with strategies to help them to self-regulate their own behaviour. As a result, pupils’ behaviour improves over time.
• Positive reward systems encourage pupils to behave well. Pupils talk enthusiastically about gaining their ‘gems’ and are clearly motivated by achieving them.
• Pupils told inspectors that they ‘love’ school and this is reflected in their excellent attendance. There are no differences in attendance between particular groups of pupils.
• Persistent absence is high. However, the majority of persistent absentees suffer from long-term medical conditions which severely restrict their ability to attend school. Where this is the case, leaders support pupils effectively to return to school as quickly as possible.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Due to their levels of need, pupils often join the school working below age-related expectations. Excellent use of assessment information means that staff quickly gain a clear picture of individual pupils’ gaps in knowledge. They then use this information to plan appropriate activities that meet pupils’ individual needs exceptionally well.
• Pupils make substantial gains in their reading skills despite their severe learning needs. This is because of the high expectations that teachers have of what they can achieve. As a result, pupils make outstanding progress in reading across the school.
• Pupils who have profound and multiple learning difficulties make excellent progress because teachers plan the small steps that are necessary for them to respond and begin to make choices.
• Teachers track pupils’ progress continually against key outcome statements. If pupils are falling behind, specialist support assistants provide very effective additional one-to-one interventions to help pupils catch up.
• As well as building impressive independence, confidence and communication skills, pupils achieve extremely well in a number of other areas, including literacy and numeracy. Pupils also meet their targets in personal, social and health education. As a result, they develop the self-confidence and skills to make a successful transition to the wider community.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The quality of provision in the early years is excellent. The vast majority of children enter the school with knowledge and skills that are below, and in some cases significantly below, those typical for their age. However, they make significant gains in physical development, communication and language skills and are well prepared for Year 1.
• All groups of children, including disadvantaged children, behave very well and make outstanding progress. This is because targets for children are carefully individualised through teachers’ planning and ensure that children’s needs are met.
• The environment is stimulating and encourages children’s curiosity. Excellent indoor and outdoor resources and creative activities capture children’s imagination. These include the innovative outdoor ‘mud kitchen’ where children enjoy creating culinary wonders with their peers.
• Communication with parents is highly effective. Staff work closely with parents to develop strong and trusting relationships with pupils’ families. Highly focused support for families helps to settle children quickly into the school, so that their first experience of the early years is extremely positive.
• Leaders’ evaluations of children’s progress against their individual learning plan targets are sharply focused. Staff make very effective observations over time using a wide range of evidence. For example, ‘records of achievement’ provide valuable photographic evidence of how well each child is doing against clear outcome statements. This enables staff to make informed decisions about children’s next steps and informs parents about how well their children are doing.
• Staff maximise the opportunities that children have to learn, and strongly reinforce children’s prior learning. For example, staff make sure that children count the number of cups and snacks that are available during morning breaktimes. This successfully builds on children’s numeracy skills.
• The early years is very well led and managed. Well-considered outreach support from the staff makes sure that the best practice is shared with other schools. It also helps children to make rapid progress.

16 to 19 study programmes Outstanding

• The leadership of the sixth form is very strong. The sixth-form team, led by one of the deputy headteachers and ably supported by the learning leader, has high expectations of what students will go on to achieve beyond the school. As a result, students typically secure successful long-term placements when they leave the school.
• Leaders plan carefully personalised study programmes for all students. These are based on students’ prior attainment, individual needs and future destinations. Leaders ensure that all students continue to develop their English and mathematical skills so that they have the necessary skills to be successful in the next stage of their education, training or employment.
• Students enjoy a wide range of opportunities to extend their experiences from the sixth form to the workplace through a number of relevant placements. Leaders establish strong links with key partners, such as Horsham Green Gym and Juby Lee Bakes, which enable students to experience different aspects of work in a way that is meaningful to them.
• Students in the sixth form behave exceptionally well and attend school regularly. They enjoy the wide range of subjects that they study and are proud of what they achieve while they are there.
• Transition from school to students’ next steps is exceptionally well thought out and a model of best practice. The early identification of suitable placements enables students to have the opportunity to prepare for this change well in advance. School staff arrange visits to other provisions, organise taster sessions, and provide students and their parents with all of the relevant information students need in order to be successful with this transition.

School details

Unique reference number 126160 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 10012629 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Special School category Community special Age range of pupils 2 to 19 Gender of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils in 16 to 19 study programmes Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 89 Of which, number on roll in 16 to 19 study programmes 27 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Helen Crooks Headteacher Lesley Dyer Telephone number 01403 266215 Website www.queenelizabeth2.w-sussex.sch.uk Email address office@qe2school.co.uk Date of previous inspection 9–10 July 2013

Information about this school

• Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School is a one-form entry all-through community special school. It provides education for pupils who have severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties, or complex needs.
• The school is registered for 100 pupils aged between two and 19. All pupils have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is lower than in other schools nationally, as is the proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups.
• The current headteacher is a national leader of education.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors made visits to observe learning in 19 lessons. They also visited a number of classes during break and lunchtime. The majority of these visits were carried out jointly with senior leaders.
• When visiting classrooms, inspectors observed aspects of the lessons that were taking place, but focused particularly on gathering evidence about what teaching and learning are typically like over time. This included scrutinising the work in pupils’ books and on display, talking with pupils about their learning and hearing them read.
• Inspectors took the school’s assessments of pupils’ progress into account and considered leaders’ and external visitors’ evaluations about the quality of teaching over time.
• Inspectors met formally and informally with a wide range of people to gather further evidence. This included pupils, parents, staff, school leaders, governors, and representatives of the local authority.
• Inspectors reviewed a wide range of the school’s documentation and records, including particular scrutiny of those relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors took account of responses to the Ofsted online surveys of pupils’ and staff’s views. There were 19 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, which included 19 written comments. Views from parents, staff and pupils were also gathered informally and formally throughout the inspection and considered alongside this evidence.

Inspection team

Emma Sanderson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Lesley Corbett Ofsted Inspector