Mayfield School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management by:
  • providing training and development opportunities for new leaders, particularly middle leaders, to help them improve the school quickly
  • reviewing, refining and developing new systems for improving the school so that they provide a clear structure for school improvement
  • ensuring that self-evaluation and school improvement planning link together closely to address the school’s priorities for improvement
  • taking immediate action to meet all the early years welfare requirements.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that pupils, particularly the most able, make faster progress by:
  • making sure that staff are clear about what pupils know and can do so that they set activities which allow pupils to make faster progress from their starting points
  • carefully tracking the progress that pupils make in a range of subjects so informed interventions can take place quickly in order to accelerate learning
  • developing the range of relevant accreditation opportunities that are available in key stage 4
  • extending opportunities for pupils to develop their writing skills.
• Re-engaging parents fully so that they support the work of the school by:
  • working closely with those who do not send their children to school regularly in order to improve attendance
  • encouraging more parents to attend functions in the school
  • re-establishing the parents’ council to give parents a forum to work closely with school leaders.
• Improve the use of the outdoor areas by increasing opportunities for:
  • pupils to learn through play during social times
  • children to enjoy learning outside in the school’s early years setting.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders and managers, including governors, have not maintained the good standard of education provided by the school at the time of the last inspection. The quality of teaching over time has not been consistently good and pupils have not made strong progress across the curriculum in every key stage.
• The relatively new leadership team is taking action to improve the school by responding to situations as they become aware of them. However, their self-evaluation is not sharp enough to allow them to proactively address the school’s areas for development. School improvement planning and self-evaluation do not link closely together in order to inform actions to rapidly improve the school.
• The resilient and hard-working headteacher is supported by many committed staff but most of her leadership team are new to the school or new to their position of responsibility. This means that middle leadership is not fully developed and actions taken by leaders to improve the school are yet to have a marked impact. Staff new to their areas of responsibility require further training.
• After the last inspection, performance management was not used effectively to improve the quality of education provided by the school. However, the headteacher has ensured that all staff now have meaningful targets linked to the quality of teaching, the progress made by pupils, training needs and the teachers’ standards. There is now a detailed monitoring and review cycle which informs appropriate training. Consequently, the overall quality of teaching is improving.
• The school’s curriculum covers a wide range of subjects but leaders are aware that accreditation of relevant courses at key stage 4 is underdeveloped. Staff actively promote equality of opportunity and pupils are taught to stay safe and behave well. Consequently, the curriculum helps to prepare pupils effectively for life in modern Britain.
• Learning in the classroom is supported by a variety of trips and visits. For example, pupils regularly go to the theatre, visit the local library and attend different places of worship. These activities, along with others which promote an understanding of democracy, respect, right and wrong and making informed choices, develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness and actively promote fundamental British values.
• Additional funding is used effectively. For example, disadvantaged pupils receive individual support and take part in additional activities which allow them to make similar progress to other pupils in the school. Sports funding is used well to promote regular exercise and healthy eating is encouraged. The lunchtime football club is particularly popular with pupils.
• Parents are invited into school for regular meetings, they are able to attend lessons once a year and the school hosts events for parents to consider different aspects of education. The school also has a parents’ council. However, this group has not met recently and the level of parental engagement has declined over the last year. Additionally, some parents do not fully support the school’s work to ensure that all pupils attend regularly.
• As the school was judged to be good at the last inspection, the school has received little external support to improve the quality of teaching and the outcomes of pupils in the last three years. However, the headteacher and governors valued the support that they were given by the local authority after a serious incident. Over a period of time, local authority officers looked at matters directly related to that incident and the school acted upon the advice that they were given. This support did not look at welfare requirements in the early years setting so two unmet requirements were not identified.

Governance of the school

• Governors have the skills, knowledge and commitment to hold school leaders to account. They receive and challenge, through informed questions, the information they consider at meetings and offer the headteacher appropriate support as required.
• The governing body has ensured that additional funding has been used effectively. However, they have not ensured that a good standard of education has been maintained and that all the welfare requirements were met in the early years setting.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders, managers and governors have taken sufficient action to remedy weaknesses following a serious incident.
• Staff are clear about their responsibilities and know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil’s welfare. They receive regular training and updates and pupils are taught to stay safe in an age-appropriate manner. Pupils told inspectors that they felt safe in school.
• Referrals are timely and outside agencies are used appropriately. Procedures to recruit, select and check staff are effective, which means that pupils are supported by suitable adults. The school’s single central record is compliant.
• Records are stored securely. Concerns are recorded electronically and they are also written down. However, this is not done consistently as sometimes both methods are used and at other times staff either write things down or record them electronically. Leaders have plans in place to make this system more streamlined.
• Leaders have ensured that there are detailed risk assessments in place for all aspects of the school’s work. However, the assessment of risk is not always clear as these documents contain so much information. Leaders have plans in place to ensure that risk assessments are more precise.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment has not been consistently good since the last inspection. Teaching over time has not led to good progress for all pupils.
• Learning time is wasted. Lessons often take a long time to get started and opportunities to move learning on quickly are missed. This slows down progress.
• Where teaching is less effective, there is an inappropriate level of challenge. Teachers do not use the information that is available to them to plan activities which allow pupils from different starting points to make rapid progress. This has slowed the progress made by the most able pupils in particular.
• Some staff use questions extremely well to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding and move learning on quickly. They employ techniques which keep all pupils focused, but other teachers do not use questions skilfully to give pupils opportunities to think more carefully about topics or keep them fully engaged. Most staff have secure subject knowledge but some are currently teaching out of their areas of expertise. This slows down the progress of pupils who have profound and multiple difficulties in particular.
• There is some teaching of a very high quality across the school. Where teaching has most impact, activities are planned carefully to help pupils make accelerated progress from their starting points, resources are used well to support learning and teaching assistants are deployed effectively to support individuals and groups of pupils.
• Staff work together effectively and pupils enjoy positive relationships with adults in the classroom. Pupils’ communication skills are developed effectively and staff promote literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. However, opportunities to help pupils make rapid progress in their writing are underdeveloped.
• Where appropriate, pupils read aloud in class and with members of staff. Some pupils can decipher unfamiliar words by using the sounds that letters represent but the most able pupils are not always encouraged to extend their reading.
• Homework is set in line with the school’s policy and staff set regular and appropriate home activities. However, these are not always completed.
• Parents now receive clear and detailed annual reports about the progress their child is making. Parents have been invited into lessons in the past and some attend activities to look at ways that they can support their child’s learning. However, the level of parental engagement has declined this year.
• The accuracy of the assessment of pupils’ work is checked but progress is not tracked across a range of subjects. However, the development of the school’s own tracking system is designed to address this.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils’ physical and emotional well-being is nurtured effectively through the curriculum, additional activities and individual support. Staff take opportunities to develop pupils’ self-awareness and enhance their understanding of how to be successful learners.
• Pupils are encouraged to take responsibility; primary pupils can become members of the school council; older pupils routinely help younger ones and pupils of all ages enjoy ‘doing jobs’ around the school. Pupils are also taught how to make informed choices. For example, they are given time to make choices in the dining hall and many select healthy options when they are choosing what to eat.
• Pupils’ understanding is deepened by new experiences, such as visiting the seaside or the theatre and some older pupils have been taught how to travel by themselves. However, there are times when pupils’ independence is not allowed to develop fully as they rely on close staff support for their learning.
• Pupils are taught to stay safe when using the internet and appropriate controls are in place in school. They learn to use equipment safely and the curriculum covers how to stay safe at home and in the outside world in detail. Consequently, the pupils who spoke to inspectors said that they felt safe.
• During the inspection, there was a high staff presence during social times. Some staff were interacting with the pupils and others were clearly watching what was going on. Pupils told inspectors that there are always a high proportion of staff on the playground but they felt that there should be more for them to do at lunch and playtime. Inspectors noted that there was a lack of play equipment and activities to engage the pupils during social times.
• Pupils believe that bullying is rare and that staff would deal with any unkindness quickly and effectively should it occur.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are welcoming to visitors and they enjoy positive relationships with adults and other pupils.
• Pupils conduct themselves well around the school. The dining hall is calm and orderly and pupils behave well in class. Low-level disruption to learning is extremely rare and pupils respond quickly if they have to be reminded to concentrate fully on their activities.
• Behaviour management is effective and exclusions are very rare. However, the system for recording and analysing incidents is not fully developed so it cannot be used easily to identify patterns or inform actions.
• Many pupils have good attendance and there are others whose attendance has improved considerably over time. However, some pupils are still absent too often.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Progress across the school is not consistently good across all subjects and key stages. Pupils do not achieve as well in key stage 4 as they do in other areas of the school. As a result, leaders acknowledge that pupils need to be entered for more relevant accredited qualification in Years 10 and 11.
• Outcomes in English are not as strong as those in mathematics and the progress pupils make in reading and writing does not match that made in speaking and listening.
• The progress that individuals make in English and mathematics is tracked and indicates that all groups of pupils, including boys and girls, pupils who speak English as an additional language, pupils from different ethnic groups and disadvantaged pupils, make similar progress from their starting points. Pupil premium funding is used effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make similar progress to other pupils in the school.
• Pupils, particularly the most able in the school, do not make rapid progress across the curriculum. This is the result of some inaccurate baseline assessments, progress in other subjects not being tracked as closely as that in English and mathematics, lack of challenge in some tasks and pupils being given too much help to complete other activities.
• Leaders are developing a new assessment system to track progress more effectively. This system is currently being trialled and is helping to inform teaching and learning activities to help pupils make faster progress. However, it is not yet fully developed.
• Most pupils are effectively prepared for the next stage of their education by a range of activities and good transition arrangements. Areas of learning that need further development are shared with new teachers so that they can be addressed.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Two welfare requirements were not met at the time of the inspection. Although a first aider went on trips with the children, it was evident that no one with a current paediatric first aid certificate accompanied children on every outing. In addition, during the inspection, a member of staff was unaware of the location of the first-aid box. These breaches of statutory requirements can be quickly addressed and all other welfare requirements are met. As children are well cared for and kept safe from harm, safeguarding in the early years provision is effective.
• The system for recording accidents and incidents is not clear but medical needs are addressed. Medication is administered by on-site nurses and staff who have had additional training.
• Staff work well as a team. Many support children closely, where they need to, but allow them to be more independent where appropriate. However, as in the rest of the school, staff are too quick to move children rather than give them time to respond to requests themselves.
• When children join the school, staff carefully gather information about what they can already do, and their likes and dislikes. They use this initial information to plan learning activities for the first few weeks, then assess children and set targets for them. However, as staff are relatively new to teaching in early years, this is not always accurate across both classes.
• Staff work well with parents. Communication is effective and parents are helped to support learning and development in the home.
• Teaching is generally well planned to meet children’s needs and to allow them to make adequate progress. A variety of activities is used and children are encouraged to communicate using a range of strategies. In common with the rest of the school, different groups of children, including disadvantaged pupils and those who speak English as an additional language, make similar progress from their starting points.
• Children in the school have limited opportunities to enjoy learning outside. The outside area is underdeveloped and it is not conducive to promoting a love of learning. However, the provision for pupils who have severe learning difficulties at the Lime Tree children’s centre includes a comprehensive range of outdoor play equipment and a raised grassy area. This is used by children who spend most of their time on the school site.
• Children enjoy good relationships with staff and they are encouraged to interact positively with other children. Personal development and welfare are actively promoted and children usually behave well.
• Leadership of the early years provision is new and developing. Senior leaders acknowledge that further training is required to help to ensure that this part of the school is well led.

16 to 19 study programmes Good

• Post-16 provision is well led and managed. The member of staff with responsibility for 16 to 19 study programmes has a clear understanding of strengths and areas for development within the provision and has taken effective action to make improvements.
• Individualised programmes of study meet requirements and build upon prior learning. Students make good progress and they are set meaningful targets. However, students and their parents are not fully involved in the target setting process.
• Students are well prepared for future training and education. They are given high-quality careers advice and guidance, complemented by effective support during transition to the next stage of their education or training. As a result, retention rates are extremely high and, since the last inspection, almost all have moved onto sustained education or training. All students currently in the 16 to 19 provision have meaningful destinations in place for when they leave.
• Students follow a variety of vocational and academic courses. All students follow suitable English and mathematics courses and, in 2016, every student achieved appropriate accredited qualifications. However, in order to improve the provision further, the post-16 leader is looking at further accreditation opportunities and making literacy and numeracy lessons more explicit on the timetable.
• Teaching, learning and assessment supports and challenges students to make good progress. Independence is developed, displays are used well to aid learning and good use of questioning helps students develop their skills and understanding. Positive relationships and all staff working productively together also help students to achieve well.
• Students take part in a range of work-related activities, including useful work experience, both within the school’s settings and beyond. Healthy eating is promoted and students are given regular opportunities to take exercise. This includes fortnightly swimming lessons.
• Students behave well and personal development and welfare are promoted effectively. Students take on responsibility, for example Year 14 students mentor those from Year 12 and 13 with travel training and some post-16 students read to younger pupils.
• Students are effectively prepared for life in modern Britain. Fundamental British values are actively promoted and pupils are taught key life skills such as how to use a cashpoint safely.
• Safeguarding is effective and students are taught how to stay safe in the home and in the outside world. However, a small number of students are absent too often.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 103619 Birmingham 10035826 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 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 special 3 to 19 Mixed Mixed 269 35 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Vicky Wynne Susan Bainbridge 0121 523 7321 www.mayfield.bham.sch.uk enquiry@mayfield.bham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 24–25 September 2014

Information about this school

• Mayfield is smaller than the average-sized school based on two sites. Secondary and 16 to 19 provision is on one site and primary and early years provision is situated on a site a few miles away. The headteacher splits her time between both settings and each site has its own deputy headteacher.
• The school has early years provision within two settings. Children with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder are based on the primary school site and children who have severe learning difficulties are part of the inclusive provision at the Lime Tree children’s centre.
• All pupils have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan. Almost half of the pupils have severe learning difficulties and around one-third have a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Other pupils have a range of primary needs, including a significant proportion who have profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD).
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, supported by the pupil premium, is well above the national average.
• The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language are well above the national averages.
• There have been significant changes in leadership since the last inspection. The headteacher joined the school in January 2015, the deputy headteacher with responsibility for the secondary site started in September 2015 and the deputy headteacher with responsibility for the primary site joined in April 2017. A number of other leaders are relatively new to the school, or to their position of responsibility, and the chair of governors assumed that role after the last inspection.
• Several members of staff were absent during the inspection and have been for some time. The deputy headteacher with responsibility for the secondary site has been absent since February 2017.
• Inspectors were aware during this inspection that a serious incident, which occurred at the school since the previous inspection, is under investigation by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the school in response to the incident were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.
• The school does not use alternative provision but a number of older pupils attend work-related learning opportunities, including work experience, both on and off the school’s sites.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection was carried out as a direct result of a complaint made to Ofsted which raised serious concerns. Her Majesty’s Chief inspector decided that an inspection of the school should take place to follow up whole-school issues that were raised. Inspectors sought to establish whether safeguarding and leadership and management were effective.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other leaders and staff and the chair and the vice-chair of the governing body. The lead inspector also met with a representation of the local authority and spoke to another local authority officer by telephone.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils informally and formally and made 29 short visits to lessons with school leaders. Pupils’ work was scrutinised and an inspector listened to pupils read. There were no responses to Parent View but inspectors considered the views of a small number of parents who had contacted Ofsted directly.
• Various school documents were examined, including the school’s self-evaluation, and its improvement plan, information about managing teachers’ performance and staff training records. Minutes of meetings of the governing body were scrutinised and information about pupils’ progress, behaviour, attendance and safety was also considered. Documentation linked to safeguarding pupils was examined thoroughly and information on the school’s website was considered before and during the inspection.

Inspection team

Simon Mosley, lead inspector Deb Jenkins Rowena Green

Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector