The Hub School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen the quality of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring permanent appointments within the school’s management structure
  • delivering adequate support and development for middle and emerging leaders.
• Ensure that the quality of teaching and learning improves by:
  • supporting teachers to plan lessons to meet the needs of individuals
  • ensuring that all pupils have opportunities for extended writing, especially in English, but also across the curriculum, in order to practise the skills that they develop.
• Improve outcomes for pupils by:
  • ensuring that a progress monitoring system is fully embedded to track progress in all subject areas from pupils’ unique starting points
  • developing the primary curriculum and resources to strengthen the offer to pupils
  • widening careers education so that pupils are prepared for key stage 4 and further education, employment or training.
• Continue to develop strategies to improve attendance so that it is closer to the national average for secondary schools.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Over time, the changes within the school’s leadership structure have not enabled the quality of teaching and learning and pupils’ outcomes to improve.
• Currently, the school has a number of interim staff filling leadership roles. Although this support is enabling the school to improve, the lack of permanency is hindering more rapid improvements.
• The interim executive headteacher and interim head of school are introducing a range of new strategies, monitoring tools and staff development opportunities. They are also raising expectations of what pupils can achieve. However, it is too soon to see the full impact of this on the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes.
• The curriculum encompasses a wide range of subjects that support pupils’ academic and social progress. However, leaders recognise that there is more work to be done within the curriculum and on extra-curricular opportunities to increase pupils’ awareness of how education links to their future roles in society.
• School leaders are beginning to evaluate effectively the quality of education within the school. For example, they recognise the urgent need to improve behaviour and are taking rapid, successful action to do so. This leads to more pupils making academic progress.
• The interim executive headteacher and interim head of school are developing a culture of high aspirations for pupils’ behaviour in and around school. More pupils are now attending school ready to learn.
• The school makes use of the pupil premium funding it receives to provide support and different strategies to develop pupils’ learning by, for example, team building and sports activities. These are starting to have a positive impact on the progress made by pupils. Leaders acknowledge that there is still work to do to ensure that the school is receiving its full pupil premium entitlement from the local authority.
• Leaders use a number of alternative education providers through the commissioned placement service attached to the school. New systems for monitoring and evaluating attendance, behaviour and progress have been implemented. However, these need to be fully embedded to provide the leaders with the information that they need to strengthen and develop this area of the school.
• Over the last two years, the school has had changes in governance and leadership, a building move and the doubling of pupils on roll. The new governing board and interim senior leadership team have reacted well and are bringing stability to the school.

Governance of the school

• The newly appointed chair and vice-chair of the governing board are aware of the historical difficulties facing the school and are working closely with the local authority to ensure that skilled and knowledgeable committee members are recruited to the board.
• The governing board is beginning to support and challenge school leaders through the appointment of board members with specific roles, and the setting up of two sub-groups which are helping to ensure that there is better information available to the governing board.
• The governing board took decisive action at the beginning of this year to support staff and pupils. They agreed a temporary shutdown of the interim provision within the school and the closure of alternative provision places through the commissioned service, which were not meeting requirements. The impact of this stabilised the school and allowed the interim leadership to develop appropriate procedures to reintegrate this provision.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff receive appropriate training and are aware of their responsibilities to keep children safe. Throughout the commissioned places, staff are clear about the school’s policies and procedures and receive training from the school and/or the local authority.
• An effective system is in place, both within the school and throughout the commissioned places, to ensure that all safeguarding concerns are recorded and, where necessary, shared appropriately.
• Pupils say, and parents agree, that pupils are safe in school. Pupils feel well supported and they know who to go to if they have a problem.
• Pupils say that they feel well prepared to deal with risks associated with e-safety. They speak confidently about their own experiences and how they manage risk.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Not all teachers use pupils’ information effectively to plan lessons that help pupils learn well. Recent improvements to baseline testing are beginning to provide better information to teachers about pupils’ prior learning. However, it is too soon to see the impact of this.
• Not all pupils are willing to develop their knowledge. This is because the learning tasks do not always match the needs of pupils. Where work does not meet their needs, pupils lose interest and motivation for learning and low-level disruption occurs.
• Teachers do not embed opportunities for consolidating writing skills within English or across the curriculum for all groups of learners. For example, wider opportunities to practise writing at length are lacking. This lack of opportunity impacts on the progress that pupils make.
• Teachers deliver the primary curriculum by having different activities on separate tables. This allows teachers to work individually with pupils of different ages. Although progress could be seen in reading and literacy, the lack of resources for the delivery of a primary curriculum limits the offer to these pupils.
• Where teaching is more successful, teachers use their strong knowledge of both the subject and the pupil to interest and enthuse pupils, for example by using a range of resources to help develop knowledge of ratio in mathematics.
• In some lessons, pupils develop their communication skills by discussing topics linked to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, pupils are able to talk about different countries and religions and compare the laws and cultures to those of Britain.
• Art and music are strengths of the school. The knowledgeable and enthusiastic art teacher encourages and motivates pupils to learn and progress in a variety of art mediums. Pupils’ art work is a focus of the school’s displays.
• Some teachers manage their classrooms well to ensure that any disruptive behaviour does not affect learning. In these lessons, pupils have the opportunity to learn and make progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Leaders have not ensured that pupils receive the impartial careers advice that they need to make informed choices about their future. Consequently, they are not prepared for transition to further education, training or employment.
• Some pupils have difficulty with their emotional and mental health, which impacts on their learning and progression. Leaders are introducing a package of external support, including school nursing and an educational psychologist, but are struggling to bring together the necessary multi-agency team which will support all pupils.
• Leaders have recently introduced an emotional well-being unit to the school. Emerging progress is being seen in a small number of pupils who are accessing this provision for support with handling their emotions and moving swiftly back into learning.
• Since coming into post, the leaders have introduced a new system to monitor and evaluate pupils’ well-being when attending alternative provision. Pupils are safe and, in some cases, making better progress than at their mainstream school.
• The way pupils present their work in a number of subjects is inconsistent. Inspectors saw examples of untidy and unfinished work. In contrast, there are some good examples of neat and tidy work that supports progress.
• The majority of pupils are polite to adults and visitors. They are happy to engage in conversation and share their opinions. However, a minority of pupils do not show this level of respect to others.
• Pupils say that they feel safe most of the time. They acknowledge that new procedures have been put into place since October 2017, which has impacted positively on how safe they feel. Pupils develop their awareness of a wide range of dangers, including online grooming and being safe on the streets.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Pupils attitudes in lessons are inconsistent and this has an impact on the progress that they make. Inspectors saw pupils not behaving sensibly in lessons, for example showing disrespect to the teacher and each other, which disrupted the learning of others within the class.
• The school’s records show that when incidents of bullying do occur, these are dealt with swiftly and effectively. The majority of parents and pupils support this.
• The school is litter and graffiti free. Pupils are encouraged and supported to clear up after themselves at lunchtime.
• Attendance is below the national average, but individual pupil case studies show that some pupils make rapid progress in increasing their attendance compared to their previous attendance at mainstream school. Leaders are taking appropriate action to improve attendance. While the strategies are beginning to have an impact on improving attendance, leaders are aware that it still remains low.
• Leaders acknowledge that the level of fixed-term exclusions are high. However, changes in the behaviour policy are starting to have an impact on reducing these incidents.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over time, pupils have not made as much progress as they should have. This is because teaching has not fully met their needs and effective monitoring and analysis of pupils’ achievement has not taken place.
• Following recent changes in leadership, a new system of establishing pupils’ starting points and subsequently monitoring their progress is in place. This is beginning to help teachers understand how to meet the needs of pupils, but it is too soon to see the impact on pupils’ progress in individual subjects such as mathematics and English.
• There is little difference in the progress that different groups of pupils make. Leaders accept that progress needs to improve for most groups of pupils.
• Leaders have introduced a new system to support interim pupils’ transition back into mainstream school. This includes pupils attending their mainstream school one day per week to keep consistency with school staff and routines. Also, to ensure that they can continue academic progress within a mainstream curriculum. This system is not fully embedded and, as a result the impact is not yet clear.
• Pupils have a limited understanding of the options for careers and further study beyond key stage 4. Consequently, some pupils do not have a clear progression pathway at the end of year 11.
• Leaders’ analysis of pupils’ reading has led to appropriate interventions to support pupils to improve their reading age. Although there is evidence of progress for the majority of pupils, it does not yet show if this progress can be sustained over time.
• Pupils attending off-site alternative provision continue to receive core-subject teaching alongside personal development and vocational opportunities. Currently, the provision is variable. However, leaders have acknowledged that there is work to do in this area and have appointed a quality assurance and improvement lead to develop links with the alternative providers and to ensure consistency.
• Current pupils’ books show evidence that progress is an improving picture. For example, in mathematics, work is beginning to build on prior knowledge. This is not consistent across all curriculum areas.

School details

Unique reference number 142135 Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire Inspection number 10048389 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 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 131 Appropriate authority Chair Interim Executive Headteacher Head of school Telephone number Website Email address Local authority Martin Green Rachael Davies Ruth Patterson 01482 304 200 www.thehubschool.org.uk thehubschool.admin@eastriding.gov.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The Hub School opened in September 2015. The school provides short-term support programmes for pupils referred by primary and secondary mainstream schools. Pupils in key stage 3 and 4 with education, health and care plans are also educated at The Hub. The Hub School moved on to one site in September 2017, and at this time pupils in alternative provision, commissioned by the local authority, became the responsibility of the school.
• The school makes provision for pupils who have been permanently excluded or are at risk of permanent exclusion from mainstream schools across all key stages. Pupils are placed at the school for varying amounts of time with the aim either to make a successful transition back to mainstream school or engage with a personalised timetable which meets their needs.
• Since September 2017, there have been significant changes in leadership and management. The current interim headteacher was appointed in February 2018, following 5 months as acting headteacher, and the interim executive headteacher took up post in February 2018.
• The school is currently oversubscribed with the addition of the commissioned places pupils and a higher than anticipated number of pupils being, or at risk of being, excluded from local secondary schools.
• The majority of pupils are from a White British background, 39 pupils have an education, health and care plan and eight are looked after by the local authority.
• The school uses the following alternative provision placements for 61 pupils: Aspire Academy; East Riding College; Boulevard Centre; Motivation Training; St Patricks; Soccer Sensation; Vision Motors; and QPD.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed teaching and learning across a wide range of lessons and learning activities at the school.
• Pupils’ written work was evaluated during lessons and during a book scrutiny.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ conduct while they were arriving and leaving school, as well as during break and lunchtime.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils both informally and formally, held telephone interviews with a parent and spoke with members of the staff team. The results from Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, were also taken into account.
• Inspectors met with the interim executive headteacher, the interim head of school and senior leaders. Inspectors also met with the vice-chair of the management committee, along with the safeguarding and special educational needs (SEN) representatives.
• An inspector visited external provision at Soccer Sensation, St Patricks and Vision Motors and held telephone conversations with Aspire Academy, Motivation Training and The Boulevard Centre.
• An inspector had a meeting with the principal adviser and an improvement adviser from the local authority.
• A wide range of documentation was scrutinised, including the school self-evaluation report and the school development plan. Inspectors also reviewed minutes of meetings from the governing board and records of the monitoring of teaching, and information relating to pupils’ attendance and achievement. Safeguarding documentation and records relating to behaviour were also examined.

Inspection team

Tricia Stevens, lead inspector Lyndsey Brown

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector