Henshaws College Ofsted Report

Full report

Information about the provider

• Henshaws College is an independent specialist college that provides education and training for a wide range of students who have high needs. The college is based on a campus just outside Harrogate. A recently opened satellite learning centre is located in Bradford.
• The college offers day and residential provision for students. Of the 96 students, 90 are based at the main Harrogate centre and six at the Bradford centre; 31 students are residential. Most students are aged 19 and above, and eight are aged under 18. There are 11 students following supported internships. All students have an education, health and care plan coordinated by their local authority.

What does the provider need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that a higher proportion of students for whom it is appropriate progress into paid employment when they leave college.
• Further improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by: developing the skills of all instructors to direct enablers to support learning effectively ensuring that all students have access to appropriate, fit for purpose physical and paper-based resources.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Governors, leaders and managers have high aspirations for their students. They have worked with success to resolve the weaknesses in the quality of education and training identified at the previous inspection. Since then, changes to staffing at senior level have continued to take place. Governors are in the process of recruiting a permanent principal and, at the time of the inspection, an interim principal was in post.
• Leaders promote equality of opportunity very well. They have recently revised the terms of reference of the student parliament so that students from each programme have representation and can express their views. All staff work together well and promote very effectively a culture of inclusiveness, tolerance and respect at the college.
• Leaders and managers are appropriately self-critical. The self-assessment process is thorough. Managers of each programme that the college offers produce an accurate analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of their areas. From this, managers produce precise improvement plans with clear success criteria. Senior leaders regularly monitor the progress and impact of managers’ actions.
• Leaders have set challenging performance targets for managers. They hold managers and staff to account for these targets very effectively. Staff whose performance is below the required standard are supported effectively to improve, to change their role or to leave the college.
• Leaders now set high expectations of what their students can achieve. The focus is now firmly on the acquisition of skills and the progress that students make towards their individual targets. Consequently, current students are making good progress in developing the skills required for successful adult life. Leaders set curriculum managers challenging targets to meet for the number of students who should achieve paid employment when they leave college.
• Managers have carefully designed the curriculum to meet students’ needs very well. They ensure that the emphasis is on progression within the college and that each programme offered has a clear purpose. For example, the employability programme has clear levels of progression moving from an expectation of internal work experience to external work experience. These stages reflect students’ improving skills and independence.
• Leaders recognise the importance of developing the skills of their staff, and they ensure that staff have access to a wide range of training that supports their practice well. College staff run regular training events on topics such as teaching English and mathematics in vocational sessions. A group of enablers are training to be curriculum assistants in order to improve the in-class support provided for students. Other staff are taking useful external qualifications, such as A-level mathematics and specialist qualifications in teaching students who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Managers recognise that further training is required to ensure that all instructors give enablers clear directions in lessons.
• Partnership working is highly effective. Leaders have good relationships with local authorities and work well with them to meet students’ needs. Relationships with employers are good. Managers are working with increasing numbers of employers, which ensures that students benefit from a range of good-quality work experience opportunities.
• A small group of students have recently had their progress interrupted because of a break in their learning. Leaders took the difficult but sensible decision to suspend services for this small group. They were temporarily unable to meet students’ medical needs safely until unforeseen staffing issues were resolved. The registered nurse, who leaders have appointed, has now taken up post. Managers have ensured that extensive training of newly appointed and other enabling staff has taken place. Just under half of the students have returned to college or have a planned return date. Staff have supported the other students to find alternative providers.

The governance of the provider

• The chair of governors and the chief executive officer have appointed several new governors to the board. This has significantly strengthened their expertise in teaching, learning and assessment, finance and educational funding. Governors have their own rapid improvement plan that they use well to monitor the quality of their work.
• Governors now hold leaders to account well for the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and the outcomes that students achieve. They have set senior leaders challenging performance indicators and monitor frequently the progress of the senior leadership team towards meeting their improvement targets.
• Governors have helpful formal links with college managers, and they visit the college regularly. Link governor arrangements enable governors to assure themselves of the quality of education and training that students receive. Governors have an accurate view of the strengths and areas for improvement in the college.

Safeguarding

• Safeguarding is effective.
• Managers have strengthened safeguarding arrangements since the previous inspection. A safeguarding board is made up of managers from across the college who meet regularly to review and discuss all matters relating to safeguarding. Consequently, managers have the information that they need to keep students safe.
• Safer recruitment procedures are followed meticulously when recruiting new staff, including staff from recruitment agencies. Managers carry out appropriate pre-employment checks on all staff, and new members of staff do not begin work at college until managers know that the checks have been completed.
• Staff receive comprehensive training on matters relating to safeguarding and to the safety of students. Managers have strengthened medication administration procedures significantly. The speech and language therapist has developed a robust strategy, which includes staff training, for keeping students who have dysphagia safe when eating and drinking.
• Staff discuss key issues of personal safety with students. As a result, students know how to keep themselves safe in a range of everyday settings.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Staff work well with parents, carers, an extensive range of external specialist support agencies, and education providers that students have attended prior to joining the college. They gather detailed information to produce a comprehensive assessment of students’ starting points. Staff use this information to set precise personal targets for each student. Instructors plan and provide learning well and track progress effectively through regular reviews. This ensures that targets remain appropriate and that students work at an appropriate level to maximise their potential to achieve. As a result, students make at least expected progress and the majority make good progress.
• Instructors use the intended outcomes in students’ education, health and care plans very well to ensure that students have specific personal targets that reflect their aspirations for the future. Students who have complex needs make significant progress from their starting points. For example, they make clear eye contact and increase the length of time that they concentrate on a task. Instructors capture this progress well to highlight the skills that these students have developed.
• Instructors and enablers provide effective and clear feedback to students about their achievements and how they can improve further. Instructors’ feedback on written work provides helpful guidance on what students need to do to complete tasks fully. As a result, students improve the quality of their work. For example, students working on a health and safety task provided good additional information following clear feedback from instructors.
• Instructors and therapists work very well together to support students. They ensure that students have access to a range of technology to assist learning. This enables students to work well with their peers and prepares them well for successful adult life. For example, a physiotherapist supported students to access a switch to make a choice using simple body movements.
• Instructors and enablers communicate regularly with parents and carers about the progress that students make. As a result, parents take an active role in students’ education. Staff provide workshops for parents, where they share new approaches and behaviour support strategies for parents to use outside college. As a result, students experience continuity and consistency of approaches to support their progress. Staff regularly use a useful communication book to exchange information with parents.
• All staff ensure that students have a good understanding of health and safety practices in practical and classroom-based situations. Students wear appropriate personal protective equipment, handle equipment safely and know who to ask for support if they require it. For example, students working in the training kitchens demonstrate a good understanding of the potential dangers and risks in this environment. They carry knives safely, use oven gloves and wash their hands to avoid cross-contamination. Staff conduct risk assessments that are thorough and personalised to specific individual needs.
• Instructors and enablers make good use of the new positive behaviour support plans to encourage students to develop strategies to build confidence and manage their own learning more effectively. As a result, many students make significant progress in managing their behaviour.
• Staff ensure that students access a range of interesting learning activities that support their progress and the development of their skills for adult life. These include working on projects in the local community on which students improve their communication skills. Students regularly go to the local library and have explored the range of activities available there. This prepares them well for life after college.
• Most enablers support students well. Enablers use a wide range of communication approaches to check understanding and to improve interaction between students. As a result, students make good progress in improving their communication skills. Students use signing, pictorial prompts, communication boards and electronic devices effectively. They make good use of these skills in the work place. For example, students communicate successfully using Makaton with customers in a work environment.
• In a few sessions, instructors do not plan or manage enablers effectively. This slows the progress that students make. In these sessions, guidance from instructors is not specific enough. Enablers complete too much of the work for students. Instructors give guidance to enablers by talking over the students and do not involve students directly in what is going to happen.
• Instructors generally have access to and use good-quality resources in their lessons. However, the management of the learning environment in a small minority of sessions restricts students’ ability to access appropriate resources. In the computer suite, most of the students do not have adjustable typing chairs. This is not preparing them well for a working environment. In a few instances, the resources that instructors use for teaching are not age-appropriate for young adults.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

• Students benefit from highly personalised timetables. Staff plan these timetables based on students’ starting points and future goals. This enables students to develop the specific skills that they need for their next steps.
• Staff support students well in their move from school to college. Students and their parents benefit from a range of opportunities to visit the college. These include open days and other informal events at which they meet college staff. These arrangements help students to settle into college quickly.
• All students on supported internships and employability programmes access relevant internal and external work placements. Staff match placements extremely well to students’ aspirations. For example, students who want a career in information technology (IT) work in the college’s media and IT centre. They produce high-quality resources for other students and staff. Students participate in a rigorous recruitment process to apply for placements.
• Staff have developed links with external agencies so that students have access to impartial careers advice and guidance. For example, staff from Jobcentre Plus shared information with students about local employers that have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme, and they provided guidance on how to prepare effectively for interviews. It is too early to see the impact of this guidance on the number of students moving into paid employment.
• Students benefit from a very good range of therapeutic services, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, sensory integration and physiotherapy. For example, staff carry out physiotherapy in the classroom as well as in more specialist areas. The therapy is well planned to ensure that students are supported in the most appropriate way to make progress.
• Staff develop students’ health and well-being well. For example, students working in the gym increase the distance that they can cycle or row in a set time. Students also know the importance of drinking water during exercise and can use the word ‘hydration’ accurately.
• Staff develop students’ mathematical skills well in vocational lessons. For example, students successfully identify the sequence of activities that they need to go through before entering the pool in a swimming lesson. They also count the number of lengths that they complete. In enterprise lessons, students make Christmas decorations and choose from a five-pointed Eid star or a six-pointed Hanukkah star.
• Students benefit from a wide range of interesting additional activities, including live bands, language clubs, dance sessions, IT and enterprise projects. As a result, they learn about other cultures, food and language, and they develop their communication, social and IT skills.
• Students attend regularly and behave well in lessons, in the college’s social spaces and in the workplace. Since the introduction of a positive behaviour support approach, the number of incidents of concerning behaviour has reduced significantly.
• In a minority of lessons students do not develop their independent learning skills sufficiently. For example, enablers do not encourage students to use the recently introduced spelling books when attempting to complete written work.

Outcomes for learners Good

• A high proportion of students achieve their qualifications in English, mathematics and personal development.
• Students learn new skills that develop their independence and prepare them well for adult life. Students who participate in work experience improve their communication and self-confidence well. For example, students working in the warehouse of a large pharmaceutical company develop safe handling and moving techniques. They are also able to apply their mathematical skills to their job role when, for example, sorting delivery notes into numerical order.
• Students develop and use digital skills well. They produce work of a high standard using IT. Students’ written work is of an appropriate standard.
• The vast majority of current students are making good progress towards meeting their personal targets. Staff set clear and appropriate targets for students that are personalised well to support individual progress. Staff monitor carefully the progress that students make and intervene promptly if a student falls behind. Managers correctly identified that the small group of students at the Bradford centre made slower progress in the previous year. They have put well-considered strategies in place that are improving the progress of current students at Bradford.
• Most students progress from college on to next steps that meet their needs and aspirations. Of the most recent leavers, around a half moved to supported vocational workshops and a third moved to other colleges. A small proportion participate in volunteering opportunities.
• Too few students for whom it would be appropriate, such as those who complete supported internships, progress into paid employment when they leave college.

Provider details

Unique reference number 121777 Type of provider Independent specialist college Age range of learners Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year 16+ 96 Principal/CEO Helen Bramley Telephone number 01423 886 451 Website www.henshaws.org.uk

Provider information at the time of the inspection

Main course or learning programme level Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 or above Total number of learners (excluding apprenticeships) Number of apprentices by apprenticeship level and age 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 6 89 - 1 - - - - Intermediate Advanced Higher 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ - - - - - - 16–19 - 19+ - Total - Number of traineeships Number of learners aged 14 to 16 Number of learners for which the provider receives high-needs funding At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors:

- 96 -

Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the deputy principal, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors used online questionnaires to gather the views of students, parents and staff, and these views are reflected within the report. They observed learning sessions and progress reviews. They spoke with students and looked at their work. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider.

Inspection team

Rachel Angus, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Lesley Talbot-Strettle Lynne Paxton

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector