A school for children with additional needs has issued an apology after it was rated 'inadequate' following a damning inspection.
Ofsted inspected Northern Counties School, which is run by The Percy Hedley Foundation, on May 10 and May 11 this year. They gave the school, based in the Jesmond area of Newcastle, a overall effectiveness rating of 'inadequate'.
In their report, the education watchdog raised concerns about a number of areas, including the safety of pupils. They said: "Safeguarding procedures and systems around the site are not tight enough. This places pupils at risk."
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John Knight, CEO of The Percy Hedley Foundation, said: "We acknowledge the findings from the Ofsted inspection and fully accept the issues identified around leadership and management which are at the core of many of the problems within the school.
"Having only joined the Percy Hedley Foundation in March this year, my ongoing task is to review and turn around any areas of underperformance. On behalf of the Foundation, I want to apologise to all parents, carers and families. We have been letting down pupils, families, carers and our staff. There is no doubt we must do better."
The school, which is located on Tankerville Terrace, was previously rated 'Good' in 2017 and 'Outstanding' in 2013. Ofsted said a number of improvements need to be made by The Percy Hedley Foundation to improve the current rating.
They recorded how the procedures for keeping pupils safe on site are not always adhered to and checks made on pupils when they are learning from home are not recorded systematically enough, nor in sufficient detail.
They said leaders do not ensure that pupils learning from home, who are subject to safeguarding concerns, receive additional welfare checks. They said: "Leaders have not consistently checked that these pupils are safe."
Ofsted identified that some staff staff do not have sufficient expertise in meeting pupils' behavioural needs, including managing sexualised behaviours. They said: "This has placed staff and pupils at risk."
The report has recorded how some pupils, including post-16 students, have shown heightened anxiety over the past year. They said this is in part because the staff working with them do not know pupils' individual needs well enough. They said: "Some staff do not know how to support pupils when they are in crisis. This has led to an increase in aggressive behaviour in some classes."
Ofsted said leaders regularly request that a significant minority of pupils remain at home because there are not enough staff to meet their needs. They said remote education provided by the school does not meet the needs of most pupils and many struggle to learn when at home. They added: "Many of these pupils find this erratic attendance pattern hard to manage. It disrupts their routines."
According to the report, the curriculum at the school, including the remote curriculum, is not ambitious enough for pupils. Ofsted said pupils, including post-16 students, spend too much time on disconnected activities.
They also identified how current approaches to teaching phonics vary too much between different groups with some approaches being ineffective. They said that although new, more suitable approaches are in the pipeline, they have not yet been implemented.
The report said: "The remote curriculum for those pupils required to learn from home on a regular basis is weak. It is not well planned and sequenced."
Ofsted said that teachers at the school do not always use the information they gather from assessing pupils' work to identify gaps pupils may have and what content they need to revisit.
The report acknowledges that staff "really care about the pupils" and are keen to do their best for them. Ofsted said pupils benefit from the therapies that are woven into activities throughout the day. They said: "Pupils are taught about respect. Unkindness between pupils is extremely rare."
However the watchdog said leaders and trust directors are not using the information they gather from monitoring activities to gain a deep insight into the school's strengths and weaknesses. They said: "As a result,. they are unclear about the quality of education on offer for pupils."
They added that governors and trustees have not placed enough emphasis on making sure that there is a stable staff body with the training needed to meet pupils' needs.
Mr Knight said delivering a high standard of education to meet the complex needs of their pupils has been "particularly challenging" during the pandemic. He said covid-19 created a crisis with pro-longed staff absences and illness forcing the school to resort to remote learning for a significant number of pupils.
Mr Knight said: "This remote learning was not well planned or sequenced and we accept we need to strengthen procedures to ensure the wellbeing of pupils learning at home. Most pupils are now back at school."
"Following Ofsted’s report, we have taken firm and focussed action on putting things right, which includes the appointment of a new school improvement partner.
"Already there are changes in the school’s leadership team and governance. From September, the school will have a new chair of governors who will work with the externally appointed, experienced, interim head teacher, Martin Lonergan. Martin was appointed at the end of May to steer the transition. He, along with the teaching staff, our families, and governors will put the focus on raising educational standards while providing for a safe and nurturing environment.
"We have appointed a curriculum lead to address issues raised by Ofsted and good progress has already been made with implementing an improvement plan. Working closely with families and school governors, I am committed to driving change and improvements across the school."
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