The last 3 months of Ofsted at Estyn reports have seen similar patterns in England and Wales. Where best practice occurs, poor practice is usually an absence of these examples. This time around, we did not notice any significant differences between what Ofsted and Estyn were mentioning in their reports.
Attendance
Attendance does not have the same focus as it did before Christmas. However it is still clear that where this is successful it is because well developed, thorough, timely and rigorous systems have been put in place so schools can ensure they are doing all they can to improve support and challenge pupils to attend well.
This support may need to be sensitive, supporting the small number of pupils who may be finding attending school more difficult. This help is based on a detailed understanding of the provision each pupil needs, see SEND Provision. With good attendance gaps in pupils’ learning will widen. Ofsted highlights that leaders should ensure there is a sharp focus on helping pupils to improve their attendance.
Behaviour
With regards to behaviour; schools are praised for having high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and attendance. Where the school’s ethos is modelled and displayed by staff and enforced with robust systems and policies, pupils in turn are kind and respectful and poor behaviour is very rare.
Schools need clear strategies to manage children’s behaviour. For instance, distracting children quickly and skilfully helps them to manage their emotions.
An absence of this may result in pupils finding school life challenging, and have hesitation in reporting incidents of bullying. Leaders should raise the expectations of pupils’ behaviour and ensure that staff manage behaviour fairly and consistently. This will help to reassure pupils. Pupils need to see that behaviour is being dealt with to feel supported and safe. It is so important to feel safe at school, in particular if home life isn’t a safe place.
Governors
Governors have a role to play behind the scenes ensuring that they are overseeing the most vital work, especially in relation to financial propriety and safeguarding. They need to hold leaders accountable and have specific training. They need to take responsibility and ensure that they do not overly rely on the information provided by the headteacher.
In Wales; the focus is very much on whether Governors make suitable arrangements to promote healthy eating and drinking in school and using their pupil development grant effectively. For example, pupils who require bespoke interventions to improve their learning or well-being have access to the support they need. The school’s inclusive approach ensures that vulnerable pupils access residential trips that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience, or use it to provide beneficial play therapy sessions to support pupils’ well-being.
Pupil Voice
The recent Ofsted reports highlight the fact that Pupils feel safe when they feel heard. There should be a range of communication systems and different methods to communicate, used effectively so that the children can actively voice their opinions. Examples include group meetings, one-to-one discussions, and an anonymous ‘post box’ where they can make suggestions.
PSHE
Due to the recent reforms PSHE/RSE is still a hot topic. Where practise is good, there is a comprehensive personal development offer with dedicated, timetabled lessons. Successful programmes cover important themes that impact positively on health and well-being, such as physical exercise, healthy eating and drinking and sexual health, as well as the impact of harmful lifestyle choices and behaviours such as substance misuse. Good provision is enhanced by visits from external providers and specialist speakers. Internet Safety features highly, as does an emphasis on personal and social education that develops pupils’ understanding of their well-being successfully. For example, enabling pupils to draw on specific strategies as support techniques when faced with more challenging work, which scaffolds their emotional well-being effectively. It’s important for pupils to learn about looking after their mental health, the dangers of misogyny and how to develop healthy relationships. Risks in the local areas should also be considered, and also topics such as harmful relationships, peer pressure and substance misuse.
PSHE becomes ineffective when it is not well sequenced across all year groups, which will result in pupils being unable to recall important information such as knowledge about British values and positive relationships. Leaders need to ensure that pupils in all years benefit from a high-quality personal development programme that equips them to be well prepared for life in modern Britain. Good practice is where Leaders ensure that pupils’ personal development is at the heart of everything they do and all pupils learn about healthy relationships in an age-appropriate way. Where PSHE is not at its best, pupils’ knowledge and understanding of equality, diversity and global issues are limited.
As mentioned above, Estyn has placed a big chunk of their observations on Healthy Lifestyles over the past few months. Best practice enables pupils to have a sound understanding of the importance of eating and drinking healthily and an understanding of the benefits of physical exercise on their health. Such schools will provide a wide range of physical extracurricular activities. Primary schools are commended for pupils who recognise the need to clean their teeth regularly, and speak thoughtfully about the importance of a healthy diet that does not include too much fast-food. Pupils should know why making healthy choices is important and understand the impact of eating a balanced diet and drinking water and be encouraged and enabled to make healthy choices during the school day.
Pupil/Staff Relationships
Many reports have an emphasis on the relationships between staff and pupils. At the heart of this is the importance of leaders and staff knowing the pupils and the communities in which they live very well. It pays to be alert to the dangers that pupils might face in their everyday lives. They can then report the signs that might indicate a pupil is at risk of harm. Leaders who work well with a range of agencies ensure that pupils and their families receive the support that they need.
Good schools have staff who are skilled in communicating with children. They understand the barriers children experience when trying to follow routines and having to process new information. All staff should be patient and nurturing when working with children and be positive role models and promote and maintain good standards of behaviour. These relationships directly support the well being of pupils. With strong relations, pupils will be comfortable and confident to share their concerns with staff when children are worried or upset and children’s behaviour and attitudes towards their learning will be good.
Taking time to find out about the children’s experiences and how their individual needs affect how they feel provides a strong base for trusting relationships to develop between children and staff. In special schools, staff have been found to use their positive relationships with the children to help them to manage their anxieties and frustrations. Consequently, there are no instances of physical restraint. Children are able to reflect on their behaviours and actions, and talk to staff about how they were feeling and what responses helped them to better control their emotions.
Safeguarding
Highly knowledgeable leaders ensure that all staff have specific and up-to-date safeguarding information.
Concerns are reported promptly, and swift best practice sees Governors and Leaders working closely with the whole school system are rigorous and working well. to ensure all appropriate safer recruitment processes are rigorously completed.
It pays for leaders to know pupils and their families well and be vigilant to any changes in the behaviour of individual pupils and the signs that may suggest that a pupil could be at risk of harm.
Training is a key element of the best safeguarding practice. All staff should receive regular safeguarding training and updates and be well trained in the school’s safeguarding procedure so record-keeping is detailed and actions to protect pupils are timely. Training should also be specific to meeting the identified needs of children. For example, training on how to prevent children who have autism spectrum disorder becoming exploited and radicalised. Schools’ safeguarding policies should be written in line with the latest statutory guidance and available online.
Records should give a clear indication of the potential risks and the action that has been taken in response and show that senior leaders will robustly challenge other professionals when they perceive that they are not meeting their responsibilities. Leaders usually follow up any concerns promptly with appropriate outside agencies and keep accurate records of any referrals. Good communication with external professionals ensures that risks are shared, and strategies are devised and circulated.
Poor safeguarding is highlighted when external safeguarding agencies were not consulted when they should have been, senior leaders failed to manage the concern appropriately, or there are hazards e.g. fire doors that fail to shut properly or extension lead, which was plugged in and switched on, balancing on the taps of a sink.
Systems for recording safeguarding concerns must assist with the recording of low-level concerns about individual staff member’s practice. DSLs should be supported to analyse information so that potential patterns of inappropriate, problematic, or concerning behaviour can be identified.
SEND
In good schools leaders are highly ambitious for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. They are quick to identify any pupils with SEND and provide the support in class that they need to access the full curriculum. Tracking and monitoring pupil progress carefully ensures that all pupils have specific targets that are reviewed and evaluated regularly. They identify and plan a range of effective literacy, numeracy and social and personal programmes to support pupils. The curriculum should be broken down into manageable steps, appropriate strategies to support pupils’ learning should be used and teaching assistants should support pupils well in all aspects of school life. High-quality training should be provided to support pupils with SEND in the classroom. This enables teachers to adapt their teaching activities to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. Pupils with SEND will benefit from the same broad and ambitious curriculum as their peers.
It pays to have effective communication with parents who have a child with SEND to ensure parental confidence that all pupils with SEND receive the effective support they need.
Excellent provision includes a wide range of enrichment interventions for pupils with ALN and pupils who need specialist support. For example; spelling and number workshops, art therapy for individuals and groups of pupils, social stories and clay therapy sessions for pupils with weak motor and handwriting skills.
Estyn has highlighted effective practice through SEND coordinators who lead on identifying pupil needs early, and that the tracking and support for individuals and groups of pupils begin promptly. Rigorous pupil progress reviews, linked to a robust tracking system, result in a deep understanding of pupils’ needs amongst staff. This is supported by valuable opportunities for staff to engage in training to support all pupils’ well-being and learning needs across the school.
In Wales, schools are successfully implementing the national priority of reforming provision for pupils with ALN and providing staff with valuable professional learning to support them to improve their work and useful opportunities for staff to disseminate good practice across the school. As a result, nearly all pupils with ALN make good progress towards their individual learning goals in these schools. Other schools have developed suitable one-page profiles for pupils with ALN which are shared appropriately with teachers to support their lesson planning. Teaching assistants play a valuable role in the development of pupils’ one-page profiles and in setting individualised targets. Teachers also need to plan for the deployment of teaching assistants well enough and ensure that they know their role in supporting pupils’ learning.
Wellbeing
Ofsted and Estyn have both noted schools that place an importance on student wellbeing. They have highlighted instances where Leaders have invested heavily in trying to support pupils’ wider social, emotional and behavioural needs. Where staff receive training and support around their own well-being as well as strategies about how to help children, there is a shared awareness and children then feel comfortable to speak to staff about their feelings and emotional wellbeing which in turn helps children to build emotional resilience. Staff also benefit from attending wellbeing workshops as it helps to build their resilience, these schools recognise that staff who feel valued and supported are more likely to meet the challenges that they can experience in their role.
Other examples include ‘wellbeing hubs’ to support pupils. This brings together services from inside and outside the school to work collaboratively on behalf of pupils, for example the youth service and school counselling service. Pupil well-being thrives in a nurturing environment where they feel safe, secure and respected.