Saint Felix School Inspection Report for Boarding School

Saint Felix School Inspection report for Boarding School Unique reference number SC024583 Inspection date 23/03/2011 Inspector Wilfried Maxfield Type of inspection Key Setting address St. Felix School, Halesworth Road, Reydon, SOUTHWOLD, Suffolk, IP18 6SD Telephone number 01502 727042 Email Registered person St Felix School Southwold Suffolk Head/Principal David Ward Nominated person David Ward Date of last inspection 30/01/2007 Inspection Report: Saint Felix School, 23/03/2011 2 of 10 © Crown copyright 2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated. You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children’s Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop Inspection Report: Saint Felix School, 23/03/2011 3 of 10 About this inspection The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and the relevant National Minimum Standards for the service. The inspection judgements and what they mean Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough Inspection Report: Saint Felix School, 23/03/2011 4 of 10 Service information Brief description of the service Saint Felix School is an independent, co-educational school catering for pupils aged from one to the age of 19 years. It consists of three separate schools which merged in 2002 including Saint Felix School, Saint George’s School and the Dragons’ Nursery. The various school and junior school buildings occupy separate facilities on the same site, while sharing the dining room, sports and swimming complex and extensive grounds. A total of 455 pupils were on-roll at the time of this inspection. Boarders are allocated to one of the three boarding houses depending on their age and gender. Boarding arrangements at the school are flexible with the majority of boarders being full-time. There are 49 full-time, 19 weekly and 15 flexi-boarders at the time of this inspection. Each house is managed by a resident housemaster and/or housemistress with the assistance of non-resident house tutors, a matron and gap year students. The school is situated on the outskirts of Southwold, Suffolk. A board of governors administers Saint Felix boarding school as a charitable educational trust. Summary The overall quality rating is good. This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection. This was an announced inspection of all of the boarding and boarding related provisions at the school. The reason for this visit was to look at the progress the boarding school has made with the one recommendation made at the last key inspection conducted by the Commission for Social Care Inspection in January 2007. All of the key national minimum standards for boarding schools were inspected and evaluated during this visit. As part of the inspection process boarders and parents were offered the opportunity to anonymously complete pre-inspection questionnaires. An almost full return of questionnaires was received from boarders. Twenty-one questionnaires were returned by parents. Views expressed by boarders and parents contributed to the outstanding, good and satisfactory comments and judgements contained in this report. The being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving and organisation outcomes for boarders at the school have been rated as good. Positive contribution and economic wellbeing have been rated as satisfactory. The overall quality of boarding was judged to be good. Inspection Report: Saint Felix School, 23/03/2011 5 of 10 Improvements since the last inspection The school was last inspected by the Commission of Social Care Inspection. One recommendation was made relating to the recruitment and vetting of staff. This inspection found that the school has made excellent progress in this area. The school complies with the relevant national minimum standards and the safer recruitment practices as detailed in the Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education guidance. Helping children to be healthy The provision is good. The school provides its pupils with good personal, social and health education. Academic, boarding and medical centre staff follow good policies and guidance and provide good support to ensure the health and welfare of all pupils and boarders. Staff know the school's policy on how to respond to pupils smoking and drinking alcohol and are effective in preventing the use of illegal substances. Children are provided with good health care. The recording of health needs is good and the depth and range of some assessments is outstanding. Pupils and boarders with significant health and emotional needs benefit from a well co-ordinated approach and excellent communication between the schools different departments. This process is supervised by the highly effective pastoral and medical teams. There is good consultation with parents, guardians and the external health professionals that might be involved. Boarders benefit from outstanding medical attention and care. The school employs three registered nurses who staff an excellent medical centre and coordinate the medical arrangements for all pupils. Medical centre staff are used extensively by boarders who seek support for health and/or personal problems. Boarders praise the care and attention they receive and speak of the nurses very highly. The medical centre contains a number of adequate sick bays. Staffing levels are adjusted to provide day and night care for ill boarders, if and when needed. Resident staff in all of the boarding houses provide good and rapid assistance when necessary. Access to a range of external dental, optical and other medical services is managed effectively and essential information regarding this is recorded in good detail. Boarders benefit from outstanding levels of support by a wide range of staff in times of stress and homesickness and with emotional and health related difficulties. Medication is stored securely and recorded in satisfactory detail in the boarding houses. The school ensures that staff are trained in first aid and that first aid equipment and boxes are widely available across the school and the boarding house. Pupils are provided with satisfactory catering arrangements and meals which are adequate in quantity and quality. A two week menu outlines meals for lunchtimes but does not provide information for the evening and weekend meals. Boarders report differences in the provision of meals at weekends and are not always happy about Inspection Report: Saint Felix School, 23/03/2011 6 of 10 the perceived lack of choice and variety. There is a satisfactory range of suitable snacks and drinks outside the set mealtimes. There are good quality refurbished kitchens in the boarding houses which boarders can use for snacks and drinks in the evening. A new and well used 'cyber café' has been introduced for the pupils of the upper sixth form since the last inspection and is praised by day pupils and boarders alike. The cafe is allocated a good range of snacks, fruit and other produce. Good levels of care and attention are afforded for boarders' clothes and personal items. The team of boarding staff and ancillary staff ensures that boarders' bedding and clothing is washed and maintained to a good standard. Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe The provision is good. The school has an effective approach to countering incidents of bullying. A number of boarders report low-level bullying in one boarding house. Good levels of awareness amongst the group of staff ensure that victims and perpetrators are known and suitably supported. Good recording enables the school to track possible clusters and trends. Boarders have access to information about the safer use of electronic means of communication and are adequately safeguarded from potential harm. Boarders do not report any cyber-bullying at the time of this inspection. Boarders are protected from abuse. An experienced and well-trained senior member of staff is designated to take responsibility for the implementation of the safeguarding and child protection policies. Teachers and boarding house teams benefit from good guidance and leadership in this area. Documents related to child protection and safeguarding are of a good quality and updated regularly to reflect the latest developments in legislation. However, the school's child protection guidance does currently not specify the services provided by the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). All teaching and boarding house staff receive good child protection information and training except for ancillary staff who do currently not receive adequate refresher and induction training. Pupils and boarders feel that members of staff treat them fairly and with respect. The range of rewards and sanctions is well advertised in boarding houses and in school and is known to all. Boarders report that they are clear about what rules are in place. Staff follow a clear policy regarding all aspects of managing behaviour effectively and appropriately. Complaints are taken seriously and are appropriately responded to. A comprehensive complaints policy is in place and is available in the different school publications aimed at external as well as internal stakeholders.

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