<p> Hertfordshire Improvement Partner Report HIP Monitoring of Provision for Children Looked After (CLA) Herts for Learning</p><p>School The Valley Number 619 Date 22 June 2016</p><p>Present Corina Foster - Headteacher Andy Clark - Designated Teacher (DT) / Deputy Head Margaret Julia Goodchild – Herts Improvement </p><p>Length of visit: 12 hours, including writing this note of visit </p><p>Purpose of visit:  To monitor the school’s provision for CLA who are at school in Hertfordshire or in the care of Hertfordshire Local Authority  To validate the impact of the provision on the outcomes of CLA who are at school in Hertfordshire or in the care of Hertfordshire Local Authority  To challenge the school where outcomes for CLA who are at school in Hertfordshire or in the care of Hertfordshire Local Authority are not yet good</p><p>During the visit, the HIP:  Met with the headteacher and the DT / DH  Undertook a learning walk with the DT which included some interaction with CLA students  Held in-depth discussions with senior leaders about the ways in which the school meets the personal, social, emotional and behavioural needs of the students  Scrutinised some examples of students’ work  Looked at the school’s tracking system and at other paperwork related to CLA students  Scrutinised the PEPs for each of the students, all of whom are currently in-county </p><p>Main findings:</p><p>Amount of funding allocated to the school: £57,000</p><p>How many CLA are currently on roll? Total = Hertfordshire Out of county Year group 7 1 8 1 8 1 9 1 11 1 Number of CLA 5 5</p><p>2015 HIP report (Special) Herts for Learning Ltd 01438 845111 www.hertsforlearning.co.uk Context </p><p>Aspect Yes/N o The DT frequently reviews Yes The DT looks at CLA students’ progress every half term. The the progress of all CLA on progress of each student is also recorded formally for every roll student, with a half-termly report. This report links progress to the levels in the school’s tracker. There is a regular progress meeting with the learning leader; anyone not making enough progress is identified and action plans put in place to support them. Some action plans may be about social and emotional needs as well as emotional needs. The DT liaises frequently Yes The DT has met with the Virtual School (VS) representative and with the Virtual School had conversations with him, particularly about providing head or lead adviser information of if a CLA student is not making as much progress as the school would wish and where additional funding might be needed. For example, a student who needed counselling would lead to liaison with the VS. The DT frequently Yes The DT sends the VS detailed information from the school’s provides the Virtual tracking to show students’ progress and attendance when it is School head or lead requested. The attendance rate for CLA is high. adviser with performance information about CLA attendance and outcomes The DT meets with the Yes The DT meets with class teachers to discuss progress of all class teacher of CLA to students; either the DT, headteacher or learning leader meet discuss their progress with the class teacher half termly. The DT has responsibility Yes The DT has joint responsibility with the headteacher for PP for spending the pupil spending on CLA. premium grant for CLA The DT is held to account Yes The DT has joint accountability with the headteacher for PP for spending the pupil spending on CLA. premium grant for CLA The DT provides Yes This DT is new in the role and has not produced a CLA report to governors with detailed governors yet. It was not possible to see an example of such a information about how the report that has been produced previously. pupil premium grant for The CLA governor has not had specific training for this role CLA is spent and the according but the DT notes that she was involved in setting up difference it makes to the VS so has a strong awareness of CLA issues. Collectively, outcomes governors are beginning to hold the school to account more now than before. The Virtual School Yes The DT has met with the VS representative – but is not easily provides support for CLA partly able to give examples of any particular action that has directly in this school supported a student this year. The school has received effective support from the VS in the past. The support provided for Yes The DT feels that in past there has been input that is likely to CLA by the Virtual School partly have had a direct impact on raising standards but there have is effective in raising been no recent examples. standards The DT meets regularly Yes The DT – or the tutor – meets at least termly with carers and with carers of all CLA there is also more frequent ongoing contact with them. The DT encourages carers Yes The DT does this within the context of students’ particular to focus on academic needs. Some of the necessary focus with carers is about the achievement social and emotional needs of the students and about their behaviour for learning as well as their academic progress.</p><p>2 The Personal Education Plan (PEP or e-PEP)</p><p>For each aspect please  or x</p><p>PEP1 PEP2 PEP3 PEP 4 PEP 5 Is the PEP in date?      All factual details are completed in x x x x x full throughout the PEP Most targets have an academic focus     </p><p>All targets are challenging Not specific Not all    specific There is evidence of the LAC’s Level of x Level of x x involvement in putting together the involvemen involvemen t is unclear t is unclear targets from the from the PEP but PEP but the student the pupil has voice identified section has what will been help her to completed succeed in her learning portrait There is evidence of the carer’s Not evident Not evident Not evident Not evident Not evident involvement in putting together the in the PEP in the PEP in the PEP in the PEP in the PEP as meeting as meeting as meeting as meeting as meeting targets notes are notes are notes are notes are notes are omitted omitted omitted omitted omitted There is evidence of at least a termly      evaluation of the LAC’s progress towards the targets The evaluations include hard      performance information Where appropriate, arrangements in      place allow for a smooth transition </p><p>CLA outcomes</p><p>Current English Mathematics KS 4 only Number of A* - C year grades (or equivalent) group Target Current End of Target Current End of Targe Current End of KS Attainmen Year/KS Attainment Year/KS t attainment prediction t predictio predicti n on CLA 7 B1 in A6 B1 A5 A6 A6 1 the school’ (PEP 1 s above tracking ) system CLA 8 A5 A4 A5 A6 A5 A6 2 (PEP 2 above ) CLA 8 B2 B1 B2 B2 B1 B2 3</p><p>2015 HIP report (Special) Herts for Learning Ltd 01438 845111 www.hertsforlearning.co.uk (PEP 3 above ) CLA 9 B5 B4 B5 B4 B3 B4 4 (PEP 4 above ) CLA 11 B3 B2 B3 A6 A5 A6 This student, who is new to the 5 school and is currently working with Year 10, is likely to be (PEP 5 entered for City & Guilds and above Entry Level and ASDAN ) qualifications. There will be a greater focus on particular qualifications in Year 11.</p><p>Summary evaluation from the visit </p><p>The PEP is just part of the school’s target setting and tracking system for CLA students and PEPs need to be seen alongside a range of other documents which, collectively, provide the full picture of how well the school is providing for each CLA student.</p><p>Records and samples of work show that CLA students are making good progress – their gains in learning are at least what might be expected given their starting points. Students’ literacy skills are promoted across the curriculum. Work seen included examples of strong inclusion of reading and writing skills in humanities and in science. Students are making systematic progress in their writing and spelling and in using and applying their numeracy skills. However, this could probably be even better if the next steps in their learning were identified by teachers and used on a day-to-day basis in their planning.</p><p>A tour of the school, interactions with students and detailed discussions with the DT indicated that the school provides excellent support for the personal, social and emotional needs of its CLA students. It has a wide range of provision to meet their very personal needs.</p><p>There is a carefully thought-out transition package in place for CLA students, e.g., when they come up from previous settings. </p><p>Pupil premium students make better progress than the rest of the students. The school produces a great deal of data which indicates how well it tracks the progress of CLA (and other students). </p><p>There is close follow-up liaison for students when they leave the school, wherever possible. Change of personnel makes this more difficult for in-county students. </p><p>Areas for development:</p><p>A small amount of factual information is missing from the PEPs, e.g., NHS number missing from information provided by the social worker for the Year 7 student. The box has not been ticked for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as to whether there is restricted access for one of the Year 8 students (CJ). The Year 9 student has her NHS number missing and a ‘yes’ tick in the box for restricted access but the social worker has not provided information about who is not allowed to have access to her.</p><p>Minutes of PEP meetings are not included in the PEPs so there is no clear overview of each pupil’s development or any record of carers’ input into the process of reviewing progress or identifying new targets.</p><p>Some SMART targets in PEPs are very general, e.g., ‘Improve literacy levels and keep working on writing’. Interventions for this student consist of ‘support from teacher and learning partner in class’. Expected outcomes are that the pupil ‘will gain confidence in reading and her writing will improve’. It is clearly impossible to measure progress against these targets. The EHC plan for this student identifies particular areas of difficulty where the student is likely to need very specific support in order to make as much progress </p><p>4 as she could. Subject reports by individual teachers praise the good progress she is making across the curriculum but only some of the teachers identify for this student in their reporting what she needs to do to improve further. There are other targets that are very general, such as ‘x needs to stay focused for a long time’. Work samples seen did not include any identification of next steps in learning so this is likely to be an area for development that senior leaders could usefully consider across the school in order to build on existing good practice. Improving classroom assessment is a current focus: quite a lot of verbal feedback and advice takes place between teachers and students but the recording of next steps for individuals is not yet embedded. </p><p>The pupil view section of the PEPs has not been completed for all students though they have provided information about some aspects for their learning portraits.</p><p>There have been no DT reports to governors using the VS template (in the headteacher and new DT’s time), though the school does report in detail by other means to governors on the performance of PP including CLA students.</p><p>RAYG rating</p><p>Overall rating</p><p>Yellow overall because leaders are placing good emphasis on supporting the educational needs of CLA students and making excellent provision for their personal, social, emotional and behavioural needs. The progress of CLA students is checked frequently, including through the school’s well-developed tracking system. PEPs are reviewed termly and CLA students are making at least expected progress. Academic targets are not specific enough, however, and the identification of ‘next steps’ in learning is not embedded in the school’s practice to support accelerated progress. With a new DT in post, some aspects of the role are not yet fully developed including the routine reporting of CLA provision to governors using the VS report template.</p><p>PEP rating</p><p>The PEP rating is red because there is missing information from the PEPs, including important elements of factual information. Minutes of meetings and the pupil voice sections are also missing from the PEPs. This means that there is no record of carers’ views and their contributions or evidence of pupils’ views, though the DT notes that conversations do take place with CLA pupils as part of the decision-making process. </p><p>Actions agreed:  Ensure that all sections of the PEPs are completed for each student, including: - factual information in the front section of the PEP - minutes of PEP meetings - the pupil voice section (as the PEP asks more focused questions than the information students contribute to their learning portraits).  Sharpen target setting for CLA students so that these are specific, used by teachers to inform ‘next steps’ in students’ learning and to make support programmes specific.  Produce a DT report to governors using the VS report template to complement existing information provided for governors.  Access CLA governor training when this becomes available from the VS (CLA governor training is available via the governance unit and can be arranged through Hannah Stewart, on 01438 844113 or [email protected])</p><p>Date and purpose of next visit </p><p>N/A</p><p>2015 HIP report (Special) Herts for Learning Ltd 01438 845111 www.hertsforlearning.co.uk Hertfordshire Improvement Partner : Margaret Julia Goodchild Date: 22 June 2016</p><p>Please email the completed proforma to [email protected] who will make sure the relevant personnel have sight of it, and to your admin support officer who will send it to the school.</p><p>6</p>