Stanbridge Earls School Review Report Overview This report is made pursuant to an Inquiry to consider the inspection history of Stanbridge Earls School from January 2011 to January 2013. The Inquiry was set up in the light of safeguarding concerns raised by the parents of two pupils at the school and the conclusions reached by a First-Tier Tribunal in respect of the school in January 2013. It summarises the outcomes of an internal review which was carried out to consider Ofsted’s involvement during this period and the three inspections that took place. The internal review concluded that each of the inspections conducted during this period was problematic but for different reasons. Each failed to get underneath concerns at the school. This report provides a detailed summary, including findings and recommendations, for consideration by the Inquiry. Introduction Ofsted’s aim is to ensure, through effective inspection and regulation, that outcomes for children and young people are improved by the receipt of better care, services, and education. Improved outcomes can only be achieved if children are safe from harm. Therefore, safeguarding the welfare of children is part of our core business. In this regard, Ofsted has an overarching statutory duty to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of children set out in s117(2) (a) and s119(3) (a) of the Education and Inspection Act, 2006. The legal basis for the inspection of welfare in residential special schools is set out in the Children Act 1989 as amended by the Care Standards Act 2000. In inspecting, Ofsted gives consideration to statute and the National Minimum Standards for residential schools; the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations; and statutory guidance published by the Department for Education. Working together to safeguard children (2010) sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. Part I of Working together is statutory guidance. It states that: ‘Ofsted inspects against the extent to which schools and colleges fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities…” Stanbridge Earls School Review Report June 2014, No. 140134 The purpose of inspection is two-fold: inspectors report on the extent to which a school meets the National Minimum Standards for boarding or residential special schools, and makes qualitative judgements about the quality of the school’s provision and outcomes in the areas set out in the inspection evaluation schedule. All of the National Minimum Standards for boarding and residential special schools are covered by the evaluation schedule. Inspectors use descriptors to guide their judgements about the quality of a school’s provision and outcomes. They reach a summative judgement of the overall effectiveness of the boarding experience. Background Stanbridge Earls School is an independent residential special school, regulated by the Department for Education (DfE) and inspected annually by Ofsted, and more frequently at the DfE’s request. The educational provision at the school is inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate; the welfare provision is inspected by Ofsted. On 15 January 2013, a First Tier Tribunal, Special Education Needs and Disability, published its report of a hearing in November and December 2012 into the claim by Child C, against the Trustees of Stanbridge Earls School, as the responsible body. In summary, the case was one of discrimination arising in consequence of disability. The Tribunal found: [152] It is admitted that the school was unable to manage Child C’s conduct to keep her safe. We agree, but not with the submission that the school took all reasonable steps to do so. The Tribunal’s report says: [178] We are satisfied that the claim has revealed cause for grave concerns about management, multi professional relationships and communication, educational provision and safeguarding at Stanbridge Earls School…[179]We note professor McColgan’s submissions that Ofsted has made unannounced inspections and rated the school outstanding… we have real doubt as to whether the outcome would be justified if Ofsted had known of the failures identified in the present claim. However, the substantive matters considered at the Tribunal were known to individuals at Ofsted. They were set out in a detailed complaint that was received in October 2011. The complaint was from SEN Legal acting on behalf of Child C’s parents. It raised concerns about the robustness of the June 2011 welfare inspection which found the school to be ‘Outstanding’ overall, including an ‘Outstanding’ judgement for safeguarding. The concerns sparked a more limited ‘emergency inspection’ in January 2012 which concluded that the school met the National Minimum Standards. Following a second safeguarding complaint, in February 2012, Stanbridge Earls was the subject of a full welfare inspection in May 2012 brought forward at the request of the DfE. The inspector found it to be ‘Outstanding’ overall, including an ‘Outstanding’ judgement for safeguarding. Stanbridge Earls School Review Report 2 June 2014, No. 140134 An emergency inspection of safeguarding was carried out in January 2013 following receipt of the Tribunal’s report. Ofsted found that the school was not meeting the National Minimum Standards. The DfE served a notice and closely monitored the situation. Terms of Reference Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, established an Inquiry on 24 January 2013 to review the inspection history of Stanbridge Earls School from January 2011 to January 2013. This Inquiry was chaired by Baroness Sally Morgan, the Chair of Ofsted’s Board, and comprised HMCI and two non-executive Board members. The Inquiry commissioned an internal review to report back findings and make recommendations. The review was carried out by Lorraine Langham, Chief Operating Officer, with support from a small internal team. The review comprised desk research, compilation of evidence and a detailed chronology, together with interviews with the key people involved where they were still employed by Ofsted. As this was an internal review, the team did not seek to contact external parties, including former employees. The documents which underpin and support the review are attached to this report at Annex A and Annex B. Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of the documents in Annex B, it is not intended that the contents should be made available outside Ofsted and they will not be shared with any third party or circulated more widely than the review team. Those in Annex A are a matter of public record. Evidence to inform the desk review was gathered from teams and named individuals who were known to have been involved in the inspection and complaints history of the school. A formal request was made in order to gather information they held for the purposes of the review, dating back to January 2011. Information gathered included inspection frameworks, guidance and policies in use throughout the period in question. All email correspondence relevant to the case and still held by individuals and teams was also closely scrutinised. A review of logs and correspondence held by teams in Complaints and Compliance, Investigation and Enforcement was undertaken. This included reviewing information held on various data systems. Information about the wider context within which safeguarding matters were overseen was also gathered. This included a review of the role and purpose of the cross-remit Safeguarding Group which operated and ceased to operate during the period in question. The review team also looked at papers and minutes of the Executive Board relating to the role of this Group. Where questions arose regarding the veracity of inspections, these were subject to investigation by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors. The review team are grateful for this support and advice and to the HMI for undertaking the Evidence Base Reviews (EBR). An EBR looks at the inspection evidence bases, inspection frameworks and guidance in use at the times of the inspections and other relevant documentation, Stanbridge Earls School Review Report June 2014, No. 140134 3 including parental questionnaires. They look at what happened and what conclusions were reached, compared to what should have happened, and seek to address whether the judgements reached are reasonable based on the evidence. Evidence Base Reviews were carried out in relation to the June 2011, January 2012 and May 2012 inspections. The reports from this work are among those documents set out in Annex B and have been considered in detail by the review team. The following documents were reviewed by the team: Ofsted and ISI inspection reports for Stanbridge Earls school from 2007 – 2012 Inspection documents including: The framework for inspecting boarding and residential provision in schools Conducting inspections of boarding and residential provision in schools Evaluation schedule for the inspection of boarding and residential provision in schools National Minimum Standards (NMS) Inspecting residential provision in boarding and residential special schools Reference guide to the key standards in each type of social care service inspected by Ofsted Benchmarking guidance on making social care inspection judgements Criteria for making judgements Conducting additional inspections of independent schools Serious Incident Briefings produced between November 2011 and January 2013. Compliance, Investigation and Enforcement case history