/ Providing Inspection Services for
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
Education and Training Inspectorate
Report of an Inspection
Belfast Hospital School
November 2003
CONTENTS
SectionPage
1.SCHOOL CONTEXT1
2.SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS1
3.MAIN STRENGTHS OF THE PROVISION2
4.AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT2
5.ACHIEVING BEST PRACTICE3
6.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION3
STATISTICAL INFORMATION (SPECIAL SCHOOLS)
1.1 i. School: BELFAST HOSPITAL SCHOOLiii.Date of Inspection: 10/11/2003
ii.School Reference Number: 131-6560 iv. Nature of Inspection: FOCUSED
1.2
1999/00 /
2000/01 /
2001/02 / 2002/03 /
2003/04
Total Enrolment /
126 /
126 /
107 / 102 / 114
The enrolment for the current year is the figure on the day of notification of inspection. For previous years it is the figure in the annual return to the Department of Education.
1.3Number of Pupils in Home Tuition Service:34
1.4i.Number of Teachers in School: 20Home Tuition Service: 20
(including the Principal and p/t teachers)
(f/t equivalent = 25 teaching hours)
ii.PTR (pupil/teacher ratio):1:5
iii.Average Class Size:N/A
iv.Number of Classroom Assistants:1
v.Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours per week:
Clerical Support:25
vi.Number of Families in School:102
vii.Percentage of children in receipt of free
school meals:N/A
1.SCHOOL CONTEXT
1.1Belfast Hospital School provides education for pupils receiving medical treatment within the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (RBHSC) and Musgrave Park Hospital (MPH). When necessary, pupils who are admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital, also have access to an educational service. The in-patients attending the school come from a wide geographical area and include children of primary and post-primary age from the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. A Home Tuition Service is offered to convalescing pupils across the greater Belfast area and to pupils who are attending the Young Peoples’ Centre in College Green and the Copelands Unit in Knockbracken. Current staffing is principal plus 19 teachers and one classroom assistant.
1.2This inspection focused on the management arrangements, the quality of teaching and learning and the school’s procedures for pastoral care and child protection.
2.SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS
2.1The school is effective in providing high quality education for pupils who are admitted to the two regional medical centres of excellence of the RBHSC and MPH. Since both hospitals are catering for admissions from across the province, the school has developed effective liaison with schools in all five Education & Library Board (ELB) areas. The Home Tuition Service has continued to expand and is very effective in meeting the needs of pupils who are recovering after their hospitalisation or, who are unable to attend school for a variety of reasons. While the service deals appropriately with children and young people recovering from medical conditions a number of inappropriate referrals have been noted, namely school refusal and school phobia, which raise the issue of clarification of the role of the service. These referrals provide an ongoing demand and drain on the Home Tuition Service.
2.2The school has a comprehensive and clear policy specifically designed to guide pastoral care and child protection in the unique context of the Belfast Hospital School which is compliant with the Department of Education (DE) Circulars 1999/10 and 2003/13. The designated teacher currently has no identified deputy due to long-term teacher absence. This issue should be addressed as a matter of priority so that there is clarity of responsibility in this important area. In the return completed by the principal, guidance was requested on pupils who are over 18 years of age. These pupils should be regarded as “vulnerable adults” for child protection purposes and parents should therefore be asked to comply with guidance issued, for example in regard to a parent or other adult, being in the home during home tuition.
2.3The governors and parents expressed strong support for the work of the school; some concerns were voiced about the impact the increased demands on the Home Tuition Service is having on the ability of the school to fulfil the ward teaching requirements. Other concerns mentioned included the lack of transition arrangements for pupils returning to schools from home tuition and the needs of children with chronic conditions which necessitate their absence from school on a regular basis. This inspection found these concerns to be justified.
2.4The provision for the care and well-being of the pupils is excellent and is a significant strength of the school. The teachers’ positive and caring approach to the pupils, results in relaxed working relationships. The pupils feel valued and are praised for their efforts; a strong emphasis is placed on the recognition of effort and achievement. Where appropriate, the staff make arrangements for the pupils to sit external examinations or receive accreditation for short courses, for example, in information and communication technology (ICT). The pastoral provision is well enhanced by the valued contributions of volunteers who provide spiritual support for children while in hospital.
2.5The teachers have a high level of commitment to professional development. They keep themselves abreast of curricular changes through regular attendance at external in-service training (INSET) courses. School-based INSET, sometimes involving staff from outside agencies, such as the Belfast Education and Library Board (BELB), is undertaken frequently. The benefits, derived from this staff development, are evident in the quality of teaching observed, in lessons in the wards and in home tuition.
3.MAIN STRENGTHS OF THE PROVISION
3.1The main strengths of the school are:
- the high quality of the teaching both in the wards and in home tuition;
- the positive response of the pupils to the one-to-one teaching, their effective engagement in the learning process and the benefits, socially and emotionally, derived from their interaction with the teachers;
- the meticulous teachers’ planning which seeks to meet the pupils’ individual needs and takes full account of the pupils’ medical conditions;
- the excellent use of resources including ICT;
- the high quality of the multi-disciplinary work between medical and educational staff in which the teachers play a full part;
- the improvements made since the last inspection in developing the careers and school leavers’ programme;
- the sound and effective links with the pupils’ own schools which help to provide continuity in the pupils’ learning while they undergo medical treatment;
- the work in the Young Peoples Centre and in the Copelands Unit where staff provide tuition to young people with significant psychiatric and emotional difficulties.
4.AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
4.1The areas for improvement include:
- the development of an effective management information system, to include appropriate documentation, to ensure that informed decisions can be taken on a range of strategic issues;
- the need to review the work of the senior management team (SMT) which is constrained by the current arrangements affecting the decision-making process; it would be important for the SMT to work together, more effectively, as a team, towards agreed and common goals. The principal should endeavour further to secure the full support of all of the team in implementing agreed goals;
- the need to review the impact of the increasing number of home tuition referrals on the time allocated to ward teaching;
- the need to develop a strategy to support pupils, where necessary, through the difficult transition from hospital or home tuition back to their own school;
- the need to ensure that an appropriate and flexible software solution is agreed with Classroom 2000 (C2K) in order to meet the particular and very broad needs of the hospital school. In the future, the school should look at the potential of e-learning to meet the needs of pupils, particularly in regard to those on home tuition.
5.ACHIEVING BEST PRACTICE
5.1It is the view of the inspection team that the current high quality of provision evident in the lessons observed could be enhanced further by the development of a strategic management approach which takes account of the demands being made of the service. Significant advances have been made, to date, in appointing specialist teachers to meet the full range of subjects within the Northern Ireland Curriculum (NIC) and in developing good quality careers programmes. There is a need, however, for management to address proactively the current balance of work between home tuition and ward teaching to achieve the best possible outcomes. Achieving best practice can be developed through:
- consolidating the current high quality of teacher commitment and practice through effective management arrangements which reflect a vision for the future;
- developing self-evaluative approaches to support the strategic management and development of the school.
6.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
6.1In the areas under focus, the school has many strengths in aspects of its provision: the areas for improvement need to be addressed if the school is to meet as fully as possible the needs of all of the children.
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© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2004
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Copies of this report may be obtained from the Inspection Services Branch, Department of Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, Co Down BT19 7PR. A copy is also available on the DE website: www.deni.gov.uk