The John Fielding School: School Improvement Plan

The John Fielding School: School Improvement Plan

School Improvement Plan 2017-18

The School’s Key Priorities

Raise pupil outcomes and progression in all subjects

Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching across the school

Maintaining high standards of behaviour and welfare for all pupils

Develop and strengthen standards of leadership and management across the school

MISSION STATEMENT

At The John Fielding Community Special School we provide a curriculum that is Caring, Aspirational, Relevant and Engaging. We want everyone here to be happy and eager to come to school. We want everyone to do their best and get the most out of their time here. We want to develop the skills of our young people so that they are prepared for life beyond school. Starting school for the first time, or starting again at a new school, can be a very daunting experience for pupils and parents, but we will do everything we can to make it as easy as possible.

To provide this we have an experienced and dedicated staff team who are constantly searching for new ways of helping our pupils. We pride ourselves on the family atmosphere that prevails and on our strong links with families and the local community. The pupils are enthusiastic learners who take advantage of all the opportunities provided.

John Fielding Community Special School aims to provide a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum designed to meet the unique needs of all of our pupils. Our pupils can range in age from 2 -19 Years old and all have severe learning difficulties, some also have an autistic spectrum disorder, epilepsy, a physical disability, sensory impairment, medical needs and/or a communication difficulty.

We ensure all pupils are given the opportunities they deserve to participate in a full and varied curriculum, promoting their spiritual, cultural, moral, educational and physical development to the full. The school works closely with parents, governors, other professionals, the Local Authority and the local community to promote high standards.

TheJohn Fielding Community Special School values it’s self on providing a secure, stimulating and happy environment with an emphasis on developing communication skills. We help our pupils to be sensitive to the needs of others, to develop a sense of worth and high self-esteem. Our ethos is to encourage our pupils to take an active part in the life of the school and to become happy, caring young people capable of contributing to society in a positive way.We achieve our aims by: working in partnership with parents and other professionals; offering a quality curriculum designed both to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum and the needs of our pupils; placing a high emphasis on staff development and working closely with local schools, colleges and the wider community.

INTRODUCTION

At The John Fielding Community Special School we believe that the School Improvement Plan provides a structure to improve the process and quality of teaching and learning for all our pupils. It enables us to introduce changes and innovations rationally. It brings together all aspects of school planning, and helps turn long term vision into short-term achievable goals.

The school Improvement Plan is drafted by the Senior Leadership Team following consultation with all staff, pupils, parents and governors and is presented to the Local Governing Body for discussion and endorsement.

The aim of the current planning process is to recognise that school improvement has a key role to play in the translation of our values and aims into practice. It will give our school a clear direction and a sense of team purpose.

The plan is underpinned by sound financial planning, which identifies priorities and targets for ensuring that pupils achieve high standards and make good progress.

It establishes the importance of development planning not just for the short-term, i.e. the school’s one-year action plans, but also for the achievement of our medium-term and long-term goals.

The plan establishes the process for involving governors, staff, pupils and parents.

The School Improvement Plan details all areas of planned school improvement work to be undertaken during the next twelve to twenty four months. Some of these activities have a whole school focus, some relate to development work being undertaken by groups and some refer to individual responsibilities. Obviously the number of activities detailed in the plan would make it difficult for all staff to have a clear working knowledge of all areas of development.

The school has therefore prioritised the main areas of improvement work that have a whole school context. All staff, governors and parents will make a contribution, in some way, to achieving these priorities.

The School’s Key Priorities

Raise pupil achievement and progression in all subjects

Increase the proportion of good and outstanding teaching across the school

Maintain high standards of behaviour and learning behaviour for all pupils across the school

Develop and strengthen standards of leadership and management across the school

To expand upon opportunities available to all pupils and staff to work and learn alongside one another using the full range provision across the academy trust

VISION FOR THE NEXT THREE TO FIVE YEARS

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

The pupil population of the school has grown in numbers and complexity of learning need continually over the past few years. It is expected that a greater number of pupils will present with more complex and severe learning and behavioural difficulties. The curriculum offered by the school will need to be kept under constant review in light of these changes, as will our styles and strategies for curriculum delivery.

The south of the county is experiencing huge population growth and this is already being reflected in the pressures for places being put upon local primary schools. The school has experienced a steady rise in pupil numbers over the past year and the number on roll currently stands at 57. Accommodating this number of students has been achieved by developing flexible programmes of study and through creative use of spaces within the school not originally designated as teaching areas. It has been necessary to turn away students who would have been appropriately placed at the school on the basis of their special educational needs.

CURRICULUM AND PLANNING

Throughout 2015/16, the school introduced new data management systems for analysing pupil progress based on the use of PIVATS for monitoring curriculum attainment and Progression Guidance and will use CASPA for evaluating pupil progress in the year to come. The school has adopted PIVATS 5. We will work in partnership with other local special schools to implement new ‘all through’ assessment systems covering the P levels and higher curriculum attainments equivalent to expected levels for years 1 and above. We will work with other local special schools to further develop the use of the Mapping and Assessing Pupil Progress (MAPP) tool and moderate our assessments of children with the most complex learning needs.

The school is committed to sharing assessment information with parents in the most efficient and informative manner possible. Following on from the introduction of the Tapestry pupil profile package in 2016 we will continue to develop the use of electronic media to communicate effectively with parents and build truly collaborative relationships with them. The provision of faster broadband is crucial to the roll out of our digital assessment platforms and is a high priority.

Our students need to be clear about their learning objectives and when they have achieved success in order to maximise their progress. We will further develop our procedures around marking and feedback to ensure that these are clear and meaningful to children and young people across the ability range.

We will work closely with Boston College to develop a new programme of study for our Key Stage 4 and 5 students. We will seek to further develop our links with local providers of adult social care services to ensure smooth transition for the young people who are unlikely to access a college place. Students in the upper school will have increased vocational opportunities building on existing links with local business and organisations. Students in Key Stages 4 and 5 will have increased opportunities to achieve accreditation for their achievements working towards Entry Level qualifications and Pre-Entry level awards using unit award schemes.

Across the school we will continue to develop our links with mainstream and other special schools with a view to generating mutually beneficial inclusion opportunities.

Following the establishment of the John Fielding School as an Academy within Community Inclusion Trust we will build further our links with schools in CITand more widely across the Trust to benefit from the curriculum expertise on offer. A particular focus for the coming cycle of 3 – 5 years will be on the effective use of ICT to support learning across the curriculum. We anticipate making ever closer working links between teachers with curriculum responsibility for curriculum development activities.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT / SCHOOL MANAGEMENT

The school is committed to providing staff with the opportunity to develop their skills and build their careers here. The school will look to meet its future teaching staff workforce demands through School Direct and Teaching School Alliances. The school therefore remains committed to supporting the in-house development of staff and is currently providing some funding support and day release to 3 individuals completing foundation degrees. The school will seek to provide career development opportunities to staff that contribute to enhancing the future capacity of the school and the wider Trust. We will develop further our links with the LEARN teaching school (part of CIT) to provide accredited staff development opportunities.

The increase in pupil numbers has necessitated an increase in the number of class groups across the school. Not all of these groups are led by a qualified teacher and use has been made of HLTAs and unqualified teachers where necessary. It is imperative that the school looks to increase the number of talented teachers to meet the needs of its growing population. There is also a need to ensure a sufficient compliment of senior staff to distribute management roles and responsibilities to.

The school will be working towards the Aim4Lincs enhanced accreditation status and through ongoing training is committed to developing the skills of all staff in working with children with Autism. A continuing focus will be on maximising the communication skills of all staff and their understanding of the complex and differing communication needs of individual students. There will be a particular focus on the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAT) including contemporary switch systems and ICT solutions.

The school has increased its compliment of specialist TA staffing for Moving and Handling.Two staff are now accredited to work in liaison with medical therapists (Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, School Nursing) to ensure that staff training and development in these areas are up to date and adherence to pupil programmes maximised.

The school will strive to ensure that all staff receive their entitlement to a quality driven, rigorous cycle of professional development that links strategically to school and self-improvement. Teaching staff will be supported to take on greater responsibility for the management of the professional development of Teaching Assistants within their class teams.

Staff confidence and competence in using ICT, both as a personal professional tool and as a curriculum resource, will continue to develop in importance. A particular emphasis will be on real time communication with parents about their children’s progress using new media solutions including training on data protection and confidentiality whilst pushing ourselves towards being an open and transparent learning community.

PREMISES AND MATERIAL RESOURCES

The standards and suitability of buildings and grounds remains a significant challenge in our efforts to fully meet the needs of all pupils. Class rooms are cramped and mostly unsuitable for pupils with the most profound difficulties. The provision of a high quality and attractive environment is a very high priority. Not only is it important that staff and pupils should have a good working environment but it is essential that the message our building and grounds give out to parents and visitors is one of quality; special-education is not a second-rate type of provision. We will continue to work closely with the Local Authority’s special school development project team to ensure any proposed capital development plans agreed are in the best interests of the school and its pupils and staff.

The outdoor learning areas to three of the primary classes have been improved through the installation of canopies and rubberised safety flooring. One of the upper school classrooms has been remodelled to accommodate a larger number of pupils and a new interactive panel has been installed. New fencing has been installed in several playground areas to create safe play and learning spaces.

All classrooms have good quality interactive boards. We remain committed to updating our ICT resources based on rigorous and robust analysis of impact and according to best value principles. We will look to ensure all class teachers and teaching teams have a dedicated IPad to support assessment and progress capture.

As previously mentioned any increase to numbers will necessitate an increase in the teaching and learning areas available for use.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNITY

Broadcasting the work, successes and achievements of the school will continue to be a priority. Developing and strengthening links with community groups across the whole of our catchment area will be a priority both in terms of making the wider community more aware of our schools and trust and accessing financial and other help for pupils across the region.

THE SCHOOL AS A WHOLE

The school is well regarded within the community it serves, support from the LA diminished in recent years linked to recurring budget cuts contributing to the decision to join CIT in March 2015 as an Academy. As outlined above we see numerous opportunities for curriculum and staff development offered by this new status. Staff and Governors are firmly committed to the philosophy of the school as expressed in the school’s Mission Statement and Aims and Values.

SYNOPSIS OF ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE LAST SCHOOL YEAR

Newly introduced assessment procedures are now evidencing that pupil progress and outcomes are good, with an increasing percentage of pupils making outstanding progress against end of year targets.

The leadership team at the school is now in place following the appointment of a substantive and permanent Assistant Headteacher to compliment the Head of School and Executive Headteacher. There remains a need to ensure there is sufficient leadership and management capacity to meet the demands of the school.

Both pupil numbers and school finance are currently relatively healthy and stable. 2016/2017saw considerable change within the financial and business arrangements of the school. The Trust continues to review and refine its centralised and localised services and requirements. Both finance and administration teams have been required to adapt to these changes at short notice which has proved challenging at times.

An evaluation of the progress made towards School Improvement Priorities from 2016/2017 is recorded on last year’s SIP plan. Particular highlights, not covered above, include:

• The majority of lesson observations of class leads were good or outstanding during 2016 - 2017
• There continued to be a very significant decrease in physical interventions to support behaviour.
• Pupil attendance rose slightly and remains above norms for similar special schools.
• Good progress has been made in the implementation of new assessment systems.
• Tapestry has been introduced to support Early Years progress capture and has also supported better communication with parents.
• Teachers and key staff have benefitted from both internal and external CPL support and coaching.
• The school underwent a safeguarding health check which highlighted many of the outstanding systems and practices that are in place across school
• Eye Gaze, was introduced to support with learning and communication for our students with more complex and severe learning difficulties. Training has been

undertaken through St Francis Special School in Lincoln to enable all students within two classes to access initial baseline assessments that will inform staff of individual starting points.