Ofsted conducted a follow-up assessment and found the school had made significant improvements
Educ8 Liverpool school on Elm Road, Seaforth(Image: LDRS)
Inspectors say leadership remains lacking at an ‘inadequate’ Merseyside secondary school, four months after a damning Ofsted report identified a series of problems relating to the safety of pupils, the poor standard of education, and ‘unlawful’ behaviour management.
Educ8 Liverpool on Elm Road in Seaforth is an independent special school that caters to children who have been out of education for some time. Almost all pupils at the school have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and the school is dedicated to helping pupils to restart their learning journey.
Educ8 Liverpool’s approach to behaviour management was flagged as a serious problem in the July report, with staff often resorting to sending pupils home to ‘cool off’. Although well intentioned, inspectors said this presented a significant risk to the safety of the children and left them exposed to potential harm.
The report added: “This is sometimes without following a formal suspension process. The school believes that this is in these pupils’ best interests. It is not. This practice constitutes an unlawful suspension. When it happens, pupils miss out on their education. For some, this compounds their infrequent attendance.”
Inspectors also noted: “The school’s understanding of key safeguarding responsibilities is flawed. Training for staff has not been effective. Despite well intentioned vigilance to any concerns about pupils’ well-being, the school often abdicates its safeguarding responsibilities to other agencies.
“At times, staff do not check whether these agencies have acted in a timely way. This provides little reassurance about the school’s actions to support and protect pupils who may be at risk of significant harm. As a result, pupils’ safety is compromised. Their welfare suffers.”
The overall outcome of the July assessment determined that Educ8 Liverpool did not meet all of the independent school standards. Those standards included provision for the welfare, health and safety of pupils and the quality of leadership and management of the school.
In relation to the latest report, Ofsted found that Educ8 Liverpool had made significant improvements in relation to welfare of its pupils, inspectors wrote: “The proprietor has sought advice from the local authority and has secured external guidance to support this implementation.
“Leaders and staff have now been provided with training to use this system. The school’s records show that concerns are recorded with a suitable amount of detail.”
Educ8 Liverpool school on Elm Road, Seaforth(Image: LDRS)
The report continued: “At this progress monitoring inspection, it was found that the proprietor and leaders have now put in place a range of suitable risk assessments. They have ensured that these reflect the specific needs of pupils and potential hazards of the school.
“For example, due account has been paid to the risk of pupils leaving the premises without permission and the procedures that should be followed if this occurred.”
In relation to its admissions register and the school’s recording of pupils’ daily attendance, Ofsted noted: “In the school’s action plan, the proprietor proposed a range of actions to address these concerns [in July report].
“For example, the plan set out the proprietor’s intention to carry out a full audit and update of the admissions register, and to introduce weekly cross-reference checks with the attendance register.
“Moreover, the action plan explained the school’s intention to train staff to use the correct statutory codes for absences, and its intention to implement a new management information system to replace manual registers and strengthen record-keeping.”
The findings in these categories mean that Educ8 Liverpool is now compliant with the independent school standards. However, inspectors also said the standards relating to leadership and management of the school remain unmet.
The report states: “Evidence showed that with the support, advice and guidance of external advisers, the proprietor and leaders have taken appropriate action to meet most of the standards that were checked. For example, weaknesses in the maintenance of admissions and attendance registers have now been addressed successfully.
“Staff have now received training to enable them to administer and record first aid appropriately. These improvements are welcome. However, the proprietor and leaders remain over-reliant upon the expertise and support provided by its external advisers.
“Without this support and expertise, leaders lack the capacity to embed and to build further upon these improvements. This is likely to jeopardise the extent to which the standards remain met, consistently and securely, over time.”
The LDRS contacted Educ8 Liverpool for comment.