Education Today Education Today Magazine
Staff and pupils at a Dewsbury alternative provision, Ethos College, have been celebrating their ‘Outstanding’ rating under the new Ofsted education inspection framework.
Ethos College was praised by Ofsted inspectors for creating an ‘ambitious curriculum’ and facilitating an ‘inclusive environment’ for all pupils. Ethos supports pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH), other medical needs and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The report outlined how ‘empowered’ pupils felt and noted the ‘dedicated staff who want to see every pupil flourish’.
This is a monumental achievement for the school under the new Ofsted framework as a report revealed that only 17% of 370 “outstanding” schools kept their grade when they had a full reinspection in 2021-22. In addition, Ethos College joins a small number of alternative provisions that hold this prestigious title and is the only alternative provision in Kirklees to do so.
The Ofsted report praised the school’s strong commitment to helping pupils ‘succeed’ and noted that leaders are engaged in ensuring an ‘inclusive school’ environment that is well-designed to meet the needs of each pupil. The inspection highlighted the personal development of pupils as a ‘significant strength’ of the school. The curriculum is based on a well-designed foundation of personal, social, health and economic standards. It offers the freedom for pupils to develop their talents and interests through an array of sports and music tuition.
“Leaders and staff ensure the school environment is positive. Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Pupils feel safe in school. Staff and pupils respect each other. The school is calm and orderly. Pupils say that bullying does not exist in their school. They also felt confident that staff would deal with it effectively if it were to occur.”
The Dewsbury-based school boasts a robust safeguarding policy in place – to help keep children and young people safe by providing a safe environment for children and young people to learn and develop in the school setting.
Furthermore, the report also mentioned the school’s safeguarding arrangements as ‘effective’ and noted that staff are equipped with ‘extensive safeguarding’ knowledge.
The school, part of Ethos Academy Trust, has been supporting the need for specialist provision in the area and offering opportunities for children with social, emotional and mental health needs and other medical needs to flourish academically and personally. Additionally, the inspectors described how the school’s leaders received strong support from the multi-academy trust.
Many pupils start at Ethos College after long periods of absence from mainstream school. Some have had a less than positive experience of education before joining the school and initially find it difficult to adjust to this new phase. The staff and teachers were applauded for working ‘patiently’ to improve pupils’ attitudes towards school and how each of them was ‘well cared’ for and ‘happy’.
“Teachers successfully adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. This ensures pupils with SEND achieve exceptionally well. Pupils access an ambitious curriculum across a wide body of subjects.”
The pupils were described as ‘well behaved’ due to consistent efforts displayed by the ‘highly skilled’ staff who were mentioned as a key reason for the ‘significant attendance’ improvement of the pupils.
Reflecting about this historic landmark and how the school is making a positive impact in the lives of children with special educational needs and disabilities, Head Teacher of Ethos College, Rebecca Smith, said: “We are so pleased with the outstanding results of the Ofsted report. It is a culmination of hard-work and dedication of the entire team at Ethos College.
“Our pupils come from various backgrounds and mostly require specialist support to meet their needs. Our bespoke and tailored curriculum has been curated to meet the requirements of each pupil and aims to provide them with highly effective education and support.
“Moreover, we have focused our priority on nurturing an inclusive learning community for our teachers and pupils, which has enabled us to achieve this outstanding outcome.”
Jayne Foster, CEO Ethos Academy Trust, former head teacher of Ethos College, was delighted to state: “I am immensely proud of Rebecca and the entire team at Ethos College which includes our pupils, past and present. Like all of our schools, Ethos College undertakes a holistic approach to ensuring pupils’ needs are identified and met throughout their journey with the school. They have adopted a curriculum that addresses their academic needs as well as SEMH needs through quality first teaching and targeted interventions, devotion and determination – preparing them for the next stage of their lives and bright futures ahead.”
To find out more about Ethos Academy Trust please go to https://www.eat.uk.com/