Park View School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.

This school has improved markedly since the arrival of the new headteacher. Her drive and ambition are tangible. Staff have risen well to the challenge of improving the school.

Students' rates of progress have accelerated and more are now making outstanding progress. Students' reading abilities have come on in leaps and bounds. The quality of teaching has improved and is consistently good; a small minority is outstanding.

Teachers use assessments of students learning well when planning lessons. Marking is good and is increasingly being checked to make sure students take on board the guidance given. The best lessons are vibrant a...nd purposeful and the activities given to students are meaningful and relevant.

Students are well behaved, especially once they have settled at the school. In lessons, the vast majority remain focused on learning. Around the school students conduct themselves well and have good relationships with staff and one another.

Pupils say they feel safe. Attendance has improved considerably since the last inspection and is now around the average for special schools nationally. Monitoring of lessons by senior staff and well-targeted training have brought about good improvements in the quality of teaching.

The governing body and the local authority, provide a good level of challenge to senior leaders. Parents are pleased with the improvements they have seen at the school. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Not enough of the teaching is of outstanding quality.

Although teachers use questioning to check on students' understanding it is not always used effectively enough to challenge them to think harder. Personal targets in lesson plans are not always conveyed to students in ways they can understand. While teachers are increasingly planning lessons to capture students' interest, in some lessons this is not always the case.

Information about this school

This is a small school providing for boys and girls with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Almost all students are transported to and from school by school staff using the school's minibus. All of the students have a statement of special educational needs.

All are of White British heritage. A small number are looked-after by the local authority. There are six girls on roll.

The proportion of students for whom the school receives the pupil premium is well above average at 76%. (The pupil premium is additional funding for those students who are known to be eligible for free school meals, who have a parent serving in the armed forces and those who are looked after by the local authority.) The headteacher was appointed in September 2012 following the early retirement of the former headteacher.

The deputy headteacher has very recently been appointed from within the school. In January 2013, the school moved to new, purpose-built premises. At the same time it changed its name from The Galsworthy Centre to Park View School.

The school uses a small number of alternative, off-site providers of vocational education. These are: The Wheels Project, B Skill, Learning Curve, New Leaf Training, Rathbone, TCV, ALD Hairdressing and South Tyneside College. The school faced a substantial reduction of around a third of its budget from April 2013 because : of changes to the formula for funding special schools.

A staffing re-structure has been implemented and a balanced budget for 2013/14 has been achieved. The governing body has taken the decision to move toward academy status. If approved, the school will be sponsored by South Tyneside College of Further Education and will have the Epinay Business and Enterprise School as its partner school within the Trust School arrangements.

The governing body is to consult with parents and staff on these proposals during the autumn term 2013. The school was placed in special measures at its last inspection in February 2012. It received three monitoring inspection visits with the last two judging the school to be making good progress.

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