Alternative Provision and the new Ofsted Inspection Framework
December 1st, the start of advent and the resumption of routine inspections from Ofsted, this time under the new framework and report cards.
There’s a greater scrutiny on inclusion and leadership and, as reported by the NEU and The Key Leaders, a higher chance of monitoring inspections - a single significant concern or a low grade in any evaluated area now triggers a follow up monitoring process.
Focussing in on Alternative Provision, information about how you work with AP is needed for every inspection area of the new framework. Ofsted will ask whether any of your students attend off-site AP in their initial inspection planning call. Include the names, addresses, registration statuses, URN (if registered), the number of students that attend (and for what reason), their start dates and the hours that they attend – you'll need this as a document for them anyway.
What does Ofsted expect from your use of Alternative Provision?
To sum it up in three words, informed decision making.
Ofsted will be looking for evidence of knowledge of your local alternative provisions, robust quality assurance, an understanding of each AP’s curriculum and commissioning made in the best interest of each student. Looking deeper into each inspection area, it’s clear that leaders’ understanding of the school’s use of alternative provision runs through every strand.
Quality Assurance
Leaders and Governors must ensure the safety, effectiveness and diligent management of all alternative provision placements.
Ofsted expect to see that the school has performed their own quality assurance for each alternative provision that they use. In September, the DfE published Voluntary National Standards for Non-school Alternative Provision. Benchmarking against these standards will give school leaders a robust picture of each service.
Safeguarding
As per the last framework, safeguarding standards will not be met if school leaders do not know where their students are. As such, it will be key that all SLT share current records of students’ AP placements.
Next Steps has an Alternative Provision Key Information document with the information you’ll need about us. We also provide a report after every session, supporting your knowledge of the work your students are undertaking with us. We are happy to include as many SLT on our student key people email lists as you feel are necessary.
We follow guidance outlined in DfE Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children documentation.
Inclusion
Leaders must ensure that all alternative provision is made in the best interests of the student, offering an equally ambitious curriculum. This can be evidenced by completing and logging a pre-commissioning discussion with parents and the student and careful matching using local knowledge of alternative provisions.
At Next Steps Education, we provide a Pre-commissioning Discussion Record. You can use our discussion record to log use of any AP, but if you do choose to work with us, you’ll find the form syncs with three targets on our referral form, making a smoother paperwork process for our schools.
Our service is built around ultimate flexibility. Whilst we only offer academic tuition and mentoring in our AP, this can be individually tailored for students and built around your existing school curriculum as required.
Transitions into and out of the alternative provision must be well-supported by school. Our partnership approach and flexibility mean we can adapt around student needs, school timetables, curriculum and strategies. Our ‘flow’ strategy can support a student from home to a community setting and then back into school, all with the same team of tutors.
Clear AP targets and timelines, 6-weekly review meetings, tracked trajectories and timely interventions will evidence a strength in your leadership’s commitment to inclusion.
Alternative provisions should also provide equity to students around PSHE, RSE and Careers support. Whilst we offer this to students through Mentoring sessions, it’s not usually included in our academic tuition sessions. We’ll be exploring provision of PSHE with prospective and partner schools in our January “AP: Are You Ofsted Ready?” forum given the new emphasis in the Personal Development and Wellbeing area of inspections.
Curriculum & Teaching
Inspector’s will be keen to evaluate the effectiveness of any alternative provision that your school has in place. Make sure that you can evidence a strong curriculum, including one that improves students’ attitudes, behaviour and attendance as well as providing academic rigour and high expectations.
All Next Steps Education tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status and subject or key stage specialisms. Our team of tutors and mentors also follow a yearly training calendar focusing on supporting vulnerable students with mental health or behavioural concerns. Our reports include both qualitative summary and measurable data: level of engagement, readiness to reintegrate, peer-group benchmarking.
Attendance & Behaviour
Leaders must be accountable for the education and wellbeing of all students placed in alternative provision, with particular attention paid to ensuring any absences are followed up promptly.
In line with the new Voluntary National Standards for Non-school Alternative Provision, Next Steps Education report attendance within 30 minutes of a session start time for each student. We can also provide week-on-week or 6-weekly attendance summaries, supporting SLT’s understanding of student progress.
Next Steps Education are in regular contact with parents. The flexibility of our service allows us to put interventions for non-attendance in place quickly, changing venue, timetables, tutors or anything else that will help the student engage.
Support Resources
We’re always looking for ways to lighten the paperwork load for schools that we work with. Download our Ofsted Ready AP Checklist and follow us on LinkedIn for links to further resources.
