The Harbour School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Primary & Secondary
Post 16
Special school
PUPILS
106
AGES
5 - 19
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Academy special converter

How Does The School Perform?

Inadequate
NATIONAL AVG. 2.09
Ofsted Inspection
(19/09/2023)
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84.1%
NATIONAL AVG. 17.7%
Persistent Absence
1.9%
NATIONAL AVG. 22.0%
Pupils first language
not English
71.7%
NATIONAL AVG. 25.9%
Free school meals
9.4%
NATIONAL AVG. 13.5%
Pupils with SEN support
Tipner Lane
Tipner
Portsmouth
PO2 8RA
02392665664

School Description

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school has demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection be a section 5 inspection. You have led the school with an exceptional level of passion and commitment to drive improvements since the last inspection. You recognise the emotional and social difficulties faced by pupils in your school, and forming strong relationships underpins your approach to improving outcomes. You and your leaders have worked tirelessly to grow the trust and confidence of pupils and their families through building positive connections. You accurately assess the barriers to learning faced by pupils, and address both the academic and social and emotional needs of pupils to enable them to succeed. Parents and pupils greatly value the support you provide and they recognise the benefits that your school delivers. One parent described the school as ‘going above and beyond for the children’. Leaders and staff are ambitious for the pupils and are intent on improving their life chances. Academic and personal development are carefully and regularly tracked to ensure that pupils are meeting targets, including attendance. As a result, leaders are able accurately to identify underachievement and put in support in a timely manner. Consequently, high proportions of pupils achieve or exceed expectations, and those leaving key stage 4 do so with an impressive range of both academic and vocational qualifications. You have created a vibrant, calm and purposeful environment in which pupils are able to thrive. You have a strong and coherent rationale for the curriculum, which is based on an appropriately personalised approach to meet pupils’ needs and aspirations. The broad and rich curriculum supports pupils’ personal and social development as well as leading to very strong progress in academic and vocational learning. Pupils engage well in lessons, take a pride in their work and are positive about the future. They appreciate the care and understanding the school provides. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about your leadership and the importance placed on maintaining their well-being. They whole-heartedly support the vision and ethos of the school to identify and meet the needs of pupils, who have had a negative experience of education, to achieve positive life outcomes. The staff feel that they get strong support from leaders to improve their practice. You make sure that all staff benefit from appropriate training. Governors provide extremely effective challenge and invaluable support to school leaders in equal measure. They visit the school regularly and have a detailed understanding of the school’s work and how individual pupils are achieving. You play a key part in ensuring that there is effective partnership working across all schools in the local authority to meet the social, emotional and mental-health needs of its pupils, and are seen as a lead professional in this specialism. You and your leaders seek out and embrace ideas from professional research to continue improving the provision and outcomes for pupils. Safeguarding is effective. There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the whole school. Leaders ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Policies and procedures are detailed and relevant, and support staff in making the right decisions in identifying and reporting concerns. The staff team as a whole has a strong working knowledge of safeguarding issues and understands the risks to their pupils. It is able to identify pupils who may be in need of early help or are at risk of neglect, abuse or exploitation. Staff engage closely with parents, carers and appropriate authorities to ensure pupils’ safety and well-being. The systems to safeguard pupils are robust and are monitored rigorously by leaders, including governors, who take swift action when safeguarding concerns are raised. There are well-developed strategies to keep pupils safe. The school recognises the significance of regular attendance and personal well-being in enabling pupils to keep themselves safe, and takes steps to address poor attendance. The curriculum provides clear direction in supporting pupils to understand risks and in how to manage them. Pupils say that they feel safe and know who to turn to when they are worried or feel at risk. Parents agree that their children are safe.

The Harbour School Parent Reviews



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The Harbour School Catchment Area Map

This school is an academy and does not conform to the general school admission criteria set down by the Local Education Authority.