Statement on Coombe House School from Cllr Andrew Parry, Portfolio Holder for Children, Education, Skills & Early Help
Following the meeting of Full Council tonight, Thursday 14 July, the following question was submitted and duly answered in the Council Chamber:
Question 4 – submitted by Cllr Nick Ireland
Allegations have been made in the press, social media and directly to some members of this Council that Coombe House opened prematurely with too many pupils, insufficient staff trained to or having experience at the required level for the needs of the pupils, some fire doors that didn’t open, windows without safety glass that were subsequently broken by pupils and, if that isn’t enough, some pupils ‘escaped’ the school site.
Are any of these allegations true?
Response by Cllr Andrew Parry
Coombe House School is an Independent Special School, situated on the site of the Dorset Centre of Excellence – the building is owned by Dorset Council.
The school is run by a company, called Dorset Centre of Excellence. The company structure has a Chief Operating Officer (COO) – this role is currently vacant and being recruited to – who reports into an Independent Board of Non-Executive Directors. The Chair of the Independent Board is Ian Comfort.
The premises were purchased as part of Dorset Council’s legal duty to ensure that there are sufficient suitable places in education for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND). This decision was met with 92% agreement in public consultation and with cross party support
Responsibility for the running of the school, including pupil wellbeing, staffing, and the curriculum, sits with the Independent Board of Dorset Centre of Excellence, the COO and the Schools Leadership Team.
The school received its notice of registration from the Department for Education on 6 May 2022. The inspection report from Ofsted associated with that registration was very positive.
It independently confirmed that appropriate policies, procedures, and safeguards were in place to open the school. The Independent Board considered the Ofsted report and the advice of the Chief Operating Officer and Headteacher. It decided for the school to open with a staggered start on 16 May 2022. The school opened on that day with 15 children. It was the independent board’s understanding that the individual needs of child had been jointly assessed by Coombe House Leadership and Dorset Council SEND Service and that they had been allocated to a class with an appropriate number of suitable qualified and experienced staff.
It was also the independent board’s understanding that a significant amount of planning and training had been undertaken since January 2022 with most of the staff. The numbers of children attending the school increased each day, reaching a capacity of 47 by the Wednesday of that first week. The board was assured by the COO and the head teacher that the staggered start could be managed as all of the children had been involved in transition visits prior to opening.
At the point of opening there remained challenges with fencing supply and delivery of the contract to fence the school site, and the site boundary, with welded wire mesh fencing leading to some requirement of infill in small areas with Heras fencing. This had been risk assessed although this was not ideal it could be managed. There were incidences of children climbing over or simply moving the fences in the first week, a child left the site and walked home which was close by.
Some matters were dealt with straight away with an appropriate intervention from staff, as part of the School’s management of its boundary; there were no intruders to the site. Some areas of the site remain under development – all windows on the fenced school site have the required glass, there was an incident where a child threw a stone and a window was broken – no one was hurt.
All other areas where there is a plan for use in September are scheduled to have suitable glass and or covering by the time they are being brought into use.
The independent fire assessment undertaken states ‘fire safety on this small site is adequate and will be improved further with planned works over the summer’.
However, the first week of school was bumpy with children and staff coming together, and despite assurances from the COO and the Headteacher, not sufficiently well planned to ensure that children could be safely and effectively managed. Following a letter of concern to the council the Executive Director and the Chair of the Board reviewed the situation and determined to close the school for one week from 23 May. This joint decision was the first stage in bringing forward the ‘Enhanced Co-operation’ element of the commissioning framework. The Chair of the Independent Board considered, along with the Executive Director, the matter of how the leadership of the school had managed events both in the lead up to opening and during that first week and as a result the Headteacher is presently not in school; and as has been communicated previously, COO Mark Blackman resigned from his post.
The Enhanced Cooperation allows the Executive Director and her team to provide support to the Board to ensure everything that we require to be in place to ensure safe and effective delivery is in place, this has been welcomed by the Independent Chair and his Board.
Following half term, 32 children on roll have been in school for set days each week, but none full time, and some of the original 47, have now not been considered by the school to be ready or able to return, the Council are working with those families to source a suitable education offer elsewhere as they would do when any educational placement does not work for whatever reason.
All these families have a single point of contact at Dorset Council, and I am confident they are being kept informed as to why the school feels we need to make these changes.
In acknowledgment of the help needed at the school, Sean Kretz the Head of Westfield Arts College, the Executive Director and her leadership team have been providing day-to-day support to the staff and children and support and challenge to the Board to develop a suitable recovery plan.
That work continues and involves other members of our special school system too.
The school has now closed for the summer on Friday 8 July in line with other Independent Schools.
This allows a crucial couple of weeks at the close of term to ensure that staff have an opportunity to make sure all training and development requirements are up to date. It will also allow for some vital works to be completed on the site in preparation for a September start.
We are continuing to recruit at pace again to ensure sufficiently experienced staff will be available for September.
We plan the school opening in September with 36 children on roll – slightly lower than planned initially but this allows a secure and steady growth as we progress with plans and the school’s senior leadership team recruitment.
Children and young people are at the heart of our decision making and we must make sure the school can offer the first-class education that we know we can provide them by supporting the Board, the staff and our families. There is not an overnight solution to this, it will take a bit more time than we had envisaged but we are confident that it is going in the right direction.
I appreciate your patience as we support the Independent School in settling. I was on the school site for the last week and the children in school were engaged and positive.
Update at the joint People & Health and Place & Resources Scrutiny committee meeting on 19 July
Members of Dorset Council will be updated at a joint Scrutiny Committee meeting on 19 July about the latest position with Coombe House School. Most meetings of the council and its committees take place in public but sometimes it is necessary for councillors to meet in a closed session. This meeting will be a closed session for councillors only as the update may include information about individuals and children which for legal reasons must remain confidential. A public statement will be published following the meeting with details of the update. We continue to work closely with the families of children and young people who attend or have attended the school.
Statement issued earlier in July 2022
During the past few weeks, we have worked with a dynamic and changing situation at Coombe House School.
Starting a new special school often has its challenges as children and staff come together for the first time. There have been some problems on site with full completion of the contracted build. The school closed for a period of one week after a bumpy start. Since that time, most children have been in school for some set days each week. The school term ended in line with other independent schools on Friday 8 July.
We have reviewed the plan for a small number of children to consider if Coombe House School can meet their needs at this time. As a result, their families have been written to advising that we are looking at a suitable education offer elsewhere. All these families have a single point of contact at the council, and they are being kept informed as to why we feel we need to make these changes.
Dorset Council has been providing day-to-day support to the staff, children and the Board. That work continues and involves other members of our special school system. Sean Kretz, the Headteacher of Westfield School, has stepped in to support Coombe House as a short-term measure, helping the teaching staff to prepare for the new term in September.
Children and young people are at the heart of our decision making and we must make sure the school offers a first-class education. We are working hard to make sure that all children, families and staff have a better experience next term.
