How Goes the Revolution? A difficult start for the first Secure School

 

The Oasis Restore secure school opened to great fanfare last Summer, promising a revolution in the way children accused and convicted of the most serious offences are treated. Two recently published inspection reports provide a mixed and somewhat sobering assessment of what’s been achieved so far.

Oasis Restore has been visited twice by Ofsted this year, in January to monitor its progress as a Secure Academy and a month later under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF). The facility is both a school and a secure childrens home but quite why two separate inspections were needed is beyond me- particularly as the SCCIF covers children’s education and learning.  What’s more the two reports are by no means consistent.

The educational monitoring found that most children attended education and even those with previous negative experiences “participate fully”. The broader inspection a month later reported that attendance at lessons was not consistently good for too many children. Both assessments can’t be right. Disappointingly, both reports find that the breadth of the education curriculum is not sufficient to meet the needs of children of compulsory school age- surprising in view of Oasis’s track record as an education provider.

There are other puzzling findings which don’t match some earlier observations at Oasis Restore. Last October the Youth Justice Board Chief Executive remarked on “artwork on the walls, and soft blankets and sofas in the shared living spaces”.  She rightly considered these “incredibly important to help children learn to cohabit and foster a sense of community and responsibility”.  How come inspectors have now found that “communal areas are not decorated in a way that makes them feel homely?”

The first journalist allowed to visit the centre last year observed that to make the secure facility feel more like student accommodation or even a family home than jail children “can choose their own duvet cover and put up posters if they want”. Yet inspectors found “most children’s bedrooms do not have personal items that reflect their interests and identity”.

More troubling still are the inspectors findings about staff. Oasis make much of the ethos and habits of their staff and the YJB’s boss last year observed a highly trained team committed to providing responsive, psychologically informed and developmentally appropriate models of support and education, and “to loving the children like their own.”

A few months on, the Principal who set up the school has left, and Ofsted are reporting on the inexperience and low morale of a staff team that do not have consistent boundaries and expectations. Managers and staff working directly with children do not demonstrate an approach to safeguarding children that is consistently good. Teachers do not consistently support children to develop appropriate behaviours.

Such have been the difficulties recruiting and retaining suitable managers and staff, Oasis is accommodating fewer children than the home is currently registered for.

It is still early days of course and perhaps not surprising that the Secure school is judged to require improvement to be good. There are plenty of positives in the inspection report. Children say they can speak to staff if they have any worries or concerns and benefit from key-work sessions.  When incidents between children occur, staff respond sensitively and make effective use of de-escalation techniques. As a result, the need for physical restraint is kept to a minimum and is proportionate. Children speak positively about the range of activities on offer at the centre.

History shows that all too often the noble intentions behind secure institutions can give way to an altogether more troubling reality, most notably in Secure Training Centres. There are certainly some warning signs for the Secure School.  Several staff members are reportedly deeply concerned about the current staffing arrangements, demonstrating to the inspectors “a disconnect between the views and experience of staff and the senior leadership team”. 

Fixing this is surely the top priority for a new Principal when they start work.