Applebee Wood Community Specialist School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their learning. They want to do well.

However, the school is not aspirational enough for pupils' academic achievement. It has not thought clearly enough about what it wants pupils to learn and the order in which new content will be taught. In most subjects, the curriculum is poorly designed and lacks ambition.

The school has not given sufficient thought to the key concepts that pupils need to learn and remember. As a result, pupils, all of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are not well prepared for the next stage of their education, employment or training.

Pupils, and children in the early years, are happy at school....

They enjoy outdoor learning and exploring their woodland environment. Pupils look forward to the days that the school's two therapy dogs, Buddy and Willow, come to visit.

Pupils experience a broad range of opportunities beyond the taught curriculum.

These include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, sports and music clubs as well as a student council. These experiences promote pupils' communication and help them to interact with others.

Pupils behave well.

They learn to follow routines from the start of their time in the early years. Pupils said that they have a trusted adult that they can speak to and that this helps them to feel safe.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school does not have an accurate view of its effectiveness.

This means that it does not understand its shortcomings, nor has it acted to bring about necessary improvements. For example, the school has not acted with sufficient urgency to ensure that pupils learn from an ambitious curriculum. Members of the governing body have not challenged the school about the decline in the quality of pupils' education.

Although staff are appreciative of the support that they receive to manage their workload, they are not helped to develop their expertise in curriculum design and delivery. There is a lack of capacity within the school and the governing body to bring about sustained and positive change.

The curriculum, from the early years onwards, is weak and poorly designed.

This means that pupils miss out on important learning. They do not build knowledge securely in readiness for the next stage of their education.

Subject leadership is ineffective.

Teachers do not receive the guidance or support that they need to know what essential knowledge should be taught. As a result, individual teachers resort to designing disconnected lessons using a range of different resources. Pupils complete a series of one-off tasks that fail to meet their needs or build their knowledge.

Learning activities are often more focused on engaging pupils than developing their understanding of key concepts. The curriculum does not help pupils to develop a rich body of knowledge that enables them to learn and remember more.

Teachers do not use assessment strategies to check pupils' understanding effectively enough.

Staff often move on to new learning before pupils have a secure grasp of what has been taught. Consequently, many pupils have gaps in their learning and some pupils struggle to make sense of new subject content. Pupils across different age-ranges do not achieve well.

The school works successfully with external professionals to help identify pupils' needs. However, the impact of this support does not make enough difference to pupils' learning. This is because teachers are ill-equipped to follow the advice and guidance that they receive.

Consequently, teachers are not able to adapt learning to meet pupils' individual needs and the targets in their education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Although the school has implemented a phonics programme, it has not ensured that children in the early years, or pupils at the early stages of learning to read, gain secure phonics knowledge. This is because the school has not provided staff with the support that they need to deliver the phonics programme effectively.

As a result, some pupils do not become fluent readers.

Pupils and staff appreciate the newly introduced behaviour system. This is beginning to have a positive impact.

Pupils' behaviour in lessons and around the school is improving. They behave well, overall. Teachers now have appropriate systems and strategies to deal with low-level disruption, should it occur.

The school has implemented suitable procedures to identify the barriers that cause some pupils to be persistently absent. Increasingly, the school's coordinated approach to improving attendance is reducing pupils' absence rates.

The personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum is designed to help pupils to learn important concepts, including healthy relationships.

Although key themes have been identified, the order in which this information is taught has not been considered well enough. This means that pupils do not build up an appropriate and logical understanding of important issues, such as fundamental British values, over time. As a result, pupils are not prepared as well as they should be for life beyond school.

Pupils receive suitable careers education and guidance. This includes individual interviews and opportunities to undertake work experience.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There are minor weaknesses with the school's safeguarding arrangements. Safeguarding records are kept in different places. This makes it difficult for the school to assure itself that any concerns about pupils are reported, recorded and lead to appropriate action.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum is poorly designed. Teachers do not have the guidance that they need to ensure that pupils learn well. This means that children in the early years, and pupils in other year groups, do not develop a rich body of knowledge in different subjects.

The school must ensure that it identifies the important concepts that pupils should learn. It should also make sure that subject content, including in the PSHE curriculum, is carefully ordered so that teachers know what to teach and when this should happen. This is to ensure that pupils are ready for their next steps within and beyond school.

• In the absence of curriculum guidance, teachers select activities that do not help pupils to develop their knowledge or to understand key concepts. Pupils' learning is disconnected from what has gone before and what will come later. Teachers do not check what pupils know and can do.

As a result, pupils do not achieve well. The school must ensure that teachers have the subject knowledge and expertise to enable pupils to build their understanding over time. ? The school's phonics programme is not taught consistently well.

Consequently, children in the early years, and pupils at the early stage of learning to read, do not gain sufficient phonics knowledge. This hinders them from reading fluently. The school must ensure that staff are sufficiently trained to implement the phonics programme consistently well.

• The school's capacity to improve pupils' quality of education is weak. It does not have a clear understanding of its weaknesses. Subject leadership is underdeveloped.

The school does not have the expertise to design and deliver an ambitious curriculum. It has not equipped staff well enough to implement the advice that they receive about pupils' individual learning needs. As a result, pupils do not achieve well.

The school must ensure that it builds its expertise and leadership capacity to bring about sustained improvements to pupils' education. ? Members of the governing board have not provided effective support and challenge to improve the quality of education on offer to pupils. This means that pupils are not ready for their next steps.

Governors must ensure that they develop the necessary expertise to understand the school's effectiveness so that they are able to hold it to account for its work. ? The school has not ensured that it maintains safeguarding records coherently. This makes it difficult for the school to assure itself that any concerns about pupils result in appropriate actions.

The school should ensure that accurate, up to date and consistent records are kept of all concerns about pupils' safety and welfare.The school may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection. The position regarding the appointment of early career teachers will be considered again during any monitoring inspection we carry out.