Barndale School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Barndale House School arrive at school eager and ready to learn.

Staff greet pupils warmly. The school prioritises knowing pupils and their individual needs well. This is a caring place to learn.

There is a community feel across the school. Pupils feel safe. They have adults who listen and support them.

Adults' patient and careful approach helps meet pupils' wide range of needs.

Leaders have high ambitions for the pupils who attend. The curriculum ensures that pupils access learning to realise these ambitions.

Pupils do well. They learn in classrooms where they focus on their learning. Adults support pupils effectively in order to ...access each aspect of the school's wide-ranging curriculum offer.

The school helps pupils to regulate their behaviour well. This helps pupils to learn and play together effectively.

The school ensures that pupils learn beyond the academic curriculum.

A wide range of further experiences and opportunities help pupils prepare for their next steps in learning. Visits to local facilities like hospitality venues and completing Duke of Edinburgh's Awards help pupils develop a wide range of skills. Work with local employers, including Alnwick Garden, help pupils understand the world of work.

Pupils talk with confidence and enthusiasm about these opportunities.

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

Leaders have developed learning pathways to meet the special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) that pupils have. All pupils have education health and care plans.

Each pathway supports pupils to fulfil their potential through their curriculum. Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is broad and ambitious. They have carefully planned the curriculum so pupils can build key knowledge and skills over time.

Teachers show the correct subject knowledge linked to the subjects they teach. In subjects such as mathematics, leaders have prioritised the key skills and knowledge pupils will need to be successful when they leave school. In other subjects, such as history, pupils talk in detail and with accuracy about their learning.

They use research skills to look at how medicine has developed over time. Pupils confidently compare sacrifice in Mayan civilisation to aspects of war. In some subjects, the use of assessment is not closely linked to the knowledge and skills leaders intend pupils to know and remember.

The school uses a consistent approach to teaching phonics and communication. Adults support pupils to communicate using appropriate resources with precision. Some pupils use Makaton to share their needs and wishes, for example.

Pupils benefit from staff who reinforce and embed key language. Pupils who are learning to read are well supported to read with fluency and automaticity. Older pupils recall the books they have enjoyed in class.

They continue to read regularly as they move through the school.Alongside lessons, leaders ensure that pupils make individualised progress linked to their own learning development needs. The expert knowledge of staff to nurture and foster pupils' development is clear.

The school works collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that pupils' needs are well met.

In personal, social and health education (PSHE) pupils learn about healthy relationships. Leaders purposefully plan for pupils to build knowledge over time.

Younger pupils learn about safe touch. Older pupils think about how social media can impact their relationships. Pupils contribute to discussions maturely.

Carefully planned assemblies help pupils know about British values and protected characteristics.

Leaders use local businesses and attractions to develop pupils' understanding of the world of work. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about roles linked to hospitality or the hikes they have completed as part of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Pupils who access the school's residential offer enjoy the social opportunities this gives them. Pupils behave well across the school day. Adults support pupils effectively in order to manage their behaviour.

Pupils demonstrate an increased ability to regulate their own behaviour.

Leaders value the staff with whom they work. A planned training offer helps staff meet pupils' needs well.

Staff are well supported to develop their own interests and training needs. Staff enjoy working here. They feel listened to.

There is a strong sense of teamwork across the staff. Governors work with leaders to assure themselves of the school's work.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the checks that are made on pupils' learning are not aligned to the curriculum that is taught. In these subjects, the school is not clear on the impact of the curriculum on pupils building knowledge and skills over time. The school should ensure that assessment enables the school to understand the impact of the curriculum they intend pupils to learn and remember.