Chatten Free School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils join the school having faced educational challenges.

They may have spent considerable time at home, leading to setbacks in their development. Fortunately, the personalised care and curriculum pupils receive at Chatten Free School restores pupils and parents' confidence in education.

Pupils embrace the school's routines.

They give them a sense of security. Feeling secure prepares pupils for learning. Also, having staff who understand how to predict and prevent sometimes challenging behaviours means pupils are generally calm and happy.

Over time, pupils learn to trust their key staff. This allows pupils to persevere with challenging activities a...nd move around the school safely.

Pupils make remarkable progress.

Most start school with limited communication skills. Through specialised techniques, pupils learn to independently communicate their wishes and feelings. When they are ready, pupils learn to accept boundaries.

Pupils learn, for example, to express the word 'no' and to accept the word 'no' from key staff. This enables staff to sensitively steer pupils away from their usual activities and interests. Over time, pupils' worlds widen to include horse riding, swimming, trampolining and a residential trip.

These new, exciting experiences prepare pupils for future challenges.

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

The trust and local authority established the school to cater for pupils with complex special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have been successful in managing the school's expansion.

Their creative thinking enabled them to compile an innovative curriculum that works exceptionally well. Leaders' care for pupils, parents and staff does not go unnoticed. Pupils' faces light up when interacting with those running the school.

Parents and staff have faith in school leaders to continually develop and improve the provision. Such strong relationships ensure that everyone buys into the school's vision. This helps to foster pupils' happiness, independence and respect.

Communication threads through each pupil's individualised curriculum. It facilitates the practice pupils need to progress. The school deploys various symbol- or gesture-based approaches to aid this.

They always find one that is the 'right fit' for each pupil. Detailed, regular training means staff have expertise in this area. They understand, for example, how to move pupils on from requesting objects to requesting movement with objects.

For instance, blow bubbles, massage feet or throw the ball. If a pupil is ready, staff teach them the sounds letters make. Otherwise, staff use rhymes, songs and books to promote pupils' love of sounds and stories.

Accurate assessment underpins the teaching of the curriculum. Thorough documentation avoids staff having to guess what a pupil should learn next. Considered training supports staff with arranging activities that appropriately challenge pupils.

How leaders and teachers deploy staff adds to this. One member of staff may teach a pupil. Meanwhile, another member of staff may observe the interaction.

This individual then records the frequency and/or duration of a pupil's engagement. Leaders work hard to ensure how staff assess is efficient and effective. Staff are positive about this aspect of their workload.

They appreciate how assessment captures the small, but important, steps of progress pupils make.

Leaders maintain strong oversight of attendance and behaviour. They build positive relationships with families to address historical attendance and behavioural issues head-on.

Flexible timetables successfully support pupils transitioning back into education. These plans include specific, measurable, and time-limited aims. This ensures a steady increase in school attendance and calm conduct.

The main aim of the personal development programme is to prepare pupils to access the community. Staff ensure pupils first learn essential safety measures while in school. Pupils learn to respond to their names, hold hands with staff, and stop when needed.

Moreover, staff create deliberate opportunities to prepare pupils for real-life experiences. Interactions with the school dog address some pupils' phobia of animals. Accessing the in-house dental surgery allows pupils to learn to trust healthcare professionals.

These experiences and more, serve to broaden pupils' horizons. In time, this helps them and their families handle experiences outside of school that were once difficult to manage.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.