George Hastwell School Special Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a strong sense of belonging at this warm and inclusive school.

They feel valued members of the school community.

Pupils enjoy strong, caring relationships with adults, who know them well. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe.

They benefit from the wide range of pastoral and therapeutic support that adults offer them. They trust that there is always an adult available to help them if they are worried.

The school expects all pupils, all of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well.

However, there are weaknesses in how well the curriculum is taught to pupils, including children in early year...s and students in the post-16 provision. This means that some pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school expects pupils to behave well.

Staff are quick to notice when pupils experience distress. They are successful in helping pupils to manage their behaviour and their emotions.

Pupils enjoy the opportunities that the school offers them to develop themselves personally and to ready themselves for adult life.

For example, pupils learn to keep themselves healthy, go shopping and cook meals. These valuable activities equip them well for life outside school.

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

The school has designed an appropriate curriculum.

It ensures pupils of all ages are offered a curriculum that considers their complex needs. The curriculum is designed to give pupils the knowledge and understanding to be confident learners and to achieve success. To this end, the school has thought carefully about what pupils should learn and when they should learn it.

Staff help pupils to remember and revisit learning through regular activities that repeat important learning. They are also adept at taking advantage of every chance to reinforce learning informally during the day.

The school uses a range of useful information, including education, health, and care (EHC) plans to set targets for pupils and to review how well pupils are learning.

However, some staff do not use the information they have about pupils as well as they should. For example, there are inconsistencies in how well staff set and review pupils' targets. Some teachers lack the confidence and expertise to effectively adapt their teaching to meet pupils' needs.

Overall, pupils across the school are not learning as well as they should be.

An important part of the school's work is the focus on developing pupils' communication and language skills. Staff have a thorough understanding of pupils' individual communication needs and identify personalised communication pathways for each pupil.

Staff successfully apply a wide range of strategies across the school to help develop pupils' ability to communicate.

Throughout the whole school, reading is important. There is a secure understanding of where all pupils are in their reading development.

Pupils enjoy learning the foundational knowledge in reading, for example, through listening and responding to sounds around school. Pupils who are ready to learn phonics develop their early reading skills well. They decode texts and read books that are closely matched to the sounds that they already know.

Pupils who are increasingly confident readers have access to an appropriate range of more challenging books.

Pupils typically behave well around school. There are thorough systems in place to analyse the behaviour of individual pupils.

However, some pupils struggle to settle and do all they can to avoid learning. In these cases, it is often because the activities that pupils are being asked to do are not matched closely enough to their learning needs. Many pupils attend school regularly.

The school analyses individual pupils' absence thoroughly. The school is sensitive to the difficulties and barriers that pupils and their families face around attendance.

Central to the work of the school is pupils' personal development.

The school offers a range of opportunities to increase pupils' awareness and enjoyment of the world around them. Pupils enjoy regular outings and trips. They can be regularly seen around their local community, visiting the library, supermarket and travelling on public transport.

Older pupils enjoy taking part in The Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme and residential experiences.

The school has made significant improvements to the career, advice and guidance that is available to pupils. Pupils benefit from a comprehensive offer which includes visits to, and by, local employers.

Past pupils inspire present ones when they come to talk about their next steps. Post-16 students are offered work experience and other practical opportunities. These experiences develop students' confidence and independence.

The trust has made sure that the school is supported while the school's move to The Eden Academy Trust is finalised. The trust acknowledges that its capacity to support the school has not been as it should be. However, the school has welcomed the effective and substantial support from the new trust.

The school has made significant improvements to the curriculum. However, it has not been sufficiently rigorous in checking how well the curriculum is being taught and that information gathered about pupils' learning needs is used effectively.

Staff value the support that they receive for their well-being and workload.

For example, they appreciate the recent survey about their well-being. Staff are proud to work at the school and share the school's determination to make a real difference to the lives of pupils and their families.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some teachers do not routinely adapt their teaching, nor use the information they have available to them, well enough to meet pupils' individual needs. Consequently, some pupils, including children in the early years and students in the post-16 provision, do not learn as well as they should. The school should ensure that teachers are confident in their target setting and have the expertise to adapt their teaching so that they meet pupils' individual needs more effectively.

• For some pupils, learning activities are not matched closely enough to their learning needs. This means that they find it difficult to settle to activities and employ behaviours to avoid engaging in their learning. The school should make sure that learning activities are closely matched to pupil's learning needs and engage pupils.

• The school, including those responsible for governance, does not have enough oversight of the quality of education provided to pupils. As a result, the curriculum is not sufficiently embedded across the school. The school and those that are responsible for governance, should ensure that they have rigorous oversight of the implementation of the curriculum so that they can support staff to embed it effectively.