Harlow Fields School and College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils attend a school where the adults treat them with care and kindness. Pupils appreciate, for example, how they can signal to adults when they like or dislike something.

Adults mostly respond well to pupils' communication. By meeting their needs, adults help pupils to feel happy and safe.

Behaviour is generally calm here.

This makes the school a pleasant place to be. Pupils appreciate that the school introduced new equipment to help them exercise and play at breaktimes. They enjoy, for instance, taking turns on the nest swing with one or two friends.

The school is working to address gaps in the curriculum, teaching and staff training. While this ...progress continues, occasional challenges in these areas sometimes contribute to poor behaviour. The current systems to manage these behavioural incidents do not always work as well as they could.

The school wants pupils to achieve their very best. In the past year, it has started working on improving the curriculum to raise expectations for what pupils will learn and be able to do. However, some parts of the curriculum are incomplete.

This makes it harder for pupils to learn important ideas. Sometimes, pupils do not remember what they have learned or develop skills, such as writing or using their own communication method, to share their thoughts and feelings.

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

Leaders, including governors, actively seek scrutiny and advice to drive improvement.

They have taken steps to address long-standing issues. For example, there is now a rigorous approach to training, recording and reporting on pupils' safety. However, while leaders have focused on urgent financial and staffing challenges, their improvement planning does not consistently include objective, measurable targets.

This makes it harder to evaluate progress and ensure sustained improvements in areas such as curriculum development. Consequently, the pace of improvement has been uneven.

The curriculum, including in the sixth form, is under review.

Some areas work well. For example, pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties benefit from carefully planned activities informed by advice from external experts like occupational therapists. These activities expand pupils' thinking, communication and physical development.

However, some curriculum plans lack detail. Staff are getting to grips with a new system for checking pupils' progress. These issues can hinder staff's ability to efficiently plan lessons that build on what pupils need to learn.

The school is committed to helping pupils on formal and semi-formal pathways become fluent readers and writers, and this shows. There are pupils who read confidently, meaning that by the sixth form, they can understand accessible versions of classical literature. However, staff lack resources, such as the phonics programme's required flashcards, to teach letter sounds effectively.

Some activities, such as guessing words from pictures, do not help pupils practise their reading skills. In the sixth form, students sometimes move between different types of writing without fully mastering the conventions of each one. This limits their ability to improve their writing step by step.

The school ensures pupils' education, health and care plans are reviewed on time. Staff work effectively with the local authority. The school fosters collaboration among staff, professionals, parents and carers to identify pupils' needs and decide on the best support.

While curriculum and teaching issues remain, some support, such as physical therapies including hydrotherapy, is effective in meeting individual pupils' needs.

Leaders and staff mostly succeed in building respectful relationships with pupils. This helps them predict and prevent behaviours that may disrupt learning or hinder peer interactions.

The school has a staff training system for managing behaviour, but its application varies across the school. Sometimes, staff are unsure when to record incidents and the process for supporting staff during crises is not fully established. The school plans to apply successful safeguarding approaches to behaviour management.

However, at the time of inspection, these changes had not yet been put into practice.

The school is improving how it monitors pupils during absences and works to reduce them. It has introduced measures, such as prompt follow-up calls and meetings with families, to decide support and encourage regular attendance.

These changes are starting to show positive results.

The personal development programme aims to broaden pupils' experiences and equip them with life skills. These include how to cook and to travel safely.

While pupils build a secure understanding of healthy relationships and online safety, other areas of the programme are currently in development. Careers guidance is improving through meaningful employer engagement, showing in students going on to appropriate further education, employment or training.

The school acknowledges the frustrations of some families, particularly those advocating for their children's needs.

Efforts like inviting parents to volunteer on trips aim to rebuild trust and strengthen partnerships. Similarly, improving communication with staff is a priority, ensuring more effective collaboration across the school community.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum, including early reading, and the school's approach to assessment lack clarity. This hinders teachers' ability to deliver the curriculum effectively and limits how well pupils' progress is checked and supported. The school should define and communicate what pupils need to learn and provide clear guidance on how staff should check pupils' understanding and use this information to inform their teaching.

• There are gaps in the resources needed to teach effectively, such as decodable books and other learning aids. These gaps limit teachers' ability to deliver high-quality lessons and restrict pupils' opportunities to develop key skills. The school should ensure all necessary resources are available and that staff have the expertise to use them effectively to enhance pupils' learning experiences.

• Transitions and activities do not always support pupils in maintaining calm behaviour, which can lead to moments of dysregulation and disruption. This affects the overall learning environment and the ability of staff to manage behaviour consistently. The school should strengthen its approaches to behaviour management, ensuring consistency in practice and effective support during incidents.

• The school is managing multiple pressing challenges, including staffing and finance, which can make improvement planning more reactive and limit the focus on setting objective, measurable targets. This, in turn, makes it harder to evaluate the impact of actions and demonstrate clear progress in key areas such as curriculum, teaching and behaviour. To strengthen its approach, the school should set clearer targets and timescales, ensuring that staff, parents and other stakeholders better understand priorities and the steps being taken to address them.

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