Kingsweston School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils excel at this multi-site school. Pupils are happy and enjoy lessons and social times.

Pupils benefit from curriculums precisely matched to their needs. Some have access to mainstream lessons and others to specialised learning environments. Across all sites, staff are skilled and caring.

They make sure that pupils' needs are met because they know pupils well. Pupils feel secure as a result. Pupils like the positive relationships they have with caring staff.

Some pupils arrive following disjointed experiences of education. Others have significant barriers to learning because of their needs. Staff establish pupils' needs and interests quickly.
...r/>Most have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They make lessons interesting. Pupils are positive about their work and learning.

However, leaders have rightly identified that more could be expected of pupils at the secondary autism spectrum condition (ASC) site.

Pupils behave well at social times and during lessons. Across all sites, behaviour is managed well.

There are clear systems for promoting positive behaviour. Staff enhance this because they know pupils well and use this to motivate them. Individual behaviour plans are well considered.

As a result, the school is a positive place to learn. Pupils' behaviour improves significantly over time. Many go on to succeed in the next stage of their education, employment or training.

However, leaders' records of when there are physical interventions are not detailed enough. Consequently, leaders' analysis of the use of interventions is not as strong as it could be.

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

Leaders have developed a well-considered curriculum.

There are three distinct pathways that pupils can follow depending on their needs and aptitudes. In all three cases, the curriculums are clearly sequenced and well planned. Leaders and staff ensure that the intended curriculums give pupils a rich and broad experience.

More recently, leaders have worked hard to establish a similar strength in subject progression as already exists in preparing pupils for adulthood. These developments have significantly strengthened the offer across most of the provision. Planning is increasingly helping pupils to develop their knowledge over time.

However, leaders' intent for the curriculum is not as well implemented for secondary ASC pupils.

Leaders have devised well-structured programmes to develop pupils' reading and communication skills. These link well with the varying curriculum pathways that pupils follow.

For example, pupils in Kingsweston education for exceptional pupils, known as the KEEP, have lots of opportunities to practise their phonics. Staff ensure that all pupils have time to sound out their letters. Many pupils learn to love reading because staff reignite pupils' interest in learning and books.

If any pupils fall behind, teachers give them extra help so that they can catch up.

Other pupils need a more personalised approach to help them with their reading. For these pupils, staff make very good use of assessment and resources, such as symbols, to help pupils become better readers and communicators.

Staff know and understand pupils' needs exceptionally well. They ensure that every opportunity to encourage communication and interaction is utilised. Teachers plan learning according to pupils' needs, and this helps pupils to learn.

Staff encourage pupils to have a go at every activity and correct pupils when they get things wrong. Lessons interest pupils and link to life beyond pupils' immediate experiences.

Most pupils achieve well across all three curriculum pathways.

The broad curriculums prepare pupils well for adulthood. For instance, most subjects include a focus on the skills pupils need to become more independent. Staff help pupils to experience success and improve their confidence as learners.

Many visitors come into school to help pupils better understand the wider world. For example, leaders have made useful links with local employers. These employers come and talk to pupils about what it is like to work for them.

This broadens pupils' understanding of the world of work in their locality. Pupils' aspirations rise as a result.

Pupils' personal development is promoted very well.

Staff ensure that opportunities to promote personal development are threaded into all aspects of school life. Leaders ensure that long-term outcomes are considered with parents, pupils and carers as early as possible. This supports the successful routes into appropriate post-16 provision for pupils.

In the sixth form, students access similar bespoke, well-planned curriculums. Some learn at City of Bristol College; others continue within the provision for those with severe learning difficulties (SLD). In both settings, students develop high aspirations and achieve well.

Through the close links with the local community, all go on to secure education, employment or training. Some successfully gain paid employment.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have established a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders and staff respond to any safeguarding concerns in a timely manner. Leaders have established strong and well-understood systems to manage safeguarding across the sites of the school.

Staff are well trained and receive regular safeguarding updates. Records are clear and precise. Chronologies for vulnerable pupils are thorough and link information from a range of staff well.

Leaders work effectively with other agencies to support children and young people and their families.

Safer recruitment processes are robust. Leaders ensure that there are appropriate systems for checking the suitability of staff.

These include appropriate checks for governors, volunteers and contractors. Records of who made these checks are all kept on a single central register. Leaders, including governors, check that the register is kept appropriately on a regular basis.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders have built well on their well-designed curriculum. Subject-specific planning is increasingly contributing to better learning for pupils. However, the implementation of the changes to curriculum planning is more established for pupils with SLD, those in the KEEP and those within the ASC primary site.

Leaders need to ensure that the ASC secondary curriculum is implemented with the same precision and ambition as the curriculums in all other parts of the school. . The use of physical interventions has risen since the development of the KEEP at the school.

Leaders have established a culture where the use of interventions is a last resort and that every time they are used it is recorded. However, current records are not as detailed as they could be. For example, they do not record well enough who was present when a physical intervention was used.

This contributes to a weakness in how leaders evaluate and analyse the use of physical intervention. Consequently, follow-up to incidents is not as thorough as it should be. Leaders should improve how they keep records relating to physical interventions and improve how they analyse trends over time.