Middleton School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a remarkable school.

All pupils achieve exceptionally well from their starting points. The school does not place any ceiling on what pupils can do. Pupils benefit from a highly engaging academic and personal development curriculum.

This is expertly taught throughout the school and precisely tailored to each pupil's needs. Staff pay close attention as to how pupils learn best. This builds pupils' self-esteem and helps them to succeed.

Pupils trust the adults that help them but are not overly reliant on this support. Pupils' independence is deliberately encouraged. They thrive due to consistent routines and the use of visual reminders.

Pupils u...se speech or signing confidently. They express themselves safely and calmly. The highly respectful relationships between adults and pupils create an enjoyable learning environment.

Pupils like having friends. Playtimes are harmonious.

All pupils participate in a plethora of opportunities to fulfil the school's mantra of 'learning for life'.

Weekly off-site learning, swimming and cookery sessions, to name but a few, allow pupils to explore their interests. These also develop their confidence in navigating life in the wider community. Pupils help in the local shops and garden centre.

They enjoy train trips to London and eagerly await a caravan stay at the coast.

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

The school leaves no stone unturned to provide the best possible education for its pupils. All staff ensure pupils experience school life to the full.

The school has robustly addressed the areas for improvement from the last inspection.

Through leaders' expertise in special needs education, they have created an ambitious and bespoke curriculum. They use the latest research to ensure pupils excel.

The curriculum lays out explicitly the incremental steps pupils need to follow to meet its aims. Staff skilfully identify gaps in pupils' knowledge. The school watches carefully pupils' progression towards their targets on their education, health and care (EHC) plans.

This is so staff can immediately adapt activities to fill gaps. Pupils' success is shared regularly with parents.

Staff deliver the curriculum exceptionally well.

They constantly find ways to make the learning accessible to everyone. Pupils learn knowledge in manageable chunks. They repeat practical and sensory experiences to fix in their long-term memory.

They apply learning in real-life situations via the life skills curriculum offer, such as using their understanding of money when shopping and following a recipe in cooking lessons. Staff continuously check pupils' understanding until they know it is secure.

Reading and communication are real strengths.

All pupils know how to use and interpret sign language. Pupils at the early stages of reading are systematically taught the sounds they need to read. They practise reading fluency with activities that are very well matched to their reading ability.

Consequently, pupils enjoy reading. Pupils have stories and rhymes read, acted out or sung to them so they develop a rich vocabulary. Pupils achieve well, including in national tests, bearing in mind their starting points and individual needs.

Staff have a deep understanding of pupils' emotional, physical, sensory and communication needs. They successfully reassure pupils who are anxious. The use of movement breaks, sensory resources and visual prompts supports pupils to manage their behaviour and develop self-control.

Hence, pupils cope with different social situations and noisier environments, such as eating together and getting on a minibus. This prepares them for life beyond school.

Very few children have time off school.

If they do, leaders quickly get them back into school and learning.

Pupils succeed because the curriculum ensures staff teach independence, resilience and stamina. They are sensitively taught about risks online, how to cross the road safely and about healthy relationships.

The school council helps pupils understand about democracy and about life in modern Britain. Pupils know about right and wrong and accepting everyone for who they are.

Governors provide thorough oversight.

They proactively seek external assurance of the quality of their provision. Staff feel incredibly well supported by leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.