Moorcroft School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school Exceptional leadership has established a culture of high expectations for this successful school.

Leaders and staff strive to support pupils' needs so that they can develop their independence and become active members of the community. Governance supports and challenges leaders to ensure that standards in all areas of the school remain high. Leaders, including trustees and members of the local advisory body, put a strong focus on supporting staff to develop their practice.

Pupils benefit from excellent teaching, support and care from staff. A strong team spirit exists in the school. Leaders have ensured that curriculum pathways ar...e accurately matched to support pupils' needs exceptionally well.

The curriculum provides excellent opportunities for pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Leaders are successful in their aim to nurture pupils' personal development and welfare, and do so to great effect. This enhances pupils' confidence and positive attitudes to learning.

The sixth-form provision is outstanding. Individualised study programmes enable students to make excellent progress in developing their personal attributes, independence and employability skills. This prepares students exceptionally well for their transition to life beyond school.

The quality of teaching and assessment is outstanding. A collaborative approach by teachers and therapists ensures that pupils engage in high-quality learning. Leaders have ensured that pupils' outcomes are rigorously reviewed by all staff.

This helps pupils to make consistently strong progress socially and across the curriculum, including in English, mathematics and science. Parents and carers strongly support the school. Regular newsletters and workshops have proved very useful in helping parents support their children's learning.

Plans are underway for the school to maintain these strong links with parents, through regular parental meetings. Effective teaching enables pupils to make gains in their English skills. However, some pupils with the appropriate ability receive limited opportunities to develop strong writing skills.

Information about this school

Moorcroft School provides an education for pupils with severe learning difficulties and complex needs. These include autistic spectrum disorders. All pupils have an EHC plan.

The school is one of seven schools which make up The Eden Academy Trust, which is a multi-academy trust. The school converted to academy status on 1 June 2012. The board of trustees has statutory responsibility for governance and is responsible for all aspects of the school, including the educational performance of the school.

The local advisory body is a sub-committee of the board of trustees and offers support and advice to the school. The management of the trust consists of a senior leadership team responsible for the internal organisation, management and control of the trust. The senior leadership team is comprised of the chief executive officer, director for academy development, director for finance and operations and regional directors for schools.

The headteacher reports to the director of schools, who is line managed by the chief executive officer. The school uses two alternative providers: West Thames College (mainly attended by sixth-form students from the school) and RNIB Sunshine House School, which is also part of The Eden Academy Trust. Leaders have brokered the services of a careers guidance provider.

The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is slightly higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is above average. A high number of pupils come from families who speak English as an additional language.