New Horizons Learning Centre

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The priority at New Horizons Learning Centre is to support pupils to learn how to manage their social, emotional and mental health needs. Many pupils have struggled to cope in mainstream settings due to the complexity of these needs. Parents and carers speak highly of the transformation they see in their children once they settle and understand the school's expectations.

Parents describe how well staff understand their child and how enthusiastic staff are to ensure that pupils are well prepared for their next steps.

The school works hard to do everything possible to ensure that pupils develop a sense of self and are optimistic for their futures. Pupils enjoy school, p...articularly practical activities such as science experiments and art projects.

At times, incidents of challenging behaviour occur. Staff manage these in a calm and consistent way. At the heart of the school's long-term aim is to support pupils to learn how to cope with their anxieties and how to communicate positively.

Pupils recognise that, over time, staff do all they can to help them to learn how to become independent, confident young people.

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

Staff work together as a cohesive team, determined to provide a consistently positive approach to managing pupils' behaviour. Fundamental to the school's ethos is to provide relentlessly predictable routines and expectations.

Over time, this helps pupils to feel secure and to trust those around them.

There is a consistent, sequenced curriculum. At the heart of this is reading.

Many pupils arrive with substantial gaps in their reading skills. Therefore, the school has introduced a systematic phonics curriculum so that all pupils, whatever their age, can develop early reading skills. Staff encourage pupils to read widely and to develop good reading habits.

Appropriate training ensures that all staff can support pupils to learn to read. However, there is more work to do to ensure that this curriculum develops beyond phonics. In some areas, the curriculum does not clearly set out exactly what the most important learning is.

As a result, the school cannot be sure that pupils' learning in all subjects builds over time towards the agreed desired outcomes.

The school offers individual, bespoke timetables so that pupils develop their talents. A few pupils attend alternative provision.

This is organised well so that pupils, even those with significant anxiety, experience useful education opportunities.

Personal development is a priority. The wide curriculum offer includes lunchtime clubs, featuring a range of sports.

These encourage pupils to develop their interests and to engage in inter-school and wider sporting competitions. Pupils take part in outdoor adventures such as working towards The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. The curriculum includes careers education.

As a result, most pupils are well prepared for adulthood and successfully move on to further education or work placements.

Many pupils have developed patterns of weak attendance before attending the school, and overall attendance at the school is low. However, the school has a thorough understanding of every pupil and the challenges they face.

Staff track each pupil's attendance. The school works well with individual pupils and their families to reduce absence. Over time, many pupils learn to engage in school activities.

They become motivated and confident to attend more frequently.

Staff expertly grasp all opportunities to develop pupils' social skills whenever the possibility arises. Pupils quickly learn to contribute to the success of the school.

Staff listen and respond to school council members, who bring ideas to meetings with enthusiasm. The highly effective personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme underpins learning about respect for one another exceptionally well. During class and tutor times, staff repeat important messages so that they embed.

The values of honesty, perseverance, kindness, and respect underpin relationships and expectations across the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the curriculum does not clearly set out what the vital components of learning are in order to meet the ambitious learning goals set.

This makes it hard for staff to ensure that pupils learn and remember the most important parts of the curriculum. The school needs to identify the key learning in each subject and for each year group. ? The school has prioritised the development of a phonics curriculum.

However, the reading curriculum beyond phonics is not as well developed. It is not clear how pupils will improve their understanding of what they read. The school needs to ensure that the reading curriculum goes beyond phonics and develops pupils' comprehension skills.