Pield Heath House RC School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff strive to support all pupils to reach their potential. They help pupils to gain the tools they need to lead successful adult lives.

Leaders ensure that teaching, therapeutic and behavioural teams work in tandem to meet pupils' bespoke goals.

Pupils enjoy coming to school and making friends. They care for each other.

For example, pupils openly applauded their classmates when they succeeded in a challenging task. Pupils are safe. They appreciate the strong and trusting working relationships they build with adults.

This gives them a sense of security. Well-trained staff help pupils to understand their feelings and the impact of their a...ctions on others. Should bullying occur, for example, staff take a restorative approach.

They support everyone involved to develop strategies for improved social interactions.

Pupils benefit from opportunities that give them a sense of community and belonging. All pupils celebrate their birthdays with their peers, teachers and support staff.

Some sixth-form students organise meals in a restaurant to celebrate their birthdays. Pupils marked and celebrated the recent Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Sixth-form students worked together on preparing a leavers' prom.

Pupils raise funds for charity, such as by organising coffee mornings.

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

Leaders have reviewed and improved the curriculum. Staff use information from pupils' education, health and care plans and other assessments effectively.

Teachers produce individualised learning, therapeutic and behaviour plans. They keep these under regular review to make sure that pupils get the right support to meet all their needs.

Leaders have introduced three 'curriculum pathways'.

These cater to the differences in pupils' cognitive abilities. Leaders have thought about the core knowledge they want pupils to know in each subject. The curriculum is organised so that pupils build their knowledge, bit by bit, in a logical order.

Teachers make sure that pupils revise and recap the knowledge they have been taught previously. This helps pupils to remember more in the long term. Staff tailor learning and resources to meet pupils' individual needs and interests.

This helps pupils to succeed in achieving their personalised goals.

Staff place a strong emphasis on developing pupils' communication skills. Speech and language therapists and signing tutors work hand in hand with pupils and teachers.

They use a range of strategies and resources to ensure that pupils' communication and understanding skills develop securely over time. For example, they created storyboards to help pupils understand menstruation. Staff help pupils who do not communicate verbally to read essential signs and symbols.

This helps these pupils to navigate their way safely in the community, for example.

Staff read often to pupils. This sparks pupils' enjoyment for reading and helps to broaden their knowledge of the world.

Some pupils are at the stage where they are learning to read using phonics. However, not enough staff have the expertise they need to deliver the school's phonics programme effectively. This is largely owing to staffing difficulties exacerbated by the pandemic.

The books pupils use for phonics practice are sometimes not closely matched to the sounds they know. This means that these pupils do not gain the skills to be confident and fluent readers as fast as they could.

Pupils enjoy their learning.

They respect their teachers and follow instructions in class. Staff have benefited from training in a new approach to managing pupils' behaviour. They are skilled in recognising when pupils' anxiety levels are rising or when they need some time away from the group.

Staff know how to help and encourage pupils to calm down and settle back to their work. This effective support and pupils' positive attitudes help them to achieve their targets.Leaders provide many opportunities which support pupils' personal development.

By electing a school council, pupils put democracy into practice, for example. Staff often take pupils out into the local area to focus on pupils' social skills and safety awareness. Leaders promote pupils' physical health and mental well-being.

For example, they offer pupils a variety of ways to enjoy sport and exercise. Sixth-form students have the chance to build enterprise skills through community projects and The Prince's Trust Awards.Staff provide effective careers information, education, advice and guidance.

They work with each pupil and their parents and carers to create a bespoke career pathway. The sixth-form curriculum offers students many courses and options. These are chosen to support students' needs and aspirations.

Students can study units in life and home skills as well as independent living. They have the option of studying a range of courses with accreditations which can lead to further study or employment. Students gain work experience at the school's café and also at external providers.

They leave the school well prepared for the next phase of their lives.

Staff said that their line managers respond positively if they seek support for their well-being. Leaders have identified that they need to do more to reduce staff workload.

However, this aspiration has been hampered by high staff turnover and absence.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Many staff are in daily contact with pupils.

They know that they must report any change of behaviour or concern to the safeguarding team without delay. Staff are also aware of the additional vulnerabilities that pupils might have. They are vigilant and use the various communication tools available to enable all pupils to convey any worries they might have.

Safeguarding leaders work with a range of agencies across the different local authorities in which pupils live. They secure early help and support to ensure the safety and welfare of pupils and families.

Leaders follow appropriate vetting procedures when appointing new staff to check their suitability for working with pupils.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Not enough staff have the expertise and resources they need to deliver the school's phonics programme effectively. This means that pupils who are at the stage of learning to read using phonics are not supported to become confident and fluent readers as quickly as they could. Leaders should ensure that enough staff gain the expertise to teach phonics effectively and that the books they give pupils to practise their reading are well matched to the sounds they know.