Polden Bower School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Polden Bower is a community hub for its families. Pupils love coming to school.

They attend very well. They benefit from caring and skilled staff who build positive, trusted relationships with them. The curriculum is designed carefully to meet the diverse needs of pupils.

It is particularly effective in helping pupils acquire early language, communication, reading and interaction skills. Pupils thrive because their needs are met effectively. As a result, pupils are very well prepared for their next steps when they leave the school.

The school has established highly effective systems for managing and supporting pupils' behaviour. Children often arrive in Recep...tion with a limited ability to play, interact and make sense of the world around them. Effective plans and strong relationships transform this.

Pupils' behaviour improves significantly over time. By the time they leave, pupils are very well prepared for adulthood.

Pupils' talents, interests and social opportunities are nurtured considerably.

Pupils learn about other cultures, religions and beliefs. They contribute to their school and local community in a range of ways. The school puts on family events out of hours and at the weekends.

Many parents speak positively about these events and the support they get from the school.

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

Polden Bower is a good and improving school. Staff share an aspiration to do what is best for the pupils who learn there and their families.

The vast majority are proud to work at the school and believe their well-being is considered carefully. Following the pandemic, the school has responded to a range of challenges relating to staff turnover and changes in leadership. Many leaders are new to their roles.

They have a strong vision for the future and for how they want to make provision even better. However, being new, their ideas are not yet realised fully, particularly in relation to the curriculum. This high turnover has led to a minority of staff and some parents harbouring concerns about the management of the school.

Nevertheless, pupils demonstrate what most others believe: that they are safe, well cared for and thriving.

The school's curriculum is carefully designed around pupils' communication and interaction needs. It also has pupils' preparation for adulthood running like a golden thread through everything.

Elements of the curriculum are very effective, for example pupils learn to interact, communicate, read and write very well, given their starting points. Curriculum planning links to pupils' education, health and care plans effectively. As a result, pupils learn well and make strong progress towards their individual targets.

Children make a flying start from the moment they arrive in Reception. The school has developed an excellent transition process for children when they start in Reception. Plentiful opportunities are utilised to get to know children, their needs and how to support them.

Considered approaches allow parents to contribute to initial 'school entry plans'. These are implemented efficiently and reviewed regularly. As a result, children settle quickly and respond very well to the tight routines and high expectations staff have of them.

The school's ambition is reflected in its bespoke and targeted approaches to ensure that all pupils can read. Staff complete regular assessments focused on pupils' language acquisition and reading abilities. Building on this, the teaching of reading is finely tuned to pupils' individual needs.

Pupils in the early stages of reading make rapid progress. Many learn to love reading and become highly proficient.

Staff skilfully teach the curriculum well, including in the early years and sixth form.

They know the pupils in their classes very well, using regular and ongoing assessments and the excellent relationships they have secured. Staff creatively engage pupils and entice them by linking learning to their interests. As pupils get older, teachers increasingly plan learning with pupils' future destinations in mind.

This is particularly the case in the sixth form. Consequently, pupils make strong gains from a wide range of starting points. They are well prepared for the next stage of their education, which is reflected in the sustained education, employment or training that students move on to.

Some parts of the curriculum are not as well planned and/or as well implemented. Despite the core subjects and the specialist curriculum being strong, pupils do not get the same ambitious curriculum in other areas, such as the arts. This is because the school has not identified with the same precision the components of knowledge that pupils should learn in a systematic, progressive way.

This hampers the opportunity for pupils who are able or interested in art to achieve as well as they could.

Pupils' wider development is promoted in a considered and highly precise way. Staff use rich experiences in the local and wider communities to help pupils learn about different cultures, moral dilemmas and relationships.

Pupils, including those in the sixth form, discuss beliefs and values through personal, social and health education lessons and engage with ideas that are different to their own. Parents are often very positive about the impact of this work. Pupils gain confidence as they learn to embrace their uniqueness and gain strength of character.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum is not consistently ambitious across all subjects. This means that occasionally pupils do not learn as much as they could.

The school should refine curriculum planning and implementation so that they are consistently strong across all subjects. ? Some of the improvements the school is looking to make to the curriculum and to systems in the school are not yet established. The school should continue to embed its plans so that leaders' vision, policies and practices are fully realised.