Priory Woods School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

At Priory Woods, pupils experience an environment filled with warmth and care.

Pupils and staff bring the school's motto of 'a special place' to life. Pupils are polite and kind. They hold doors open for one another.

Pupils empathise with their peers' needs. They also take on important roles. Students enjoy serving the community in the sixth-form café.

This helps them to learn vital life skills.

Pupils thrive in a school where there are no limits to what they can achieve. The school ensures their special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not a barrier.

Pupils experience a wide range of trips, visits and other educational exper...iences. This begins expertly in early years. Children flourish in an environment where everything is possible and accessible.

Throughout the school, pupils are happy. They recall their experiences and education with infectious enthusiasm.

Due to the high expectations of the school, pupils achieve well.

At the end of school, they move on to ambitious and well-suited destinations. The curriculum skilfully blends personal development and academic learning. Pupils' education, health and care (EHC) plan targets sit at the heart of this.

Learning is highly personalised to support everyone to achieve their goals. Staff know pupils exceptionally well.

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

Since the last inspection, the school has made positive changes to the curriculum.

Subjects are carefully mapped to the national curriculum. The school is ambitious about the range of subjects that pupils should study. This includes an academic core of English and mathematics.

Across the curriculum, the school brings learning to life. The school does this through thoughtfully constructed immersive experiences. For example, the school teaches history through drama.

When learning about land girls in World War Two, pupils experience a blackout. They explore feelings and develop empathy for people at the time. They also use resistance bands to mimic pulling vegetables from the ground.

These practical experiences bring learning to life and enhance pupils' understanding well.

The school places a high priority on reading. Pupils who are ready for phonics learn to read well.

Skilful adaptations ensure that pupils with SEND progress well with this important skill. As a result, pupils enjoy reading. They recognise how it unlocks opportunities for them in life.

Staff are experts in phonics. They help pupils to grow in confidence. Across the school, reading underpins the wider curriculum.

From sensory stories to whole-class texts, pupils learn to love reading over time.

Pupils learn important skills for life. Mathematics spreads throughout the whole curriculum.

In the early years, children use rhymes and songs to develop their knowledge of numbers. In the sixth form, students confidently discuss money. They explore essential items they will need to buy in the future.

They also link this to income and how they should prioritise their spending. Some aspects of the curriculum are in an early stage of development. In some cases, particularly for pupils on the 'challenge' pathway, learning is not well matched to what pupils already know.

The learning environment supports pupils' development exceptionally well. In the early years, children enjoy learning outdoors. Using the play equipment, they invent games.

Expert staff narrate the games for children who cannot communicate verbally. Children rapidly learn key words and follow instructions from staff. They thrive in this purposeful setting.

Older pupils use the 'Independent Living Centre'. Here, a converted property allows them to develop important skills to use in the home. They learn to cook in a typical kitchen.

Across all parts of the school, the focus on pupils' wider personal development is exceptional.

Pupils learn how to live in modern Britain. Staff teach them how to stay safe, including when online.

Pupils' ability to recall this learning is impressive. Pupils experience exceptional careers education. This begins with helping children to develop a sense of responsibility in the early years.

Older pupils enjoy work experience. If this is not possible in the community, the school brings the experience to them. For example, students in the sixth form run their own enterprise business.

They fulfil paid orders, creating a range of quality craft items. Pupils also access a rich and varied extra-curricular offer. For example, they play musical instruments, dance and play boccia.

The school encourages pupils to take part in as much as they can. This means every pupil has a role to play in the end-of-term show.

Staff are exceptionally proud of the school.

They know leaders consider their workload and well-being. All leaders and staff commit to ensuring pupils with SEND achieve the best outcomes they can. However, in some areas the school, including within governance, the school does not have a sufficiently comprehensive understanding of the impact of its work.

Parents are positive about the educational experience the school provides. One parent spoke for many when praising the 'immersive enjoyable learning environment'.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some learning, particularly for those on the 'challenge' pathway, is not well matched to what pupils already know and can do. This means that some pupils do not achieve as highly as they could. The school should continue its work to improve the curriculum, including how learning is checked, to ensure pupils on all pathways learn well over time.

• The school's approach to evaluating its work is not as developed as it could be. This limits the understanding the school has of the impact of the curriculum. The school, including those responsible for governance, should ensure there are stronger systems in place to accurately identify any gaps in provision that it needs to address.

Also at this postcode