Riverside Special School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders at Riverside Special School have taken effective steps to address the significant safeguarding weaknesses identified at the time of the previous inspection in January 2023. Supported by colleagues from the local authority, leaders have addressed safeguarding training, reporting and systems, to ensure that the school's safeguarding culture is now effective.

Pupils enjoy exciting lessons at the school. When they arrive, they are warmly greeted by staff. There is a buzz of energy as pupils make their way to lessons.

Clear routines are well embedded. Staff know their roles very well. This means that pupils are well supported.

At all times, leaders aim to ...encourage pupils' independence. For example, when pupils arrive in a morning, they have the chance to buy breakfast items to get used to everyday routines.

The curriculum is constantly reviewed to ensure that it meets the needs of pupils.

Reading support is individually tailored to pupils in all phases in the school. Pupils receive guidance to help them prepare for choices after leaving Riverside Special School. In the sixth form, students receive expert support to help them transition to colleges and other providers.

Pupils feel safe. The school environment is inclusive and adapted to the needs of pupils. This means pupils thrive.

Some parents, for example, told inspectors about how impressed they were with performances and plays that took place at the school. There is an emphasis on the physical health of pupils woven into classroom-based lessons as well as physical education (PE).

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

Leaders have designed a curriculum specific to the needs of each class.

Information received from education, health and care (EHC) plans informs the activities that pupils will experience. Leaders group pupils with similar needs together and subject leaders plan a curriculum to meet the needs of these groups. The intervention team helps to develop the curriculum, based, for example, on the communication needs of pupils.

At all levels, staff work together to understand pupils and ensure that the curriculum is designed to meet complex needs. In the primary phase, for example, this work includes embedding classroom routines so that pupils can concentrate and make the most of learning activities as they progress through the school.

There is a strong focus on reading throughout the school, including up to the sixth form.

All adults have been trained to use the phonics programme. During lessons, pupils persevere and use their knowledge of phonics when they encounter unfamiliar words. Leaders are continuing to deliver training to ensure that the programme is delivered with further consistency.

In other subjects, pupils are engaged by well-chosen lesson activities. In PE, for example, pupils enjoyed learning about tactics in team games. In some lessons, teachers do not take opportunities to fully extend pupils' learning once they have completed the initial tasks they have been set.

The work to support pupils' wider development is exemplary. This is a school with an inclusive approach at the centre of its community. Pupils are engaged in charity work and raise substantial amounts for various causes.

This is interwoven with the academic offer for pupils. For example, pupils in the sixth form can choose to take part in enterprise lessons and sell the products they make. The school's '30/30' strategy in lessons is designed to ensure all pupils engage in physical activity throughout the day.

Clubs are popular with pupils. Leaders ensure that any potential issues with transport are overcome to ensure all pupils are fully involved in the life of the school.

There is a strong focus on developing skills for life, for example social skills and transport skills.

Pupils build resilience and independence. They are ready for the future once they leave the school. As pupils move through the school, it is plain to see the increasing confidence that they acquire.

Sixth-form pupils work cooperatively to complete tasks, for example when cleaning up after cooking lessons. Leaders' plans to offer off-site work experience to pupils will further enhance the life experience of pupils.

The school community is highly respectful.

Pupils treat each other with respect, they support each other in lessons. Teachers encourage pupils to know and use sign language. Pupils can therefore make their feelings clear to each other and to the adults that work with them.

Lunchtime routines are well embedded. Relationships between pupils and staff are relaxed, warm and happy. Pupils are incredibly positive as they go about their daily routines.

Many wanted to introduce themselves to inspectors.

Staff are proud to work at the school. They feel that leaders take account of their needs.

The staff body is a close community which supports each other for the benefit of pupils. Regular morning meetings take place in each phase before pupils arrive. This means that important information and updates can be shared.

Following the previous inspection, there has been a recent focus on safeguarding training. Governors have made recent improvements to their monitoring and have greater oversight of the work that leaders do, particularly in relation to safeguarding matters. There has also been training, for example, around equalities for governors.

This means they can hold leaders to account more effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Since the last inspection, there have been numerous changes to the systems around safeguarding.

Changes have been made, for example, to ensure that the system to carry out and record checks on staff working at the school is robust and accurate.

Leaders with responsibility for child protection provide training and updates to staff on a regular basis. They check the impact of this training.

All staff are now clear about their responsibilities.

Staff know how to record concerns on the school's information systems. Leaders are currently completing changes to the system for recording concerns about pupils so that the information they receive and record is as precise as possible, so that patterns and trends can be monitored more strategically.

Governors check safeguarding systems more regularly than was previously the case. They also seek assurance from external reviews of their safeguarding processes.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's record-keeping system needs refinement to ensure that staff can precisely record the nature of safeguarding concerns they raise and to help leaders identify and analyse information and data more effectively.

This work is already underway. There is no immediate risk of harm to pupils as information is still recorded by staff and can be accessed by leaders. Leaders should ensure that they complete their review of the system and finalise the changes to improve the quality of information they receive.