St Nicholas School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The headteacher's steadfast leadership and insistence on high standards is apparent throughout the school. The motivated and hard-working staff work well together in the best interests of the pupils.

This means that pupils are able to make good and sometimes better progress from their different starting points. Pupils are prepared well for leaving school because of the wide range of work experience opportunities and the chance to take relevant qualifications. Parents speak well of the school and the help it gives to them and their children.

One said, 'It gave my son his shine back.' The school has effective procedures in place to keep it...s pupils safe. Its work in e-safety is exceptional.

The school's promotion of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is particularly strong. Governors know the school from top to bottom so they know the right questions to ask the headteacher to help the school improve. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Teachers do not have the opportunity to share what they do best with their colleagues to make sure that all teaching is at least good and more is outstanding.

The wealth of data the school has collected about how well pupils do is not used as much as it could be to help teachers plan their lessons.

Information about this school

St Nicholas School is a small special school which caters for Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils who join the school from other special or mainstream schools. All pupils have statements of special educational need for a range of learning needs including cognition and learning difficulties, communication and interaction difficulties and autism spectrum disorder.

There have been an increasing number of pupils with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties. Pupils attend the school from Southend-on-Sea and neighbouring areas. A few attend from other local authorities.

Most pupils are White British and all speak English as their first language. An above-average number of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium (extra government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority). Pupils in Key Stage 4 attend Writtle College one day a week for work-related courses.