The Bridge Satellite Provision

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious and determined to meet the needs of every pupil. Staff help pupils improve their social skills.

They also support pupils to develop positive attitudes to learning by making sure they experience success in lessons.

Staff care for pupils in a calm and considerate way. They support pupils well to understand their feelings and emotions.

Staff also teach pupils how to manage their own behaviour and calm down when they get overwhelmed. Pupils form trusting professional relationships with adults in the school. Pupils enjoy coming to school, and feel happy and safe.

Staff deal with instances of unacceptable behaviour effectively, includ...ing bullying. They take a restorative approach, helping pupils to reflect on and understand the impact of their actions on others. This teaches pupils to better understand their own and others' responses to different situations so that they can try to avoid conflict in the future.

Leaders, staff and therapists provide significant support for pupils' mental health and well-being. This support is extended to pupils' parents and carers. Pupils also enjoy a range of enrichment activities beyond the formal curriculum.

These include bicycle riding, kayaking, and singing in a choir, for example.

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

The curriculum is ambitious and well tailored to meet pupils' needs. Pupils often arrive having had poor experiences and low attendance at their previous schools.

Leaders are determined to help pupils overcome their barriers to learning. They aspire to develop pupils' knowledge and skills so that they succeed in their future lives.

Staff and therapists teach a comprehensive social skills and communication curriculum.

Throughout the day, they deploy and reinforce a range of social strategies. Staff help pupils to reflect and understand themselves and others. Pupils learn that it is okay for people to have differing opinions, for example.

Staff support pupils to recognise when they are getting unsettled or anxious. They help pupils find successful ways to calm down and feel secure. This work underpins pupils' ability to learn in a calm environment and gain new knowledge.

Pupils typically arrive at the school with gaps in their knowledge. Leaders use assessment to good effect. They determine what pupils already know and where they need to catch up.

Leaders make adaptations to teaching to address each pupil's individual needs. Some pupils also arrive with weak reading skills. Leaders address this as a priority.

Skilled staff use a well-planned phonics programme to teach pupils to read. Pupils become fluent readers, which in turn opens up their access to the wider curriculum.Pupils learn a broad range of subjects.

Leaders have thought carefully about what they want pupils to know and remember. They choose content that will be most useful and meaningful for pupils' aspirations and what they need for successful future lives. Leaders plan chunks of learning logically.

Teaching ensures that pupils revise previous learning often. This enables pupils to remember knowledge over the long term. It also enables them to build on prior knowledge when learning something new.

In personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, for example, pupils link their new learning about the risks of smoking to their learning in science, where they were taught about the impact smoking has on the cardiovascular system and lungs.

Occasionally, in subjects such as art, teachers do not have a deep knowledge of the subject. In a few cases, teachers plan activities that are not well chosen to extend pupils' knowledge.

When this happens, it means that pupils do not learn new subject-specific knowledge consistently well.

Staff teach pupils about risk and how to stay safe, for example when using social media. Pupils are taught about building positive relationships and the concept of consent.

There is an effective careers programme in place, which includes a personalised approach for each pupil. This develops pupils' knowledge and skills relating to their career ambitions. Leaders work with pupils, parents and specialist providers to plan a smooth transition for when pupils leave this school.

Leaders take care of staff well-being and make sure not to give them an unmanageable workload. Leaders work in close collaboration with parents to promote pupils' education and welfare.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff know all the pupils and their families well. They are vigilant and know how to recognise signs that pupils may be at risk. Leaders are alerted as soon as staff log any concerns.

They are tenacious in securing help and working with a range of external agencies to support pupils' safety and welfare.

Through frequent discussions with teaching and support staff, as well as therapists, pupils gain knowledge of risk and the confidence to share concerns and seek help.

Leaders have robust recruitment processes for vetting candidates' suitability to work with pupils.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few instances, teachers do not have deep subject knowledge, mainly in the foundation subjects. This means that they do not always have the expertise to ensure that pupils gain deep knowledge and understanding in all subjects. Leaders should support staff to strengthen their subject knowledge and make sure that they are fully proficient in all subjects that they teach.

• Occasionally, teachers choose activities that are not well matched to the subject-specific knowledge that leaders want pupils to learn. When that happens, pupils miss opportunities to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the subject. Leaders should ensure that teachers routinely plan well-sequenced activities that closely match the subject-specific knowledge they want pupils to remember.