The Mendip School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of good as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might be outstanding if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school's next inspection will be a graded inspection.

The headteacher of this school is Natalie Hanna. This school is part of The Partnership Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Emily Massey, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Belinda Deery.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils follow an amb...itious curriculum and achieve well. They receive strong pastoral support from trusted adults. The curriculum is closely tailored to pupils' learning and development needs.

Typically, pupils are attentive in lessons and work hard. They take pride in their work. Children in the early years receive very precise teaching across the curriculum.

This develops their early communication skills and physical development superbly.

The curriculum prepares pupils for their future lives as independent citizens exceptionally well. Older pupils learn to voice their views confidently in discussions about healthy relationships, physical health and ethical dilemmas.

Everyone learns how to cook. Many extra-curricular activities build well on pupils' prior knowledge. For example, travelling to London by train enables pupils to apply what they know about reading timetables.

Working in the community café develops pupils' confidence, self-esteem and use of money. All pupils experience a residential visit. Camp is a highlight for many.

Pupils and staff eat lunch together. This reinforces the importance of maintaining positive behaviours and social interactions brilliantly. Pupils enjoy talking about their day and wider interests.

Staff join in with outside games and the 'golden mile'. Pupils value using the outdoor gym equipment, keeping fit, and playing games, such as cricket.

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

Leaders are highly knowledgeable.

Many staff are experts in their field. Staff's outreach work with other local schools and partnerships is commendable. Leaders, along with central trust staff, have a precise understanding of the school's effectiveness.

They use this information astutely to ensure that the curriculum pupils receive is ever improving. The various well-thought-out curriculum pathways combine both academic curriculums and life-skills curriculums. This ensures that all pupils receive an ambitious curriculum that builds successfully on what they know already, including in the sixth form.

The school is swift to assess pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) on entry. Staff work with other professionals to ensure pupils' transition into school is smooth. They are quick to identify and resolve any potential barriers to learning.

Staff implement the curriculum very well. It has a strong impact on what pupils know across subjects. When relative weaknesses in sequences of work or assessment practices arise, the school is proactive in addressing these straight away.

Developing effective communication pervades the school. The youngest pupils benefit from a language-rich environment, where they gain a love of stories, songs and rhymes. The curriculum ensures that these pupils increase their ability to hear and distinguish sounds and new vocabulary.

As soon as they are ready, pupils learn phonics with skilled staff. This continues until pupils are secure in their phonics and read fluently. Staff make reading a priority for all pupils.

Pupils read every day and staff check that pupils' reading is improving over time.

The personal, social, health and economic education curriculum underpins all learning throughout the curriculum. The focus on building strong relationships, navigating social interactions, working within social groups and communicating with politeness and respect are strong features evident throughout the curriculum.

Pupils learn from this approach very quickly and, as a result, most pupils are polite, helpful and respectful.

Pupils study for, and are successful in, gaining a range of GCSEs, functional skills, entry level qualifications and/or courses that develop important life skills for independent living. Pupils who attend the hospital education reintegration service (HERs), receive an ambitious curriculum.

This is equipping them well for going back to mainstream school after periods of extended absence.

Pupils receive effective careers education. When pupils leave at the end of Year 11, they go on to college or employment.

Sixth-form pupils who remain at the school benefit from a personalised education that focuses on developing life skills for employment and independent living. Alongside this, pupils take vocational qualifications that meet their needs. After much planning, a new venture for sixth-form pupils aims to achieve collaborative supportive employment at a new site near Street.

This work is in its infancy.

The trust is insightful when making decisions that affect this school. For example, trustees have ensured that there is strong leadership capacity to hold staff to account for the quality of education pupils receive at the school, including for those pupils who now attend the HERs site.

Nonetheless, the trust knows that while most parents are highly positive about the school, at a time when curriculum enhancements and changes to sixth-form provision are afoot, sustaining and strengthening relationships with parents remains a top priority.

The school monitors pupils' attendance and behaviour very closely. The vast majority of pupils attend exceptionally well.

The school's approaches to supporting pupils to regulate well in lessons and around the school are highly effective.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2018.