Treetops School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school. The inspirational headteacher and very strong senior and middle leadership team have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development. They have used this knowledge to secure rapid improvements to the quality of teaching, the curriculum and pupils' achievements.

All staff work to produce the very best outcomes for pupils. The very experienced governing body both supports the school's work and challenges senior leaders to improve it even more. Governors question the leadership carefully as to how it is improving teaching and how well pupils are doing.

Staff place a high priority on pupils' well-being s...o that they are ready and eager to learn. Pupils enjoy excellent relationships with staff which are mutually respectful and build pupil's confidence and trust. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes in lessons are outstanding. They enjoy school and take part in lessons and activities with great enthusiasm Pupils' achievement is outstanding. Across the school pupils make excellent progress in all subjects.

In addition to a range of GCSEs and other accredited courses, pupils in the secondary phase and in the sixth form access an excellent range of vocational qualifications which help to ensure that they are well prepared to continue their education. Teaching is outstanding because teachers have exceptionally high expectations of what pupils can achieve and use practical activities to make learning interesting. The sixth form is outstanding.

Students are extremely well prepared for their next steps with an increasing focus on life skills and becoming independent. This helps to develop their confidence alongside skills that prepare them exceptionally well for adult life. Parents and carers are very complimentary about the school.

They are full of admiration for the commitment and enthusiasm of the staff and the work they do to help their children learn.

Information about this school

Treetops is a large mixed day, community special school which provides mainly for pupils with moderate learning difficulties although many pupils have complex learning needs. An increasingly significant number of pupils have autism, speech and communication difficulties and developmental delay.

The school was designated as a Teaching School in March 2012. The headteacher is a National Leader of Education and the school is a National Support School. A range of training and support is provided to other schools in the local authority area and more widely.

All pupils have a statement of special educational needs, which specify complexity of need and levels of attainment. The vast majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds, and very few speak English as an additional language. A third of the school's pupils are supported through the pupil premium (additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils) which is well above that found nationally.

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