Windmill Hill School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The quality of education pupils currently receive is not good enough. Too many pupils do not learn as well they could. This includes when learning to read.

New leaders know this and have started to take swift action.

Pupils are happy. They like the adults who care for them.

They appreciate that staff treat them with dignity and respect. Staff know pupils' needs well. Pupils easily express their feelings verbally, pictorially or through signing.

This means they can be understood and are listened to. Pupils receive appropriate provision for their social, emotional and medical needs.

Positive friendships are made.

Pupils enjoy breaktim...es, playing football and film club. Pupils are supported to manage their feelings safely. However, there are still instances of unkind behaviour.

Staff address this, and consequently, incidents are reducing.

Pupils like getting certificates when they follow the school values in their day-to-day lives. They have trips to sports activities and the library.

They have raised funds at a Christmas fayre. The school council suggests ideas to improve the school. Pupils and parents would like more clubs, trips and work experience to support pupils to gain confidence out in the local community.

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

The school has been through an unsettled time. The trust has responded quickly and appropriately to provide stability and a rapid plan for improvement. New leaders are having a positive impact, but this is still at an early stage.

The school knows its main priority is to improve the quality of education. Work has started on introducing a consistent and systematic approach to the teaching of reading. However, this is still in its infancy.

At present, pupils are not receiving adequate provision and support to learn the sounds they need to read. They are not accessing books matched to the sounds they know. This hinders their reading achievement.

Leaders have identified where gaps are in pupils' reading, but currently have not started focused work to fill these gaps.

When pupils start the school, they are carefully assessed to determine which curriculum pathway best suits their needs. These pathways aim to support pupils to achieve independence and to prepare them for adulthood.

Some pathways lead to qualification routes. However, the curriculum lacks clarity as to how pupils' knowledge will be built logically over time. Staff are not sufficiently well directed to know if what they are teaching is giving pupils the exact knowledge they need or in the best order to achieve the curriculum pathway aims.

Sensory resources and activities are provided to help pupils be ready to learn. Adults engage well with pupils in these sessions. However, the intended learning focus is often not specific or ambitious enough.

Staff do not extend and develop pupils' learning within these sessions, to ensure that pupils are learning what they need to. As a result, there are gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

Teachers use visual aids and technology to adapt resources.

Most pupils engage well in lessons. Leaders have started training staff on how to best adapt activities in lessons to meet the needs of all learners. Staff are still getting to grips with this.

This means for some pupils the work does not yet precisely match their ability and so either they cannot complete it independently or have the chance to complete it successfully.

Pupils receive the therapeutic interventions prescribed and have high-quality pastoral care. Successes, however big or small, are celebrated.

Pupils focus in lessons and behaviour has improved. There are still a few pupils who demonstrate more challenging behaviours. This impacts on their readiness to learn.

Leaders are tenacious in following up pupils who are regularly absent from school. This work is impacting positively on ensuring that pupils attend school regularly.

Leaders are vigilant in keeping pupils safe.

Pupils are taught about online safety. They have lessons about self-care and are taught about identifying different emotions and showing empathy. Older pupils take on additional responsibilities.

The personal development curriculum is being reviewed to ensure that key knowledge is taught in the most appropriate order.

Staff appreciate that leaders check on their well-being and workload. Some staff are starting to take on subject leadership roles so that they can support senior leaders more effectively to make curriculum improvements.

Trustees are providing effective oversight and fulfil their statutory duties. They have redeployed trust staff to support the school. Staff have responded positively to the guidance leaders are providing.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school does not yet have a clear reading curriculum in place. This means that pupils who are capable of learning to read are not being given an effective means to do so.

The school needs to ensure that there is a systematic and consistent approach to how reading is taught so that pupils can build reading knowledge and rehearse this through access to books linked to their reading ability. ? The current curriculum is not sufficiently well designed to build pupils' knowledge in a clear and logical order. This means that staff are not clear on how to build pupils' knowledge over time.

This limits how well pupils learn. The school needs to ensure that it maps out explicitly what pupils need to learn and when so that the distinct building blocks of knowledge are clearly signposted and understood by staff. ? Often pupils engage in activities where the specific learning focus is unclear or learning is not suitably extended.

This results in learning opportunities not being maximised for these pupils. The school needs to provide pedagogical support to staff so that they have the skills to know how to deliver the curriculum as leaders intend. ? In lessons, pupils do not always receive work precisely adapted to their learning needs.

This means some pupils have work that is too difficult or too easy. This limits how well they achieve. The school needs to provide additional training for staff on ways to adapt learning successfully and precisely for pupils in their class so work is more accurately matched to needs.

• The school has started to identify staff to lead subjects, but they are not all in place. This limits the current oversight of some curriculum areas. The trust needs to continue to develop subject leaders in order to further strengthen leadership capacity and ensure that the curriculum is delivered as intended.