Children and staff from a South London specialist school are celebrating their latest Ofsted report grading them ‘Good’.
Kedleston Group’s Brookways School in North Cheam was praised by inspectors for its ‘positive, trusting and nurturing’ approach which supports children to be ‘successful in their learning’ through its ambitious curriculum.
The Sutton-based school, which offers places for children and young people who are autistic and who have additional special educational needs, was found by Ofsted’s inspectors to be ‘good’ in all areas of inspection.
The school’s positive role and ‘expert support’ were instrumental in helping children, the report noted. For the majority of the 77 pupils who attend the school, mainstream schools have not been able to meet their needs and they have often been out of education for some time before attending the Kedleston Brookways School.
Inspectors noted: “Pupils who initially struggle with behaviour are given expert support. They learn to build resilience, confidence and independence.
“Many pupils who start at the school have had a negative prior experience of schooling. This has had an impact on their previous school attendance. When they join this school, staff get to know the reasons why they did not attend school regularly. The school then works with pupils and their families to address those barriers. Consequently, most pupils attend school regularly.”
Staff from Kedleston Brookways are ‘overwhelmingly proud’ to work at the school, inspectors found, adding in their report: “Staff have developed positive, trusting and nurturing working relationships with the pupils here. They make it their priority to know each pupil they work with well. They set them high expectations and support them in being successful in their learning. Pupils respond well to the support they receive. They engage well in their learning.”
Children’s communication, sensory, emotional and physical needs are supported by Kedleston Brookways’ in-house therapeutic team who create personalised plans for pupils. And the school’s wide range of trips and visits, both locally and as far afield as Berlin, were also noted as positives for pupils.
Headteacher at Kedleston Brookways Richard Gadd said: “The whole school is rightly very proud of our pupils and their achievements. The team works hard to ensure they have all the support they need to help them achieve their goals and ambitions. It is very pleasing to see the hard work by the staff and children recognised. We also want to express our desire to keep improving and offering the best education and outcomes we can for our pupils and families.