Footsteps Trust

Overview

Footsteps Trust is a nurturing independent school where staff provide a "warm welcome" and support pupils with complex needs, particularly regarding behaviour and mental health. The report highlights a "calm atmosphere" underpinned by strong relationships, noting that pupils feel safe to make mistakes and achieve well in their learning.

Strengths

• Staff demonstrate a "caring and dedicated" approach, helping pupils develop "resilience and confidence" while managing their emotional states through strategies like sensory breaks.
• The curriculum is suitable for preparing pupils for future education or employment, with a "structured approach" to reading that improves comprehension and fluency.
• Pupils learn important social skills, showing "good manners" and resolving disagreements in an "ordered way," while valuing diversity and understanding healthy relationships.
• Leaders ensure staff well-being is "well considered," and the school maintains secure systems for identifying and supporting pupils with special educational needs.

Areas to improve

• Staff should "check pupils’ understanding carefully" and make appropriate adaptations to teaching, as occasional failures to do so limit some pupils’ subject-specific understanding.
• The school is "fine-tuning opportunities to inspire pupils’ enthusiasm and love of reading" to further enhance engagement.

Safeguarding

The report states that "the arrangements for safeguarding are effective."