Footsteps Trust

Overview: Footsteps Trust is a good independent school that provides a nurturing environment for pupils who need support with their behaviour, attitudes, and attendance. The school has a suitable curriculum in place and teachers understand the subjects they teach. Pupils achieve well and feel safe to make mistakes and share their views.

Strengths:

• The caring and dedicated staff greet pupils with smiles and a warm welcome upon arrival.
• Pupils appreciate that staff understand their needs and support them in trying their best in class.
• The school's principle of 'rules without relationships do not work' underpins the positive behaviour and respectful interactions between staff and pupils.
• Pupils learn important social skills, such as how to get along with peers and how to sort out any disagreements in an ordered way.
• The school has a structured approach in place to teach pupils to read, which is helping pupils to read with increasing comprehension and fluency.

Areas to improve:

• Occasionally, staff do not check what pupils know or understand, which leads to some pupils not deepening their understanding securely.
• Some opportunities to revisit pupils' knowledge to deepen their understanding are not captured or maximised in lessons.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.