Mabel Prichard School

Overview

Pupils with complex needs “flourish because of the precise and expert support” they receive in a setting defined by “warm and trusting relationships.” The school delivers an “ambitious” and personalised curriculum that effectively prepares students for adulthood, with “exemplary” personal development provision.

Strengths

• Staff possess “secure knowledge” to provide specialist medical care and follow support plans with “precision and skill.”
• Pupils become “confident and independent communicators” through a well-sequenced curriculum using low- and high-tech approaches.
• The “personal development provision for pupils is exemplary,” ensuring they learn vital life, social, and independence skills.
• All staff are “expertly trained to teach phonics,” ensuring pupils with complex needs learn to read well.
• Leaders have built a “motivated and well-skilled staff team” who appreciate the school’s prioritisation of their well-being.

Areas to improve

• The school must fully sequence the curriculum in a “small number of non-core subject areas” where staff are not yet secure about what to teach.
• Ensure progression of knowledge is sequenced towards ambitious end points in all subjects so pupils “build coherent knowledge effectively over time.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”