Mulberry Bush School

Overview

Mulberry Bush School is described as a “transformative school” where pupils, many of whom have experienced childhood trauma, “thrive” through expert support. The report highlights that staff rapidly build trusting relationships, enabling pupils to feel safe and ready to learn within a calm and purposeful environment.

Strengths

• The curriculum is “highly ambitious and broad,” with “carefully constructed sequences of learning” that precisely meet individual needs and are amended to support education, health and care plan outcomes.
• Staff possess “exceedingly strong knowledge” of the curriculum and receive specialist training to address pupils’ complex social, emotional, and mental health needs, making “impactful and bespoke adaptations.”
• Therapeutic activities, including speech, music, and drama therapy, are “a crucial part of the school day” and are accurately matched to pupils’ needs, having a “profoundly positive impact” on well-being.
• Reading support is “highly effective,” with staff using initial assessments to provide additional activities that help pupils become “capable and confident readers.”
• Pupils behave “extremely well” and interact with “kindness and respect,” holding themselves and others to account while participating in community meetings and the school council.

Areas to improve

The report identifies no significant areas for improvement.

Safeguarding

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