Releasing Potential School

Overview

Releasing Potential School is a “highly inclusive” independent school for pupils with education, health and care plans, particularly those with disrupted educational histories. The inspection judges overall effectiveness as “Good”, noting significant improvement since the previous inspection. Leaders have established a clear vision, and the school successfully supports pupils to settle and flourish through its unique approach.

Strengths

• Relationships between staff and pupils are a “key strength”, helping to build trust and confidence for lifelong learning.
• The curriculum is “carefully considered” and tailored to individual needs, with outdoor education being “pivotal to the school’s success”.
• Pupils feel safe and understand how to keep themselves safe online and in the real world.
• Staff are “adept at checking where pupils’ gaps are” in reading and communication to remove barriers to learning.
• Post-16 students are well supported to gain skills and confidence for education or employment, including through work experience and qualifications.

Areas to improve

• Staff do not always consider how pupils’ EHC plan targets can be met alongside curriculum objectives, meaning pupils do not always achieve as well as they could.
• Some recently refined school systems are not yet fully embedded, and staff do not always have a robust understanding of how to implement agreed processes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.