Richmond Hill School

Overview

Richmond Hill School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. The school is described as a "settled and happy place" where every pupil is valued as an individual and staff adapt their approach to help pupils remain calm. Leaders use monitoring systems "forensically" to support staff and ensure behaviour is generally calm.

Strengths

• Communication is central to teaching, with both verbal and non-verbal pupils using symbols to share needs, which families value for increased understanding.
• Learning is personalised to individual needs, ensuring pupils have consistent experiences across classes and sites.
• Staff provide high-quality reading instruction, with pupils becoming interested in books and excitedly joining in with stories.
• There is a strong emphasis on developing life skills, such as travelling independently, and age-appropriate relationships education that respects local cultures.
• Leaders map trends in data to support staff, resulting in purposeful classrooms and effective safeguarding arrangements.

Areas to improve

• Staff must ensure pupils are given enough time to process new learning before stepping in to help, to foster greater independence and challenge.
• In a small number of subjects, staff need to better sequence learning steps based on pupils’ existing knowledge to support effective progression.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.