Stony Dean School

Overview

Stony Dean School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. The report describes the school as “inspirational,” where staff are “highly skilled” in helping pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities to “flourish” and meet challenges with confidence.

Strengths

• The curriculum is “carefully designed” and “tailored to each pupil’s needs,” delivered with “skill, sensitivity and a sharp focus on learning.”
• Staff adapt lessons “expertly” around pupils’ complex needs, ensuring they are “highly motivated” and achieve “extremely well,” with many gaining accredited awards.
• Personal development, particularly skills for adulthood, is “woven through everything the school does,” including discreetly building in safety understanding.
• Reading is an “integral part of school life,” with effective actions leading to a “marked effect” on pupils’ reading knowledge and enjoyment.
• Attendance has “greatly improved” following adapted strategies, with the “great majority of pupils” attending regularly.

Areas to improve

• The report identifies no significant areas for improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.