Talbot Specialist School

Overview

Talbot Specialist School continues to be a good school, providing a happy and safe environment where pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff maintain high expectations and strong relationships with pupils, delivering an ambitious curriculum adapted to individual needs, including specialist resources like a hydrotherapy pool.

Strengths

• Pupils are "happy and feel safe," with staff having "high expectations for all pupils" and managing behaviour well through strong relationships.
• Teachers are "well-trained and knowledgeable," delivering lessons with "high levels of adult support" and using repetition to help pupils remember knowledge.
• The school prioritises reading, with pupils achieving well in phonics lessons taught by "enthusiastic" staff in a "consistent way."
• Sixth form students are "well prepared for their next steps," with curriculum plans designed to "prepare students for adulthood" and develop independence.
• Governance is "strong," with governors keen to ensure staff wellbeing and manageable workloads while holding leaders to account.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should improve medium-term plans by specifying "how the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn can be taught" to reduce inconsistency and teacher workload.
• Leaders should ensure wider curriculum plans provide all pupils with a "rich range of personal development opportunities," as the current offer is less extensive than before the pandemic.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with a "strong safeguarding culture" across sites and staff who are well trained and understand their responsibilities.