THE HOLLIES SCHOOL

Overview

The Hollies Special School is a caring environment where nearly all pupils are happy to learn and many make strong progress, particularly in communication and social skills. The report highlights exemplary working relationships between staff and pupils, combined with a high-quality person-centred approach that positively impacts learning, behaviour, and wellbeing. Leadership has established a clear vision that permeates all aspects of the school’s work.

Strengths

• Pupils make particularly useful progress in developing communication and social skills, becoming more independent in daily life.
• Working relationships between staff and pupils are described as “exemplary” and have a “very positive effect” on progress and wellbeing.
• Staff possess a “very detailed understanding of pupils’ needs” and plan relevant, personalised learning experiences.
• The school has designed an “innovative, purposeful, child-centred curriculum” as a Welsh Government Pioneer School.
• The school “nurtures the wellbeing of its pupils exceptionally well” through sensitive support and effective partnership working with specialist services.

Areas to improve

• Address the health and safety issue identified during the inspection, specifically regarding traffic management around the site.
• Ensure all planned learning experiences meet the needs of pupils with more complex abilities, as some do not make consistent progress.
• Develop a consistent approach to the delivery of information and communication technology (ICT) skills across the curriculum.
• Strengthen performance management and professional learning arrangements for teaching assistants.

Safeguarding

The report states that the school's arrangements for safeguarding pupils generally meet requirements, although the management of traffic around the school site requires improvement.