The Mark Way School

Overview

The Mark Way School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. Pupils excel at this exceptionally inclusive school, benefiting from highly individualised and ambitious curriculum programmes that enable them to achieve numerous qualifications. The environment is described as exceptionally calm, nurturing and focused, with pupils feeling safe and well prepared for their next steps.

Strengths

• Staff provide highly individualised support, using holistic assessments to tailor provision to each pupil’s specific needs and barriers to learning.
• The curriculum is organised meticulously, ensuring precise components of knowledge are taught in a logical order, allowing pupils to learn rapidly and well.
• Pupils demonstrate exemplary behaviour, applying the school’s values-based rewards system and eight ‘virtues’ consistently.
• Personal development is woven throughout the school, with pupils acquiring deep knowledge about consent, relationships and online safety.
• Governors evaluate the school accurately, providing effective support and challenge while leaders act decisively to maintain standards.

Areas to improve

• Some staff do not apply the school’s approaches to teaching early reading consistently, which slows some pupils’ learning of phonics.
• The school does not always make the best use of assessment information available to target learning at gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.