York Steiner School

Overview: The school does not meet all of the independent school standards that were checked during this inspection. Leaders have begun work to address the unmet standards, but much of this work is in its infancy and is not yet embedded.

Strengths:

• Pupils study a broad curriculum that increases in complexity as they move through the school.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) learn alongside their peers in a mutually supportive, collegiate and respectful manner.
• Pupils feel safe and well cared for, and know who to report concerns to and feel confident that staff would take them seriously.
• The proprietor’s arrangements to meet schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 are appropriate and sufficient.
• The school has robust recruitment procedures in place to ensure that potential staff are suitable to work with children and young people.

Areas to improve:

• Leaders have not ensured that the independent school standards are met consistently.
• Some staff do not fully understand how to develop pupils’ foundational knowledge and skills.
• Staff do not consistently make effective adaptations to learning for pupils with SEND.
• Leaders have not used the information from assessments consistently well to inform sequences of learning.
• The targets on pupils’ individual support plans lack precision.

Safeguarding: Pupils feel safe and well cared for, and know who to report concerns to and feel confident that staff would take them seriously.