The Bridge Keystone

Inspection of The Bridge Satellite Provision C/O the Bridge School, 251 Hungerford Road, London N7 9LD

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Inspection dates: 22 and 23 February 2022

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected 22 and 23 February 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious and determined to meet the needs of every pupil. Staff help pupils improve their social skills. They also support pupils to develop positive attitudes to learning by making sure they experience success in lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff care for pupils in a calm and considerate way. They support pupils well to understand their feelings and emotions. Staff also teach pupils how to manage their own behaviour and calm down when they get overwhelmed. Pupils form trusting professional relationships with adults in the school. Pupils enjoy coming to school, and feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff deal with instances of unacceptable behaviour effectively, including bullying. They take a restorative approach, helping pupils to reflect on and understand the impact of their actions on others. This teaches pupils to better understand their own and others’ responses to different situations so that they can try to avoid conflict in the future.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders, staff and therapists provide significant support for pupils’ mental health and well-being. This support is extended to pupils' parents and carers. Pupils also enjoy a range of enrichment activities beyond the formal curriculum. These include bicycle riding, kayaking, and singing in a choir, for example.

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better?

The curriculum is ambitious and well tailored to meet pupils' needs. Pupils often arrive having had poor experiences and low attendance at their previous schools. Leaders are determined to help pupils overcome their barriers to learning. They aspire to develop pupils' knowledge and skills so that they succeed in their future lives.

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better?

Staff and therapists teach a comprehensive social skills and communication curriculum. Throughout the day, they deploy and reinforce a range of social strategies. Staff help pupils to reflect and understand themselves and others. Pupils learn that it is okay for people to have differing opinions, for example. Staff support pupils to recognise when they are getting unsettled or anxious. They help pupils find successful ways to calm down and feel secure. This work underpins pupils’ ability to learn in a calm environment and gain new knowledge.

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better?

Pupils typically arrive at the school with gaps in their knowledge. Leaders use assessment to good effect. They determine what pupils already know and where they need to catch up. Leaders make adaptations to teaching to address each pupil’s individual needs. Some pupils also arrive with weak reading skills. Leaders address this as a priority. Skilled staff use a well-planned phonics programme to teach pupils to read. Pupils become fluent readers, which in turn opens up their access to the wider curriculum. 22 and 23 February 2022

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Pupils learn a broad range of subjects. Leaders have thought carefully about what they want pupils to know and remember. They choose content that will be most useful and meaningful for pupils’ aspirations and what they need for successful future lives. Leaders plan chunks of learning logically. Teaching ensures that pupils revise previous learning often. This enables pupils to remember knowledge over the long term. It also enables them to build on prior knowledge when learning something new. In personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, for example, pupils link their new learning about the risks of smoking to their learning in science, where they were taught about the impact smoking has on the cardiovascular system and lungs.

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Occasionally, in subjects such as art, teachers do not have a deep knowledge of the subject. In a few cases, teachers plan activities that are not well chosen to extend pupils’ knowledge. When this happens, it means that pupils do not learn new subject-specific knowledge consistently well.

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Staff teach pupils about risk and how to stay safe, for example when using social media. Pupils are taught about building positive relationships and the concept of consent. There is an effective careers programme in place, which includes a personalised approach for each pupil. This develops pupils' knowledge and skills relating to their career ambitions. Leaders work with pupils, parents and specialist providers to plan a smooth transition for when pupils leave this school.

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Leaders take care of staff well-being and make sure not to give them an unmanageable workload. Leaders work in close collaboration with parents to promote pupils’ education and welfare.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know all the pupils and their families well. They are vigilant and know how to recognise signs that pupils may be at risk. Leaders are alerted as soon as staff log any concerns. They are tenacious in securing help and working with a range of external agencies to support pupils’ safety and welfare.

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Safeguarding

Through frequent discussions with teaching and support staff, as well as therapists, pupils gain knowledge of risk and the confidence to share concerns and seek help.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have robust recruitment processes for vetting candidates’ suitability to work with pupils. 22 and 23 February 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few instances, teachers do not have deep subject knowledge, mainly in the foundation subjects. This means that they do not always have the expertise to ensure that pupils gain deep knowledge and understanding in all subjects. Leaders should support staff to strengthen their subject knowledge and make sure that they are fully proficient in all subjects that they teach.  Occasionally, teachers choose activities that are not well matched to the subject- specific knowledge that leaders want pupils to learn. When that happens, pupils miss opportunities to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the subject. Leaders should ensure that teachers routinely plan well-sequenced activities that closely match the subject-specific knowledge they want pupils to remember.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 22 and 23 February 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10212084 Type of school Special

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This all-through special school, part of The Bridge Multi Academy Trust, opened in September 2017. It caters for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, predominantly autism spectrum disorder. Most pupils have other additional needs. All pupils have an education, health and care plan.  This was the school’s first inspection.  Currently, pupils on roll are in the nine to 14 age range. The school operates on two sites. Primary provision is co-located at Hungerford school, 249 Hungerford Road, N7 9LF. Secondary provision is co-located at City of London Academy, Duncombe Road, N19 3EU.  Since opening, there has been a high turnover of staff and the school has moved sites several times.  Leaders do not use any alternative provision. 22 and 23 February 2022

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, geography and PSHE. Inspectors held discussions with leaders and teachers, visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ work and held discussions with pupils. Inspectors also considered other subjects as part of the inspection.  Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, the chair of trustees, the chief executive officer, the chair of the local governing body and two other governors, and the school’s speech and language therapist. They also spoke with the local authority about the pupils they place in this school.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including information related to safeguarding and the checks carried out before the appointment of staff.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors looked at records of pupils’ behaviour.  Inspectors had formal meetings with staff and with pupils. They took account of the nine responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. They also considered the seven responses to the staff survey and the five responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

David Radomsky, lead inspector Her Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Andrea Bedeau Her Majesty's Inspector 22 and 23 February 2022

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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