Polden Bower School

Inspection of Polden Bower School Bower Lane, Bridgwater TA6 4GU

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Sixth-form provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 21 and 22 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Polden Bower is a community hub for its families. Pupils love coming to school. They attend very well. They benefit from caring and skilled staff who build positive, trusted relationships with them. The curriculum is designed carefully to meet the diverse needs of pupils. It is particularly effective in helping pupils acquire early language, communication, reading and interaction skills. Pupils thrive because their needs are met effectively. As a result, pupils are very well prepared for their next steps when they leave the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has established highly effective systems for managing and supporting pupils’ behaviour. Children often arrive in Reception with a limited ability to play, interact and make sense of the world around them. Effective plans and strong relationships transform this. Pupils’ behaviour improves significantly over time. By the time they leave, pupils are very well prepared for adulthood.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ talents, interests and social opportunities are nurtured considerably. Pupils learn about other cultures, religions and beliefs. They contribute to their school and local community in a range of ways. The school puts on family events out of hours and at the weekends. Many parents speak positively about these events and the support they get from the school.

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better?

Polden Bower is a good and improving school. Staff share an aspiration to do what is best for the pupils who learn there and their families. The vast majority are proud to work at the school and believe their well-being is considered carefully. Following the pandemic, the school has responded to a range of challenges relating to staff turnover and changes in leadership. Many leaders are new to their roles. They have a strong vision for the future and for how they want to make provision even better. However, being new, their ideas are not yet realised fully, particularly in relation to the curriculum. This high turnover has led to a minority of staff and some parents harbouring concerns about the management of the school. Nevertheless, pupils demonstrate what most others believe: that they are safe, well cared for and thriving.

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better?

The school’s curriculum is carefully designed around pupils’ communication and interaction needs. It also has pupils’ preparation for adulthood running like a golden thread through everything. Elements of the curriculum are very effective, for example pupils learn to interact, communicate, read and write very well, given their starting points. Curriculum planning links to pupils’ education, health and care plans effectively. As a result, pupils learn well and make strong progress towards their individual targets.

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better?

Children make a flying start from the moment they arrive in Reception. The school has developed an excellent transition process for children when they start in Reception. Plentiful opportunities are utilised to get to know children, their needs 21 and 22 May 2024

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and how to support them. Considered approaches allow parents to contribute to initial ‘school entry plans’. These are implemented efficiently and reviewed regularly. As a result, children settle quickly and respond very well to the tight routines and high expectations staff have of them.

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The school’s ambition is reflected in its bespoke and targeted approaches to ensure that all pupils can read. Staff complete regular assessments focused on pupils’ language acquisition and reading abilities. Building on this, the teaching of reading is finely tuned to pupils’ individual needs. Pupils in the early stages of reading make rapid progress. Many learn to love reading and become highly proficient.

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Staff skilfully teach the curriculum well, including in the early years and sixth form. They know the pupils in their classes very well, using regular and ongoing assessments and the excellent relationships they have secured. Staff creatively engage pupils and entice them by linking learning to their interests. As pupils get older, t eachers increasingly plan learning with pupils’ future destinations in mind. This is particularly the case in the sixth form. Consequently, pupils make strong gains from a wide range of starting points. They are well prepared for the next stage of their education, which is reflected in the sustained education, employment or training that students move on to.

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Some parts of the curriculum are not as well planned and/or as well implemented. Despite the core subjects and the specialist curriculum being strong, pupils do not get the same ambitious curriculum in other areas, such as the arts. This is because the school has not identified with the same precision the components of knowledge that pupils should learn in a systematic, progressive way. This hampers the opportunity for pupils who are able or interested in art to achieve as well as they could.

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Pupils’ wider development is promoted in a considered and highly precise way. Staff use rich experiences in the local and wider communities to help pupils learn about different cultures, moral dilemmas and relationships. Pupils, including those in the sixth form, discuss beliefs and values through personal, social and health education lessons and engage with ideas that are different to their own. Parents are often very positive about the impact of this work. Pupils gain confidence as they learn to embrace their uniqueness and gain strength of character.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 21 and 22 May 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not consistently ambitious across all subjects. This means that occasionally pupils do not learn as much as they could. The school should refine curriculum planning and implementation so that they are consistently strong across all subjects.  Some of the improvements the school is looking to make to the curriculum and to systems in the school are not yet established. The school should continue to embed its plans so that leaders’ vision, policies and practices are fully realised.

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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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 21 and 22 May 2024

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sixth form

Appropriate authority The governing body

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sixth form

Dates of previous inspection 6 and 7 April 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Polden Bower School formed with the amalgamation of Elmwood and Penrose Schools in 2021. At this time, the schools moved into purpose-built accommodation. Children in the early years and key stage 1 are taught in a separate site in Albert Street, Bridgwater.  All pupils have an education, health and care plan. Most are placed by Somerset County Council. Pupils typically have profound and multiple learning difficulties or severe learning difficulties, and the majority have an autistic spectrum disorder.  The school uses two unregistered alternative provisions.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. 21 and 22 May 2024

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with leaders, including the executive headteacher, the head of school, the inclusion manager, the assistant headteachers, the safeguarding partnership manager and the office manager.  Inspectors spoke to three members of the governing body, including the chair.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English (including reading), mathematics, creative arts and personal, social and health education. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at a sample of pupils’ work. Inspectors also looked at curriculum

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Information about this inspection

planning and listened to some pupils read.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including the questionnaire and free-text responses. They also considered responses to the staff survey. They spoke to a group of support staff and some early careers teachers.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including documents relating to governance, leaders’ evaluations, plans for school improvement and information about the school’s curriculum.

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Inspection team

Matthew Barnes, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paula Marsh Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 May 2024

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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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