Broadmeadow Special School

Inspection of Broadmeadow Special School Lansdowne Road, Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 4AL

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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 Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Lisa Walker. This school is part of Central Learning Partnership Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Doug Selkirk, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Robert Turton. 19 and 20 June 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Broadmeadow Special School is warm and welcoming to everyone. Pupils are well cared for and staff go the extra mile to make pupils feel safe and happy. This embodies the school’s mission that ‘together we enable and motivate’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school takes time to build caring relationships with pupils and they receive effective support when they join the school. As a result, parents are confident that the school has their child’s best interest at heart. Staff keep parents updated with important information because they know the pupils well. These positive relationships continue throughout school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff understand that sometimes pupils can get upset when they cannot quickly communicate their needs to others. As a result, right from the start, staff work hard to give pupils an effective communication system which works for them. This ensures pupils keep focused on their learning in lessons and behave well in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy going to visit local places of interest, such as the park and local shops. This helps them to practise important basic skills for life, such as paying for things and crossing the road. Pupils say that trips are ‘lots of fun’.

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better?

The school has developed a well sequenced and ambitious curriculum that identifies the important information that pupils need to learn. Leaders have provided staff with helpful ‘curriculum maps’ that identify the order that learning is delivered.

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better?

Staff use these maps well and most adapt learning so that pupils build their skills and knowledge over time. However, in some subjects learning is not always broken down into small enough parts so pupils can understand. Additionally, resources are not always used well enough so that pupils can gain the most from their use. This slows the learning of some pupils.

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better?

The curriculum for reading is delivered effectively throughout the school. Staff are well trained to teach the school’s phonics and early reading scheme. The school robustly monitors how well pupils learn to read. This means that any gaps in learning are addressed quickly. Pupils enjoy learning to read. As a result, those at an early stage of reading become confident, fluent readers.

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better?

The school develops staff’s skills and expertise effectively. Staff appreciate the opportunities given to them to learn and take on new responsibilities. For example, new teams for behaviour and emotional health are supporting pupils well. Pupils value this support and those who need emotional support get it quickly. This is helping them to improve their attendance at school.

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better?

The behaviour policy and systems are clear and tailored to the needs of pupils. Staff are well trained and know how to support the wide-ranging needs of the 19 and 20 June 2024

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pupils in this school. The school has recently taken the decision to review how they teach pupils about their emotions. They have launched a new ‘colours of me’ approach. This allows pupils to identify through colours how they are feeling. This means that staff can better support pupils when they need it. This new approach is working well. As a result, pupils generally behave and get along well together.

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The school’s personal development curriculum teaches pupils how to be healthy, stay safe and gain self-help skills. Pupils learn about different cultures and life in modern day Britain. Pupils practise being in social situations, something they often find difficult. This is helping them to build their resilience when meeting new people and making new friends.

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The school collects a wealth of information on all aspects of the school. Leaders use the information about individual pupils to make effective decisions. However, the school does not always analyse and evaluate the impact of specific aspects of the school’s work. This means that they do not have a full picture of the impact of the school’s actions on the quality of education.

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Trustees and school governors take a keen interest in everything that happens in this school. Through regular visits they know the school well. The trust and governors support and challenge leaders in equal measure. Leaders at all levels are passionate about improving the life chances of all pupils in the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school does not always provide pupils with the activities or resources they need to learn the important information set out within the curriculum. This means that some pupils are not gaining the knowledge they need in all subjects. The school should ensure that all staff receive training so that they can deliver the intended curriculum in ways that ensure pupils remember the explicit knowledge identified in the curriculum.  The school does not consistently use the information it collects to evaluate the impact of its work. As a result, leaders cannot assure themselves that everything they are doing is effective. The school should evaluate all of the important information they hold to assure themselves that their strategies are working and, where needed, identify further areas for improvement. 19 and 20 June 2024

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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). 19 and 20 June 2024

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School details

School category Academy special converter

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 8 and 9 October 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Central Learning Partnership Trust.  The school caters for pupils with special educational needs, specifically severe learning difficulties and autism spectrum disorder.  The leadership team comprises the headteacher, a designated safeguarding leader and two assistant headteachers.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school has changed its registered age range from two to seven years to three to eleven years since last inspected. While the school is registered to admit pupils aged three to eleven years the school currently only has pupils on roll aged six to ten years old. There is no early years provision on site for younger children.  The school is intending to relocate to a new school building on a different site in the future. While this site is being sought the current site has been adapted as far as it can be to meet the needs of the ages of the older primary pupils currently in

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Information about this school

the school. The limitations of the current site, having been originally built for younger children, mean that many physical education lessons now happen off site. 19 and 20 June 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.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in the evaluation of the school.  The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the assistant headteachers, the designated leader for safeguarding, the chief executive officer of the trust, the chair of the local governing body and four other members of the local governing body. The lead inspector also spoke on the telephone to a trustee from the trust.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in the following subjects: reading mathematics and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects and looked at a sample of work from other subjects.  To gather evidence on pupils’ wider development, inspectors met with the headteacher, the personal development lead teacher and two groups of pupils.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: checked the school’s single central record; spoke to senior leaders about safeguarding procedures; took account of the views of 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.  The lead inspector reviewed a range of other school documentation and policies, including the school development plan and minutes of governor meetings.  Inspectors spoke to leaders, staff and pupils about the wider work of the school.  Inspectors reviewed the school’s records of behaviour, including bullying, and

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Information about this inspection

records of suspensions. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.  The lead inspector considered responses, including free-text comments, to Ofsted Parent View and the online questionnaire. They also reviewed the responses to the staff survey and gathered the views of staff and pupils on site through discussion and through information sent to them during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Jane Edgerton, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Russell Hinton Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 June 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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