Mossbrook School

Inspection of a good school: Mossbrook School Bochum Parkway, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S8 8JR

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Inspection dates: 16 and 17 July, and 8 and 9 October 2024

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Outcome

Mossbrook School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this inclusive and welcoming school. Relationships between pupils and staff are caring and strong. Staff know pupils very well. Pupils say they feel safe and trust adults to support them if they have any concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers appreciate the expert help staff give to their children. One parent reflected the views of others when they stated: ‘Mossbrook is an understanding and caring school, that supports and advocates for all its children so that they flourish there’. Pupils make timely progress toward their personal goals. Most pupils achieve well in relation to their learning targets.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well around the school. Most interact calmly and with respect for each other. Staff support pupils to communicate their needs in a variety of ways. They know the causes of distress for each pupil, so they can intervene early to help pupils remain calm.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are high ambitions for all pupils. Staff plan for pupils’ personal development throughout the school day. Many pupils understand how they can keep themselves safe, including when near water or out in the community. They learn about eating healthy foods, developing fitness and staying safe online. Pupils’ individual plans help them to develop the knowledge and skills they need to prepare them for their stage of learning.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The different curriculum ‘pathways’ meet pupils’ complex needs well. Staff have thought carefully about the important knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn and when. In the ‘adventurers’ pathway, pupils learn a broad curriculum. They build their knowledge and skills well over time. However, in some subjects in this pathway, the curriculum does not enable all pupils to achieve to the best of their ability. 16 and 17 July and 8 and 9 October 2024

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Across all three pathways, staff plan lessons that consider pupils’ additional needs. Pupils mostly enjoy well-structured lessons. In some lessons, however, the chosen activities do not always closely match what pupils need to learn. This can lead to pupils completing work that does not allow them to focus on the most important aspects of what they are learning. Some pupils complete work that is too easy.

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The ‘engage’ and ‘explorer’ pathways provide positive learning opportunities. From children in the early years through to older pupils, these pathways provide well for pupils’ sensory and communication needs. Staff understand and implement well advice from therapists and other professionals. Recent work to develop communication using ‘core vocabulary boards’ has helped pupils in communicating their wants and needs to staff. As a result, pupils are less frustrated and make progress with their learning.

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Pupils have individual plans that support them to reach the targets in their education, health and care (EHC) plans. Staff use these individual plans to help pupils to learn and develop. The ‘engagement and progression steps’ are then used to assess what pupils know and can do. There is some inconsistency in how staff use this system to assess accurately whether pupils have met their targets. As a result, some of the small step targets which teachers set for some pupils are not always sharp enough to ensure that these pupils achieve as highly as they should.

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Reading is prioritised. Staff promote in many ways an engagement with language and reading. Pupils experience environmental sounds, rhymes and familiar songs that they interact with. Sensory stories help engage pupils with books. Pupils who are capable of reading benefit from a phonics-based reading programme to become more fluent readers. A small number of confident readers are not as well supported to further develop their reading.

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Children in the early years and younger pupils follow well-established routines in the ‘engage’ pathway groups based at a separate site called the ‘Hub’. They learn cooperatively and take part in all activities enthusiastically. Staff do their best to provide for the sensory needs of these children, despite the school not being able to secure the space and resources it would like.

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Behaviour is positive. Staff support pupils in their behaviour consistently well. Staff construct activities that enable pupils to communicate with each other and enjoy time together. Staff are alert to changes in routine that might affect pupils’ well-being. Staff manage transitions carefully to reduce anxiety.

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The school promotes pupils’ personal development effectively. Pupils benefit from sporting activities and events that develop cooperation and fitness. Pupils and their families appreciate the access they have to a sleep programme and bereavement support. Pupils develop their understanding of the local area by visiting shops and community places. These experiences help prepare pupils for their next steps.

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There have been significant leadership changes during the past year. Leaders work well with governors to ensure a continued focus on school improvement. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about leaders’ support for their workload and well-being. 16 and 17 July and 8 and 9 October 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils on the ‘adventurer’ pathway are not stretched and challenged by their curriculum. There has not been enough careful thought given to how they can be further supported with their reading or how they can access aspects of the national curriculum at an age-expected level. This means that some pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that the curriculum provided through the ‘adventurer’ pathway enables these pupils to know and remember more over time and so achieve as well as they can.  In some lessons, pupils do not complete tasks that are matched to their prior knowledge and skills and that help them to understand the intended core learning. This hampers these pupils’ progress through the planned curriculum. The school should ensure that pupils complete well-constructed tasks that enable them to explore and develop their knowledge and understanding fully.  There is inconsistency in the way staff use the ‘progression steps’ to assess pupils’

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

progress through the curriculum. As a result, not all pupils have the most relevant next step provided for them. This can limit how quickly they make progress. The school should ensure that all staff are confident in assessing pupils accurately so that the correct next steps are identified, so enabling pupils to achieve as highly as they should.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2015. 16 and 17 July and 8 and 9 October 2024

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How can I feed back my views?

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). 16 and 17 July and 8 and 9 October 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 18 December 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 All pupils have an EHC plan. Most pupils are autistic and some also have speech, language and communication needs; severe learning difficulties; and social, emotional and mental health difficulties.  The headteacher was appointed in June 2024 and had been interim headteacher since April 2024.  The school is based on two sites situated around a mile apart.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 16 and 17 July and 8 and 9 October 2024

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 The inspection started on 16 July. Inspectors returned on 8 October to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteachers and other senior leaders. The inspectors also met with members of the governing body and the school improvement partner.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading; mathematics; personal, social and health education; and religious education. For each deep dive, the inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. During the additional evidence gathering, the inspector also considered the educational experience of the pupils on the ‘engage’ and ‘explorer’ pathways as well as how literacy is developed across the pathways.

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 The inspectors visited pupils across the school, in classes, during social times and in separate pupil meetings.  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.  The inspectors considered the views of staff who responded to Ofsted’s staff survey. The inspectors also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Dave Gilkerson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Claire Leech Ofsted Inspector 16 and 17 July and 8 and 9 October 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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