Bridge Street School

Inspection of Bridge Street School Bridge Street, Derby DE1 3LB

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Inspection dates: 26 and 27 November 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good 26 and 27 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Bridge Street School offers pupils a fresh start to their education. Staff get to know pupils very well. They make sure that pupils are nurtured, feel safe and are valued as individuals. Small classes help pupils to regain confidence in themselves and in their ability to do well. Pupils have trusted adults around them who will listen and support them when they need it. They develop strong and positive relationships with staff. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement. Overall, pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn well. The school has equally high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Typically, pupils learn in a calm and purposeful learning environment. Pupils respond well to the positive relationships that they develop with staff. From when pupils start at school, their behaviour and attitudes to learning show steady signs of improvement.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Visiting speakers, trips and activities on Friday afternoons enrich the curriculum. For example, pupils enjoy trips to see the ‘moon’ in the cathedral, go to the theatre and to Twycross Zoo. They enjoy residential trips to Blackpool and take part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.

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

Many pupils have missed significant periods of learning before arriving at the school. This means that some pupils have considerable gaps in their knowledge. To address this, the school uses well-designed systems to establish pupils’ starting points. The school also identifies the specific needs of pupils with SEND quickly and accurately.

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

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum that mirrors a mainstream school curriculum to support pupils to transition successfully back into their home school. Leaders have set out the key knowledge pupils should learn and the order they should learn it in. The curriculum typically re-engages most pupils, which helps pupils to catch up and to achieve well from their starting points. In a few curriculum subjects, teachers are not as clear as they could be about how best to design learning activities around the important knowledge that pupils should learn, so that they can be sure that pupils know and remember more. From time to time, this hinders how deeply a few pupils learn new subject content in these curriculum areas.

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

The school prioritises reading. Some pupils who arrive at the school are at the earliest stages of reading. A phonics programme is in place to support pupils and address any gaps in their phonics knowledge. Staff receive training, which enables them to deliver the phonics scheme consistently well. As a result, pupils develop into confident, fluent readers.

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

Pupils’ behaviour improves once they join the school. Pupils are supported to reflect on any issues that arise, and to take responsibility for their own conduct. After spending time 26 and 27 November 2024

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in this school, many pupils return to mainstream or special education with new strategies to manage their emotions.

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Staff use a range of approaches to support pupils to improve their attendance. For many pupils, their attendance shows steady signs of improvement from when they start at the school. However, some pupils are not attending school as regularly as they should. As a result, they are missing out on vital learning. This means that they have gaps in knowledge, which hinders future learning.

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The school puts pupils’ personal development at the heart of what it does. Personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn about different faiths and visit places of worship. The school is aware of the risks pupils face outside the school and online. They have created a detailed programme that teaches pupils how to manage these risks. For example, pupils experience realistic scenarios around knife crime using virtual reality and must make their own choices with differing outcomes in a safe environment. Pupils enjoy preparing meals and outdoor education, for example climbing in the Peak District. Careers education is a strength. The majority of pupils who leave school at the end of key stage 4 move into education, training or employment.

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Governance of the school is effective. Governors provide unwavering support for leaders. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the school. Relationships between staff members are strong. Staff look out for each other and agree that leaders are always there to help and listen.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes, teachers do not select the most appropriate methods and resources to ensure that all pupils are able to learn and remember the information that they need. This means that some pupils do not develop a deep understanding of the subjects they are learning. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills needed to meet the full range of needs in the school to deliver the curriculum consistently well.  Some pupils are not attending school as regularly as they should. As a result, they are missing out on vital learning. The school should continue to work closely with pupils, parents and carers, and outside agencies to adopt further strategies to reduce persistent absence and low attendance, therefore securing more regular attendance by pupils. 26 and 27 November 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). 26 and 27 November 2024

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School details

Website www.bridgestreetschoolderby.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This school is part of the Respect Collaboration of Schools.  The headteacher took up her post in September 2023.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.  The school uses a range of alternative providers through a service it provides called ‘Junction 16’. It also currently uses an additional nine unregistered alternative providers.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 26 and 27 November 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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.  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 carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, including early reading; mathematics; science; and PSHE. 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 where

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available.  To explore the wider curriculum, inspectors also discussed the curriculum in another subject area.  The lead inspector met with staff from the collaboration’s core team and with the headteacher, senior leaders, and staff from curriculum learning areas.  Inspectors met with pupils to discuss their views.  Inspectors observed social times, including lunchtime and breaktime.  The lead inspector met with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  Inspectors reviewed a range of school documents, including documentation relating to the governance of the school, as well as a range of documents and records linking to attendance and behaviour.  Inspectors considered the views of pupils, parents and staff through discussions and a consideration of their responses to the online surveys, including the free-text facility in Ofsted Parent View.

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Inspection team

Anne Maingay, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ben Waldram Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 November 2024

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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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