Cedar House School

Inspection of Cedar House School Low Bentham, Via Lancaster, North Yorkshire LA2 7DD

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Inspection dates: 11 to 13 February 2025

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are valued and respected at this welcoming school. Their individual needs and barriers to learning are carefully considered. Staff get to know pupils very well. Positive relationships with staff help pupils to feel safe. Where pupils may have struggled to engage with their previous schools, Cedar House provides them with an opportunity to make a fresh start and succeed in education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are high expectations for pupils. These are reflected in the broad and ambitious curriculum and the school’s aim for pupils to reach their potential. The school’s vision of ‘changing lives, building futures’ shines through the nurturing ethos and personalised approach to learning. Pupils gain a variety of qualifications to equip them well for their next steps in life.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils behave well. They benefit from the skilled support of the school’s clinical team of therapists. Pupils learn ways to recognise their feelings and to manage their emotions and behaviour effectively. Learning, resources and support are designed to meet pupils’ specific needs. Pupils take part in various outdoor education and sporting activities. All enjoy the opportunities to go sailing and canoeing. The school provides them with helpful guidance to explore potential further education, training or employment opportunities. Pupils develop life skills, such as learning to travel independently. They learn leaderships skills through holding positions of responsibility.

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better?

The school identifies and assesses pupils’ needs when they first start to attend. Teachers create detailed personalised profiles for each pupil. The profiles identify pupils’ academic targets, aspirations and ways to best support their behaviour and social, emotional and mental health needs. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Targets within the profiles link well to pupils’ education, health and care (EHC) plans when relevant. Staff and therapists discuss and review pupils’ achievement and support regularly. Pupils receive appropriate help to access learning. The school provides suitable resources to help pupils to concentrate. Pupils with sensory needs are well supported to feel comfortable in class.

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better?

The curriculum is coherently sequenced. Most pupils come to the school with significant gaps in their learning. Teachers match learning to pupils’ individual abilities. Pupils benefit from small group and sometimes one-to-one teaching. Pupils develop resilience and pride in their work. Lessons are well designed to foster positive attitudes to learning. This helps pupils to achieve success.

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better?

Pupils have missed considerable periods of education before coming to Cedar House. Many have experienced trauma in their lives. Teachers and therapy staff work together very well. They make careful observations about pupils’ emotional welfare, behaviour and attendance. This information is shared with parents and carers regularly. The school works with tenacity to improve the attendance of individual 11 to 13 February 2025 pupils. Once settled, most pupils’ attendance and engagement in education improves. This is because of leaders’ effective work with pupils and their parents.

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better?

There are suitable arrangements for teachers to check how well pupils learn the curriculum. However, teachers’ checks of what pupils know and can remember of their learning over time are not as effective as they could be. Teachers do not use the information they get as well as they could to help pupils to address gaps or misconceptions. As a result, some pupils struggle to recall important knowledge and make connections in their learning.

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better?

The school promotes the joy of reading well. Pupils study a range of different genres as part of their English lessons. They enjoy their ‘Cedar reader’ sessions, where they take time to relax and share books with friends. They appreciate the dedicated time to lose themselves in their choice of book. Pupils who need support with their reading are quickly identified. Those in the early stages of learning to read receive specific phonics teaching when needed. However, the teaching of phonics is not as effective as it could be in helping pupils to develop the skills they need to become fluent readers.

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better?

The offer to promote pupils’ personal development is well supported by the personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum. Pupils learn what to do about risks of local concern, such as those related to drugs, alcohol and online bullying. They develop an age-appropriate understanding of relationships, sex and health education. They are informed about the importance of equality and celebrate diversity. They develop an understanding of spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues.

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better?

Pupils are supported to develop independence and appreciate healthy lifestyles. They receive suitable independent advice and guidance about further education, employment and training. Older pupils take part in work experience. They visit local businesses that serve to inspire their choice of future careers.

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better?

Staff are well supported for their welfare and workload. Staff are listened to, valued and respected. They enjoy working at the school and care deeply about the difference that they can make to pupils’ lives. Parents typically praise this ‘compassionate and understanding’ school.

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better?

The proprietor body knows the school well. It has secure procedures in place to ensure the school’s compliance with the independent school standards. It ensures that the standards are met. It is suitably supported by a school board with relevant knowledge and skills. There are frequent checks on the health, safety and welfare of pupils. Appropriate policies and procedures are in place to keep pupils safe. The school complies with schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 11 to 13 February 2025

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Teachers do not use assessment information as well as they could to help pupils to address gaps or misconceptions in learning. As a result, some pupils do not connect their learning or deepen their knowledge and skills as well as they should. The school should ensure that teachers know how to check what pupils know and remember of the curriculum over time and use this information to ensure that pupils can build effectively on their previous learning.  Some pupils in the early stages of learning to read are not supported to learn phonics effectively. This means that some pupils do not develop the skills they need to become fluent readers. Leaders should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills they need to teach phonics well.

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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. 11 to 13 February 2025

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School details

Unique reference number 112456 DfE registration number 815/6041

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School details

Inspection number 10382585 Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

School category Independent residential special school

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £66,540 to £92,000

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School details

Website www.witherslackgroup.co.uk/our/locations /our-schools/cedar-house-school Email address cedar-house@witherslackgroup.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 28 to 30 June 2022 11 to 13 February 2025

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Information about this school

 The school is a residential special school for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. Some pupils also have autism, trauma difficulties and moderate learning difficulties.  The school is registered to admit up to 96 pupils.  The vast majority of pupils have EHC plans.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  Since the last standard inspection of the school, a material change inspection to increase the number of pupils on roll from 88 to 96 took place on 23 November 2023.  The school provides residential accommodation for a small number of pupils.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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Information about this inspection

The school meets the independent school standards. These are the requirements set out in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the second routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the ongoing impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteachers, the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and assistant SENCo, members of the safeguarding team including the designated leader for safeguarding, the family liaison officer, the pastoral leader and pastoral assistant, the associate director for quality assurance, several curriculum leaders, leaders with responsibility for careers, the regional clinical director and members of the school’s clinical team.  The lead inspector met with the chair of the school board and the regional director for the proprietor with responsibility for compliance. The lead inspector

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Information about this inspection

also spoke on the telephone with a representative from North Yorkshire local authority and a representative from Lancaster and Morecambe College.  Inspectors carried out deep dives into these subjects: English including reading, mathematics, PSHE and art. For each group of subjects, the inspectors visited a sample of lessons, spoke with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 11 to 13 February 2025  Inspectors spoke to leaders about the school’s approach to teaching history and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  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 met with some pupils and staff and spoke on the telephone with some

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Information about this inspection

parents.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents and carers, Ofsted Parent View, and Ofsted’s surveys for pupils and staff.  At the same time as this inspection, a separate inspection of the school’s residential provision took place.

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Inspection team

Stephanie Innes-Taylor, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Emily Stevens His Majesty’s Inspector 11 to 13 February 2025 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 looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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