Dukes Wood School

Wings School Notts Main Street, Kirklington, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG22 8NB

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Main inspection findings

Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils Part 6. Provision of information Paragraphs 7 to 7(b), 32(1), 32(1)(c)  Staff understand the school’s safeguarding procedures and their role in keeping pupils safe. They know how to pass on any concerns they have about pupils’ welfare.  Staff know how to raise concerns about the actions of other staff towards pupils. They know which agencies external to the school they can raise these concerns with, should the need arise.  Staff receive regular safeguarding training. This enables them to develop secure understanding of key safeguarding concerns, including in relation to self-harm, county lines and child-on-child abuse.  Staff know the signs to look for that indicate possible concerns about pupils’ welfare. They understand the importance of being vigilant and of listening to pupils, to be able to identify when it is necessary to provide support.  Daily briefings, both before and after school, provide staff with further opportunities

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Main inspection findings

to share any concerns they may have about pupils. At these meetings, staff discuss the most appropriate strategies to support pupils.  Staff eat their lunch in the canteen with pupils. This allows them further opportunity to engage with pupils and check on their well-being.  Leaders responsible for safeguarding respond effectively to concerns about pupils’ welfare. When necessary, they work with external agencies so that pupils receive the right support at the right time.  Detailed records are kept of the actions taken to support pupils’ well-being. These records reflect the timeliness and thoroughness of the school’s response to safeguarding concerns.  Appropriate strategies are in place to check on the welfare of pupils who are absent.  Pupils say that they feel safe at the school. They say that they have staff with whom they can speak if they are worried. They have confidence in the support they will

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Main inspection findings

receive from these staff.  Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, including through the personal, social and health education programme. This programme is appropriately adapted in response to any emerging need. Pupils learn about consent, about how to make healthy choices and about how to stay safe online.  The school’s safeguarding policy provides clear guidance regarding actions to take in response to safeguarding concerns. The policy reflects the latest national guidance and is available on the school’s website. Paragraphs 9 to 9(c)  The school’s behaviour policy provides clear guidance on the school’s approach to managing behaviour. The policy provides information regarding rewards to promote positive behaviour and regarding sanctions to deal with inappropriate behaviour.  Carefully chosen strategies are available for staff to use to support pupils who are experiencing anxiety or who are struggling to manage their behaviour. For example,

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Main inspection findings

pupils are allowed to walk in the school’s grounds, supervised by staff, to provide them with space and time to become calm. Pupils appreciate this support.  Leaders monitor incidents when physical intervention has been used. This helps them to ensure the appropriateness of staff’s actions during such incidents. When physical intervention is used, pupils know that they will receive an opportunity to talk about the incident after the event.  Pupils’ individual behaviour support plans ensure that staff know how best to support pupils when they are struggling to manage their behaviour. Pupils are involved in the drawing up of these plans. The language used in these plans is intended to enable the pupils to understand how staff will help them to manage their behaviours. Overall, the strategies identified are appropriate to help support pupils’ behaviours.  Until very recently, the school had not ensured that all the behaviour support plans

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Main inspection findings

were reviewed in the timeframe required by the behaviour policy. As a result, not all plans were routinely revised so that the identified strategies consistently met pupils’ needs. This included occasions when adjustments would help recognise and further support pupils who were improving how they manage their behaviour. The school resolved this concern between this inspection’s first and second visits to the school.  Not all staff record incidents related to low-level misbehaviour appropriately. The information that the school uses to manage behaviour is not always accurate. This can affect how well decisions are made in relation to managing behaviour. Paragraph 10  The school’s anti-bullying policy provides staff with clear guidance on how to respond to incidents of bullying. Staff implement this policy effectively.  Pupils are confident that staff would take swift and effective action should bullying

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Main inspection findings

occur. Paragraph 11  The school’s comprehensive health and safety policy is implemented effectively. Health and safety procedures are well established. All necessary checks are undertaken. Action is taken to resolve any identified risks. Paragraph 14  The school has ensured that there are sufficient numbers of staff at the school to ensure that there is appropriate supervision of pupils. This includes at the start and end of the school day, during lessons and at social times.  Recently, appropriate supervision of pupil movement between lessons has been put in place. This is to ensure that pupils arrive at their next lesson safely. This includes occasions when pupils move between staff for their different lessons. Paragraphs 16 to 16(b)  Site risk assessments and risk assessments for school trips and on-site activities identify appropriate risks. These risk assessments are reviewed in a timely manner.

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Main inspection findings

They provide suitable guidance on how to mitigate identified risks.  Regular reviews occur of any risk assessments that are in place as part of the school’s procedures for managing allegations. Strategies being employed to reduce risk are amended when this is necessary.  Overall, individual pupil risk assessments provide appropriate guidance to staff regarding actions to take to reduce identified risks in relation to pupils’ behaviours. Some individual risk assessments are not reviewed in a timely enough or precise- enough manner. When this is the case, these risk assessments do not routinely provide the necessary and accurate information to assist staff fully in providing support to pupils, in relation to their behaviour and welfare. However, this does not affect the support that these pupils receive where staff’s work to keep them safe is concerned.  The school does not meet all the requirements of the independent school standards

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Main inspection findings

Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools Paragraphs 34(1) to 34(1)(c)  The proprietor has not ensured that all the standards checked on this inspection are consistently met.  Not all individual pupil risk assessments are reviewed in a timely enough manner, or with the necessary precision, to ensure the accuracy of the information that they contain. Staff do not consistently record incidents of low-level misbehaviour. Consequently, the proprietor has not ensured that all the requirements of the standards related to behaviour management and risk assessment are met.  The school’s work to ensure that pupils are safe is effective. Staff receive regular safeguarding training. They are knowledgeable about how to support pupils about whose welfare they are concerned. Safeguarding leaders are suitably trained and experienced to know how best to respond to safeguarding concerns.  The proprietor has ensured that there is additional leadership capacity to support the

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Main inspection findings

school in adapting to recent changes in leadership responsibility for safeguarding and behaviour. Every day each week, a different leader who works directly for the proprietor attends the school. This enables these leaders to monitor the provision and provide support to the school on the proprietor’s behalf.  The school does not meet all the requirements of the standard in this part.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school does not meet the requirements of the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 ('the independent school standards') and associated requirements that were checked during this inspection, as set out in the annex of this report. Not all of the standards and associated requirements were checked during this inspection.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which 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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School details

Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

Chair Paul Brosnan and Lee Reed (Co-chairs)

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School details

Website www.kedlestongroup.com/wings-notts

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School details

Email address wingsnotts@kedlestongroup.com

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School details

Date of previous standard inspection 20 to 22 June 2023

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Information about this school

 Wings School Notts is located in the village of Kirklington, Nottinghamshire, NG22 8NB.  The school is registered to admit up to 60 pupils.  The headteacher took up their substantive post at the end of February 2025.  The school admits pupils who have experienced trauma and have social, emotional, behavioural and mental health needs. Pupils may also have diagnoses of any of the following: autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and attachment disorder. Many pupils have an education, health and care plan.  At the time of this inspection, the school was not using the services of any alternative provision.  The previous standard inspection took place on 20 to 22 June 2023.

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Information about this inspection

 The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned this inspection due to safeguarding concerns.  The DfE commissioned the inspectors to check the school’s approaches to: safeguarding, managing behaviour and preventing bullying, health and safety, supervision, risk assessment, and leadership and management.  The inspection started on 4 March 2025. The lead inspector returned on 18 March 2025 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy.  The inspection was carried out without notice on both dates.  The inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. The inspectors also met with representatives of the proprietor body, including one of the co-chairs.  The inspectors spoke to pupils and to staff.  Inspectors observed behaviour and school routines at the beginning and end of the school day, as well as during and between lessons, and at break and lunchtime.

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Information about this inspection

 An inspector attended the end-of-school day staff debriefing.  The inspection considered the school’s safeguarding arrangements, including the school’s single central record of pre-employment checks. Inspectors found that the school met the requirements of the standards in relation to the suitability of staff to work with pupils.

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Inspection team

Simon Hollingsworth, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Part 3. Welfare, health and safety of pupils

 9 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor promotes good behaviour amongst pupils by ensuring that- – 9(b) the policy is implemented effectively.  16 The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor ensures that- – 16(a) the welfare of pupils at the school is safeguarded and promoted by the drawing up and effective implementation of a written risk assessment policy.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34(1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school- – 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; – 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/ofsted .

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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