Arc School Ansley

Inspection of Arc School Ansley Ansley Lane, Ansley, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 9ND

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Inspection dates: 29 April to 1 May 2025

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding 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?

For many pupils who come to this school, it is a life-changing experience. Most pupils have previously had negative experiences of education. The care and support staff give pupils when they arrive help them overcome their lack of trust in schools. For many pupils, this transforms their attitudes to learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of all pupils. Staff have a good understanding of each pupil and their individual needs. The school provides support specific to each pupil’s needs. Together with highly positive relationships, this helps many pupils to thrive. In lessons, pupils engage and are enthusiastic about learning. They enjoy making links between what they have learned previously and what they are learning now. The careful design of the curriculum means this is a frequent occurrence. Pupils recall their recent prior learning very well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

As a result of a comprehensive, wider curriculum, pupils develop their character and resilience. The school builds pupils’ life skills and understanding of social expectations successfully, which helps prepare them for life beyond school. Pupils behave well, showing respect for staff and each other. Where this is not the case, skilled support helps pupils reflect and make amends. Older pupils often act as positive role models for the younger pupils.

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better?

Leaders, including the proprietor, have a clear vision for excellence. They are passionate about improving the lives of the pupils. Relationships sit at the heart of this vision. This starts with getting to know each pupil individually.

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better?

There is a thorough induction period, which includes the voice of the pupil and their family. The staff find out as much information as they can to accurately identify pupils’ special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Together with information about their likes, dislikes and where they are in their learning, the school creates targeted individual timetables and effective plans to support pupils academically and personally. When needed, sensible and timely input is given by the clinical therapy team. For some pupils, the school makes useful adaptations to give a more flexible learning programme to start off. For example, some pupils benefit greatly from school staff bringing learning out to them in a place where they feel safe and secure. This approach, which was introduced recently, has already helped some pupils to successfully transition back to learning in the school environment.

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better?

The school ensures that reading is central to pupils’ learning. Staff are suitably trained to support pupils to learn to read and to love to read. For those pupils at the early stages of learning to read, this support is helping them to close the gaps in their knowledge.

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better?

Pupils develop their understanding of a range of ambitious words and phrases across the curriculum. This is because staff provide clear explanations and check 29 April to 1 May 2025 pupils’ understanding when introducing new language. In subjects such as history, pupils explore the meaning of words such as neolithic and concepts such as revolution. In English, drama is used to support pupils’ understanding of characters’ feelings and the tone of voice they might use when speaking.

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better?

Staff make a range of adaptations to enable all pupils to learn the well-designed curriculum. The recently formed ‘school building team’ are working with staff to establish consistency and to ensure that adaptations are effective. This has already had a positive impact. However, there remain some minor inconsistencies in practice across the school. Staff increasingly use approaches such as ‘take it further’ to deepen pupils’ understanding and a variety of strategies to help pupils remember what they have learned. ‘Do it now’ supports pupils to recall important learning from previous lessons, and this enables pupils to make connections with new learning.

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better?

The school’s work to develop pupils’ character is highly effective. Through a very well-planned programme for personal development, pupils develop resilience and build their self-esteem extremely well. Significant milestones to underpin their ability to be independent include learning about how to travel on public transport, how to budget, and how to manage in a variety of social situations. Pupils benefit significantly from independent careers advice and have insightful personal action plans that target their next steps for education, employment or training. For some pupils, regular work experience forms part of their curriculum. For others, tasters of careers they are interested in help inform their choice of course in readiness for when they leave. Pupils speak highly of the excellent support and understanding they receive, which they rightly know is preparing them exceptionally well for their future.

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better?

Pupils have highly positive relationships with staff. They learn how to manage their emotions by using agreed strategies. Pupils also learn how to support each other, which contributes to the positive environment around the school.

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better?

Many pupils who attend the school have previously had significant time away from school. Some are anxious about being in a school setting because of prior experiences. The school works closely with pupils and their families to support increased attendance. For many pupils, this results in significant improvements. However, for others, their attendance remains low. Actions to improve the attendance of some pupils are not taken swiftly enough.

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better?

The school and proprietor have successfully secured the commitment of staff. Staff show high levels of pride in their work. Workload and well-being are prioritised, and so staff say they feel valued.

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better?

The proprietor has a strong oversight of the work of the school. The systems and processes in place help ensure that the school securely and consistently meets the independent school standards. The high-quality accommodation and resources provide a calm and welcoming learning environment. The staff have a wealth of expertise to support pupils with SEND. The school meets the statutory requirements of the Equality Act 2010. 29 April to 1 May 2025

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Some pupils do not attend regularly. The school’s actions to address this can be slow and so these pupils miss key parts of their education. The school should ensure it takes swift and effective action so more pupils attend regularly.  Occasionally, staff do not implement the curriculum consistently well. When this happens, pupils do not learn the curriculum as securely as they could. The school should continue to support staff to embed the implementation of the curriculum, so pupils develop a secure body of knowledge across all subjects.

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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. 29 April to 1 May 2025

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School details

Type of school Other independent special school

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School details

School category Independent special school

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £60,000 to £65,000

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School details

Email address arcansley@kedlestongroup.com

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School details

Date of previous inspection 5 to 7 July 2022 29 April to 1 May 2025

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Information about this school

 Arc School Ansley is part of the Kedleston Group which runs special schools and residential care across the UK.  The school is located on Ansley Lane, Ansley, Nuneaton, which is in Warwickshire. It is registered to admit 65 pupils.  The school caters for pupils with a range of needs, including autism and social, emotional and mental health needs. All pupils have an education, health and care plan.  Since the last inspection, there has been a new headteacher and an executive headteacher.  The school uses one registered and two unregistered alternative provisions.  Since the last standard inspection in July 2022, the school has had a material change inspection, in December 2023, to increase the number of pupils it can admit to 65.

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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

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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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

 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The lead inspector met with representatives of the proprietor body, including the regional director, the co-chair of the proprietor body and the director of quality.  Inspectors also met with the executive headteacher, the headteacher, the assistant headteachers, the pastoral manager and staff from the clinical team.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, including early reading, mathematics, history and personal, social, health and economic education. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single

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Information about this inspection

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 29 April to 1 May 2025 culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The lead inspector toured the premises to check for compliance with the independent school standards. A number of key documents were also reviewed, including policies relating to admissions, behaviour, curriculum, complaints, health and safety and safeguarding.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for pupils and staff. Inspectors also considered responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments.

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Inspection team

Helen Forrest, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Mary Maybank Ofsted Inspector 29 April to 1 May 2025 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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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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