Langside School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Langside School Langside Avenue, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BN

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Outcome

Langside School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Langside school is a very special place. It provides a first-rate holistic experience for pupils and caters for their special educational needs and/or disabilities and complex medical needs very well. Skilled staff meticulously timetable each day so that pupils have consistent and safe routines. Staff provide individualised curriculums that are rich and broad and facilitate pupils’ curiosity and engagement superbly. Pupils thrive here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Preparation for pupils’ next steps and their increased independence is prioritised right from the start. A wide range of well-thought-out experiences, including regular music, creative arts and outings to external clubs widen their experiences. The oldest pupils work towards the school’s ‘Our personal transition (OPT) award’, which is carefully crafted to develop pupils’ physical, social and emotional targets. For example, pupils embark on adventurous activities, a residential experience and charity work.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school prides itself on listening to parents and carers and seeking the views of the pupils. The school maximises pupils’ attendance, for example by ensuring that health and medical care and paediatric clinics happen on site. Parents are unanimous in noting the distinct difference the school’s coordinated approach makes every day to their child’s and their family’s lives. They love the warm atmosphere and the sincere care and ongoing support they receive from the whole staff team.

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

School leaders, teaching, support, medical and therapy staff all work in the very best interest of pupils. The school serves its pupils and families with integrity and warmth. It sets high expectations of what pupils will accomplish. Pupils achieve well. Many staff are experts in their field. More experienced staff routinely support less-experienced staff to 20 and 21 May 2025

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become competent and skilled. This ensures that everyone keeps their knowledge up to date and the curriculum is continually improving.

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The admissions process is highly effective. For example, the school works closely with families, pupils and external agencies as part of a detailed induction to school life. This ensures that the school identifies pupils’ starting points precisely. Staff set ambitious targets for pupils across the school’s five curriculum areas of communication, cognition skills, environmental control technology, physical development and personal social and emotional well-being. This ensures that staff shape pupils’ individual learning programmes accurately.

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Multidisciplinary staff work hand-in-hand to deliver the curriculum. Teaching routinely builds on what pupils need to know next. Staff watch, listen and react promptly to what pupils need. Pupils receive a wide range of therapies, for example hydrotherapy, speech and language, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. This enables pupils to manage their medical conditions effectively. Pupils make great progress through their individualised curriculums as a result.

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The school champions pupils’ communication. Staff readily teach pupils to use a wide range of assistive electronic technologies, communication signs and symbols, actions and gestures. This is highly effective in supporting pupils to show greater independence in communicating and helps them to advocate for themselves. One notable example is pupils transitioning between lessons and using gestures and actions to independently navigate their way. Other examples include pupils learning to use their communication books and electronic equipment to explain what they want with proficiency. Such strategies build pupils’ self-esteem and resilience markedly.

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Routines across the school day enable pupils to show high levels of engagement in learning and social times. For example, staff use objects of reference to help explain what is happening next. Activities such as singing the morning song, yoga and listening to stories also help build routines successfully.

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All pupils have a personal ‘well-being toolkit’. This enables staff to identify the strategies that pupils need to be ready to learn, or to understand what a pupil is feeling. Staff are adept at noticing changes in pupils’ behaviour. For example, if a pupil is happy, sad, or in pain. Staff act quickly to support pupils’ needs. This in turn builds strong trusted relationships between pupils and staff.

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Governors hold the school to account for much of the education and care it provides. This provides strong assurances to the charitable trust of the tangible improvements to many aspects of the school’s work and its successes over time. However, the school and governing body have not given careful consideration to keeping all the required school policies up to date. This does not present a risk to pupils. Rightly, the school and governing body are starting to sort this out.

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The school’s work to develop its relationships and sex and health education policy is not complete. The associated curriculum programme does not set out clearly enough what 20 and 21 May 2025

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will be taught and when. Pupils do learn suitable curriculum content, for example about consent, self-care and personal hygiene. However, the school does not have full oversight of how well pupils are progressing through all the necessary aspects of the curriculum.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s work to develop its relationships and sex and health education policy and set out clearly the intended curriculum outcomes is not complete. As a result, it is more difficult for the school to have the explicit oversight of what is taught and when and know how well pupils are progressing through all aspects of this curriculum. The school and governors need to ensure that the relationships and sex and health education policy includes everything it should, the associated curriculum sets out what pupils are expected to know, and it is implemented in full.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in February 2020. 20 and 21 May 2025

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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). 20 and 21 May 2025

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School details

Local authority Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole

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form

Appropriate authority The governing body

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form

Dates of previous inspection 26 and 27 February 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Langside School is a charity-run, non-maintained special school for pupils aged two to 19. It is part of Diverse Abilities, a charity that supports children and adults with profound physical and learning disabilities.  All pupils have an education, health and care plan. The school caters for pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities and complex medical needs.  The leadership structure has changed since the last inspection. There is now a full-time deputy headteacher.  There are currently no nursery-aged pupils attending the school.  The school does not use any alternative provision. 20 and 21 May 2025

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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 first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The lead inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other staff. The lead inspector also met with members of the charitable trust board, including the chair of trustees, the chief executive officer of Diverse Abilities and representatives of the school’s governing body.  The inspectors visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. They also met with pupils to gain their views of school life and observed breaktimes and lunchtimes.  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 culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspectors considered the views of parents submitted via Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. Inspectors also talked to parents at school and by telephone. An inspector also reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s survey for school staff.

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Inspection team

Julie Carrington, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Catherine Leahy Ofsted Inspector 20 and 21 May 2025

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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 looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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