Acorn Cottage The Lodge

Inspection of Acorn Cottage The Lodge Ipswich Road, Elmsett, Suffolk, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 6NY

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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’ aspirations, attitudes to learning and attendance to lessons all significantly increase because of the support they receive here. Pupils benefit from a caring, positive environment. They know that staff want the best for them. This helps pupils develop the self-confidence and resilience they need to tackle a range of challenges. Pupils learn how to communicate their feelings, manage their emotions and behave well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils engage increasingly well with an ambitious, carefully designed curriculum. It reflects their interests and meets their needs. Pupils gain qualifications in a range of subjects. They enjoy learning about nature and the local area. Pupils learn how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy and safe. They learn about healthy relationships and different types of families. Pupils have opportunities to discuss a range of social issues. This effectively prepares them for life in modern Britain.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with a raft of opportunities to broaden their range of interests. This includes horse riding, visits to museums and opportunities to participate in a range of sports. Pupils are supported to apply for college and learn about different jobs. Staff encourage and patiently help pupils so they can successfully move onto the next stages in their lives.

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better?

When pupils join the school, they have frequently had disruptions to their education. In many cases, pupils have not had positive prior experiences of learning. Consequently, they often have gaps in their knowledge. The school identifies these gaps and adjusts the curriculum to fill them. This builds pupils’ knowledge over time. Staff find out pupils’ interests and ensure that the curriculum connects to these. They identify and know the needs of each pupil. Wherever possible, content is linked to real-world applications. For example, pupils apply their mathematical knowledge when they measure and design rooms and the school’s allotment, on a budget. As a result, pupils positively re-engage and experience success in their learning.

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better?

Teachers use their secure subject knowledge well to introduce new topics. They check pupils’ understanding effectively to gauge how much they have learned. They then adjust the curriculum to address any misconceptions. Pupils are also encouraged to find their own solutions and answers, such as by using dictionaries to improve their vocabulary. As a result, pupils increase their knowledge across the curriculum.

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better?

The school checks how well pupils can read when they join the school and at regular intervals. Pupils have structured opportunities to read and discuss books they have read. This helps develop their reading comprehension well in lessons. They read with fluency and accuracy. Pupils do not, however, consistently have sufficient opportunities to read an engaging and diverse range of texts that fires their 17 to 19 June 2025 enthusiasm for reading. As a result, they do not routinely enjoy reading or gain the breadth and depth of reading knowledge that they could.

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better?

Staff have high, clear expectations of how pupils should behave. Staff consistently apply these. They model the behaviours they want to see from pupils. Staff work tenaciously and positively to help pupils self-regulate their feelings. Pupils gain points towards rewards that they choose. This helps them see the value of working hard. As pupils consequently engage more fully with the curriculum, they attend and engage in lessons much more often. They achieve many accreditations and qualifications.

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better?

The school is determined that when pupils leave the school that they are ready for their next steps. Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a key part of this aspiration. Pupils enjoy learning about topics such healthy relationships and consent. Staff are sensitive to pupils’ needs and ensure that any challenging topics are covered with care. The ‘arts and culture’ curriculum teaches pupils important life skills. For example, when pupils learn to cook a range of dishes, they also learn about food safety and the cultures from which recipes are derived.

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better?

The school has undergone a turbulent period involving the sale of the business to a new proprietor and some changes in staffing. School leaders have ably navigated the school through these changes, ensuring that staff and pupils are always well supported. Staff enjoy working here. They receive appropriate training, for instance, around their safeguarding responsibilities. This ensures that they know how to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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better?

School leaders and the proprietor body monitor and check the safety and quality of the school’s provision. They work closely with local authorities who place pupils here to develop the school’s wider curriculum. This ensures that the school meets the academic and emotional needs of pupils. This also helps the school to meet the independent school standards securely and consistently, for example by ensuring the grounds and rooms are fully maintained. The school meets schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 The school has not ensured that the development of reading is sufficiently well- integrated into the wider curriculum. As a result, pupils do not consistently engage positively with reading. The school should review its offer, so pupils encounter a diverse range of high-quality texts that develop deeper knowledge of and engagement in reading. 17 to 19 June 2025

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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. 17 to 19 June 2025

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School details

Unique reference number 130854 DfE registration number 935/6084

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School details

Inspection number 10391718 Type of school Other Independent Special School

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School details

Annual fees (day pupils) £81,058 to £105,994

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School details

Email address gortonwilmans@carefocus.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 21 to 23 September 2022 17 to 19 June 2025

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Information about this school

 The proprietor is Care Focus Ltd. There is also a governing body, with an acting chair, which is responsible for monitoring the performance of the school.  The school is registered with the Department for Education to admit up to eight girls. Pupils are referred to the school by their local authority. The school provides residential accommodation for pupils.  There have been changes to leadership since the previous inspection. The current headteacher took up post in March 2025. He is also the headteacher of Gable End School.  Most pupils have had significant periods of disruption to their formal education prior to joining the school.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school does not use supply staff.

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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 judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with representatives of the proprietor, the headteacher and staff. The lead inspector spoke to representatives from local authorities that commission places at the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects; English, mathematics, the arts and culture curriculum and PSHE. Inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, considered curriculum information, visited lessons, reviewed evidence of work and spoke with pupils.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans, reviewed evidence of work and spoke with leaders and pupils about some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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 17 to 19 June 2025 considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  To check compliance with the independent school standards, inspectors spoke to leaders, staff and pupils. They visited classrooms, toured the school site, and reviewed pupil information, school policies and records relating a range of aspects of the school such as behaviour and health and safety.  Inspectors considered the responses and free-text comments received during the inspection to Ofsted Parent View. They took account of responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Steve Woodley, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Rob James Ofsted Inspector 17 to 19 June 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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