Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Ed Ashcroft Headteacher The Bridge Integrated Learning Space 1 Dowrey Street London N1 0HY

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Urgent inspection of The Bridge Integrated Learning Space

Following my visit with Aliki Constantopoulou, His Majesty’s Inspector, to the school on 1 and 2 July 2025, I write on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and the time you took to discuss the school.

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Urgent inspection of The Bridge Integrated Learning Space

This inspection was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for urgent inspections. The inspection was carried out because His Majesty’s Chief Inspector wished to determine the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements at the school.

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Urgent inspection of The Bridge Integrated Learning Space

We do not give graded judgements on urgent inspections. However, if we find some evidence that overall standards may be declining, but where no serious concerns have been identified, then the next inspection will normally be a graded inspection, which will be carried out under section 5 of the Act and be brought forward. If we have serious concerns, we will deem the urgent inspection as a graded inspection immediately.

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Evidence

Inspectors scrutinised the single central record and other documents related to safeguarding and child protection arrangements. Inspectors met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and groups of pupils. They met with the chair of the board of governors, the chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer of the trust. Inspectors spoke with a representative of the local authority. Inspectors held meetings with groups of staff. They reviewed documentation related to attendance, off-site activities and the school’s use of risk assessments. Inspectors reviewed pupils’ personalised plans, including their medical care plans. Inspectors looked at governing body meeting minutes and the school’s safeguarding records. An inspector spoke to some parents and carers in person and through telephone calls. Inspectors visited all classrooms and joined pupils and staff during breaktimes. Inspectors observed pupils

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Evidence

entering and leaving the site, including at drop-off and pick-up times.

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Evidence

Having considered the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Evidence

Arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Main findings

The school caters for pupils who have a range of special educational needs and/or disabilities, including profound and multiple learning disabilities. Some have additional needs, including medical needs. The nature of pupils’ needs means that some pupils require high levels of staff support. The large staff team, which includes specialists and therapists, works closely with parents, families and a wide range of external services to ensure that pupils get the support and care that they need. Pupils enjoy school. Pupils’ rates of attendance are high.

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Main findings

Pupils’ safety and well-being underpin everything that happens in the school. Staff are astutely aware of pupils’ vulnerabilities. Staff get to know pupils incredibly well. They are highly trained to identify and understand how to meet pupils’ needs. They use their expertise skilfully to quickly notice any changes in pupils’ behaviour and to be alert for any concerns about pupils’ welfare. This work is particularly important because many of the pupils do not communicate verbally. Staff are highly vigilant of even the smallest signs that might indicate a pupil is upset, worried or concerned. Relationships throughout the school are positive. The school’s welcoming and friendly ethos is testament to the strong teamwork that exists among the staff.

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Main findings

The school’s leadership team, which includes senior health therapists, has been stable for many years. In addition to the employed staff, the school uses agency staff. Many agency staff work at the school on a long-term basis and some go on to be employed directly by the school. Leaders at all levels make sure that all staff, including those employed through agencies, understand the school’s context. The school makes sure that pupils are supported by staff who know them extremely well. Agency staff work as part of experienced classroom teams. This helps them to build their knowledge and expertise over time. Staff are well trained in the school’s safeguarding arrangements. They report and record concerns about pupils’ welfare appropriately. The school takes swift and effective action in order to keep pupils safe.

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Main findings

Staff meet regularly to discuss pupils’ needs and their all-round circumstances. These meetings help staff to get an in-depth and up-to-date understanding of each pupil. The school updates pupils’ personalised plans in response to their ongoing needs. This keeps everyone up to speed with ‘who needs what and when’.

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Main findings

The school’s ‘daily staffing plans’ are updated each morning to ensure that staff are deployed effectively. This helps to make sure that pupils are supervised appropriately throughout the day. Transition times are well organised. For example, at the start of the day, pupils are greeted by familiar and friendly staff faces. Staff use well-established routines to ensure that pupils are safe and well cared for as they enter and leave the building.

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Main findings

The curriculum includes regular opportunities for pupils to get out and about as part of their ‘community learning’. The school makes sure that pupils are accompanied by the appropriate number of staff, who are well equipped to ensure pupils’ safety when they are off site. The school has introduced a new system for pupils to sign in and out of the school premises. Despite pupils being well supervised and the school knowing where pupils are and when, sometimes, the signing in and out sheets are not completed with sufficient precision. The school has recently strengthened its oversight of the school’s attendance registers. A senior member of staff checks to ensure that registers are completed within the specified timeframes each morning and afternoon. These systems for attendance and signing in and out are new and not firmly embedded.

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Main findings

Risk assessments are used effectively to identify potential hazards to staff and pupils. The school updates pupils’ individual plans to ensure that these match their current needs and triggers. Staff consider carefully how factors such as sleep, diet and mood might affect how pupils engage with different activities and any potential risks that might arise. The school’s site management team makes sure that the building is safe for pupils to use. Rooms that pose a greater risk, such as the kitchens, are kept locked and well supervised.

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Main findings

The school ensures that first aid is administered and recorded suitably. First aiders are deployed appropriately. Pupils’ medical care plans are up to date and clear. Staff are well trained on how to meet pupils’ medical needs, including through their work with the school nurse and health partners in the local authority.

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Main findings

Staff are highly attuned to pupils’ communication methods. Staff use their expertise to help pupils manage their feelings and emotions. School-wide approaches to managing pupils’ behaviour are well understood by staff. They know that these approaches need to be aligned carefully to pupils’ individual needs. Staff use pupils’ care and support plans to provide the right support at the right time. They keep detailed behaviour records. Leaders at all levels review these records regularly. This helps them to check that procedures are followed appropriately, including the use of any physical intervention to keep pupils safe. Systems for reporting and recording injuries to staff are well established and implemented effectively. Staff say that leaders always make time and dedicated space for them to reflect and debrief following incidents, particularly those that are challenging to manage.

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Main findings

Staff help pupils to understand how to stay safe. For example, pupils learn about personal privacy and how to treat and interact with other people, including out in the community. The school works effectively with parents to help them to understand how to support their children at home, including with important concepts such as puberty and personal hygiene. The school helps parents to tackle practical elements of keeping their children safe when they are outside school. For example, the school helps parents to manage events such as shopping and using public transport safely.

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Additional support

The trust, through its central teams and the local governing body, ensures that the school meets its statutory safeguarding responsibilities so that pupils are kept safe. Governors hold the school to account and ensure that safeguarding is a fixed item on any agenda. The trust makes sure that staff recruitment is robust and that the required pre- employment checks are completed. The trust has well-established systems to check the effectiveness of different aspects of the school’s work. For example, the school benefits from safeguarding audits led by external specialists, as well as by trust directors.

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Priorities for further improvement

 The school should ensure that the new systems for overseeing pupils’ attendance and for signing pupils in and out when they leave the site for community learning time are implemented and embedded effectively.

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Priorities for further improvement

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, and the chief executive officer of the Bridge Multi-Academy Trust Ltd, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Islington. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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