Hope School

Inspection of Hope School Crosses Farm, Square Lane, Catforth, Preston PR4 0HP

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Inspection dates: 16 and 17 September 2025

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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 settle quickly at Hope School because of the positive way in which staff welcome them into the school. Pupils are happy and feel valued as individuals. They are confident in expressing their opinions and ideas. Pupils are encouraged by the frequent praise that they receive for their efforts.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils engage well in their lessons. They respond to the high expectations set for their learning. They are supported well to achieve a range of qualifications. They have positive attitudes towards school and are motivated to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff support pupils to reflect on their own conduct. Pupils are given time to make sense of their emotions and to make positive choices. The strong personal development on offer at the school helps pupils understand the consequences of their decisions and amend their behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have opportunities to try different activities. For example, the school has facilitated pupils’ interests in golf and other sports, both in the curriculum and as part of its extra-curricular offer. Pupils feel that they have a strong voice and that their suggestions to improve the school’s provision are considered carefully by leaders.

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better?

When pupils first arrive at the school, staff ensure that they soon identify any special educational needs and/or disabilities that pupils have. They also check on pupils’ social, emotional and mental health needs. This informs staff on how best to help pupils fully engage with their learning. Staff quickly establish a strong rapport with pupils. Although many pupils have previously missed a significant proportion of their education, staff make learning interesting, helping to ensure that pupils’ attendance is high.

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better?

The curriculum has been designed to respond to pupils’ needs. For example, the school has included a sports coaching pathway in its curriculum offer to match pupils’ future career aspirations. Pupils study a wide range of subjects and enjoy the way in which staff encourage them to discuss their learning. Pupils achieve well and gain key qualifications in functional skills and GCSEs. Staff are knowledgeable about the subjects they teach. However, in a small number of subjects, the curriculum can lack some clarity in terms of key learning. Where this occurs, pupils’ recall of important knowledge is not as secure in these subjects.

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better?

In most subjects, teachers question pupils well to deepen their understanding. However, in a small number of subjects, staff do not identify where pupils have misunderstood some of the subject-specific knowledge that they need to remember. This means that, on occasion, some misconceptions in learning are not addressed as quickly as they could be. 16 and 17 September 2025 When reading, pupils are supported well to develop their fluency and confidence. They are encouraged to read widely and often. Pupils make strong progress from their starting points because staff carefully match the tasks to pupils’ next steps in learning, including in phonics where necessary. All pupils read a range of genres and are highly motivated to improve their knowledge and skills.

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better?

The school environment is calm and orderly. Pupils work well with adults and with one another. Disruption to learning is rare.

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better?

Pupils develop their social skills to be responsible and respectful. The school’s curriculum promotes pupils’ understanding of positive relationships. They learn about stereotypes and prejudice to foster a better appreciation of other cultures. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is threaded throughout the curriculum. For example, pupils’ work on tolerance promotes an understanding of fundamental British values as well as helping pupils to distinguish between right and wrong. Pupils benefit from a wealth of opportunities to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

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better?

Pupils receive impartial careers information, education, advice and guidance to set realistically high ambitions for their future. There is a strong emphasis in the curriculum on equipping pupils with the skills needed to lead independent lives. For example, their work on healthy eating extends to devising meal plans that they can then cook at home.

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better?

The proprietor has an accessibility plan in place, which is reviewed regularly to meet the requirements of schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. There are stringent checks in place to ensure that the independent school standards (the standards) are consistently met. The proprietor meets its statutory duties for safeguarding and ensures that an up-to-date safeguarding policy is published on the school’s website.

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better?

The proprietor has set a compelling vision for what it wants pupils to achieve in their time at the school. Leaders have managed recent changes well to re-establish the school following a period where there were no registered pupils. The newly formed staff team is positive about the steps taken to address its workload and well-being and support the direction the school is taking.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 In some subjects, the school’s curriculum does not set out some of the key subject knowledge that it wants pupils to learn. As a result, the expectations for pupils’ learning in some areas are not as high as they could be. The school should 16 and 17 September 2025 ensure that this important knowledge is clearly defined so that pupils are enabled to know and remember more in these subjects.  In some subjects, the checks on pupils’ learning do not highlight some areas where pupils lack understanding. As a result, some misconceptions in some subjects remain. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise to assess pupils’ recall of key knowledge precisely in these subjects to identify and address misconceptions.

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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. 16 and 17 September 2025

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 and 11 March 2020 16 and 17 September 2025

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, there has been a change in the school’s proprietor. The school ceased to operate as no pupils were placed at the school from April 2024. The school started to accept new pupils in the summer term 2025. At this time, the proprietor appointed a new staff team to work at the school.  The headteacher was unavailable and was not present for the duration of this inspection. In their absence, the regional headteacher was leading the school.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  The school is located at Crosses Farm, Square Lane, Catforth, Preston, PR4 0HP. It is registered to admit up to four pupils.  The school caters for pupils who have suffered some form of social, emotional or mental health trauma. Most pupils have an education, health and care plan, but this is not a requirement for admission.

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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

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the regional schools headteacher and the chair of the proprietor body to discuss all aspects of the school’s provision.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and personal, social and health 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.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and sampled pupils’ work across a range of subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and

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Information about this inspection

16 and 17 September 2025 considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors checked the school’s premises and a range of documentation for compliance with the standards.

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Inspection team

Steve Bentham, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Barbara Dutton Ofsted Inspector 16 and 17 September 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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