Active Support Education Centre

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 June 2025

For many pupils, this is their first positive experience of school. Prior to being placed here, most have been permanently excluded from their previous school or are at risk of this. Some have struggled previously to attend school and have been disaffected by education. Staff are highly committed to turning around these pupils' lives. As a result, pupils life chances here are significantly improved. Pupils gain qualifications, including GCSEs, and a range of vocational experiences which did not seem possible on arrival. Pupils leave here with either a place back at mainstream school, or in college, work or training. Pupils successfully meet their 'placement targets', especially for their personal development. Pupils are expertly helped to develop their talents, which improves their self-esteem. Pupils' physical and mental well-being is supported through access to a very well- resourced school gymnasium. Pupils are offered coaching in rugby, boxing and football. Pupils learn new skills such as in catering, construction and hair and beauty, bespoke to their interests. Crucially, pupils are taught specifically and openly about how to stay safe in the community. Pupils appreciate being listened to and treated fairly. This fosters high levels of mutual respect. Pupils trust the adults here. They benefit hugely from having positive role models and mentors. The school is calm, orderly and sociable.

What the school should improve

• Some aspects of the curriculum for those pupils now placed permanently at the school are still being developed. This means that these pupils are not yet securing knowledge in enough detail or in a logical order over time. This hinders how highly they achieve. The school needs to ensure that in these subjects the knowledge pupils need to learn and when is explicitly signposted and followed.
• There are some instances where the school is not adapting learning activities specifically to pupils' ability. This means pupils produce work they are already capable of and limits their knowledge being deepened further. The school needs to support staff to adapt learning more precisely to raise expectations of what pupils can achieve academically.
• For some pupils on short-term placements, some of the referral information the school requests is not sufficiently detailed. This means the school do not always have the most accurate or latest information about pupils' starting points prior to completing their own checks. The school needs to tighten the referral process, so it receives the specific information needed for precise placement target-setting so that no time is wasted in meeting academic needs from the outset.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)