Belong School Gloucestershire

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 12 May 2026

Pupils are safe and happy at Belong School. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders and staff work determinedly to understand and remove barriers to pupils' attendance, learning and achievement. This work consistently enhances pupils’ opportunities and experiences. For example, many pupils have not attended school well previously. As a result of caring relationships and effective work with families, the school helps pupils to attend school more regularly. Pupils enjoy their learning and generally progress well through the curriculum. Leaders and staff understand pupils' needs very well. They provide effective pastoral support. This supports pupils’ personal development and wellbeing and provides a firm foundation for them to learn successfully. Pupils enjoy learning the different subjects that they study. For instance, they are keen to improve their cooking skills. The school helps remedy gaps in pupils’ important basic skills, such as reading and number. Consequently, pupils are typically able to go on to gain suitable qualifications. Overall, they are prepared well for their next steps in education, employment or training. Pupils behave well. They learn about emotions and how to be respectful of others. Leaders and staff teach pupils the importance of compassion and celebrating differences. Bullying is rare and staff always make sure that they deal with unkindness quickly and effectively. Parents are highly positive about the care and support for their children. Pupils benefit from activities to learn together and to pursue their interests. For example, there are opportunities to develop their skills in sports, computing or traditional crafts. Trips in the local area, and further afield, build pupils’ wider knowledge, such as about democracy. Pupils benefit from visits to local post-16 education providers and employers. This helps them, and their families, find out about their different options when they leave the school.

What the school should improve

• Leaders and the proprietor should ensure that the curriculum is of a consistently high quality across all subjects.
• Leaders and the proprietor should ensure that teaching uses assessment effectively to check, and build, on what pupils know, so that they achieve more highly.
• Leaders and the proprietor should ensure that they make continued improvements to achieve and sustain exceptional standards of attendance and behaviour.
• Leaders and the proprietor should strengthen the tracking of pupils' personal development experiences, to ensure that they provide extensive opportunities to all pupils.

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