Brickyard Barn Outdoor Learning Centre

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 February 2026

For the pupils at Brickyard Barn Outdoor Learning Centre, school is an inspiring place to attend. The school has rightly prioritised the importance of building positive relationships with pupils once they arrive. This helps pupils to build a sense of safety and trust in their new school. Pupils are safe. Typically, they do their best and behave well. Staff know pupils well, including their individual special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff welcome pupils with a caring smile. Each day is filled with purpose. Pupils are given the opportunity to develop their awareness of, and understand, how autism affects then. As a result, they know themselves well, feel they belong and thrive. Pupils overcome previous difficult experiences in education, such as ‘noise’ in schools, being bullied and not wanting to attend. Pupils say this school has helped them. One pupil, typical of others, said: ‘I have learned to communicate here.’ Pupils appreciate the support they get from caring adults who take time to get to know and understand them. The school works in partnership with parents and carers to support pupils to talk about and overcome any barriers to learning. All this helps pupils to achieve success and build their self-esteem, confidence and communication skills. Specialist behaviour support focused on understanding their feelings helps pupils to better regulate their emotions in a calm, therapeutic way. The wider curriculum is broad and varied. Pupils benefit from many different experiences on offer to them. These range from visits into the local community, supporting national charities and raising awareness of autism through the school’s vision of making autism ‘our first language’. These opportunities broaden pupils’ horizons and experiences.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should strengthen their systems for evaluating the implementation and impact of the school’s curriculum and pupils’ achievement across both sites of the school, so that they can more accurately and precisely identify areas for development and drive improvement.
• Leaders should ensure that highly effective teaching is embedded across the school so that all pupils can achieve in line with their potential, including through developing greater depth and detail in pupils' written work.
• Leaders should ensure that strong foundations, including reading more often, are embedded so that pupils acquire deeper knowledge and are well prepared for their next steps.
• Leaders should ensure that the impact of the personal development programme, including pupils' learning about careers, is deep, embedded and consistent.

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