Cambian Spring Hill

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 February 2025

The school prioritises building strong relationships with pupils. It strives to understand pupils and their often complex individual needs. This contributes to a calm learning environment where pupils behave well. Pupils are happy here. Pupils and their families appreciate the ways in which the school supports them to develop, both academically and personally. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They benefit from highly personalised teaching approaches. Consequently, many pupils achieve well. The school effectively supports pupils to consider their aspirations for the future. The school helps pupils to identify appropriate college courses and to secure work experience placements. In recent years, all pupils have moved on to further education or employment after leaving the school. There is an extensive range of opportunities for pupils to try new experiences and to contribute to the local community. These help pupils to develop positive character traits, such as resilience and effective communication skills. For example, through the enterprise curriculum, pupils make high-quality products to sell in local shops. Through the 'student voice', pupils make a tangible difference to the life of the school. For example, they voted to remove the school uniform and decided on an appropriate dress code instead.

What the school should improve

• The school does not have a consistent approach to the teaching of reading. Consequently, the teaching of reading is not as regular, or as effective, as it could be. This impacts on pupils' exposure to different texts and their enjoyment of reading. The school should devise a strategic approach to the teaching of reading and support staff to deliver this consistently.
• The school does not identify and address gaps in pupils' basic English skills, including in reading, quickly enough. This means that pupils repeatedly make the same mistakes, which impacts on the quality of their written work and their ability to read confidently and fluently. The school should support staff with how to identify and address gaps in basic skills so that pupils develop fluency and automaticity in reading and writing.

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