Devon Hospitals' Short Stay School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 19 September 2023

Devon Hospitals' Short Stay School puts pupils at the heart of all it does. The school understands the importance of building relationships. Staff prioritise pupils feeling safe and having trust in the staff who work with them. Despite previously turbulent and negative experiences of school and, for some, ongoing medical treatment, pupils say they enjoy school. Pupils are motivated to learn. As a result, no matter how long pupils are at the school, they engage successfully with their education. Pupils' education extends beyond the academic. It starts with their social and emotional needs. Staff understand each pupil's unique needs. This enables staff and pupils to work together towards overcoming barriers to learning successfully. Consequently, there are mutually respectful relationships. Pupils know what is expected of them and strive to meet these. Parents and carers say they are kept well informed in all aspects of their child's education. A parent described the school as 'life-changing'. There is mutual agreement from parents that staff know the significance of small steps of progress and are skilled at building on these. Whether the learning is face to face or delivered remotely, the school's aspiration is for pupils to transition successfully back into full-time education once they are well enough.

What the school should improve

• The mathematics curriculum does not clearly identify the important knowledge that pupils need to know to support their learning, for example fluency and reasoning. As a result, pupils do not always develop these skills as successfully as they could. The school needs to strengthen the curriculum by ensuring that pupils secure the necessary prior knowledge in sequences of learning to support addressing the gaps that have been identified. This will ensure that pupils remember more over time and successfully build towards more complex learning.
• There is not a consistent approach to some whole-school systems and processes. There is a wealth of information about pupils that is not always captured and measured as efficiently and usefully as possible. As a result, the school does not always have an accurate oversight of what is working well and what needs to be improved to ensure that pupils are learning as successfully as they should. The school should identify whole-school systems and processes that will strengthen their oversight and effectiveness of each pupil's bespoke education offer.

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