Estuary High School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 23 April 2025

The school's safeguarding systems and procedures are not doing what they need to do to keep pupils at this school safe from harm. The school tends to overlook causes for concern. As a result, pupils' actions or situations escalate rather than get 'nipped in the bud'. Pupils who attend this school have not engaged well in education in the past. Staff persevere to alter pupils' perceptions of school. They listen closely to pupils and work hard to understand their points of view. Staff work with the school's therapy team and pupils' key workers to inform their approach. Relationships between staff and pupils are caring and warm. However, sometimes staff misjudge interactions, and this undermines their efforts. When this occurs, pupils' behaviour heightens, and they disengage from learning. For example, they use disrespectful language and sometimes walk out of their lessons. Pupils enjoy and benefit from the new opportunities for enrichment to the curriculum. For instance, they undertake instrumental music tuition and visit local amenities to develop their cultural awareness and social skills. The school has not ensured expectations for pupils' achievement are high enough. Pupils are not as well prepared for their next steps in education, employment and training as they could be.

What the school should improve

• The proprietor has not ensured that the school has a strong safeguarding culture in place. Weak monitoring procedures mean that the proprietor has not identified and addressed the range of shortcomings that exist. This places pupils' welfare and safety at risk. The proprietor and the school should ensure that systems and procedures and staff's knowledge and understanding of safeguarding are such that actions to keep pupils safe are effective, including when engaging with external agencies.
• The recommendation from the previous inspection has not been sufficiently addressed. The curriculum for several subjects lacks detail as to what pupils should learn and when. This limits pupils' knowledge and understanding of the curriculum, as staff lack guidance on what to teach. The school should ensure that the curriculum is ambitious and well sequenced to raise expectations and achievement for all pupils.
• Staff do not take sufficient account of what pupils know and can do before they introduce new content and move them on to new work. They do not ensure that pupils catch up on missed work. As a result, some pupils struggle to understand new learning as they do not have the prior knowledge in place. The school should ensure that its assessment processes are such that staff are able to identify and act on gaps in pupils' knowledge so pupils have the capacity and confidence to learn new material.
• The school does not provide staff with a clear picture and understanding of pupils' cognition and learning needs. This limits staff's ability to adapt the curriculum and support pupils so that they learn well. The school should ensure that staff consistently support the range of needs in their classes so that pupils are well prepared for their next steps in education, employment or training.
• The school's inconsistent approach to managing and supporting pupils' behaviour has hindered recent progress in improving conduct. Variability in expectations and inconsistent adherence to risk assessments and behaviour plans have led to some pupils disrupting learning and failing to engage fully with the curriculum. The school should ensure that all staff apply behaviour management strategies uniformly, reinforcing clear expectations to create a more structured and supportive learning environment for pupils.
• The proprietor has not ensured that the school consistently meets all the standards, including those related to curriculum, teaching, behaviour, pupils' health and safety, provision of information and the school site. As a result, the provision does not provide adequately for pupils' learning and their safety. The proprietor must ensure that leaders at all levels have the necessary understanding of the full range of standards and that the school consistently meets these standards.

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