Greenside School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 11 February 2025

Pupils enjoy coming to Greenside School. They appreciate the warm welcome they receive from staff when they arrive in the morning. This helps pupils to quickly settle into class. Staff are attentive to pupils' specific needs. They have high expectations for what pupils can achieve. This helps pupils to be ready to learn. Pupils value making new friends. They enjoy talking about books on the way to visit the library in a local secondary school. Lunchtime is a positive time of the day. Some pupils chat while sitting together to eat their lunch. Others eagerly look forward to playing their favourite card games with staff. All of this builds the positive relationships that exist here. Pupils build their confidence through the school's well-considered personal, social, health and economic curriculum. Integral to much of this is the individualised swimming sessions all pupils receive. This is a highlight of the week for many pupils. These life skills are further enhanced through the opportunities pupils have when visiting the local community. Residential trips or catching the bus to the supermarket helps to teach pupils important social skills. This prepares pupils well for life after school.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, the school does not ensure that staff have enough expertise or understanding of how to teach the curriculum. Consequently, there are some inconsistencies in the pedagogy and subject knowledge of staff. This leads to instances where teaching does not effectively support pupils' needs. When this happens pupils do not build on what they already know and can do as well as they could. The school should ensure all staff have the expertise they need to match the support they offer more precisely to pupils' needs.
• There is a lack of clarity in how leaders, including governors, monitor the impact of some aspects of the school's work. This means the school does not have a full enough understanding of what is working well and what is not. This limits the school's ability to shape its priorities about future school improvement. Leaders, including governors, should ensure they have effective ways to check on the school's work. This is so they can better identify where to make improvements in the quality of education on offer.

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