Hera House

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 29 April 2025

This school values pupils' individuality. It cares deeply about identifying and meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The staff embody the school's ethos, 'to every child a chance'. The school nurtures and supports pupils to be prepared successfully for adulthood. Pupils are happy. The school has high expectations for pupils' behaviour. Pupils understand the school's behaviour code. This consists of five simple rules that pupils typically follow well. Pupils enjoy receiving rewards for behaving in accordance with the code. They appreciate that the school's sanctions are fair and applied consistently. Pupils have access to a sensory garden or 'break room'. This gives them the space and time to regulate and take responsibility for their behaviour. The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement. The school has redesigned the curriculum to ensure that it is engaging and appropriate for pupils. Pupils learn well. As pupils join the school throughout the year, staff continually adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of the changing cohort. Pupils benefit from a well-considered transition programme before they join the school. This helps them to understand the school's routines. The school proactively supports pupils and their families. Each family has a key worker. This ensures that parents and carers have a point of contact for communication, learning or emotional support.

What the school should improve

• On occasions, tasks for pupils at the early stages of writing do not accurately match their phonics attainment. This means pupils do not get the practise they need to consolidate their phonics knowledge. The school should ensure that learning tasks are designed well to help pupils to apply their phonics knowledge and become more fluent writers.
• The systematic checking of pupils' understanding is not done consistently well across the school. This means that some pupils' learning is not as secure as it could be. The school should ensure that the staff have the guidance that they need to identify and address gaps in knowledge effectively.
• The attendance of some pupils is too low. This means that these pupils miss out on essential learning. The school should strengthen further its work to improve the attendance of these pupils.

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