Littledown School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 29 April 2025

Many pupils join the school at a low ebb. Prior to joining the school, most pupils have not had positive experiences and some have not attended school regularly. Well-considered transition arrangements help pupils to settle and quickly feel part of the school. Staff greet pupils with smiles and welcome them into class each morning. This helps pupils to get off to a positive start to the day. Staff build trusting, warm relationships with pupils. They have a strong knowledge of pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities. Over time, pupils develop greater confidence, self-worth and readiness to learn. They are happy here, feel safe and know that staff care about them. For most of the time, behaviour is calm and orderly. Nonetheless, pupils' needs mean that many continue to need a high level of support to help them manage their emotions. At times, emotions spill over. When this happens, staff provide patient, kind support. The school is ambitious for pupils. It aspires for them to be successful learners and to develop confidence and positive relationships. However, there are inconsistencies in teaching and other aspects of the school's work. As a result, pupils do not achieve well enough and are not prepared fully for the next stage of their education.

What the school should improve

• The school's approach to de-escalating inappropriate behaviour when pupils struggle to regulate their emotions and behaviour is not embedded or fully effective. As a result, there are a high number of occasions when staff need to use physical intervention to ensure the safety of pupils and staff. The school needs to ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills they need to follow the school's approach more consistently so that the need for physical intervention is reduced.
• There are inconsistencies in how well the curriculum is implemented. Teaching does not consistently take into account pupils' previous learning. Additionally, some learning activities are not designed well enough to focus on what pupils need to learn. As a result, they do not achieve well enough. The school needs to take steps to ensure that staff are supported to implement the curriculum in the way that leaders intend.
• The school has not ensured that the curriculum gives sufficient focus to important aspects of pupils' writing, including sentence construction and handwriting. Weaknesses in these aspects of pupils' writing are not addressed well enough. This hampers the quality of pupils' writing and their ability to communicate in writing in English as well as in the wider curriculum. The school needs to review and strengthen its approaches to writing so that there is sufficient focus on important foundational knowledge.
• The trust is not clear about what governance responsibilities and functions are held with the board of trustees and what it has delegated to the local governing body. Responsibilities are unclear, and oversight and accountability are not sufficiently robust. The trust needs to take action to strengthen governance arrangements.

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