Maidstone and Malling Alternative Provision

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 March 2025

There is a strong sense of belonging at this school. Pupils join having had difficulties managing their behaviour and emotions in previous settings. Nevertheless, they settle quickly. Staff swiftly establish nurturing relationships with pupils. They take the time to understand their individual circumstances. Without judgement, pupils are supported to regain self-confidence and re-engage with education. As a result, pupils are happy here. They feel valued and attend regularly. The school is aspirational for pupils. The curriculum is engaging and ambitious. It has been carefully designed to allow pupils to access qualifications and accreditations and to succeed at learning again. Pupils know that staff expect them to do their best and to uphold the school's high expectations for behaviour and learning. Regardless of their starting points, pupils achieve well and develop renewed positive attitudes towards learning. Consequently, pupils leave well-prepared for their next steps, with most pupils successfully reintegrating into a mainstream school or going on to employment, training, or further education. Pupils behave well. Staff treat pupils as individuals and build relationships based on mutual respect. Staff deal with any disruption promptly. Bullying is dealt with effectively and a dedicated support team is on hand to support pupils when they need it, which helps pupils feel safe.

What the school should improve

• The school has not coherently defined the precise sequence of learning in the core subjects to teach younger pupils on short-term placements. This means teachers are unclear about what to teach and when, and the endpoints remain vague. The school should collaborate with their referring home schools to identify the fundamental knowledge pupils need to acquire during their placement and ensure this is coherently planned and sequenced in the short-term curriculum. This will ensure these pupils leave with the knowledge required to be successful learners when reintegrating into a mainstream setting.
• For pupils at an earlier stage of learning to read, the school employs a variety of different schemes and has only recently invested in a systematic synthetic phonics programme. This means that, although effective intervention is taking place, the teaching of early reading is not as precise as it could be so pupils do not secure phonic knowledge and reading fluency as quickly and systematically as possible. The school must now strengthen its teaching of early reading by embedding the use of the phonics programme and work to implement it with fidelity. This will ensure those at the earlier stages of learning to read and address the gaps in their phonic knowledge as soon as possible so they can access the rest of the curriculum.

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