Meadowbrook College

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 7 November 2023

The school is a calm and purposeful environment where every pupil is valued and respected. Relationships are warm and nurturing. When pupils join the school, their confidence and self-esteem are typically at a low ebb. The school gives them a fresh start to their education. Pupils develop renewed hope and see a brighter future ahead of them. They are helped to overcome a fear of failure. Some describe their experiences at the school as life-changing. Pupils are happy here and feel that staff listen to them and understand their needs. During breakfast time, staff check in on pupils and help to get the day off to a positive start. Pupils know and appreciate the school's expectations for them to be 'ready, respectful and safe'. Staff model kindness and patience and successfully diffuse any tensions. High staff ratios and effective support help pupils to regulate their emotions and behaviour, including during times of crisis. The school has high expectations for pupils. Everyone is determined to help them succeed and break the cycle of their former disengagement with education. Pupils achieve well here. They are well prepared for their return to mainstream education or their chosen career pathways through further education or employment.

What the school should improve

• The school has not ensured that there is a fully consistent approach to reading for pupils at an early stage of learning to read. This means that pupils are not developing their reading knowledge as well as they could. The school should implement its plans to introduce a more consistent programme for early reading, including making sure that staff have the expertise and knowledge they need to deliver the programme effectively. The trust needs to ensure that reading materials are suitably aligned to the school's new programme.
• In a few areas of learning, the school's curriculum for the very small number of pupils in the primary years is still being refined. Some of the small steps towards the school's curriculum goals are not precise enough. This means that staff do not have enough guidance about the step-by-step knowledge they need to teach to enable pupils to progress through the curriculum. The school needs to refine the curriculum for younger pupils to provide greater clarity about the content and sequencing of knowledge in the foundation subjects.

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