Outwood Alternative Provision Eston

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 16 September 2025

Pupils enjoy a range of opportunities that enrich their experience of school. Those that include learning beyond the classroom are a strength of the school. Pupils develop their self-esteem and wider skills during activities such as camping, kayaking and other outdoor pursuits. Such opportunities are used effectively by the school to re-engage pupils with education. It recognises pupils' efforts and achievements regularly, including through the 'Outwood honours' system. Pupils typically join the school at non-standard times in the school year. Often, pupils have experienced disruptions to their education, including as a result of exclusion. Staff work to establish positive relationships and win the trust of pupils quickly. This enables pupils to begin to feel confident in school. Pupils speak positively of the effective support that they receive from staff. They are confident to raise any concerns that they have with staff, trusting that the school will act to address these. Leaders have high expectations of pupils' conduct and achievement. With support, most pupils realise these. The school works to help pupils to become more independent over time. This supports pupils to be increasingly well prepared for life beyond this school.

What the school should improve

• The school's approach to developing pupils' reading fluency and closing gaps to age related expectations is underdeveloped. Some pupils do not make the progress that they are capable of in reading once they can decode words accurately. The proprietor should ensure that the school accurately identifies pupils' barriers to reading fluently and at an age-expected level. It should ensure that staff have the required expertise to address these swiftly and effectively.
• Rates of attendance are not high enough. For a minority of pupils, the school has not accurately identified the support that pupils need to attend more regularly. These pupils miss important learning and wider opportunities provided by the school to strengthen their development. The proprietor should ensure that the school has an effective strategy to identify and remove barriers to regular attendance so that initial improvements are consistently built on over time.

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