Peak Forest

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 15 October 2024

Pupils join this school with previously negative experiences of education and often long periods of absence. Typically, pupils are welcomed into an environment that allows them to settle quickly, feel safe and attend more frequently. Pupils forge positive relationships with staff and with each other. Pupils feel happy. They trust that there is someone that will help them if they have a concern. The school is ambitious for pupils academically and it is in the process of improving the quality of education it provides. However, the curriculum has not been finalised in all subject areas. This limits the range of subjects that pupils can study and hinders how well they can learn. Pupils benefit from the clear expectations and routines that staff set for their behaviour. When pupils struggle to regulate their own behaviour, they receive individualised support. In the main, this helps them with specific social and emotional needs so that their behaviour improves. Pupils enjoy some of the activities that the school provides for them beyond the academic curriculum. For example, taking part in outdoor learning activities and looking after the school chickens. However, the school's programme for wider development is in its infancy. It is not sufficiently coherent or wide-ranging to ensure that all pupils access high-quality enrichment experiences.

What the school should improve

• The proprietor has not carried out all of its statutory responsibilities. Some unmet standards mean that pupils do not receive an acceptable quality of education. The proprietor should ensure that it fulfils its statutory responsibilities so that all the standards are met consistently.
• The school has not ensured that the curriculum is broad enough to give pupils the full range of educational experiences that are set out in the standards. This limits the education that pupils receive. The school should ensure that the curriculum provides more breadth of educational experiences so that all pupils gain the foundational knowledge that they need to progress in the next stages of their education.
• In some subjects, the school has not identified the essential knowledge that teachers should teach or the order in which it should be delivered. This prevents some pupils from building their knowledge securely. The school should ensure that teachers are clear about the key knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which they should learn from their different starting points.
• The school does not identify and address the gaps that pupils have in their reading knowledge. This hinders how well some pupils can access the curriculum and learn. The school should ensure that pupils are given the support that they need to read fluently and accurately.
• In some subjects, teachers are not given key information about pupils' needs and abilities to devise and teach the curriculum well. This hampers how well pupils can build on what they already know in an age-appropriate way. The school should ensure that it assesses pupils' starting points swiftly and accurately so that staff have the information that they need to deliver the curriculum as intended.
• The school does not use the information that it gathers about pupils' behaviour as effectively as it should to make improvements. This limits how well the school identifies patterns and trends in pupils' behaviour and how effectively it can provide targeted support. The school should use the information that it gathers about behaviour more strategically to inform the support that it provides for pupils.
• Too many pupils are regularly absent from school. This means that they do not benefit fully from the specialist curriculum and support that the school provides. The school should ensure that it refines and develops the attendance strategies that it has in place to further increase rates of attendance for all pupils.
• Pupils do not have sufficiently coherent and well-designed enrichment experiences. This limits their understanding of the wider world and how well they are supported to develop their talents and interests. The school should formalise and enhance the programme of activities that it provides for pupils' wider development so that all pupils benefit from wide-ranging enrichment opportunities.

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