Presfield High School and Specialist College

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 26 September 2023

Each day, pupils are warmly welcomed to this happy and inclusive school. They benefit from a culture that celebrates uniqueness and difference. This provides them with a sense of respect and belonging. Pupils enjoy strong, caring relationships with adults, who know them well. They value the wide range of pastoral support that adults offer them. They trust that there is always an adult available to help them if they are worried. The school has high expectations. Staff put no ceiling on what they want pupils to achieve by the time they leave. They are successful in ensuring that most pupils achieve well. Pupils, all of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are well prepared for their next steps in education. Pupils behave well around school. Adults help them to learn well and to socialise during break and lunchtimes. They skilfully help them to regulate their behaviour and manage their emotions. Pupils enjoy the opportunities that the school offers them to develop themselves personally and ready themselves for adult life. For example, pupils, including students in the sixth form, learn to use public transport, go shopping, cook meals and complete domestic chores. These valuable activities equip them well for life outside school. They become increasingly confident and independent.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of subjects, the school has not given sufficient thought to the essential knowledge that pupils must have and in what order they should acquire it. Consequently, some pupils do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects. The school should finalise its curriculum thinking in these subjects so that teachers have enough information to shape teaching and enable all pupils to achieve well.
• A few adults are less confident at using the agreed communication, language and social-interaction strategies. As a result, pupils occasionally miss out on opportunities to develop and apply their communication and language skills across the whole curriculum. The school should ensure that all adults are well equipped and confident in using the school's agreed communication, language and social-interaction strategies.

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