Queensbury School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 May 2023

These are exciting times at Queensbury School. Caring staff, an ambitious curriculum and new buildings are all driving improvements for pupils. Leaders aim to help pupils 'unleash their limitless potential'. Staff, parents, carers and pupils are united in making this vision a reality. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and some pupils have additional needs that have made learning difficult in the past, such as autistic spectrum conditions, cognition and learning needs, or social, emotional and mental health needs. Whatever the needs, staff work hard with parents to overcome barriers in order to get the best outcomes for pupils. Caring relationships between staff and pupils help pupils to feel safe and secure. When pupils face difficult times, staff work hard to understand why and put the right support in place. Consequently, behaviour is generally positive in classes and around the school. Pupils say that bullying is rare and that if it happens, they have confidence in staff to deal with it. Leaders investigate all incidents of bullying and act when needed. Careers education and lessons in financial management and personal safety are just some ways used to develop pupils' awareness of what they need to thrive after Queensbury.

What the school should improve

• Some teachers do not consistently adapt the curriculum implementation to individual pupils' receptive and processing skills. This affects how much information pupils can learn and remember in lessons, which negatively impacts how well they are prepared for the following lessons. Leaders need to ensure that all staff appropriately adapt how the curriculum is implemented according to the receptive and processing level of the pupils, so the pupils can learn more and remember more over time.
• Some pupils do not attend school frequently enough. Attendance dropped due to the pandemic, but persistent absence has remained high and has not fully recovered. Leaders need to continue to raise the level of attendance of some pupils at the school so that they can access and make the most of the learning that will help them prepare for the ambitious next steps that the school intends for them.
• The provision for pupils to develop personal interests and hobbies outside the curriculum is not yet refined, communicated, or based on what pupils want. This has meant that engagement in the current extra-curricular offer has been low, and some pupils believe that the opportunities they want are not currently offered. Leaders need to ensure that the offer to develop personal interests and hobbies outside the curriculum considers the interests of all pupils and is well communicated with the whole community.

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