Safe Start School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 14 January 2025

This school provides education to pupils who have faced significant challenges in their lives. For many, their previous difficulties have left them with large gaps in their learning. Staff gently support pupils to put any prior negative experiences of school behind them. In turn, pupils come to appreciate education once more. They build trusting relationships with their teachers and gradually increase the time that they spend at school. Many pupils are well on the way to successfully re-engaging with their education. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school is determined to prepare them well for their future. Pupils are rightly proud of the progress that they make in their social and emotional development. This typically sets them up well for adulthood. However, the school's ambition for pupils' academic achievement is not fully realised. Pupils do not learn the curriculum as well as they should. Pupils follow the school's routines and expectations calmly. They learn about the importance of equality and tolerance. This helps them to treat each other and staff, with respect. The school ensures that pupils are equipped to lead independent lives in modern Britain. For instance, pupils learn how to budget, plan trips by public transport and organise cultural celebrations for their peers.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the school has not thought clearly enough about the most important knowledge that pupils should learn. Staff sometimes lack clarity about what to teach, and the expertise needed to teach it effectively. This hinders pupils from building up their knowledge as well as they should. The school should ensure that it identifies clearly what pupils should learn and provide support for staff to help them to deliver the curriculum effectively.
• Some pupils who struggle with reading do not receive the support that they need to catch up. Added to this, some staff do not take deficits in pupils' reading knowledge into account when planning learning. This hinders how well some pupils achieve across the whole curriculum. The school should ensure that there is a systematic approach to helping pupils to read accurately and fluently.
• Systems to monitor and evaluate the impact of the school's provision are underdeveloped. Too often, leaders and staff do not know how well the school's strategies are working. This includes strategies to improve attendance and how well staff deliver the curriculum. This makes it difficult to identify the actions that will have the intended positive impact on pupils. The proprietor should review its approach to quality assurance to ensure that this provides the most useful information to drive the improvement of the school.
• The proprietor has not ensured that the standards are met consistently and securely. Added to this, some records of checks and maintenance carried out on the premises are not as thorough as they could be. This further hampers the proprietor's oversight of the school. The proprietor must ensure that arrangements to check that all the standards are consistently met are effective.

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