Snowflake School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 16 May 2023

'My child loves going to school,' states one parent, whose views are shared by other parents and carers. Staff at Snowflake know pupils and their families very well. They build highly positive relationships with pupils, treating them with respect and dignity. Leaders have high expectations. They place a strong focus on identifying the individual barriers that pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience, for example in relation to their behaviour. They use this information to help build a curriculum that fully supports pupils to adapt their behaviour, and improve communication and social skills. Over time, pupils' confidence, resilience, and independence blossoms. The therapist teams carefully use each pupil's education, health and care (EHC) plan when organising provision. They also work with other adults to ensure pupils' therapies are built into daily lesson activities. This helps pupils to achieve their targets quickly. Staff then set even more ambitious targets. Pupils are happy at school. They are kept safe from harm, for example bullying is not tolerated. Leaders also make sure that pupils access their local community, such as through visits and the use of local facilities for swimming.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects and pathways, the component knowledge that pupils need to learn is not precisely set out. As a result, there is a tendency for adults to focus on the teaching and assessment of tasks or skills, rather than the underpinning knowledge and vocabulary that pupils should be learning. Leaders should review their curriculum thinking in these subjects, ensuring that component knowledge is explicitly set out, taught and assessed.
• Occasionally, some adults working with pupils to improve their reading lack expertise. This means sometimes they do not support pupils in using their phonics as well as they should. Leaders should review their training and monitoring, ensuring that all staff help pupils to build up their reading fluency effectively.
• Leaders' oversight of the standards lacks rigour. Leaders had to remedy a few aspects of compliance with the standards during the onsite inspection. Leaders, including the proprietor, should improve the robustness of their checks so that the standards are consistently met.

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