Springfield School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 September 2022

Expectations and ambition are high at Springfield School. The parents that gave their views were unanimously positive about the school. A new leadership team is driving improvements to what and how pupils learn. Pupils have various special educational needs and/or disabilities that affect their day- to-day lives. However, staff and families work well together to provide the support pupils need to overcome barriers, whether these are academic, sensory, physical or medical. Pupils' behaviour across the school is calm, settled and purposeful. They want to be in school, and they are keen to learn. When pupils struggle with behaviour, caring staff act quickly to provide the support they need. Consequently, this is a calm and purposeful place to learn. Trips to museums, shops, fire stations and barge trips develop pupils' understanding of the local community. On-site swimming and exciting outdoor learning spaces enrich their learning. Residential trips help to provide an experience of the wider world while developing pupils' enthusiasm for outdoor activities. Pupils have a varying understanding of what bullying is. However, they know adults will help them deal with it in all cases. Leaders and staff act swiftly to intervene if they think bullying might be happening.

What the school should improve

• Communication systems for pupils with profound and complex communication needs are not yet securely embedded across the school. Sometimes, staff do not demonstrate the training they have received when helping pupils access and use the systems to get their 'voice' across. Leaders need to ensure that all pupils have access to and are consistently empowered to use the most appropriate communication system for that pupil.
• Some teachers have not ensured that pupils have securely learned, understood or embedded prior learning. This makes new knowledge harder to learn, understand and remember. Leaders need to ensure that they prioritise learning to fill these gaps and then provide opportunities for pupils to practise and apply these skills in a wide range of contexts.
• Some governors do not have a clear enough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the current provision at the school. While they know the unique nature of the school, they are not accurately aware of what the school is good at or in what areas further improvement is needed. This limits their ability to hold leaders to account. Those with responsibility for governance need to ensure that they have a strong understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the school so they can effectively hold leaders to account for further improvement.

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