The Amicus School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 16 September 2025

The school prioritises the importance of positive relationships. Building and maintaining relationships is fundamental to everything the school does and is at the heart of its work. Pupils are kind and treat adults and each other with respect. They learn how to make friends, enjoy playing together and chat sociably during breaktimes. Lunchtimes are a high point of the day, when pupils and staff sit companionably together while they enjoy their meal. Pupils achieve well. They have often had an unsettled and fractured experience of education before joining the school. The school makes sure that they are fully and sensitively supported from the moment they arrive and throughout their time in the school. The school has high expectations of pupils' conduct and achievement. Occasionally, pupils can become unsettled. Staff are skilled in helping them to learn how to recognise and manage their own feelings. Engaging activities such as those in the outdoor learning area help to bring learning to life. Pupils have a voice in making decisions about school life through activities such as the school council. Little by little, they grow in self-esteem and rediscover a sense of self-worth. They know that their teachers will look after them and so feel secure. Leadership and management require improvement because there is not sufficiently rigorous oversight of some decision-making at governance level.

What the school should improve

• There has been insufficient scrutiny when important decisions are made or when some policies are applied, including in the management of allegations against adults. This means that decisions have not always been taken in the best interests of children. The school should strengthen its governance arrangements to ensure that oversight of the school is sufficiently rigorous.
• The safeguarding policy has been added to over time to keep it in line with statutory guidance. However, it has not been thoroughly reviewed, and it now contains some information that appears contradictory. Leaders should ensure that the safeguarding policy is reviewed to remove any potential confusion about how to act to keep children safe.
• There are some variations in the use of assessment. This means that sometimes pupils are moved on in their learning before they have fully understood and retained prior learning. The school should ensure that checks on pupils' learning are used consistently well to identify the right time to introduce new content.
• There are inconsistencies in the teaching of phonics. This leads to an element of variation in pupils' use of phonics to decode unfamiliar words. The school should refresh staff subject knowledge to ensure that the phonics programme is followed closely and taught consistently.

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