The Beech House School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 March 2025

Many pupils did not attend school regularly before arriving here. Some know that they will not stay for long. This means that pupils often take time to trust staff. When they arrive, no matter for how long, staff prioritise working with pupils and their parents and carers to build the strong relationships and mutual trust needed to encourage pupils to want to learn. Consequently, pupils feel supported and welcome in school. They are respectful to adults and each other and behave very well. Most pupils arrive with significant gaps in their learning and have experienced little success in school to date. Staff are ambitious for pupils' achievement. Teachers break learning down into small and manageable steps. Pupils appreciate how staff adapt the curriculum to their personal interests and aspirations. For example, applying perimeter and area in mathematics to the design of a rabbit hutch. The school offers a range of opportunities for pupils to apply their learning outside the classroom. Through these activities, pupils also develop their social and enterprise skills. For example, they have sold products at local events they have made at school. Where pupils attend the school regularly, their confidence and attitudes to learning improve rapidly. In these cases, their personal and academic achievements are tangible.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, the school has not ensured that the plans to re-engage some pupils in full-time provision are adapted to individual needs. This means that some pupils are not able to access the full curriculum. As a result, their progress through the curriculum is hindered. The school should ensure that it reviews, considers and adapts its provision to enable pupils to engage in full-time provision more rapidly.
• The school has not consistently ensured that staff have the knowledge to deliver the curriculum as intended in this context. This means that sometimes, pupils do not learn the important knowledge as well as the school expects. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and understanding to engage their pupils with learning so they can teach the curriculum as intended.

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