The Valiant School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 19 November 2024

This is a school with positive relationships at its core and a distinct moral purpose at its heart. Pupils experience a warm welcome, an encouraging word and an unerring acceptance here. They enjoy coming to school because they feel safe and valued. This is a happy school where pupils are supported very well to improve their behaviour. There is rarely any bullying or unkindness because staff provide consistent boundaries. These are underpinned by a strong focus on restorative practices and the highly respectful relationships between staff and pupils. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These often include social, emotional and mental health needs. The school aims to re-engage pupils with learning and for pupils to return successfully to their mainstream school or to another specialist setting. There is a relentless drive to get next steps just right so that pupils experience success, thrive in areas of their education and pursue their interests and hobbies. Despite many pupils only spending a short time here, there are high expectations of the effort pupils put into their work. From their starting points at this school, pupils achieve well because staff here provide non-stop encouragement and support.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, staff do not emphasise key knowledge in phonics and mathematics effectively. This means that, sometimes, pupils do not acquire this knowledge as securely as they could. The school should make sure that staff make effective use of the learning time available so that pupils' learning of basic phonics and mathematics knowledge is maximised.
• Sometimes, staff do not identify pupils' next steps as carefully and precisely in the core subjects as they could. As a result, those pupils who find learning particularly difficult do not learn the important knowledge securely. The school should make sure that it further develops the ways in which staff assess and monitor small steps in pupils' learning so that pupils make strong progress in the curriculum and from their starting points.

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