West Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 15 June 2022

Pupils experience a personalised approach to learning at West Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre. Pupils are taught in one of six provisions depending upon their age and special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The main school site has the largest population of pupils. Some pupils attend other settings, including in mainstream schools. This ensures that pupils can experience elements of mainstream school with the support of specialist staff. Leaders ensure that pupils' needs are met through this structure. Leaders are visible and involved in all aspects of school life. Pupils are used to seeing leaders around school. This includes teaching classes and supporting pupils at the beginning and end of day. Pupils enjoy talking to the principal. Staff know pupils and their families well. All pupils and their families are very much members of the school community. Pupils are happy at school as a result. Pupils behave well and staff have high expectations of them. Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. This ensures that each school site is calm and purposeful. Leaders ensure that each school setting has robust systems to monitor behaviour. Bullying is not an issue, but if it were, pupils say that staff would help them. Pupils say they feel safe.

What the school should improve

• Quality assurance systems are not fully embedded in the West Area Inclusion Partnership. This means that the monitoring of the quality of provision is inconsistent across all sites. Leaders have yet to fully affect change in the leadership systems used to ensure the quality of provision. Leaders need to embed the quality assurance systems used at other settings consistently in the West Area Inclusion Partnership.
• The semi-formal curriculum pathway is less well developed than other areas of the curriculum. Learning often focuses on the lesson activity rather than deepening subject knowledge. This means learning can be distracted by activities rather than developing a secure bed of knowledge. Leaders should further develop curriculum plans that build on prior subject knowledge that enables pupils to know more and do more.

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