Ofsted finds safeguarding is effective at Northampton special school after concerns raised

Ofsted have judged safeguarding to be effective at a Northampton special school after an urgent inspection was carried out in response to concerns raised.

Kings Meadow School, in Moulton Leys, is a special primary school for pupils with severe social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

An urgent inspection of the school was carried out in November and an inspector found safeguarding arrangements to be effective.

Ofsted inspector, Dave Gilkerson, said: “The strong relationships staff have with pupils create a safe environment for pupils to share any worries or concerns they may have.”

Ofsted described Kings Meadow School as having a “strong safeguarding culture” and leaders who are quick to act when they have concerns about pupils’ welfare, involving other agencies if needed. The school has appropriate procedures in place to manage any allegations about adults, the report added.

Inspectors were assured that the current ratio of staff to pupils is adequate to ensure the safety of pupils.

However, staff feel that it has become harder to meet the more complex needs of some pupils and experienced staff leaving has resulted in extra work and pressure being put on them.

According to Ofsted, leaders at the school know that the current curriculum is not tailored carefully enough to meet all the varied needs of every pupil.

Therefore, leaders have started to redesign the curriculum into three specific pathways to offer better support to pupils at different levels of engagement with education. However, leaders have not yet ensured they have a strategic overview of all the pupils’ needs as outlined in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

To improve, leaders at Kings Meadow School need to ensure that all teachers are fully resourced to provide a curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils at the school.

Graded judgements are not given by Ofsted during urgent inspections. However, if evidence is found that overall standards may be declining, the next inspection will be a full graded inspection. If serious concerns are found, the urgent inspection will immediately become a graded inspection.

Kings Meadow School was graded ‘good’ by Ofsted at their last full inspection in November 2016.