Staff, pupils and governors at Potens’ Arbour House School are celebrating maintaining their Good rating, following a 3-day Ofsted Inspection in May 2022 at their Special Educational Needs (SEN) school in Weymouth, Dorset.
The school received a highly complimentary report by the Ofsted Inspectors who visited the school over three days in May, maintaining its Good rating across all areas.
The pupils who come to Arbour House are aged between 6-18 years old and have a range of complex needs, including SLD, MLD, ASD, ADHD and related difficulties. The school offers a tailored and flexible approach and aims to ensure that pupils’ educational provision is as individualised and creative as possible to best meet their needs.
The school received a highly complementary report by Ofsted, with comments such as:
• “having high expectations of what pupils can achieve.”
• “ Pupils develop trusting relationships with adults. Pastoral support is strong. Pupils receive individualised provision that includes preparing them for the next steps in their education.”
• “Leaders have high ambition for every pupil at the school. This ambition is shared among the whole staff team. Staff morale is high. They appreciate the determined leadership of the headteacher. Leaders and staff understand the needs of pupils well.”
• “Leaders place pupils’ personal development at the forefront of the curriculum. Clear routines and planned sensory activities at the start of the school day enable pupils to settle to learning successfully. When pupils struggle with their behaviour, staff react sensitively using personalised strategies to support pupils to re-engage with their learning.”
• “Carefully planned opportunities allow pupils to experience independence and develop self-awareness. Staff provide pupils with many opportunities to learn how to live independent lives. These include using public transport and visiting local areas of interest, such as the gym and libraries, as well as developing their cultural understanding through visits to London.”
Julie Perks, Headteacher said:
“I’m delighted that Ofsted have yet again rated Arbour House school as ‘Good’ in all areas. Arbour House is a very special school, where staff, pupils, parents and carers work closely together to create a strong, supportive environment for children to develop and make progress. I am incredibly proud of the hard work from both the school’s staff and pupils”
Nicki Stadames, Chair of Governors said,
“This report demonstrates the child focussed approach taken at Arbour House, and how that approach inspires learning and development in really dynamic and creative ways. This results in pupils who are excited, engaged and positively challenged to gain success – testimony of the real difference that we see the whole school team making to the lives of the children that attend.”
