Snowdon Village

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils come to Snowdon Village with previous negative experiences of education.

They have often had significant periods of non-attendance. Leaders prioritise building strong, trusting relationships between pupils and staff. As a result, pupils attend school increasingly well and re-engage with learning in a positive way.

Pupils are keen to describe the impact that staff have on them. They value the commitment that staff have to securing the very best for them. Parents agree.

They are greatly appreciative of the dedication, expertise and communication they have with staff to achieve goals that they never thought would be possible, for example pupils sitting GC...SEs and attending school full time.

Pupils are respectful and motivated to learn. They meet the high expectations staff have of them.

These are modelled clearly by staff and provide pupils with firm boundaries. This helps pupils feel safe and establishes a calm environment for learning across the school sites.

Pupils' welfare, physical and mental health is a priority.

Leaders provide a wealth of opportunities for pupils to experience success and increase their resilience. Pupils learn how to manage their emotions in response to demands placed on them. They are well prepared for their next steps and to become active members of their community.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has recovered from a period of significant staff turbulence at the point of, and immediately following, the previous inspection. The leadership of the school has stabilised. This has had a considerable impact on pupils' education.

It has been fully supported by a well-informed, knowledgeable academy council and the wider trust. Each of the five sites have established their vision and purpose. However, leaders have not yet unified this to create a clear, whole-school version.

They do not always have an accurate understanding of the impact of their actions and decisions at a school-wide level. Currently, they focus on individual sites. Aspects where this is fully in place, for example safeguarding pupils and building relationships, enable staff to have a shared understanding of the whole-school priorities and a more cohesive approach to working towards them.

Leaders have adopted the trust wide curriculum model and adapted it to meet the needs of the pupils at the different sites. There are subjects where this is more successful, for example reading and mathematics. In these subjects, staff are clear about expectations and pupils' progress through the curriculum.

In other subjects, adaptations to meet the needs of the pupils and address gaps in learning, from significant periods of missed learning, are not as well-established. Leaders have not secured a comprehensive overview of the curriculum across the school. Therefore, they are not able to ensure that all pupils learn as well as they could, and that stronger practice is shared.

Leaders have prioritised pupils' social and emotional needs. This is working with great success. Pupils are ready to learn.

When pupils return to their 'home' schools, leaders comment on the difference the placement has made. It supports older pupils to be successful in their post-16 destinations. Many pupils have other additional special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Staff know these well. Leaders are diligent in their work to secure correct diagnoses and support. However, these needs are not met consistently within pupils' learning.

The focus on overcoming social and emotional barriers to learning can overshadow meeting other needs. Consequently, pupils do not always develop the strategies and independence that will enable them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Leaders have established reading as a whole-school priority.

Pupils read regularly. Staff encourage pupils' engagement with reading and their understanding of its importance. Pupils at the earliest stages of reading get the support they need towards becoming fluent, confident readers.

The personal development of pupils is a strength of the school. It capitalises on the relational approach, and high expectations prioritised by staff. The breadth of the offer is impressive.

For example, younger pupils have outdoor learning and participate in a range of trips and visits to increase their social skills and learn about the world around them. Older pupils have access to vocational activities matched to personal interests. This develops their confidence, resilience and future aspirations.

Staff provide pupils with relevant and unbiased careers guidance.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have ensured that safeguarding is high priority.

Staff know pupils very well. They are alert to the risks that pupils face. Leaders use this knowledge to plan relevant safeguarding training.

Staff know how to identify and report concerns. Leaders take prompt action to follow up any concerns. They are tenacious in securing appropriate support for vulnerable families.

Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe through the curriculum. Leaders use their knowledge of local issues and pupil experiences to ensure that pupils learn to be alert to risks and how to manage these.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders' overall strategic vision and oversight of the whole school lacks clarity.

There are areas of the whole school provision that are clear, fully communicated and understood by all. However, other aspects are overseen at individual sites. As a result, there is not a cohesive and fully amalgamated view of the school as one entity.

This leads to inconsistencies which, at times, impact on pupils' experiences. Leaders need to draw on the wealth of information that is available for individual sites and design a clear and unified strategic view of the school. ? Leaders do not have a fully formed oversight of the academic curriculum beyond what is in place on each site.

As a result, there are inconsistencies in how successfully some pupils learn in line with leaders' high ambition. Leaders need to ensure that strong practice is shared, and staff have the knowledge they need to support pupils to achieve the best possible outcomes. ? Staff meet the primary social, emotional and mental health needs of pupils well.

However, there is too much variability in how learning is adapted to meet the additional needs that pupils have so that their learning is accessible without reliance on adult support. Pupils do not always have the necessary resources and strategies available so that they can learn with an increasing level of independence and reduction in adult support. Leaders should ensure that staff gain the expertise they need to support pupils in overcoming additional barriers to learning, with less reliance on adults.