Riverwalk School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher and leadership team provide good leadership and benefit from effective support from the governing body. As a result, the school continues to improve.

Staff have a good understanding of how to support the special educational needs and/or disabilities of the pupils they provide for. Leaders promote pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and their physical well-being effectively. Staff have good relationships with pupils and manage their behaviour well.

Pupils are well behaved throughout the school. They have good attitudes to learning and have positive relationships with others. The school promotes pupils'... well-being and safety effectively through its good welfare provision.

Consequently, pupils feel safe. Teachers make good use of resources in planning interesting activities to motivate pupils to learn. The teaching of reading at key stages 1 and 2 is of inconsistent quality.

Occasionally, adults fail to check how well pupils use phonics in reading and writing, which limits the progress of a small proportion of pupils. Teaching assistants provide good support for pupils' learning. A few teachers do not track pupils' progress across all subjects.

Pupils make good progress in all subjects, including English and mathematics. Older pupils at key stage 4 make good progress in their examination courses. Groups of pupils, including the most able pupils and disadvantaged pupils, make equally good progress as others with the same starting points.

As a result of good leadership in the early years, the quality of teaching is good and the links with parents and local schools are strong. Consequently, children make consistently good, and occasionally outstanding, progress in all areas of learning. Students in the sixth form make good progress in examination courses as a result of good teaching and good leadership.

Students are prepared well for living in the community and all move on to appropriate courses in further education or training.

Information about this school

Riverwalk provides for pupils who have a range of special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those who have profound and multiple learning difficulties and those who have complex health needs. All pupils have an education, health and care plan.

Pupils come from across Suffolk and some attend local mainstream schools on a part-time basis. The school uses no alternative providers and there are no offsite units run by the school or in conjunction with other schools. The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium funding is slightly higher than in most schools.

A high proportion of pupils are looked after by the local authority. Most pupils are White British and a small proportion speak English as an additional language. Since the previous inspection, the school has been reorganised into a lower school consisting of early years, key stages 1 and 2, an upper school consisting of key stages 3 and 4 pupils and the sixth form.

The school now operates from three sites, which is an increase from the two sites at the previous inspection. Children in the early years are based at the mainstream Sexton Manor Primary School site. Pupils in key stages 1 to 4 are educated at the Riverwalk School site.

Students in the sixth form are now educated in new purpose-built accommodation, Riverwalk College. Since the previous inspection, the senior leadership team has been reorganised, with the appointment of a new deputy headteacher, and there has been a significant turnover of staff. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.