Saxon Hill Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Saxon Hill School provides pupils with a range of physical and learning needs with a good education.

Pupils' achievement is good, some pupils make outstanding progress. The sixth form is outstanding and provides excellent opportunities for students to put their skills into practice in the local community, such as at the garden centre and enterprise business park. Leaders, managers and governors have made sure that the school is improving, that pupils achieve well and that teaching and learning are good.

The school has developed an innovative range of subjects and methods that meet the needs of less-able pupils very well. The behaviour an...d safety of pupils are outstanding because they have extremely positive attitudes to learning, to the staff and to each other. The school meets all the national minimum standards for residential special schools, and often exceeds them.

The residential provision is outstanding, and makes an excellent contribution to pupils' behaviour, safety and enjoyment of school. The school has excellent links with the local community and these support pupils' learning and personal development exceptionally well. The Early Years Foundation Stage class enables children to settle into school well.

They make good progress and are well prepared for Key Stage 1. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Outstanding teaching is not yet spread widely enough across the school and some teaching lacks variety, pace and imagination. Pupils do not use information and communication technology enough to support their learning.

Marking does not make clear to pupils what they need to do to improve their work. The recording of pupils' progress does not easily allow comparisons to be made with how well pupils are performing nationally.

Information about this school

The school provides education for pupils with a wide range of physical disabilities, medical and increasingly complex learning needs, including profound and multiple learning difficulties.

Pupils are drawn mostly from South Staffordshire and all pupils have a statement of special educational needs. The proportion of students for whom the school receives pupil premium funding (additional funding allocated by the government for certain groups of pupils, in this case, those who are known to be eligible for free school meals and who are looked after by the local authority) is above average. No pupils are eligible for the Year 7 catch-up premium.

The school provides respite, residential experiences and extended days. The 'sleepover club' is for pupils aged 4 to 19 years, and they spend varying amounts of time in the residential provision, according to need. The school provides help and support for pupils with physical disabilities, through the physical disability support service (PDSS), who attend local schools in the county.

This service supports up to 100 pupils in mainstream schools. Some pupils attend off-site activities at a local garden centre and enterprise business park. The headteacher took up his post in the spring term of 2011.