Priory School's residential provision in Bury St Edmunds retains ‘good’ Ofsted rating in annual inspection

A special school’s residential provision is somewhere children are happy spending their time and they gain skills for independence, inspectors have said.

Ofsted found Priory School’s residential offering to be ‘good’ for overall experiences and progress of children and young people and in terms of how well they are helped and protected and the effectiveness of leaders and managers.

The education watchdog inspected the setting, in Mount Road, Bury St Edmunds, in September, with praise for staff throughout the report.

Staff are described as ‘kind and caring’ towards the children, who have built trusting relationships with them, youngsters’ health needs are monitored closely and they keep busy with a range of activities in the residential area and the local and wider community.

The report noted improvements had been made in terms of the oversight of the management of the premises and maintenance issues, including fire safety, however Ofsted said leaders should ensure fire doors were in full working order and free from obstruction.

Lawrence Chapman, CEO of SENDAT (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Academies Trust), which runs the setting, said: “We are pleased with the report that shows the residential provision remains good with many positive outcomes for students. This is also in recognition of the hard work by staff.

“There are always things that could be improved and it’s helpful to have an independent assessment of these.”

He said the inspection of residence was an annual inspection and they were working hard to move to ‘outstanding’ at the next one.

This latest Ofsted inspection raised the judgement for effectiveness of leaders and managers from ‘requires improvement to be good’ to ‘good’.

The report said: “Children are happy spending time staying in the residential provision. Children arrive with enthusiasm and excitement and are greeted warmly by staff, who know them very well. Children are relaxed with staff and continually engage with them.

“Children are making progress with developing skills for independence and steps towards adulthood.”

It also said parents spoken with had all said they had been’ delighted and often surprised’ at the level of progress their children had made.

The manager was described as a ‘role model’ who is seen as being committed to children and focused on enhancing their lives and steps towards adulthood.

Ofsted also said to improve the setting needs to comply with these national minimum standards:

•have regular visits by at least one governor to the residential provision;

•and school leaders and the governing body should ensure a review of the quality of the residential provision is carried out and recorded in writing each year.

This residential special academy is for students with complex/moderate learning difficulties.