Staff and children at Maple View School in Derby are starting the new academic year with a fantastic Ofsted Education Inspection report.
The inspection, which took place at the beginning of July, was the school’s first education inspection and achieved an overall Good grade, with the Quality of Education getting an Outstanding grade.
Curriculum is ambitious, broad and well-planned
Maple View School, which is one of six schools operated by the SENAD Group, opened in June 2020. It works with children aged six to 16 years of age with autism and associated complex special needs, including communication.
Inspectors praised the school for offering each child an individualised curriculum that is ambitious, broad and well-planned.
They also praised the expertise of the teachers in adapting the curriculum for each individual child to ensure learning is embedded and learning targets are met if not exceeded.
Individualised curriculum pathways
Children follow individualised curriculum pathways, either semi-formal or subject-specific, according to ability, with EHCP Outcomes and preparation for life after Maple View at the core of their pathway.
Children are grouped with compatible peers, based on development cognition levels and not necessarily chronological age. The multi-disciplinary teams work together to support their development and learning through the establishment and tracking of Learning Intentions.
Children engage in classroom-based learning, including daily literacy, numeracy and PSHE activities. In the afternoons, they can access horticulture and small animal care, cooking, Forest School and community-based activities and have the opportunity to work with children from other classes.
Focus on creativity and wellbeing
There is a strong focus on creativity and wellbeing, with music at the start of the day and yoga to close. A half-termly book, accessible to all, focuses on whole-school cross-curricular planning. It encompasses the areas of music, art, literacy, science and the humanities. It also supports reading for all ages.
The inspectors also praised the skills of the specialist therapy staff and their ability to increase the communication skills and confidence of the children at the school.
See the full report
To read the report in full, please visit Welcome to Maple View School – The SENAD Group
