Begdale House School, Wisbech

What it's like to be a pupil at Begdale House School

Pupils arrive at Begdale House with previously negative experiences of education. Many start here having not attended school for a significant period. All pupils have an education, health and care (EHC) plan linked to their social, emotional and mental health needs. Pupils value staff understanding them as individuals and what their needs are. This includes understanding the barriers they face to attending school. Well-matched support helps pupils to successfully re-engage with education. Pupils appreciate being greeted in the morning by caring and attentive staff. This helps them to settle into their form rooms for breakfast, ready for the day ahead. Pupils rebuild their interest in learning different subjects. They particularly enjoy honing their culinary skills during cookery lessons or learning how to code during robotics sessions. These help to start to identify potential aspirations for pupils' lives after school. Pupils behave well during the day. They enjoy making new friends while playing football on the playground or games inside. Pupils treat each other with respect. They also show respect towards staff. Typically, pupils stick with work in lessons and want to achieve well. They want to secure the qualifications they need for their next steps in education. Pupils benefit from the many opportunities leaders provide to enrich the curriculum. Additional sessions linked to personal, social, health and economic education teach pupils important content on keeping safe. Getting out into the community is important to pupils. Pupils grasp the many opportunities they have to do this. This helps to develop pupils' confidence. It also helps them to learn more about topics they study in class. Whether learning about mathematics at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, or about the impact of plastic pollution while conducting a beach clean, the visits pupils go on are a highlight of their time at school.

What Ofsted says the school should do next

• Leaders should ensure their monitoring and quality assurance enables them to systematically evaluate the impact of their work. This is so they can more skilfully adjust their approaches as needed.
• Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment more precisely to adapt their teaching, and the work they set pupils, to better match pupils' prior knowledge.
• Leaders should ensure the support they offer results in pupils continuing to improve their attendance once they have successfully settled at school.

Begdale House School specialises in welcoming pupils who have had negative experiences of education and missed significant periods of schooling. Through caring, attentive staff and well-matched support, pupils rebuild their confidence and successfully re-engage with learning. The school goes beyond academics, offering enriching experiences like community trips and specialist sessions that help pupils discover new interests and aspirations for their futures.

Safeguarding standards are met - leaders have established an open culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, concerns are actively identified and acted upon, and pupils are made safer and feel safe.

Cookery lessons, robotics sessions, football, indoor games, community trips (Imperial War Museum Duxford, beach clean activities), careers fairs, college visits, substance abuse awareness workshops