The Greens ENS, Greater Manchester

What it's like to be a pupil at The Greens ENS

Nurturing and trusting relationships between pupils and staff are a prominent feature at the school. These relationships help pupils to feel safe and reach out for help during times of need. Prior to joining the school, some pupils had very low attendance at their previous settings. Individual and well-measured approaches from leaders help pupils to engage in regular school attendance. Across the school, many pupils maintain high levels of attendance over time. Pupils benefit from bespoke support that helps them to manage and self-regulate their emotions. As a result, the school is typically calm and orderly, with pupils engaged in their learning activities. Incidents of bullying are rare. When any concerns arise, they are dealt with quickly by leaders. All pupils have an education, health and care plan. There is variability in the precision with which some pupils are supported to overcome their barriers to learning. Pupils do not consistently receive the support or high-quality teaching that they need to learn successfully. This includes important knowledge linked to phonics and aspects of writing. This hinders pupils' learning. Pupils appreciate the extensive range of trips that leaders provide. The rich array of culture on offer in the city and beyond is opened up to pupils through these trips. Many are linked to what pupils have been learning about in school. For example, pupils visit museums, universities and other places such as the beach. As pupils get older, they begin to learn important life skills such as cooking meals and learning how to budget. Residential trips help pupils to further develop their independence, teamwork skills and resilience. Pupils develop an understanding of what it means to take on responsibilities. These range from helping to tidy up after lunch through to going into the local community to help with litter picking.

What Ofsted says the school should do next

• Leaders should ensure that staff are suitably trained so that the support provided to pupils reduces barriers to learning and ensures that needs are met.
• Leaders should ensure that staff have the knowledge they need teach the curriculum well and design learning activities that are informed by pupils' starting points.
• Leaders should ensure that pupils at the early stages of reading benefit from consistently well delivered phonics lessons.
• Leaders should ensure that staff act in a precise and timely way to address any gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills linked to writing.
• Leaders should ensure that appropriate actions are taken to drive improvement forward across all areas of the schools work so that all of the independent school standards are met.
• Leaders should ensure that pupils consistently develop a secure and detailed knowledge across the personal, social and health education curriculum.

The Greens ENS creates a warm, nurturing environment where pupils who previously struggled at school re-engage with their learning and feel genuinely valued. Staff build strong, trusting relationships with pupils and provide excellent support for their emotional wellbeing and behaviour. The school offers rich experiences and trips that help pupils develop independence, confidence and important life skills.

Safeguarding standards are met - leaders have established an open culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified and managed.

Trips to museums, universities, the beach, visits to places of worship, residential trips, food technology lessons, cooking and budgeting lessons, community litter picking

Bus Stops