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 schools first education inspection and achieved an overall Good grade, with the Quality of Education getting an Outstanding grade.
Maple View School, which is one of 6 schools operated by the SENAD Group, opened in June 2020 and works with children aged 6 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 which is ambitious, broad and well-planned and 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. 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 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. There is a strong focus on creativity and well-being, with music at the start of the day and yoga to close. A half-termly book, accessible to all, is the focus of whole-school cross-curricular planning, encompassing the areas of music, art, literacy, science and the humanities. It also supports reading at all ages.
The inspectors also praised the skills of the specialist therapy staff and their ability to increase the communications skills and confidence of the children at the school.
