Estuary High School is a special school for a maximum of 10 boys, between 13 and 18 years of age, with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Pupils attending the school are all considered to be highly vulnerable, given the special nature of their Inspection report: Estuary High School, 1–3 May 2018 Page 9 of 12 difficulties. Pupils may also have additional special educational needs, such as speech, language and communication needs, or autism. There are currently seven boys on roll, five of whom have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan. All pupils are children looked after who have been placed in the school by one of a number of local authorities. Nearly all students are White British and none speaks English as an additional language. The school, which opened in January 2007, is part of Kites Children’s Services Limited. The school aims to provide: ‘a learning environment which will enable students to have a full range of educational activities, both within school and wider community, within a supportive framework that offers students encouragement, therapy, self-awareness and discipline’. As numbers are very low, there is no separate provision for the 16 to 19 learners. All pupils, including those in the sixth form, receive a personalised learning programme tailored to their needs. The school uses a local farm to provide a programme for work-related learning in the sixth form. It also uses local park amenities for sports coaching and pupils attend a foodtechnology session at a local supermarket. Since the previous inspection, the proprietors have changed the composition of the school’s steering group to ensure more robust challenge and support for the headteacher. The group now consists of the school’s improvement partner, the head of care, Kites Children’s Services safeguarding leader and the headteacher. In 2016 the school made a request to the Department for Education (DfE) for a material change in the number and age range of pupils in the school. They no longer want to take on more pupils and will be talking to the DfE about an updated material change request regarding age of entry of pupils.