Staff provide pupils with a broad range of appropriate activities. These include helping to improve pupils’ play and their creative, outdoor, independence and communication skills. Pupils gain appropriate qualifications in areas such as friendships, being healthy and going places. Staff ensure that pupils’ complex special educational needs and/or disabilities are catered for well. Pupils visit their local community frequently. They enjoy shopping, cooking meals, experiencing hydrotherapy and swimming at local leisure centres. Visits by the police and fire services help pupils to learn about staying safe. Staff have high expectations. They prepare pupils well for their next steps. These may include supported or semi-supported living. Pupils are happy and safe here. They say that there are a number of adults with whom they could communicate should they have a worry. Pupils do not bully each other. They behave well. Pupils enjoy receiving star of the week awards for trying hard and achieving their targets. Parents and carers have positive views of the school. One parent said, ‘My child feels safe, comfortable, well cared for, trusted and valued. I am very pleased with the progress they are making.’ What does the school do well and what does it need to do better? Pupils study a bespoke curriculum. It is tailored closely to their individual needs. They learn from an informal or semi-formal curriculum, or, sometimes, from a mixture of the two. Leaders recently introduced the informal curriculum. This helps those pupils who need their learning to be broken down into smaller steps. This new, informal curriculum is yet to become fully embedded across the school. Staff are skilled in ensuring that pupils engage with the carefully planned activities. They know the pupils extremely well. Pupils particularly benefit from ‘plan, shop, cook.’ Here, pupils plan out a meal before buying the ingredients in a local shop. They are then helped to cook the meal when back at the school. Pupils were seen thinking carefully and discussing the coins that they might need to buy such ingredients. Pupils’ physical development is catered for well. The extensive grounds and outdoor gym equipment enable them to exercise frequently. An onsite allotment gives the opportunity for pupils to grow their own produce. A small number of pupils can recognise individual letters and simple words. They practise reading them in school and when out in the community. Some pupils enjoy listening to, and joining in with, songs. Some pupils benefit from visiting the local library.