Kindergarten is welcoming. Every day is an ‘outdoors day’. Children learn the importance of routines and rules. Careful adult support helps children to sustain learning, take turns and make friends. Children gain a strong sense of belonging. This sets them up well for their future schooling. Pupils gain a varied set of experiences, including through the school’s specialist curriculum. Most pupils enjoy ‘making and doing’ through activities such as weaving, whittling, felt making and for the oldest pupils, copper work. Visitors and school visits consolidate learning and broaden pupils’ horizons well, for example to museums, zoos and Hengistbury Head. There is a chess club. Staff provide effective pastoral support. Pupils develop their personal identity well. However, some pupils in the main school do not receive a good quality of education because teaching is not sufficiently well matched to their needs. Some pupils do not learn at the right time the important information they need to know. Some staff’s expectations of pupils’ behaviour are not high enough. A minority of pupils misbehave at social times or do not maintain concentration in class. Students who continue to post-16 education learn a lot of subject content and gain strong inner confidence and resilience. This helps them to be successful in going on to future education, employment or training.