LEADERS at a special school in Colchester say they are “pleased” after a recent Ofsted visit noted it had “made progress” since being rated inadequate last year.
Lexden Springs, in Stanway, was given the rating by the education watchdog following an inspection of the school’s social care provision in November.
The school, in Winstree Road, cares for pupils with special educational needs, severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties, and autism.
In the last report, inspectors raised concerns about staff failing to establish the cause of bruises on a child and not taking further action when a child had contact with an "unsuitable adult".
The school’s social care provision was downgraded from its inspection in 2022, where it was rated good.
Following the damning report, a monitoring visit was carried out by a two-person inspection team to check action is being taken by the school to meet the requirements set at the last inspection.
The visit concluded the school had met the steps and progress has been made to improve the experiences and progress of children.
The report said: “Overall, the school has made progress in addressing the issues.
“Responses to safeguarding concerns have improved.
“All staff have had additional safeguarding training to improve their awareness of their safeguarding responsibilities.
“Staff follow procedures for responding to concerns about the safety of a child.”
Inspectors also noted children’s engagement in the community had improved and a lift in one house, which had not worked for several weeks, has been repaired and is now in full working order.
However, the report did note further work is necessary to ensure a “mutually supportive relationship between the residential provision and the wider school”.
School bosses "pleased"
A spokesman for the school said: “We are pleased to see our school has met the steps to improve the experiences of the children we support.
“This is a real testament to the hard work and dedication of our residential staff team.
“We have already begun actioning the feedback in this report and have prepared a detailed plan to continue improving children’s experiences.”
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