A RINGWOOD School is celebrating after being rated 'good' by Ofsted.

The students, staff and trustees of The Sheiling School are 'delighted' with a rating of good following their recent full Ofsted education inspection.

Sheiling School provides placements for children and young people between the ages of 6 and 19 with severe, complex and moderate learning disabilities including autistic spectrum disorders.

In their latest Oftsted report, lead inspector Nathan Kemp, praised the school in a number of areas: “Sheiling School gives pupils with complex special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) the chance to shine.

"Leaders’ high expectations are realised through the effective teaching of the school’s ambitious curriculum. They provide pupils with rich academic and pastoral opportunities.

"Pupils behave and attend extremely well. They value one another. Pupils are taught the importance of friendships and enjoy sharing what they like about their peers.

"The leaders’ work to support pupils’ personal development is exemplary. Leaders expose pupils to the knowledge that they will need to lead safe and healthy lives.

"Pupils are confident learners. They establish warm, trusting relationships with adults. This helps them to feel safe to take risks. Staff plan these risks carefully, supporting pupils’ character development well.

"Phonics and reading area strength of the school. Leaders’ determination that pupils of all ages learn to read is paying off."

Mr Kemp also noted areas of improvement in order to help the school achieve an outstanding rating: "There are some pockets of inconsistency in the support that adults provide for pupils. Where this occurs, pupils do not access learning as successfully as others.

"Through training and monitoring, leaders need to ensure that staff provide consistently strong quality of support for pupils.

"Leadership of the school is generally strong. Senior leaders need to continue their work on developing these aspiring leaders so that they fulfil their new leadership responsibilities well."

Head of School, Andy Walters said: “I am delighted with the strong elements of learning and practice at the Sheiling that have been recognised in this recent inspection and, particularly, the effectiveness of the school in supporting students to develop personally as well as academically. As ever, I am extremely grateful to the staff teams around the Sheiling who work extremely hard to provide the best educational offer possible for our students.”