Salford City Council’s pupil referral unit, Broadwalk Green PRU, has received positive recognition for the excellent work it does with children and young people in Salford following a recent Ofsted inspection.
Inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005, which saw Ofsted make the following key judgements across four areas:
- Outstanding: Personal development
- Outstanding: Leadership and management
- Good: The quality of education
- Good: Behaviour and attitudes
Broadwalk Green PRU relocated to a new venue in September 2024, and supports up to 55 pupils aged 11 to 14 years old. Children who attend the PRU have struggled to access mainstream education, and most have been excluded from school. They may attend from 6 weeks to two years in some cases.
As part of Salford City Council’s strategy to create a fairer, greener and healthier city, as well as its focus on becoming a UNICEF-accredited Child Friendly City, the unit provides extra support for pupils, delivering a broad and balanced curriculum and supporting personal development that enables the pupils to make better progress and improve their life chances.
Staff at the PRU include teachers, teaching assistants, mentors, subject and SEND specialists, family support workers, outreach and re-integration support, and outdoor learning leaders.
Councillor Jim Cammell, Lead Member of Children’s Services at Salford City Council said: “These excellent Ofsted ratings are a fantastic achievement and really reflects the strong relationships that have been built with parents and carers and other agencies to support children and young people in Salford.
“We are very proud of our staff who help to ensure that Salford City Council’s schools provide high quality education, supporting children to recognise how to engage successfully with learning and build positive relationships in a safe, caring, inclusive and nurturing environment.
“Working towards Salford becoming a UNICEF Child-Friendly City is a priority in our corporate plan, and ratings like these demonstrate that we’re on a positive journey to improve education outcomes, support children to have positive and successful futures, and champion the voices and rights of children and young people in the city.”
The Ofsted report says:
During their time at the school, pupils grow in confidence and re-engage with education. They value their relationships with staff, who go out of their way to get to know each pupil as an individual. Pupils, all of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn to trust staff. This helps them to feel happy and safe in school.
The curriculum is delivered well. Staff are skilled at breaking down new content into well-considered, manageable chunks. They relate new learning to what pupils already know and their wider lives. Staff question pupils to check their understanding and deepen their thinking. The school makes checks on pupils’ learning in a way that supports their long-term retention of the most important content. This helps pupils to make significant progress through the curriculum.
Leaders have ensured that the school has a committed and motivated workforce. Collectively, staff strive to fulfil the school’s commitment that ‘everyone belongs, everyone achieves’. Leaders’ collaboration with parents and carers is exceptional. Families are fully involved in the review and planning of support for their children.
The full report can be viewed on the Ofsted website.
