Emily Wilding Davison School in Ponteland has made 'rapid improvements' since it was inspected in January earlier this year, the school's leadership says.

The school is a co-educational secondary school provision for up to 100 students with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.

It opened at a new site in Ponteland in September 2022 after relocating from Seghill where it was known as Atkinson House Special School.  

Ofsted inspectors rated the school as inadequate following their inspection on 17 and 18 January 2023.  

Although inspectors raised a number of concerns, particularly around some challenging behaviour at the time of the inspection and its impact on the quality of education, the report recognised how staff “care deeply” about the young people at the school and that there are some strong relationships between staff and pupils. 

Inspectors found no evidence that bullying is an issue in school and all of the children spoken to felt safe.  

They also noted that: “all parties were motivated by the desire to provide a high-quality education for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).”  

Acting headteacher, Dr Michael Hutchison, was appointed to the role in November 2022. 

Dr Hutchison said: “Major changes have taken place in our school since we were inspected by Ofsted in January 2023. 

“At the time of the inspection, we were experiencing some challenges following the transition to our new site. 

“We are very disappointed with the report and I hope you will agree with us that it is not representative of the climate in our school today.   

“However, we were pleased that inspectors recognised how leaders and staff care deeply about the young people at the school, that there are some strong relationships between staff and pupils and all of the children spoken to felt safe. 

“We are confident that we are bringing about positive change. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our whole school community – our staff, governors, parents and carers and most of all our young people for all that they have achieved over the last year.”