A RESIDENTIAL special school has been given a ‘good’ rating following an Ofsted inspection.

Cloughwood Academy, in the Mid-Cheshire Campus, Hartford, was rated ‘good’ in the categories of overall experience and progress of children and young people, how well children and young people are helped and protected and the effectiveness of leaders and managers.

Insp Pam Nuckley said: “Young people can stay for up to two nights in the week, have extended evenings, or have a combination of both.

“Young people thoroughly enjoy their time in residence. One young person said, ‘It is like going on holiday every week.’ A parent said, ‘It gives our family time to regroup, but most importantly he looks forward to going there’.

“Young people say that they have good relationships with staff and with each other. They could identify a member of staff who they could talk to if they had a concern.”

The inspector observed a few points for improvement.

Insp Nuckley added: “Records are not clear because they are not dated and have not been signed by the author. For example, there are several care plans on young people’s files.

“This means that there is difficulty in knowing whether this is new or old information, or whether all parties are in agreement with the plans.

“When members of staff attend training events, their attendance is recorded as a group. Further to this, not all training results in a certificate of completion.

“Therefore, it is difficult to know which members of staff attended and who still requires to complete the training.”