Surrey specialist school provides ‘high level of support’

At the time of its inspection in July, Aurora Redehall School, in Redehall Road, Smallfield, was a primary school that shared its site with Caterham Education Centre offering secondary provision, with a combined roll of 74 pupils aged six to 19.

Since the summer, Redehall has become solely a primary school with a capacity of 52 children aged six to 11 with Autism Spectrum Condition and social and communication difficulties.

Describing the school as having a “happy and positive atmosphere”, the inspectors said “staff skillfully support pupils to manage and regulate their behaviour. Consequently, attitudes to learning are strong and little learning time is lost.”

The report added that the school had established a culture for reading where “pupils joyfully acquire knowledge of letters and sounds”.

Rating the school ‘Good’ in each of the four grade categories, the Ofsted inspectors said the school had “consistent expectations for pupils to work hard and high ambitions for their achievement”.

The Ofsted report graded:

• The quality of education: Good
• Behaviour and attitudes: Good
• Personal development: Good
• Leadership and management: Good
• Overall effectiveness: Good

Head of School Bremila Thavarajah, who took up her role in October 2024, welcomed the report and said it was clear that the inspectors could see how the children had progressed over time.

She said: “Our children are exceptional. They have learned to learn. My aim is to ensure that when they leave us at 11, they’re literate and numerate and are equipped with the key skills.

“We’ve created a strong culture of improvement, development and learning. It’s now about building on what we’ve already achieved and going from strength to strength.”

Bremila said great work was being done at the school around the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) curriculum as well as behaviours and attitudes. She was also pleased that new speech and language communication classes were having an impact and meeting the needs of pupils.

She added that the school was also far more diverse and multicultural than it was when she joined. “A year ago, pupils were predominantly boys but now we have 15 girls, and the school community is far more diverse now, reflecting the local communities we serve across Surrey, West Sussex and Croydon.”

Bremila praised staff saying they had helped create a learning community for everyone at the school. “We have a solid team of teachers some of whom are experienced and others at the start of their careers. Everyone wants to be here to help the children. That makes it easy for me to drive the school forward,” she said.

“Ofsted’s report enables us to focus on making improvements that will build on the very positive picture they paint of Aurora Redehall School.”