LAKESIDE school in Eastleigh has once again been given an ‘outstanding’ rating by Ofsted for its residential provision.

The rating is the school’s seventh top rating in a row.

Lakeside School is a day and residential special school for boys aged between 11 and 16 who have social, mental, or emotional health difficulties and require extra support, including students on the autism spectrum, as well as those with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

At the time of the inspection, there were16 residential pupils, which are split between two houses located on the school campus.

Gareth Evans, headteacher of Lakeside, said he was delighted with yet another outstanding report for the residential provision.

He said: “This obviously means that our residential staff lead by Barry Ryder (senior manager) and Linda Howard (head of care) continue to provide the best outcomes, care and social education possible for our more vulnerable and challenged pupils.”

“One of the secret’s of our success is our child focused approach, our structure, routines and clear behaviour management system, our attention to detail and our need to manage and sort out the smaller issues before they become bigger.

“Our aim now is to consolidate excellent practice and improve things even further for the benefit of our young people.”

Following his work in the residential provision, over the past 14 years, senior manager Mr Ryder retired at the end of last month.

Mr Evans said: “He has been instrumental in helping to build a team of highly dedicated staff both in school and in residential to carry on his amazing work with our special educational needs pupils.

“He never veered from his 100% professional stance and work ethic which revolved around supporting our SEN pupils and I do not think he had a sick day in the whole time he was here.”