Every pupil is welcomed into Sycamore Hall Preparatory School. Pupils say that they feel included from the moment they join the school. Many expressed how they appreciate the calm and purposeful atmosphere in classrooms and around the school building. Pupils behave well. They know that staff have high expectations for their education and want them to achieve well. Parents and carers and pupils all say that they feel part of a family in this small independent school setting. Pupils are taught to behave respectfully. Leaders have very high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils are able to explain why bullying does not happen here. They demonstrate strong friendships both in class and throughout the school day. The school’s ethos is based on development of the individual child with a focus on kindness, good manners and good citizenship. However, leaders show a lack of understanding of their wider safeguarding duties. This contributes, in part, to pupils not being prepared well for wider British values or life outside the school gate. Pupils are not supported to gain an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through the relationships education offered to them. Protected characteristics, as set out in the Equality Act 2010, are not discussed. Leaders have not delivered learning that encourages pupils to respect those with different sexual orientation or gender reassignment. They do not learn about civil partnerships or marriage when this is not between a male and a female. Pupils do not learn how look after their mental health. Some pupils worry about whom they can speak to if they have concerns. Leaders are not teaching pupils enough about how to stay safe. They do not keep records of low-level concerns around pupils’ well-being. Not all staff have received the safeguarding training that they require. Pupils are potentially at risk because leaders are not carrying out their safeguarding duties robustly.