Brentside High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Brentside High School has high expectations for its staff and pupils. Its vision of 'challenge for all, striving for excellence, and developing lifelong learners' is palpable in all aspects of everyday routines.

The school's purposeful ethos means that pupils learn successfully and grow and develop as individuals. Typically, pupils enjoy their lessons, behave well, and contribute responsibly to their own learning.

Across the different subjects, the work that pupils are set is suitably challenging and helps them build and secure the important knowledge well.

As a result, pupils progress confidently through the curriculum and achieve well, including pupils with... special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The school promotes pupils' personal development effectively. Pupils enjoy attending extra-curricular activities, noticeably in the sports.

They also relish taking on leadership responsibilities, such as being part of the school 'cabinet', as house leaders and as mentors.

The sixth form is highly inclusive and provides students with an exceptional quality of provision, both for their academic and their wider development. The ambitious curriculum supports students to achieve excellent outcomes, whether they select A-level qualifications or a vocational pathway.

The student-led 'Aspire' scheme helps students to pursue careers such as medicine and dentistry.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school's curriculum is broad and ambitious. It is sequenced thoughtfully, so that pupils' understanding and recall of subject content develops securely.

For example, in Year 7 English, poetry is explored through the themes of identity and culture. In Year 9, pupils use this prior learning to help them with their current study of poetry from the Romantic period. In the sixth form, the curriculum is especially effective and promotes students' high achievements.

Teachers expertly help students to deepen and connect their knowledge.

Overall, teachers have strong subject knowledge. They typically utilise a range of well-chosen approaches and activities to ensure that pupils acquire and apply important subject knowledge well.

However, sometimes, teachers do not identify and address key misconceptions effectively enough. Where this happens, some pupils do not learn as well as they could.

Pupils with SEND are identified accurately and quickly.

Teachers use this information well to adjust activities and support pupils with SEND to learn well. However, occasionally these adjustments are not focused sharply on helping pupils with SEND to embed their understanding of the important ideas. This means that, sometimes, pupils with SEND have gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

The school identifies carefully any pupils who have fallen behind in reading. It provides effective support to help them catch up quickly. A range of well-considered bespoke initiatives encourage pupils to develop their love of reading.

The school has revised its expectations for pupil behaviour, including in lessons. It takes swift action to maintain a calm and orderly environment. This means that pupils feel safe.

At times, the school's support to help some pupils to meet the renewed behaviour expectations is not as effective as it could be. Additionally, pupils raise concerns about use of inappropriate language by a small number of their peers. The school is addressing this.

Most pupils attend well. There are a small number of pupils who do not attend school regularly enough. The school has effective systems and approaches to reduce absence.

As a result, these pupils' attendance is improving steadily.The school promotes pupils' personal development. For example, pupils learn about healthy relationships, consent and how to look after their emotional and physical well-being.

Pupils are encouraged to develop an awareness and understanding of themselves and those that are different to them, preparing them well for life in modern Britain. They celebrate events, including International Market Day, and raise donations for causes they support. Pupils experience a range of well-considered activities that proactively promote their knowledge of different careers.

The school makes sure that pupils are well informed about apprenticeships and universities, especially for students in the sixth form.The school leaders, including the governing body, take effective actions to improve the school. Governors provide effective challenge and support to ensure that this school moves from strength to strength in all areas of its work.

School leaders use a wealth of information, as well as educational research, to inform and evaluate the impact of their actions, especially around the quality of education and behaviour.

Staff value the professional development opportunities provided. They appreciate how the school ensures that their workload is considered in all decisions.

For example, the school has taken steps to reduce expectations and time needed for assessment. Staff comment positively about the leaders having an 'open door' should they need to raise any issues.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, occasionally teachers do not address key misconceptions or make required adjustments to respond to pupils' needs. As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that teachers are equipped to identify and address any misconceptions in pupils' knowledge and make effective adjustments to future learning to help pupils consolidate their learning over time, particularly for pupils with SEND.

• Occasionally, the school's support to address pupils' behaviour is not as effective. This means that, at times, some pupils' behaviour does not reflect the school's high expectations. The school should strengthen its approaches to incidents of poor behaviour to ensure that pupils who struggle to follow expectations consistently receive the support and guidance they need to behave well and in a respectful manner.

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