Brookmead School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are rightly proud of their school.

They live the school's values of 'inspire, challenge and achieve' enthusiastically. The school offers a wide range of educational trips and experiences, including visiting authors and speakers who help to enrich the curriculum regularly. Pupils are happy and have very positive attitudes to their learning.

They feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

Staff have high expectations for pupils' behaviour. Behaviour management strategies are clear and consistent.

Staff adopt positive approaches that focus on recognising and celebrating pupils' achievements. The school is a calm, order...ly environment. Pupils thrive in their roles and responsibilities such as house captains, buddies and play leaders.

Older pupils help the younger ones, modelling how to share and play kindly together at breaktimes. Pupils are incredibly polite and respectful towards adults and each other.

The school has the highest expectations for what pupils can achieve.

Staff ensure that children make a strong start in the Reception Year to develop the independence and readiness for learning they need. By the end of key stage 2, pupils achieve consistently strong outcomes in end of year published results for reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils are well prepared for their next stage of education.

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

From the beginning of early years, the school has an ambitious curriculum. Staff have a strong focus on developing children's communication and language, as well as early literacy and numeracy skills. For example, children collaborated effectively to build a bridge to carry their 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' across an imaginary river.

They listened to each other's ideas and suggested improvements to each other positively.

From the start of the Reception Year children settle into school routines quickly. They are kind, share resources and respond positively to the warm, caring support they receive.

Pupils are focused and respond well to regular praise and celebrations of positive behaviour, such as 'Honeycomb thrones' in the library, house points and 'praise pads', which help to enthuse pupils to try their best. Pupils' behaviour is impeccable.

Staff have strong subject knowledge.

Across the curriculum, staff have identified the precise knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn. The school sequences lessons logically to help pupils to build their knowledge and skills well. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs identified quickly.

Where needed, the school works with external specialists, such as speech and language therapists, to ensure that pupils with SEND receive the support that they need.

In core subjects such as mathematics, and in phonics and early reading staff check pupils' learning closely and adjust their teaching effectively. However, the school is still developing systems to check pupils' learning effectively.

A small proportion of pupils have gaps in their understanding that are not addressed as well as they could be.

In most subjects, staff present information clearly, helping pupils to grasp new concepts well. For example, in history pupils can explain how different historical sources can provide clues about life in Roman Britain.

However, in some wider curriculum subjects, there are limited opportunities for pupils to write and respond independently to the activities set for them. Pupils' knowledge and skills are not reflected consistently in the work that they produce.

Reading is prioritised.

Staff deliver the phonics programme effectively. Books that pupils read are matched closely to the sounds that they have learned. If any pupils fall behind, they receive help, such as individual tuition, to catch up with their peers.

Ambitious texts challenge pupils to think deeply about a range of issues, helping to build pupils' confidence and understanding of the world around them.

Pupils develop resilience through exceptional provision of extra-curricular activities including football, netball, drawing and music provision. Pupils are inspired by the school's highly focused approach to personal development which ensures pupils receive a thorough enrichment programme.

Every pupil learns a musical instrument and has the opportunity to perform to others helping children to develop a clear sense of joy and pride in what they achieve. Music is a strength of the school's curriculum. Pupils learn about different faiths and beliefs respectfully.

They understand British values such as democracy and why these are important. The school develops pupils' character in an exemplary way.

Governors support the school well.

They have clear insight into the school's strengths and areas for development. Staff are proud to work at the school. They appreciate how their workload and well-being are managed considerately.

This supports them in developing the expertise they need and to focus on teaching and learning effectively.

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, staff do not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge or address them as well as they could.

This means pupils' progress through the curriculum is slowed. The school should continue to strengthen its systems for assessment and support staff to use them consistently well in all subjects ? In some subjects, there are limited opportunities for pupils to practise and apply their learning in independent tasks. This means the work pupils produce does not reflect, and may limit, the depth of their understanding.

The school should ensure that pupils have opportunities to practise and apply new learning in independent tasks in all subjects, so that they can achieve the high standards of which they are capable

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