Brookside Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching, including in the early years, by ensuring that teachers:
  • plan learning activities for pupils that challenge them to think more deeply so that they can move on to more difficult concepts quickly
  • ask questions to check whether pupils have understood the work and probe to deepen their learning
  • make better use of assessment information to ensure that pupils are working on activities suitable for their starting points
  • are given opportunities to observe and learn from the skilled practitioners within the school.
• Improve outcomes for pupils by ensuring that:
  • pupils in all year groups, not just at the end of each key stage, make consistently good progress
  • the most able and the most able disadvantaged groups increase their rates of progress so that more of them reach the higher levels of attainment expected for their age.
• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • the curriculum is planned and delivered so that pupils make progress across a broad range of subjects in addition to English and mathematics
  • information about pupils’ behaviour is analysed and evaluated effectively so that there is a clear understanding of what needs to be done further to improve behaviour.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• School leaders have not ensured that pupils currently in the school make good progress across the required range of subjects in all year groups. As a result, the school still requires improvement to become good.
• School leaders and teachers improved outcomes for pupils from 2015 to 2016, increasing pupils’ progress and raising their attainment in Year 2 and Year 6. These improvements have been sustained. However, they have not been extended to other year groups.
• The recommendations from the last inspection have not been tackled successfully. School leaders have taken action to improve pupils’ writing skills and pupils now have more opportunities to write. However, other actions have been less successful. Weaknesses remain in teaching, in both the early years and the main school.
• School leaders have not ensured that the curriculum that is planned is actually delivered. As a consequence, pupils do not have enough high-quality opportunities to learn successfully in a range of subjects other than English and mathematics.
• The school has experienced a high staff turnover in recent years and rightly, parents are concerned. In July 2016, seven staff, including a senior leader and the headteacher, left the school. Trust leaders and governors have found it difficult to recruit suitably experienced and qualified staff because of national teacher shortages. The trust has taken action to support the school, deploying staff from within the trust to work with the school, providing training for teachers and recruiting teachers from overseas. However, training and support have not yet led to good teaching.
• Teachers and teaching partners say that they are well supported by school leaders and the trust. They have had training on behaviour management and are being supported to develop their teaching skills. However, school leaders do not make enough use of their own skilled teachers to share good practice across the school.
• The headteacher is highly visible around the school. He greets pupils and parents every morning and is always available at the start of the day for parents to talk to if they wish to do so. He has developed strong relationships with pupils.
• The impact of the additional funding for the pupil premium on pupils is variable. Some strategies are more successful than others. The breakfast club, support to improve attendance and additional phonics booster sessions are having a positive impact on pupils. Pupils’ outcomes are inconsistent because other strategies to improve learning are less successful.
• The physical education (PE) and primary sport funding is having a positive impact on pupils’ learning. Staff training is making a positive difference to pupils’ skills and enjoyment of physical education.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well. The school’s ethos supports pupils to be reflective, respectful learners. Pupils are nominated by their class teacher to receive commendations for demonstrating the characteristics of the school’s six values each week.

Governance of the school

• Governors responded well to the review of governance recommended at the last inspection. They are holding senior leaders to account more effectively and this has improved their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. However, they have not yet been successful in ensuring that the school is providing a consistently good standard of education.
• Governors are very committed to the school and to improving it for pupils and families. They visit often, go into classes and look at books. Governors acknowledge that staff turnover has made it difficult either to sustain the improvements made in the last two years in teaching and learning, or to build on the strong pupils’ outcomes in 2016.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff are trained centrally by the trust at the start of the academic year with up-to-date guidance and requirements. The designated safeguarding lead for the school runs additional sessions for teachers who start mid-year and also for agency staff. Staff spoken to by inspectors knew and understood the procedures and were confident that they knew how to respond if they had any concerns.
• Staff vetting checks are the responsibility of the academy board rather than the local advisory body (governors). These are completed correctly. Procedures and communication between the trust and the school on staff checks are clear and work effectively.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• There is too much inconsistency in teaching so that overall, pupils are not making good progress. Teaching is particularly weak in the foundation subjects, and in year groups other than Year 2 and Year 6.
• In some classes, teachers do not provide challenging work for pupils and do not move pupils on quickly enough to more difficult concepts. Teachers use a range of resources designed to meet the needs of pupils from different starting points. However, not enough care is taken to select work that is appropriate for different groups of pupils.
• Teachers’ questioning is of variable effectiveness. Too often, teachers do not ask questions to check that pupils have understood the work or to probe and deepen their understanding. However, the most skilled teachers ask questions that make pupils think and encourage them to work problems out for themselves. For example, in a mathematics class, teachers’ strong questioning helped pupils work out the relationship between the number of sides and edges in a prism.
• Pupils know their targets and they understand how the work they are doing will help them achieve their targets. Pupils use the school’s assessment statements well to check how well they are doing. However, teachers do not always set enough challenging work for pupils.
• Pupils have opportunities to talk to each other about their learning. Pupils enjoy these activities, which have a positive impact on their speaking and listening skills.
• Teachers provide useful planning resources to help pupils structure extended pieces of writing. Pupils use these well to plan paragraphs and include the relevant features of different types of writing. Pupils’ writing has improved since the last inspection and they are increasingly confident in their writing, particularly in Year 2 and Year 6.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Bullying is rare and teachers will always deal with it. Pupils across the age range say that they are confident that any adult in school will help them and that their concerns are dealt with swiftly. Parents are less certain and a minority expressed concerns about the school’s response to behaviour, including bullying.
• Pupils are confident that they know how to keep themselves safe. Pupils have been taught how to keep themselves safe while using the internet and were keen to tell the inspectors about the recent assembly on staying safe online. Pupils have also had road safety training for pedestrians as well as cyclists. They learn how to stay healthy.
• The school is developing its partnership work with parents. The school offers a breakfast club and invites parents to attend class assemblies. The partnership with parents has a positive impact on pupils’ welfare.
• Pupils understand the school’s ethos and values very well and are reminded of these in assemblies and through follow-up activities in class. Pupils often talk about the importance of respect and this is starting to have an impact on pupils’ behaviour and learning. Pupils show respect to each other in class and support each other well.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. School leaders have successfully reduced the number of exclusions to zero since the last inspection. A new behaviour system is in place. However, there are still some incidents of inappropriate behaviour around the school. School leaders do not evaluate the information about behaviour effectively, so they have not been able to make further improvements.
• Pupils’ behaviour in classes is variable. When learning is poorly planned and delivered, pupils, particularly boys, sometimes become restless, stop working and disrupt the learning of others. Pupils behave well, work hard and enjoy their learning when activities challenge them to think and work sensibly with each other.
• The dining hall is a calm and pleasant place for pupils to eat lunch and where pupils almost always follow staff instructions immediately. The headteacher is visible around the school and always takes the opportunity to remind pupils about how they should present themselves and interact with each other.
• Pupils’ attendance has improved since 2014. In the last academic year, pupils’ attendance was above the national figure for primary schools. The proportion of pupils with persistent absence was below the national figures. Pupils enjoy coming to school.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ progress is inconsistent and varies widely across year groups. School leaders have focused staffing resources on the end-of-key-stage year groups. As a result, pupils in Year 6 and Year 2 make better progress than those in other year groups.
• In Year 2 and Year 6 in English, work in pupils’ books and the school’s own progress information show that pupils’ progress is in line with national expectations. This is because writing activities are well matched to pupils’ needs so that all pupils can succeed. Pupils’ work in mathematics shows that standards have improved since the last inspection, particularly for number work in Year 6.
• In other year groups, pupils’ progress is inconsistent. Pupils’ work in books shows that standards are lower, particularly in Year 4 and Year 5. Pupils repeat mistakes in English and mathematics. Very few pupils are working at greater depth in these year groups. Pupils in Year 1 and Year 3 make slightly better progress in these core subjects.
• Pupils learn about subjects, other than English and mathematics, as cross-curricular topics. Pupils do not make as much progress as they should in these subjects. Not all teachers follow the school’s curriculum plan and teachers often use these sessions as catch-up for English and mathematics, so learning in, for example, history, geography and science, becomes fragmented. Pupils find out about facts in a topic but do not develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in these subjects.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make variable progress depending on the quality of teaching and how well they are supported by the teaching partners. In most classes, the teaching partners provide effective support, particularly in English and mathematics.
• In 2016, disadvantaged pupils attained broadly in line with other pupils nationally in key stage 1 and for low- and middle attainers in key stage 2. Currently, disadvantaged pupils (particularly the most able disadvantaged) are making less progress than other pupils in English. Disadvantaged pupils make better progress in mathematics and the differences are diminishing, particularly for the most able disadvantaged.
• Pupils’ knowledge of phonics is good, as a result of carefully planned teaching. In 2016, pupils’ attainment in phonics was above the national figure at the end of Year 1. By the end of Year 2, pupils who have made slower progress during Year 1 have caught up. Pupils use their knowledge of phonics well in reading and writing.
• Pupils enjoy reading and are well supported in school and by parents at home to develop their reading skills. They choose texts appropriate for their age, and pupils in all year groups apply their knowledge of phonics to sound out unfamiliar words in the text. Pupils’ understanding of the meaning of vocabulary and text is less well developed.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The effectiveness of the early years provision requires improvement because of weaknesses in teaching and behaviour.
• Children’s learning in speaking and listening requires improvement because adults do not provide enough opportunities for children to develop their language and vocabulary. Adults are not skilled in encouraging children to talk by asking questions and engaging them in a dialogue about the activities.
• Children need more support from staff to improve their behaviour. Sometimes, children become resentful because they are directed to activities that do not interest them. Adults do not always notice when children are become distracted and noise levels rise.
• Children do not have enough opportunities to write and are working below the expected level of development in writing. In Reception classes, children have completed only four pieces of writing since September, one of which was writing their name. Children, particularly girls, make better progress in phonics.
• There is a wide range of activities for children. They know how to take turns and begin to develop leadership skills in groups. In a mathematics game using the interactive whiteboard, children organised themselves into a line so they were all clear whose turn it was next. They supported each other well and encouraged each other to have another go if an answer was incorrect.
• School leaders monitor children’s progress and compare children’s results with those in other trust schools to make sure that they know accurately how much progress children are making. If children fall behind, school leaders use additional support to help children catch up. However, this has limited success because of underlying weaknesses in teaching.
• Safeguarding in the early years is effective.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139117 Hillingdon 10023580 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 489 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Elizabeth Wakling Nicholas Obie 020 8845 6634

www.brooksideprimarysch.co.uk brooksideprimary2@gmail.com

Date of previous inspection 28–29 January 2015

Information about this school

• Brookside Primary School is larger than most primary schools.
• The school’s ethos is based on six values, with the expectation that pupils will be respectful, responsible, reflective, resourceful, rational and resilient.
• Governors make up the local advisory body for the school within the trust’s governance structure.
• The school is a member of the Rosedale Hewens Academy Trust. The trust provides a range of support to the school.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium funding is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below that seen nationally.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards (the minimum expectations of pupils’ attainment and progress).
• The headteacher took up his post in September 2016.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all year groups. Many observations and shorter visits were made with the executive principal and the headteacher.
• Two groups of pupils talked to the inspectors about their views of the school and inspectors also talked informally with pupils at break- and lunchtime and around the school. Inspectors also heard pupils read.
• Inspectors carried out a book scrutiny across a range of subjects and year groups to see how well pupils are learning and what progress they are making.
• Inspectors met with members of the governing body and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust.
• School leaders and leaders from the trust who are closely linked to the school met with inspectors to discuss their roles and the impact of their actions to improve the school.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documents, including records of pupils’ progress and behaviour, curriculum plans, the school’s own evaluation, minutes of governing body meetings and safeguarding records.
• Inspectors considered the nine responses to the staff questionnaire and met with a cross-section of staff to discuss their views of the school.
• Inspectors took account of the 22 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and talked informally with parents at the start of the school day about their views of the school.

Inspection team

Janet Hallett, lead inspector Claire Majumdar Roger Easthope

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector