Brentford School for Girls

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Brentford School for Girls is a good school.

Achievement is good overall. Over recent years GCSE results have risen steadily so that currently attainment is in line with national averages. However, gifted and talented students are not sufficiently challenged in some lessons – particularly in Years 7, 8 and 9.

Strategies for improving teaching and learning and results in history, geography and science are being effective. Students with English as an additional language achieve well. Students feel outstandingly safe in and around the school.

They reported that they were aware of whom they should talk to if they were in difficulty for any reason, for example bullying, and praised the go...od work of individual heads of house. Attendance is above average and is currently rising. The outstanding care, guidance and support and the outstanding aspects of personal development are strengths of the school.

One student commented, 'The houses are like families and the school is one big family.' Another parent commented in terms of family, 'My child has done extremely well at Brentford. Their consistency of care and encouragement has been outstanding – Well done!' Teaching is consistently good.

Inspectors observed 80% of lessons that were good or better. The school has demonstrated a high degree of sensitivity to the needs of its students and the curriculum makes a significant contribution to their personal development and well-being. Cross-curricular provision in information and communication technology (ICT) is very good.

Teachers use the interactive whiteboards well with students' active participation in front of the class. Provision in the sixth form is effective. Attainment is at least in line with national averages and constitutes good progress, including for those students who speak English as an additional language.

Inspectors' observations confirm that progress in lessons is good, reflecting the good teaching students receive. Overall, therefore, outcomes are judged to be good. The school acknowledges the need to refine its analysis of outcome data, including in courses where consortium arrangements are in place, more precisely.

It has reorganised the management of the sixth form accordingly. Although this has not had time yet to become fully embedded, there is already evidence of improvements in leadership and monitoring. Most aspects of leadership and management are good and, as GCSE results show, have brought about marked improvements in attainment.

Sensibly, the school's focus has been on improving students' confidence to sit examinations and here the school has seen significant success. The effectiveness of the governing body has improved from satisfactory to good since the last inspection. Arrangements for safeguarding are good and carefully monitored.

Community cohesion is outstanding. The school is closely involved with a Rwandan School. The school acknowledges weaknesses in its communication with some parents and carers to ensure that all are given enough notice of impending events in the school.

The school has demonstrated its good capacity for improvement through meticulous self-evaluation over the past year. This, together with its record of good support for equal opportunities for all girls, puts it in a good position to sustain its drive for improvement over the next year.

Information about the school

Brentford School for Girls is an average-sized, single-sex comprehensive school, although numbers in Year 7 and in the sixth form are rising.

Students come from diverse social, linguistic, faith and ethnic backgrounds. A large proportion of girls, two fifths, travel from inner London boroughs. Students come from a wide range of feeder schools, an average of 70 in any one year.

The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals is well above average. Almost three quarters are from minority ethnic backgrounds; the largest proportions are from Pakistani, Indian, Somali and Afghan heritages. There is an above-average proportion of students who speak English as an additional language.

A high proportion of these have little or no fluency in English when they start school. An above-average number start or leave school at other than the expected times. The proportion with special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than average, while the proportion of those with a statement of special educational needs is average.

The majority of these students have specific or moderate learning difficulties. The acting headteacher has been in post for 16 months. The school is a media specialist school and has won the Gold Award for International School status.