Brierley Hill Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Brierley Hill Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff at Brierley Hill encourage pupils to behave well and to be proud of their achievements. Pupils receive 'always' badges for sustained good behaviour.

Their achievements are celebrated on the 'Times Tables Rock Stars' wall display in the main corridor. Pupils are keen to receive the badges and to have their name on the 'Times Tables Rock Stars' display.

Teachers plan activities that pupils enjoy and that help them make progress.

Pupils also go on trips and visits that make learning fun and memorable. They study a wide range of subjects and are well pr...epared for secondary school.

Teachers call the parents of the pupils they teach regularly to let them know how well their children are doing.

Parents appreciate these calls that praise pupils' efforts and attitudes.

Pupils behave well in lessons. They get on well with their teachers and work well together.

The atmosphere during breaks and at lunchtime is calm and friendly. Pupils say that when bullying happens, adults deal with it. There is no tolerance of bullying in the school.

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

Leaders have reorganised teaching across the curriculum. They want pupils to study all subjects in more depth. They also want to broaden pupils' horizons.

Teachers are adapting the content of each subject to support these aims. They provide more exciting and relevant experiences to pupils. In science, lessons involve more experiments.

In mathematics, pupils use what they learn to solve everyday problems. In many subjects, pupils visit places of interest related to the topics they study. Pupils told me that they enjoy this way of learning.

They also said that they can remember what they learn better as a result.

Leaders know that these new ways of teaching are not well established across all the subjects yet. In September, they appointed leaders for every subject that did not have one already.

These new leaders will need support to continue to develop teaching in their subjects.

As part of their curriculum, pupils learn about the world they are growing up in. In personal, social and health education, they learn about how to be healthy and about relationships.

In religious education, they learn to understand and respect different beliefs. In assemblies, they learn about democracy and the rule of law.

Pupils contribute to the school community as members of the school council.

The school council publishes an anti-bullying newsletter and organises assemblies during anti-bullying week. Pupils in Year 6 volunteer to be playground buddies to younger pupils at breaktimes and lunchtimes.

A key priority for the school is to teach children to read well as soon as possible.

In the Reception Year, staff use phonics to develop children's ability to read. They teach children in small groups, according to how well they read. When children find reading difficult and are at risk of falling behind, staff help them to catch up.

Support for pupils who find reading more difficult continues through Year 1 and Year 2. Most pupils can read well by the end of Year 2.

The school motto is 'every child achieves'.

Leaders and staff work hard to make sure that this is the case. Pupils join the school with a wide variety of abilities and needs. Teachers plan activities to help all to achieve.

Support staff help pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in lessons. Because of this help, and careful planning, it is rare for pupils with SEND to be out of lessons for extra support.

Children attend a Nursery and a Reception class in the early years.

There is also a small provision for two-year-old children. The early years areas provide a safe and stimulating environment both indoor and outdoor. Children are well looked after.

Staff are well trained and caring. They design activities to help children develop their knowledge and social skills. They record every child's progress.

The provision is well led and managed. Staff encourage parents to join in their children's education.

Leaders communicate well with staff.

They are mindful of the pressures teachers and support staff may experience. They have introduced new training 'menus' for all members of staff. This initiative is popular.

Leaders need to continue to develop and embed this individualised approach to professional development.

Governors want the school to succeed and are generous with their time. Leaders value the strategic support they provide.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The headteacher and senior leaders take responsibility for safeguarding. They ensure that staff receive regular training and updates.

They review policies and practices every year. Adults who work at the school are confident to report issues when children may be at risk. Leaders work well with families and external agencies when serious issues affect children.

Pupils learn how to stay safe as part of the curriculum and in assemblies. They know what not to do when using the internet and social media. The school organises talks from external visitors about risks pupils may encounter in their everyday life.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders have redesigned the curriculum so that it is better planned and sequenced. The implementation of the new curriculum is effective, but leaders need to ensure that new practices are fully embedded to allow for sustained impact on pupils' progress. This is particularly the case in some foundation subjects where new content and sequencing was only introduced in September.

. The newly appointed leaders of foundation subjects play an important part in the success of the implementation of the new curriculum. The school needs to continue to support the development of their leadership skills.

Their development as curriculum leaders will further strengthen the leadership capacity of the school. . Leaders have introduced a new, highly personalised approach to professional development for teachers, teaching assistants and ancillary staff.

This has been very well received. Leaders need to embed this approach to continue to improve staff expertise.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Brierley Hill Primary School to be good on 21–22 June 2016.