Brookfield Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders, governors and trustees are highly ambitious. They have made significant improvements across the school for the benefit of pupils.

Pupils currently make strong progress in reading and mathematics because these subjects are taught systematically. Outcomes in writing are more variable especially for lower-ability pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). There are examples of highly effective teaching of writing in some classes.

However, these are not shared widely across the school to develop best practice. Leaders have used training opportunities judiciously to improve the quality of teaching and... learning. Staff are really positive about the support that they receive.

Pupils appreciate the range of trips and clubs that supplement the broad and balanced curriculum. Many middle leaders are new to post. The full impact of their work in different subjects is unclear.

Consequently, work in topic and science books is variable. Leaders have successfully improved attendance. Pupils are keen to learn and proud of their school and their achievements.

Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. Playtimes are busy and productive. There are very low rates of exclusions because : leaders provide excellent pastoral care.

There have been considerable improvements in early years over the last few years. Children now get a good quality of education, cooperate well and are motivated and engaged learners. Parents, staff and pupils hold very positive attitudes about learning, behaviour and safety.

Leaders prepare pupils well for secondary school and beyond. A strong focus on spiritual, moral, social and cultural development ensures that pupils are well-rounded citizens. A comprehensive careers week gives them something tangible to aim for in their futures.

Information about this school

This is a larger than average-sized primary school. It joined the LEO Academy Trust in November 2016. Its predecessor school was inspected in June 2015.

This inspection judged the school to be good overall. All the individual judgements were also good apart from early years, which was found to require improvement. The trustees delegate some elements of their work to the local governing body.

The distribution of roles and responsibilities is very clearly laid out in documents that can be found on the school's and the trust's websites. The early years consists of a Nursery class and two Reception classes. There are two classes in each year group throughout the rest of the school.

The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is lower than the national average. The proportion of pupils with SEND whose needs are met through SEN support is higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils that have an education, health and care plan is lower than the national average.

The proportion joining the school other than at the beginning of the Reception year is higher than the national average. Nearly a third of pupils speak English as an additional language. This is higher than the national average.

The school's high mobility means that some of these pupils join at the very early stages of learning English. The school serves a very diverse community. Just over half of the pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, representing 15 different ethnic groups.