Brooklands Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Brooklands Primary is a warm and welcoming school.

Pupils, staff and families are proud to be a part of this school community.

The school has high expectations for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have taken effective steps to ensure that their ambitious aims for the curriculum, including in early reading, are realised in practice.

Staff understand and implement this vision well. They know how to support pupils gain and remember knowledge, and this means that pupils achieve well. Nevertheless, some aspects of the school's work to promote pupils' achievements are not fully embedded.

This me...ans that, sometimes, pupils are not learning knowledge as deeply as leaders intend.

Pupils feel safe and are kept safe. They are taught how to keep safe online.

They trust adults to deal with any issues, such as bullying. Pupils know that staff are there to help them if they have any worries. Pupils play happily together at social times.

Older pupils care for younger pupils by being their buddy and supporting them during playtimes.

Pupils enjoy the range of experiences beyond the academic curriculum, such as educational visits and extra-curricular clubs. Pupils have the opportunity to be part of the pupil parliament or to become one of the school's eco-warriors.

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

The leadership and management at this school are exceptional. At all levels, there is a tangible commitment to supporting the Brooklands community as well as ensuring that pupils achieve highly. The trust board and local academy committee know the school well.

They provide a highly effective balance of support and challenge. Decisive and reflective action is taken in the best interests of the pupils. The professional development of all staff is prioritised and thoughtfully planned out, with a focus on strengthening their expertise in teaching the curriculum.

Staff feel very well supported and that their workload and well-being is taken into account.

The school's curriculum is ambitious. Starting from the early years, curriculum thinking clearly sets out the precise skills and knowledge that pupils need to learn.

The key vocabulary that pupils need to remember in each subject has also been carefully mapped out. The in-depth curriculum thinking supports teachers' subject knowledge very well. However, some of this curriculum is new.

This means that it has not yet had time to be fully embedded and, in turn, have an impact on some of pupils' outcomes, including in statutory assessments. As a result, while pupils learn and recall important knowledge in a subject, there are times when their understanding is not as secure and detailed as leaders expect. Leaders and staff are working at pace, in collaboration with other trust schools and with support from trust leaders.

Effective approaches are being put in place to support pupils' learning and enable them to develop a deep body of knowledge across the curriculum. For example, teaching provides pupils with carefully selected opportunities to recap and recall their prior learning. Regular checks on what pupils know and can remember are used to ensure that they do not develop gaps in understanding.

Pupils with SEND are fully included in all aspects of school life. Any additional needs are quickly identified and support is put in place. Staff training ensures effective adaptations in lessons so that pupils with SEND learn well alongside their peers.

The school prioritises reading. A sharp focus and investment in staff training has resulted in a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics. Daily phonics lessons teach pupils the sounds that letters make in a systematic manner.

Pupils have lots of opportunities to practise using these sounds to read words. Pupils that are falling behind have extra phonics lessons and support. This ensures that they catch up swiftly.

The books that pupils read are closely matched to the sounds that they know. This helps them to become confident and fluent readers. The focus on reading continues as pupils get older.

A well-thought-through whole-school approach to reading ensures that pupils continue to develop their reading fluency and understanding of what they read. A love for reading is promoted through the daily 'collective cuddle', where pupils are immersed in a story. Author visits and book fairs help to get pupils enthused about reading.

Pupils also have reading buddies and a whole-school 'reading champion' initiative encourages reading at home.

Children in the early years get a positive start. The environment is engaging, with clear routines and expectations from the start.

This helps to prepare children for their learning from Year 1 onwards.

Pupils enjoy school. They are polite and respectful.

In lessons, pupils are focused on their learning. They respond promptly to adult instructions and commands. Any low-level disruption that does occur is swiftly dealt with, so that it does not disrupt pupils' learning.

There are clear procedures in place to monitor and track pupils' attendance. The school supports families well to overcome any barriers to their children attending school.

The provision for pupils' personal development is broad and has been well considered.

The school's core values of curiosity, resilience, excellence, aspiration, togetherness and empathy are used to guide pupils and prepare them for their future. Pupils are taught that everyone has the right to be treated with respect and that not all families are the same.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some aspects of the curriculum are new and not fully embedded. Although staff understand and implement the school's curriculum well, there are a few aspects that need to be embedded further so that pupils' learning deepens as leaders intend and pupils remember detailed knowledge in the long term. The trust and the school need to continue supporting leaders and staff to fully embed the school's curriculum so that it has the intended impact on pupils' learning.