Glenbrook Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Glenbrook Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Glenbrook has a calm and friendly feel.

Pupils are polite and courteous. In class, pupils work well with their peers and they are enthusiastic about their learning. Since the previous inspection, the school has moved to a new building.

Pupils appreciate the dedicated spaces available for art and music, as well as the outdoor spaces.

Pupils are taught about the importance of cooperation and tolerance. They have a lot of opportunities to take on extra responsibilities.

For example, pupils are proud to be school councillors and peer mediators. These responsibilitie...s aim to build pupils' confidence. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and respectful.

Pupils know that staff have high expectations and want them to do well. Teachers bring subjects alive through a well-planned and interesting curriculum. Pupils say that they feel well supported by their teachers.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) learn the same ambitious curriculum. Staff expect pupils with SEND to develop the same knowledge as their peers.

Pupils feel safe at school.

They say that bullying is rare. If there are disagreements, pupils know that staff will help them to resolve these problems. Pupils behave well in and outside of lessons.

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

The curriculum at Glenbrook is ambitious and carefully organised in most subjects. Throughout the pandemic, the headteacher and her team have maintained a clear focus on providing all pupils with a broad and well-planned curriculum.

Leaders have thought carefully about the knowledge they want pupils to learn in each year group.

Pupils are motivated and enjoy learning. They are keen to explain how they are developing their knowledge in subjects such as science and geography.

Reading is prioritised as soon as children join the early years.

Children in the Reception class benefit from daily phonics teaching. This continues for pupils in Year 1 and 2. Staff follow a carefully planned phonics programme.

They have been trained on how to deliver the programme effectively. This ensures that pupils develop the knowledge that they need to become fluent readers. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning to read.

However, some pupils' reading books are not well matched to the sounds that they have been taught. Leaders have already begun to address this.

Reading for pleasure is well promoted.

In all year groups, staff read a wide range books to their class. They also encourage pupils to select different authors and texts when they are reading for pleasure. The well-presented school library is a focal point of the school.

Pupils enjoy talking about the books that they like reading and their favourite authors.

Alongside reading, leaders have focused on developing pupils' vocabulary. This focus is evident in all areas of the curriculum.

Teaching introduces and revisits essential vocabulary for each subject. Pupils have well-planned opportunities, including in lessons and assemblies, to recap the meaning of words that they have learned.

Mathematics is also planned and delivered well.

The curriculum focuses on making sure that pupils have a secure understanding of essential concepts, including number and calculation methods. This begins in the early years. For example, Reception-aged children practised counting by working out how many legs they needed for their paper mini-beasts.

Pupils confidently apply what they know to solve mathematical problems. They like explaining how they worked out the correct answers. Pupils persevere and support each other if they find a question difficult at first.

Teachers are well trained. They appreciate how leaders support them to deliver the mathematics curriculum. Leaders and teachers check pupils' learning regularly.

They adjust subject planning to quickly address any gaps in pupils' knowledge.

History and geography are taught through the class theme. Pupils learn and revisit important knowledge in order to develop their understanding.

For instance, Year 1 pupils practised working as palaeontologists to recap and deepen their knowledge of the life and work of Mary Anning. However, some teaching prioritises improving pupils' writing over the development of essential knowledge in history and geography.

Leaders and staff understand the additional needs of pupils with SEND.

Staff have the expertise to help pupils with SEND learn well. They are quick to adapt teaching and provide well-targeted extra help when pupils need it.

Leaders provide pupils with many experiences designed to support their wider development.

This includes opportunities to contribute to their community and help others. For instance, pupils organise events for charities and the anti-bullying week assembly. Pupils behave very well, and lessons are rarely disrupted.

Children in the early years are well supported by staff.

Staff feel well supported by leaders. They particularly appreciate the way leaders involve them in decisions about their training and development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and staff understand risks to pupils' welfare, including those that pupils may face outside of school. Staff are vigilant and aware of the additional risks that may exist due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Pupils learn how to stay safe in different situations, including when they go online. Year 6 pupils are taught about personal safety to help prepare them for their move to secondary school.

Effective systems are in place to identify and help pupils who are vulnerable to abuse or harm.

Leaders manage safeguarding concerns appropriately and work closely with external agencies. Leaders have adapted policies to maintain a strong culture of safeguarding throughout the pandemic.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have adopted a well-structured system for teaching phonics.

This means that pupils get off to a strong start in learning to read. However, some pupils' reading books include sounds that pupils have not been taught. This holds pupils back from reading fluently and accurately.

Leaders need to ensure that pupils practise reading with books that match the sounds they have been taught and know securely. ? Subject planning for history and geography provides clear guidance on the essential learning pupils need to know and remember. However, sometimes, the delivery of the curriculum does not focus sharply on this essential learning.

Pupils are sometimes set tasks which do not contribute as effectively as they could to the development of subject-specific knowledge. Leaders need to provide teachers with clear guidance on how to strengthen delivery of the history and geography curriculum.

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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that a good 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 the school to be good on 10 May 2016.

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