James Brindley School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Over the last two years, leaders, staff and governors have worked together very effectively to improve all aspects of James Brindley School. Pupils now receive a good quality of education, whichever part of the school they attend or for how long.

Teaching for the pupils who are in hospital and those at the specialist centres is skilfully adapted to their complex needs. This allows them to retain a sense of normality and make good progress even when they are very ill. At the three main teaching centres, much of the teaching is good.

It is largely well planned and suitably challenging. The best is highly analytical about the gaps in pupils'... learning and this information is used well to plan the next steps. However, this effective analytical approach is not yet consistent in all subjects.

Many pupils at the teaching centres make good progress over time across the curriculum. However, they do not always achieve as well as predicted in their GCSE examinations, partly because they are not given enough experience of examination conditions. For a few pupils in key stage 4, the curriculum and accreditation does not fully meet their needs as it is not practical enough.

Pupils who are taught at home are enabled and encouraged to reintegrate into school as soon as they are able to do so. When pupils fall behind, they often attend intervention classes. While these are sometimes useful, they are not always sharply focused enough on what pupils need to learn.

Pupils make good and sometimes outstanding progress with their social and emotional skills, confidence or their behaviour, depending on their needs. Leaders have built good relationships with parents, and keep parents well informed about their children's progress. Leaders set high expectations for pupils' attendance and tackle non-attendance strongly.

Attendance in each part of the school has improved considerably. However, some pupils still do not attend as well as they should and this has an adverse effect on their achievement. Sometimes pupils in the teaching centres spend time out of classes through their own choice, thereby missing learning time.

Safeguarding is strong. Leaders, staff and governors are well trained and vigilant. There are good systems for monitoring pupils' welfare.

The governing body is well led and effective. Governors have a good knowledge of the teaching centres, the specialist sector and the hospitals. They use this knowledge effectively to challenge leaders as well as to support them.

Information about this school

James Brindley School converted to become an academy in the spring term 2013. The school has 11 centres catering for pupils with a wide range of needs, mainly related to medical or mental health conditions. The centres are spread across Birmingham.

The school also runs a home-teaching service. Around 200 pupils are registered only at James Brindley. They attend one of three teaching centres: Dovedale, Parkway and Northfield.

There are few primary-aged pupils and more than half the pupils are in Key Stage 4. Around a third of pupils who are single registered have a statement of special educational needs. Around three quarters are White British, and a quarter are from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds.

A small number are looked after. Not quite half are eligible for the pupil premium. Dovedale has pupils from key stages 2 to 4, and caters for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder.

Northfield and Parkway are for pupils with medical needs; Northfield for key stage 3 pupils and Parkway for key stage 4. Until September 2016 Northfield and Parkway each had key stage 3 and 4 pupils. Most of the other pupils are dual registered with their main school.

These pupils are either in hospital or are resident in a specialist centre for a period of time. There are a few post-16 pupils at any one time at the hospitals and some of the specialist centres. Occasionally, very young children, who would be in the early years, will be at one of the hospitals.

The school has around 200 pupils at any one time at Birmingham Children's Hospital, smaller numbers at Heartlands Hospital and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, and sometimes pupils at the Queen Elizabeth, and City Hospitals. The residential specialist centres, Larimar, Newbridge, Ardenleigh and Willows, each cater for pupils with a range of mental health needs. The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic groups who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, or who are looked after in the hospitals and specialist centres, varies from one week to another.

The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the allocation and impact of the pupil premium and sports funding, the SEN information report, information about governors, equality objectives and the school's complaints policy on its website. Some of this information does not comply because it is incomplete, or is out of date. The school does not comply with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

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