The Brent Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where pupils have many opportunities to explore their talents and interests. Experiences such as swimming, access to climbing walls and extensive lunch time play activities enrich the curriculum. This creates an exciting school community where pupils say there is something for everyone and it is easy to make friends.

Pupils behave exceptionally well. They concentrate in lessons and do not give up when learning is difficult. They play co-operatively together at social times, treating each other as they want to be treated themselves.

Lunch time is a whirl of excitement, with a wealth of opportunities for constructive play. Pupils enjoy creating obstacle... courses, exercising in the outdoor gym, playing games with the giant parachute, navigating the trim trail, and making pies in the mud kitchen. The willow shelters offer a calm space to chill out with friends or read a book.

As a result, pupils become well rounded, kind individuals. They develop an understanding of how to take responsibility and they achieve well.

The school is determined that pupils will achieve highly.

Adults understand pupils' needs and support them to reach ambitious goals. Pupils attain well and are ready for the next stage in their education.

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

The school is ambitious that pupils will enjoy learning and make it a habit for the rest of their lives.

Pupils develop highly positive attitudes to their education. This is because leaders have created a 'can do' ethos for learning, where both pupils and adults feel psychologically safe, and mistakes are viewed as opportunities to grow and improve. Pupils understand that they can get better at anything if they keep trying hard.

These attitudes are deliberately taught through the Brent values which run throughout the school.

Children get off to an excellent start in Reception. Adults teach them to be independent and so children find their confidence quickly.

They are eager to learn and they relish challenges. Because of this, they achieve highly. Children are engrossed in activities and sustain their concentration well.

For example, when making models of minibeasts, they develop the small muscles in their fingers by carefully rolling tiny pieces of clay for insects' legs and then consider how best to make them stick to the clay insects' bodies. As pupils get older, the mature attitudes that they develop mean there are no barriers to their learning. In Year 3, for example, they share kitchen utensils safely and considerately to chop and peel fruit and vegetables when learning how to prepare food in design and technology.

Reading and mathematics are strengths of the school. Leaders regularly review the curriculum in these areas to make sure that pupils are able to grasp the basics securely and do not develop gaps in their learning. Recently, leaders have further refined the curriculum, providing even greater opportunities to develop precise reading skills and number fluency.

Pupils recall number facts well and apply them when solving problems. They are knowledgeable about the linguistic features used by writers to entertain the reader.

Staff have strong subject knowledge.

Leaders support them via effective training that develops their knowledge and teaching skills. Across the curriculum, teachers consistently model subject-specific technical language, which pupils practise in talk partner discussions. Teachers explain new ideas well and break the curriculum down into smaller steps, so pupils pick up new learning securely.

Adults do all that they can to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. Teachers are ambitious that these pupils will learn the same curriculum as their peers. They expertly tailor learning activities and resources which enable this.

In subjects such as mathematics, reading and science, teachers routinely check for understanding. They anticipate pupils' misconceptions and use them as learning points. In comparison, in some other curriculum subjects, teachers do not always recognise gaps in pupils' learning.

This means they do not know precisely what to recap or teach next. The school is working to develop assessment systems in these areas of the curriculum, so that leaders understand what pupils know and teachers can address any gaps.

Leaders are passionate about providing a curriculum which develops pupils' characters.

There are a wide range of clubs, visits, and visitors linked to the curriculum. The school teaches pupils how to take care of themselves. They know how the brain works and how to help themselves manage feelings of anxiety.

They talk maturely about the consequences of keeping emotions bottled up. Pupils learn to appreciate diversity and respect each other's different faiths and cultures.

Trustees have a strong strategic oversight based on a sharp understanding of the school's context.

Trust leaders help the school's unique identity to shine, through a measured balance of support and accountability. They help the school to engage with researched-based methods to enable all pupils to achieve even more highly.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Assessment expectations for some wider curriculum subjects are not securely in place. As a result, leaders do not always know whether pupils have learned the intended curriculum. The school should continue to develop a consistent approach to assessment that identifies what each pupil understands and remembers, so that any gaps or misconceptions in their learning are addressed swiftly.

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