The Brook Special Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 15–16 March 2012 Inspection number 376677 The Brook School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 102177 Local authority Haringey Inspection number 376677 Inspection dates 15–16 March 2012 Lead inspector Melvyn Blackband

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Special School category Community Special Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 95 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Hugh Williams Headteacher Margaret Sumner Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected School address Adams Road London N17 6HW Telephone number 020 8808 7120 Fax number 020 8885 2719 Email address admin@the brook.haringey.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors observed 14 lessons and spent a total of five hours and 40 minutes in classrooms. Eleven teachers were observed. Meetings were held with parents and carers, pupils, staff and members of the governing body. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at a range of school documentation including all safeguarding and child protection policies and records, curriculum schemes of work and the school’s planning. They also looked at assessment records and the school’s tracking of the pupils’ performance. Inspectors took into consideration the views of 25 parents and carers in returned questionnaires, as well as those in 19 pupil questionnaires and 32 staff questionnaires.

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Information about the school

The Brook School was formed from the merger of two all age special schools- William C Harvey, together with the Moselle School. In September 2011 they combined to form The Brook School and a secondary special school. The Brook School, now in new premises is co-located in premises with the Willow Primary School as part of Broadwaters Inclusive Learning Community. The Brook is larger than the average school of its type. Phase one of the building is complete and houses pupils in Years 1 and 2 as well as Reception aged children. Phase two is due to be completed in the autumn term 2012 and will house pupils aged from 7 to 11 years of age. The building is designed as a shared learning community and pupils from The Brook and The Willow Primary School attend lessons or recreational activities at the two schools according to their continuum of need and abilities. Pupils at The Brook have a broad range of needs, including pupils with profound and

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Information about the school

multiple and severe learning difficulties, those with autistic spectrum disorders and a few pupils with moderate learning difficulties. All the pupils have a statement of special educational needs. The aim of the new school is to provide for a spectrum of needs where every child’s needs are met.

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Information about the school

There are a slightly lower number of girls than boys and a high proportion of pupils are known to be entitled to free school meals. The school has a very high number of pupils from different ethnic backgrounds, reflecting the make-up of the borough. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a good school which has made tremendous progress since the two schools were brought together. All aspects of provision are good and the behaviour, care and safety of the pupils are outstanding. The school is not yet outstanding because of some weaknesses in teaching and in the management of the school.  The majority of pupils make good progress, especially in their communication and personal skills, although the quality of assessment and target setting is not as strong as it might be. The developing inclusion of Brook pupils with mainstream pupils from The Willow School is proving to have a good impact. Pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage make equally good progress.  Teaching is good throughout the school with a growing number of outstanding lessons. The curriculum is well adapted to meet a diverse range of learning needs and pupils respond with excellent attitudes to their learning. Literacy and

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Key findings

numeracy are well taught. In the best lessons, each small gain in the progress of individual pupils is recorded and activities adjusted accordingly. In less successful lessons, this is not always the case and learning targets are not as precise as they could be.  Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. Despite sometimes severe emotional and communication difficulties, pupils quickly settle and learn over time to control their own behaviour. They feel secure and relaxed and parents and carers overwhelmingly confirm this to be the case. As a result, the provision for their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is excellent.  Leadership and management are good. The headteacher has been inspirational in driving through the changes to provision and, together with the deputy headteacher, is relentless in her drive for improvement. Together they have high expectations of teachers and manage their performance well. The school is

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Key findings

effectively developing the roles of other more recently appointed leaders, especially middle leaders, but they are not having sufficient impact on raising attainment because they are not fully experienced in monitoring and evaluating the provision and pupils’ progress. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the attainment and progress of pupils further by ensuring that teachers and other adults in classes: - assess and record every small gain in learning which the pupils make in lessons - use this precise assessment information to set focused small steps and learning targets for each individual pupil which build on previous gains and help pupils to make faster progress - ensure that pupils have as good an understanding as possible of how to improve their own performance.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop and strengthen the role of senior and especially middle leaders to enable them to play a full part in monitoring and evaluating the provision and the extent of pupils’ progress.

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Achievement of pupils

All pupils make good progress throughout the school. The children in the Early Years Foundation Stage get off to a good start, particularly in developing their early communication and independence skills. They learn to respond and participate through a rich variety of carefully adapted language-based activities in stimulating play. Although pupils’ attainment remains low throughout the school, they all, including those from different ethnic backgrounds, progress well from their different starting points in learning to communicate and in responding to adults and other pupils. The few pupils who are ready to start to master reading skills are making good progress. Communication in various forms, as well as counting and number games and rhymes, feature strongly in every lesson and so pupils constantly practise and extend their skills in literacy and numeracy. This was seen in an excellent Year 1 lesson where the small group of pupils interacted with the teacher and assistants in

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Achievement of pupils

singing and repeating rhymes. Because of the precise targeting of the teacher’s work with each child, they all greatly enjoyed the session and made outstanding progress in understanding oral and picture clues and in responding with sounds and hand or eye movements to words about themselves and numbers.

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Achievement of pupils

Progress in communication is good. Almost all pupils enter the school with little or no language or understanding of language. Pupils with profound and multiple difficulties respond well to a stimulating sensory curriculum by gradually improving eye contact and general alertness and by responding where possible through electronic switches or by sounds and smiles. As pupils with autism move up through the school, they effectively learn to communicate through a variety of augmentative communication systems. They make good use of PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) as Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

well as signing simple requests. Pupils learn to express phrases and sentences in pictures and symbols, which in turn has a good impact on their learning to use verbal language. By Year 6, some pupils are able to respond verbally in simple phrases and this represents, for the minority, outstanding progress. Parents and carers feel strongly that their children are making good progress, a view endorsed by inspectors.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers plan well to meet the needs of each pupil by carefully adapting activities within a well-designed curriculum which emphasises the skills of communication and number awareness. Where teaching is strongest, teachers maintain precise records of pupils’ progress and adapt learning in a sophisticated way to take every advantage of the tiny steps in progress which most pupils make. On a few occasions, adults do not assess and record in sufficient detail these small learning steps and this can affect the sharpness of future planning, which leads to less well-defined learning targets. Pupils are sometimes unsure how to improve their work and this can slow down the pace of learning. Relationships are very good and pupils respond with excellent behaviour and attitudes to their learning. Teachers know pupils well and respond quickly to their responses and so effectively overcome any barriers to learning. They ensure pupils with profound and multiple difficulties are comfortable

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Quality of teaching

and well positioned to make the most of their experiences and ensure that pupils with autism have a very clear understanding of how to act in each situation.

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Quality of teaching

Adults in the Early Years Foundation Stage work well together to plan the activities for each child and, as a result, teaching is well structured and successful. The developing inclusion of Brook pupils with mainstream pupils from The Willow school is very successful. In an outstanding joint music session, pupils from both schools had great fun together while learning about pitch and rhythm. The learning was outstanding, while pupils from both schools developed their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding very well in supporting each other, responding with wonder and curiosity to the sounds they were making. In one telling example, a mainstream pupil carefully assisted a Brook pupil to put her helmet back on after she had knocked it off in her excitement.

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Quality of teaching

Lessons are interesting and well paced to maintain the pupils’ motivation. The quality of support for each child is very effective and adults are becoming more proficient in anticipating and responding to the needs of pupils who are relatively new to them. Classrooms are well managed and pupils are almost always attentive, gradually learning to take turns and support others in their learning. Parents and carers unanimously feel that teaching is good at the school and meets their child’s needs. Inspection findings confirm these views.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The pupils are kept safe by extremely high standards of care. Pupils with profound and multiple difficulties, those with autism and those in the Early Years Foundation Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Stage provision are supported with immense care and dignity. Pupils are relaxed and secure and report that there is no bullying or name calling and that they are friends with everybody. The school’s records securely confirm this is the case. There is an extremely high level of trust between pupils and adults. Parents and carers have every faith in the school and one parent spoke for many when she said that she feels the school cares for her child as well as she does.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

As a result, behaviour is outstanding. This is because of excellent relationships and a very clear understanding by teachers of how to maintain the pupils’ interest and to ensure their learning and emotional and social needs are met. There are very clear behaviour expectations, which pupils understand. They are very supportive towards each other and accept every other child no matter what their disability. As a result, their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is very good. Attendance is above average for the type of school, despite the fact that many pupils sometimes require hospitalisation or respite care. Parents and carers report that their children really look forward to coming to school. The school’s behaviour manager works closely with pupils, staff and parents and carers to ensure pupils are happy and thriving and he is well supported by a strong team of professional therapists and

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

specialist teachers supplied by the local health authority and local authority. On the few occasions when pupils’ behaviour becomes challenging, this is dealt with extremely effectively. For instance, in an outstanding physical education lesson, when severely autistic pupils were reluctant to take part or became over-excited, they were diverted extremely skilfully into similar activities and so became part of the group again. This enabled them to make the most of their learning and enhanced their social and moral understanding.

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Leadership and management

The success of the new school is a testimony to the drive, determination and expertise of the headteacher, who has been the lynchpin of the operation. Together with the deputy headteacher, she has ensured that standards have been maintained and that teaching continues to improve through rigorous monitoring and the management of teachers’ performance. Continual staff training is a high priority and appreciated by the teachers and support staff, amongst whom morale is consistently high. Because of the good teaching, the behaviour and enjoyment of the pupils at school has been consistently improved. The headteacher and local authority have an ambitious vision for the school. The new senior and middle leadership teams have not yet had time to develop their roles to the full in order to make a significant impact on the quality of provision and the pupils’ progress. Middle leaders in particular are not yet able to monitor the impact of provision in sufficient depth. The

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Leadership and management

governing body is not yet complete but has made a good start in establishing committees to monitor and evaluate each aspect of the school’s performance. Governors are already providing a good level of challenge and support. Relations with parents and carers are excellent, supported very well, for example, by the behaviour management team, which offers pastoral support to families as well as providing training and support groups for parents and carers. The experienced health and education professionals who support the pupils and families further enhance Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

these partnerships. As a result, the school’s arrangements for the safeguarding of pupils are of a high standard, and meet all statutory requirements.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is good and constantly evolving as teachers embrace the new opportunities in the inclusive nature of the school. Activities are well adapted to the needs of pupils and many opportunities are taken to emphasise basic skills, especially in communication, personal development and self-help skills and to celebrate the diversity of the school’s population. This has a positive impact on the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding and promotes their excellent behaviour. The school is a successful inclusive learning environment, where the equal opportunities for all pupils to achieve well are seen as a high priority. It is evident from the school’s continued successful drive to improve teaching, pupils’ outcomes and other key areas of school life that there is a demonstrable capacity for continued and further improvement.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Brook School, London, N17 6HW

We loved your new building when we came to visit you recently. Brook School is a good school and there are many things we liked.

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Inspection of Brook School, London, N17 6HW

 You are all making good progress in communicating and in your behaviour. You all are learning to look after yourselves and to be responsible for what you do.  Your teachers plan interesting work for you so you learn better.  Your behaviour is excellent and we were really pleased to see that. You come to school as often as you can and that will help you to learn better.  Mrs Sumner makes sure everything works so you are happy and enjoy school.

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Inspection of Brook School, London, N17 6HW

There are two things which we would like the school to improve.

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Inspection of Brook School, London, N17 6HW

 We have asked the adults to write down every little bit of progress you make so they can help you learn even faster.  We want some more teachers to help in checking that you are learning as well as you can.

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Inspection of Brook School, London, N17 6HW

You can help as well by always trying your best and behaving as well as possible.

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Inspection of Brook School, London, N17 6HW

Melvyn Blackband Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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