Brooklands School - Split Site

School report Brooklands School 27 Wray Park Road, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 0DF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils make consistently good progress from their different starting points. The achievement of all groups of pupils is good.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage get an excellent start due to outstanding teaching. This targets their individual needs exceptionally well.  Consistently effective teaching ensures that pupils of all abilities make good progress, including in English and mathematics. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.  Pupils behave extremely well and develop excellent attitudes to learning and this makes a significant contribution to the very positive climate for learning in each classroom.  The school provides a very safe environment and pupils feel safe and well cared for.  The school provides a good range of learning activities. It has made particularly good use of additional funding for physical education and sports. This has significantly improved pupils’

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

achievement and well-being.  The school has made rapid improvements over the past two years due to the highly effective leadership of the headteacher and his committed and determined leadership team.  The governing body has increased its skills and is now in a good position to challenge the school and hold its leaders to account.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching is not always sufficiently targeted at the needs and abilities of individuals. This is because, occasionally, learning intentions are too broad rather than personalised. This does not enable all pupils to make as much progress as they could.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited all nine classes in the school, some of them more than once. They carried out 14 lesson observations.  Inspectors met with a group of pupils, representatives from the governing body and members of staff with leadership and management responsibilities.  The lead inspector met with a representative from the local authority to discuss how the school has made use of external support.  Inspectors analysed the school’s performance data showing the attainment and progress of pupils. They also looked at attendance information, safeguarding arrangements and other key documents.  A sample of pupils’ work and their assessment records from across the school was analysed and comparisons made regarding the achievement of different groups of pupils. Inspectors also listened to pupils of different ages read.  Inspectors took account of two written communications from parents, 20 responses to the on-

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Information about this inspection

line questionnaire (Parent View) and 49 questionnaires from school staff.

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Inspection team

Barnard Payne, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Kanwaljit Singh Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Brooklands is a school for pupils aged from two to 11 with severe and complex needs.  All pupils have a statement of special educational needs. Close to two thirds have severe learning difficulties and a third has autistic spectrum disorder; a smaller proportion of pupils have profound and multiple learning difficulties.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is a little higher than the national average. A very small minority come from homes where English is not the first language.  The proportion of pupils eligible for support through additional pupil premium funding is just below the national average. The pupil premium is additional government funding provided for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, those looked after by the local authority and those with a parent in the armed services.  In common with all schools with primary-age pupils, the school also receives extra funding to

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Information about this school

improve physical education (PE) and sport.  Since the previous inspection, the school has had the support of a local leader of education.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve teaching and learning in order to increase the proportion that is outstanding by:  sharing and using the best practice in the school, particularly the focus on personalised learning that raises individual pupils’ achievement.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Achievement has improved since the school was previously inspected. All groups of pupils now make good progress, including those from minority ethnic groups and those using English as an additional language.  The attainment in English and mathematics of pupils eligible for support through the pupil premium covers a wide range due to their vastly different starting points. However, their progress is at least as good as that of pupils not eligible for additional funding.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make outstanding progress. This is because staff have high expectations and provide appropriate levels of challenge to rapidly improvechildren’s personal and academic achievement. In the Nursery, each adult follows a programme tied to children’s individual targets; the curriculum meets each child’s needs and significantly develops their skills and abilities. In Reception, there is an excellent balance of adult-led and

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The achievement of pupils is good

independently-chosen activities covering all areas of learning. The highly-focused planning in the Early Years Foundation Stage leads to excellent achievement.  In Key Stages 1 and 2, pupils make consistently good progress from their different starting points in English. The school successfully develops communication and literacy skills by setting clear targets that address individual needs and abilities. For example, when looking at stories, some pupils learn how to communicate choices, whilst others follow a sensory story or retell part of a story in their own words.  The more able pupils are keen readers and use their understanding of letters and sounds (phonics) to sound out new words. One Year 5 pupil read a new book with little difficulty because she knew how to tackle familiar and unfamiliar words. An able reader in Year 3 used the punctuation in his book to read with real expression, showing a high level of confidence.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In mathematics, pupils use a variety of resources to develop their understanding of number, measuring and shapes. For example, pupils recreate three-dimensional shapes, which help their understanding of solid compared to flat shapes. In one lesson, pupils were moved on quickly once they had an understanding of basic shapes in order to consider other attributes. Pupils also use their understanding of sequences and counting to look for and continue patterns. Pupils acquire knowledge and skills securely across a wide range of subjects, including personal, social and health education. The school’s use of extra funding for PE and sport has led to significant improvements in achievement, particularly for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is now consistently good and some is outstanding. Teaching has improved since the school was previously inspected.  Teachers engage pupils and ensure that everyone is fully involved in activities. They provide work that is suitably challenging, using detailed monitoring and assessment to set appropriate targets for pupils. The school has established effective self-assessment to involve pupils of all abilities in their own learning and progress.  Lessons are well planned. Very occasionally, progress is restricted by the organisation of activities, for example by making learning intentions too broad, which does not meet the learning needs of all pupils.  Teachers listen, question and communicate well, using signing and a variety of other methods of communication. The teaching assistants are well briefed and provide a very effective support team, enabling all pupils to achieve well.  Teachers’ assessment of pupils’ work is thorough, detailed and individualised. Their use of

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The quality of teaching is good

assessment and tracking of pupils’ progress leads to effective support to ensure pupils do not fall behind. Feedback to pupils is appropriate to their ages and abilities.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils’ excellent attitudes to learning have a strong impact on both their achievement and the culture of the school. They enjoy coming to school and say that they particularly like learning and making friends.  Pupils’ positive attitudes are reflected in their attendance which, when pupils with specific medical needs are taken into account, is above that for other schools nationally. There have been no exclusions.  Behaviour is of an equally high standard across all classes. Since some pupils find it difficult to manage their own behaviour, this shows that the school’s behaviour management is highly effective.  In a class of pupils with very complex behaviour needs, highly skilled planning and teaching have led to outstanding progress over time in enabling pupils to manage their own behaviour. Well- established routines and schedules underpin the work in classes and provide the framework for pupils to follow their personal learning plans.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 In an ambitious physical education lesson with a class of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties, pupils’ attitudes were excellent and levels of engagement consistently high. This was due to clear expectations and a very positive climate for learning established by both staff and pupils.  Behaviour is carefully tracked and recorded across the school so that action can be taken to address any difficulties pupils have, for example by enabling them to change classes in order to work with pupils of similar ability. This approach has helped improve behaviour since the school was previously inspected.  Parents, staff and pupils share a very positive view of behaviour and there are no concerns regarding bullying. Pupils say there is no bullying and there are no incidents of name calling or other discriminatory behaviour.  Pupils’ safety is a high priority and the school’s work to keep pupils safe is outstanding. Pupils

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

are extremely confident that the staff will care for them. Child protection procedures are robust and closely monitored by the governing body. All staff have up-to-date training and those involved in new appointments have had safer recruitment training.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has provided the inspirational leadership that has led to the improvements over the past two years. He has established a highly effective senior leadership team that has put into place systems and procedures that have led to the significant improvements since the previous inspection. This track record shows the capacity to continue to improve.  Senior leaders have successfully communicated their high expectations to staff and pupils. Their drive and determination are underpinned by highly effective systems for checking the quality of teaching, learning and progress. This guides the performance management of staff and has ensured that teaching is consistently good. The school’s judgements about its own performance are accurate and based on very secure evidence.  The development of systems to collect and analyse information relating to pupils’ progress and targets has enabled senior and middle leaders to identify where pupils are not doing as well as

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The leadership and management are good

they should andto provide support. Teachers are held to account for theperformance of pupils in their class.  Middle leaders are well trained, committed and knowledgeable, and play an increasingly important role in monitoring, evaluation and setting expectations.  The school has worked effectively with the local authority, which has provided a programme of support and challenge following the previous inspection.  The school’s curriculum is broad, balanced and meets pupils’ needs well. There is a clear focus on meeting individual needs and teachers adapt the work well for their own classes. The school has ensured that there are effective policies in place for literacy and communication. It uses topics into which literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) are well integrated.  The school successfully ensures equality of opportunity. Pupils are often grouped according to their abilities, rather than their age, and this has been an effective way to challenge all abilities.

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The leadership and management are good

There is a strong focus on literacy and numeracy, but within a wide range of activities, including visits and visitors to school, which also ensure good personal development.  The school mostly promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. However, the provision for cultural development is more limited and does not cover a wide range of activities to enable pupils to encounter cultures different to their own.  The school makes good use of additional funding and there are no gaps in achievement when comparing pupils eligible for the pupil premium with other pupils. The additional funding for PE and sport has also led to improved achievement. The use of this funding to aid staff development has ensured a sustainable model for the physical education and sport curriculum.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements.  The governance of the school:

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The leadership and management are good

 The governing body has improved its skills and knowledge since the school was previously inspected. Governors maintain a good overview of the impact of teaching through regular reports, meeting with key staff and visiting the school. Where senior leaders report any aspects of teaching that require improvement, the governing body follows this up. The pay committee is fully involved in making decisions about teachers’ salary progression related to performance. Governors have a secure understanding of information about pupils’ achievement . Each governor has a personal development plan to ensure they are able to develop their skills. They are, therefore, in a good position to both support and challenge the school’s leaders and hold them to account for outcomes. The governing body ensures that all resources are used well to accelerate pupils’ achievement. The governing body ensures all statutory requirements are met, particularly in relation to safeguarding.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 125472 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 433321

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Special School category Community special Age range of pupils 2–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 83 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Alastair Hitchman Headteacher Mark Bryant Date of previous school inspection 26–27 September 2012 Telephone number 01737 249941 Fax number 01737 224787 Email address office@brooklands.surrey.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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 and 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 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

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School details

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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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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