Brookfield Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Lynne Greenhough Headteacher Brookfield Primary School Burlington Avenue Langwith Junction Mansfield Nottinghamshire NG20 9AD

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 30 March 2017, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in March 2013.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The inclusive culture that you and your staff have created is a strength of your school. You and your staff care greatly for the learning and welfare of the pupils who attend your school. To this end, you monitor closely the well-being and the progress of all of your pupils, particularly the pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those pupils who arrive during the school year. The pupils appreciate this inclusive approach. All of the pupils that I met said that they enjoy coming to school. For many, this enjoyment comes from the care and support that you and your staff provide for them. Pupils recognise that this support allows them to fulfil the school’s aim, to ‘be the best you can be’.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

You have ensured that pupils receive wide-ranging opportunities to learn about people of different cultures, races and religions. Pupils have experienced workshops about Muslim weddings, while pupils in Year 6 visit a museum dedicated to the Holocaust. After the recent referendum on leaving the European Union, you invited a foreign national into the school to talk to all the pupils. You organised this to ensure that pupils understand the need to show respect to people of all nationalities who live in our country.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

You encourage pupils to support each other, in the classroom and during social times. In the lessons that I observed, pupils worked well together, helping each other complete the tasks teachers had set them. Pupils in Year 5 have recently completed training on being mentors for other pupils. They now help pupils who may be upset or lonely. Through these opportunities, pupils are developing a secure understanding of the need to respect and care for all people, regardless of their differences. This is preparing them well for their futures.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

Teachers monitor closely pupils’ behaviour, and provide effective support to the pupils who find managing their own behaviour difficult. As a result, these pupils are able to manage their behaviour more effectively. Most of the pupils that I met said that behaviour is good and that bullying is rare. Most parents who expressed an opinion agreed that the school manages pupils’ behaviour well, and deals effectively with bullying, when it occurs.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

The previous inspection asked you to ensure that teaching consistently provided plenty of challenge for pupils, particularly the most able pupils. In response to this, you have introduced the ‘aim higher’ target. This target provides pupils with a challenging task to help them to attain the greater depth in their learning when completing the work teachers have set them. In a Year 1 lesson I observed, pupils responded enthusiastically to the ‘aim higher’ target.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

The proportion of pupils who are on track to attain the expected standard in phonics this academic year is in line with national levels. This is due to the increased focus that your leaders have placed this year on teaching phonics. However, you recognise that standards in reading at the end of key stage 1 are not as high as they should be.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

You have recognised that, as leaders, your skills in monitoring pupils’ progress are not as strong as your skills in checking on pupils’ welfare and developing their self- belief. You have engaged well with the local authority and with local schools to ensure that leaders at all levels develop the skills necessary to ensure that their oversight of pupils’ progress is sharp. For example, your mathematics leader has worked closely with a representative of the local authority to ensure that her systems for monitoring pupils’ progress in this subject are robust. Because of this, she is now able to identify quicker where pupils are not making the progress that they should in their learning, and to ensure that they receive the support that they need. You rightly recognise that such strong leadership practice needs to be consistent throughout your leadership team.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

Governors have a clear and precise understanding of the quality of the school’s provision. They offer the school’s leaders appropriate levels of challenge and support in their work to improve further the quality of teaching and support that pupils receive. Governors undertake appropriate training to ensure that they have the necessary skills and expertise to support the school’s leaders effectively Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

Keeping pupils safe and closely monitoring their welfare is central to all that you and your staff do. All staff recognise their responsibility to keep pupils safe. They are quick to raise with you and your safeguarding leaders any concerns that they may have about a pupil’s welfare. Staff regularly receive training about keeping children safe. This training equips them to recognise, for example, signs of abuse and radicalisation. It also ensures that staff can educate pupils on how to stay safe online. As a result, staff are secure in their work to keep pupils safe.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

You and your leaders work closely with parents and with local agencies when you have a concern about a pupil. In so doing, you are tenacious in ensuring that the pupil receives the most appropriate support. You are sensitive to any issues in the local area that may affect your pupils’ welfare. Where such issues arise, you work closely with pupils, parents and local agencies to provide appropriate support. You and your leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records that you keep are detailed and of high quality.

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Short inspection of Brookfield Primary School

All of the pupils that I met said that they feel safe at the school. They said that they have an adult that they can go to if they have a concern, and are confident that the adult will help them. A very large majority of the parents who expressed an opinion said that their child is safe and happy at the school.

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Inspection findings

 You have a precise understanding of the quality of the education that your pupils receive. You have identified those areas where pupils do not perform as highly as they could. You have taken effective action to improve these areas. For example, you have ensured that teachers have received comprehensive training on teaching mathematics and writing, to ensure that greater proportions of the pupils make at least the progress that they should in these subjects. The actions you are taking have led to an increase in the proportion of current pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, who are attaining at least the expected standard in these subjects by the end of key stages 1 and 2.  The early years leader is quick to identify the children’s levels of ability when they arrive in Reception. She ensures that the children undertake tasks that meet their needs and that enable them to become secure in their learning. As a result, the

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Inspection findings

majority of children in Reception are on track to attaining the good level of development. This represents good progress from their different starting points.  The school leaders use additional government funding well to support disadvantaged pupils in their learning and to develop these pupils’ experiences of life beyond the school and the local area. The school’s performance information, and the quality of work seen in pupils’ books, indicate that the differences between the attainment of the school’s disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally are diminishing in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school leaders monitor closely pupils’ attendance. They provide effective support where pupils struggle to attend school regularly. Because of this, the proportion of pupils who are absent from school regularly has reduced significantly this academic year, and is now below national levels for all pupils.

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Inspection findings

 You recognise that not all pupils currently in Year 2 are attaining as highly as they could in reading. You and your leaders have begun to take action to ensure that greater proportions of pupils in key stage 1 attain at least the expected standard in reading.  You are rightly pleased with the achievement of your Year 6 pupils in attaining at least the expected standard in reading in 2016. However, you are not complacent in this. You are taking action to ensure that even greater proportions of Year 6 pupils attain at least the expected standard this academic year.  Your leader responsible for the pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has developed robust systems to check on the progress that these pupils make in their learning. These pupils receive regular support, including working in small support groups, or working individually with an adult. The leader regularly evaluates the impact of this support on the pupils’ progress. This has

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Inspection findings

allowed her to identify quickly where pupils are not making the rapid progress that they should. Where this is the case, she refines the support the pupil receives. Because of this, greater proportions of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including children in the early years, are making rapid progress in their learning.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 greater proportions of pupils in key stage 1 attain at least the expected standard in reading  all leaders develop the necessary skills to evaluate teaching and learning accurately and so raise pupils’ achievement in their areas of responsibility.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with senior and subject leaders, other staff, pupils, a representative of the local authority, and three governors, including the chair of the governing body. I observed teaching in all year groups. I visited these lessons with you in your role as headteacher. I observed pupils’ behaviour at break and lunchtime, during which time I spoke with pupils. I met with some parents at the beginning of the school day and took into account the 18 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I also took into account the 19 responses to the staff questionnaire. I examined a range of documents, including those relating to attendance, the school’s use of additional government funding, safeguarding, pupils’ attainment, and governance. I took into account the school’s self-evaluation and its improvement plan. I scrutinised the school’s single central record and recruitment procedures. I gave oral feedback to you, your senior and subject leaders, members

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Information about the inspection

of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.

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