Brunswick Community Primary School

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

p.1

Mr Neil Frankland Headteacher Brunswick Community Primary School Station Road Woodhouse Sheffield South Yorkshire S13 7RB

p.1

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 15 May 2018, 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 your school was judged to be good in October 2013.

p.1

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, your deputy headteacher and the knowledgeable governing body have a clear vision for what you are trying to achieve for pupils. You have established a strong culture of school improvement. Your monitoring of provision is robust and accurate. It is successfully identifying what the school is doing well and what still needs improving. Weaknesses found in the last inspection have been tackled well. For example, teachers are well supported in the school through well-planned and responsive training. Effective monitoring is used to identify strengths in teaching and identify how teaching can be supported to be even better. Where teaching needs improving, rapid and effective support is put in place to ensure that teaching improves. Leaders hold teachers to account for improving pupils’ standards.

p.1

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

The school motto, ‘desire to learn, aspire to achieve’, is evident throughout the school. Pupils enjoy coming to school because you have created a happy, supportive, secure and stimulating learning environment. The ‘Brunswick Project’ is a school-devised initiative that is responsive to the needs of its pupils. After the pupils were asking about current affairs and issues they saw on the news, the school responded by building British values into the heart of its ethos. This was fittingly summed up by a parent who described the school as ‘an inclusive environment which maximises learning opportunities. The school celebrates success regularly and is ensuring that our children are socially aware of the wider world. The handling of the Manchester bombing was sensitive, compassionate and reassuring.’ You and your staff have worked consistently to ensure that work is well matched to pupils’ needs. My visits to lessons confirmed that pupils are set interesting and

p.1

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

challenging work at the right level of difficulty. Adults carefully check pupils’ learning and are quick to support those who need additional help or need to move on to the next activity. Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and or/disabilities are well supported by adults to ensure that they make good progress in lessons. However, we agreed that teachers need to make sure that the most able are given even more challenge, to ensure that they achieve the higher standards of which they are capable.

p.2

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

Another area for improvement was to develop the role of middle leaders so they are fully involved in developing good practice in teaching across the school. Middle leaders are now a school strength. They are very astute and have a secure understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in their subjects. They are passionate about their own subjects but also have a vision about how their subject fits in with whole- school improvement. Middle leaders use their monitoring and evaluation of provision and pupils’ outcomes very effectively to improve the quality of teaching.

p.2

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

Children in Nursery make an excellent start to school. They are keen to learn and, as a result, can focus on activities for a sustained amount of time. The areas of provision are inspirational and engaging. They are well thought out to ensure that all children make good progress. Adults are highly effective in using questioning to develop the children’s thinking further. However, this high quality of provision is not reflected in Reception classes. When we observed learning in Reception, we found that children, especially boys, were not as engaged in tasks and some were moving around the area trying to find something to do. You agreed that the strong practice seen in Nursery needs to be developed into the Reception Year to ensure that children make stronger progress.

p.2

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

You and your leadership team are highly effective in developing and sustaining pupils’ well-being. This is beginning to have a positive impact on improving attendance, although you acknowledge there is still more to do. The proportion of pupils who are regularly absent is above average. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils is improving, with a significant decline in disadvantaged pupils who are persistently absent. Some pupils do not arrive at school on time and this is slowing their progress. Pupils say that ‘When children are late to class, it disrupts our learning.’

p.2

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You and your staff take safeguarding extremely seriously. Everyone understands their individual responsibility to make sure that every child is protected from harm. All staff receive regular training in how to keep children safe. As a result, staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding policies and procedures and are vigilant. Staff check robustly for any sign that a pupil could be at risk.

p.2

Short inspection of Brunswick Community Primary School

Pupils know that they must treat others in the school kindly and courteously. They report that bullying is very rare, but that any incidents of poor behaviour or unkindness are effectively dealt with. They told me that they feel safe in school. Pupils explained the different ways staff help them to keep safe and to care for themselves, including how to keep themselves safe online. They know that they must immediately show an adult any evidence of an unsuitable message or image on a computer and never to give personal details to someone they do not know.

p.2

Inspection findings

 At the start of my visit, we agreed a number of key lines of enquiry for the inspection. First, I looked at the progress of disadvantaged pupils. Since the last inspection, the school had made good progress to diminish the difference between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others nationally. However, in 2016 and 2017, the difference widened in reading and mathematics. Leaders and governors have appropriately allocated the school’s resources to improve support for disadvantaged pupils. By closely analysing the differences in pupils’ learning every six weeks and rigorously reviewing their progress, you effectively plan support and subsequently monitor the impact of this support.  Current school data indicates that disadvantaged pupils are on track to do much better this year, in both Year 2 and Year 6. Inspection evidence shows that, overall, disadvantaged pupils are making good progress in all year groups. A few

p.3

Inspection findings

disadvantaged pupils are not making as much progress as their classmates, however, and their poor attendance is a contributory factor. The school has worked hard to improve attendance but it remains an important next step.  I also looked at the rates of progress that current pupils are making in reading. This is because progress in reading at the end of key stage 2 has been in the bottom 20% of schools during the past three years, for higher- and middle-attaining pupils. Current school data and inspection evidence clearly show that all groups of pupils are making very strong and rapid progress in reading. This is due to a strong focus on developing pupils’ vocabulary and comprehension skills. The reading workbooks we looked at show that pupils are being challenged in all year groups and work is aspirational. The high standards seen in pupils’ writing books are reflected in their reading books.  The English leader has worked diligently to ensure that there is a consistent

p.3

Inspection findings

approach to the teaching of reading. This consistency is seen in pupils’ books. Reading is a clear priority in the school. Innovative ideas are being used to inspire pupils to read, such as the ‘50 book’ challenge, where pupils are given the challenge to read 50 books (matched to their ability level) and prizes are given when they achieve this. Pupils speak with enthusiasm about this initiative.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.3

Next steps for the school

 they work even more closely with parents and carers so that pupils attend regularly and always arrive at school on time  the high-quality provision seen in Nursery is reflected throughout the early years  the most able pupils are consistently challenged so that the proportion reaching the higher standards increases.

p.3

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 Sheffield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, the inclusion leader, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher and the English leader. I also met with four members of the governing body and spoke with a representative from the local authority. I evaluated documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, information about pupils’ progress, minutes of governing body meetings, behaviour and attendance records, and information about safeguarding. I considered the 42 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I met with a group of pupils from a range of year groups and I listened to some pupils read. You and I visited every classroom together to observe teaching and learning and scrutinise pupils’ work in their books.

p.4