The Brook Special Primary School

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

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Ms Maureen Duncan Headteacher The Brook School Adams Road Tottenham London N17 6HW

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Short inspection of The Brook School

Following my visit to the school on 16 October 2018 with Ofsted Inspector Mary Geddes, 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 outstanding in March 2015.

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Short inspection of The Brook School

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of

outstanding as a result of this inspection.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of

You joined the school in September 2017 as interim headteacher and, more recently, have been appointed permanently. Since joining the school, you have established a new leadership team and accurately identified areas in which the school’s performance needed to improve. You and your new leadership team have worked hard in the past year to successfully improve aspects of the school’s work that had begun to decline. Nevertheless, there are a number of key areas that still require further development and you have plans in place to secure this. Your new leaders need to develop their skills further so that the effectiveness of leadership is consistently strong and the areas that need to improve are addressed successfully. Furthermore, you are currently prioritising the development and implementation of a new assessment system, working together with other schools in the local authority.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of

In addition to the changes in leadership, there have also been significant changes in pupils’ special educational needs. At the time of the last inspection, the school catered for a number of pupils who have profound and multiple learning difficulties. This is no longer the case.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of

You and your team provide a calm and welcoming learning environment for the pupils. Staff are very positive about the leadership of the school and feel well supported. They say the culture of the school is one of high aspirations for all. Staff also say there are good relationships with parents and carers and this benefits the pupils. Parents told inspectors that staff are helpful and supportive. They value the many visits that pupils make into the local community and say this helps their children to become more independent.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of

During the inspection, we saw that pupils’ behaviour is excellent and very well managed in classrooms and around the school. Pupils are supported effectively by staff at key transition times, such as the beginning of the school day and at breaktimes. This support is successful because teachers and other staff know the pupils well.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of

The school is part of Broadwaters Inclusive Learning Community that includes a mainstream school, Willow Primary School, as well as Broadwater Farm Children’s Centre. There is one governing body covering these providers. The governing body is effective and knows the school well. Governors are able to identify the school’s strengths and weaknesses and provide leaders with a balance of support and challenge.

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Safeguarding is effective

There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school, with all aspects being well led, managed and understood. All staff receive relevant and regularly updated training. They say that pupils are safe and there are clear procedures to follow if they have a concern about a pupil. Records are well kept and of high quality. Parents told inspectors that their children are safe in school. Communication with other agencies is effective. Staff understand the needs of the pupils well and the curriculum supports pupils in learning how to stay safe. Leaders have ensured that all the required pre-employment checks on staff are completed. All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. A small number of pupils have poor attendance due to medical needs. Attendance is meticulously tracked and closely monitored by leaders. Leaders do all that they can to ensure that pupils attend regularly. Attendance has improved over the past three years.

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Inspection findings

 We agreed at the beginning of the inspection to look at what leaders had done to improve the quality of teaching and learning since the previous inspection. Inspectors visited classrooms across the school and were accompanied by senior leaders. They also looked at evidence of pupils’ work.  In classrooms where work is closely matched to pupils’ individual abilities, learning is most effective. Pupils are able to make strong progress at their own pace and stay on task for long periods of time.  Where staff plan activities that capture pupils’ interests and encourage them to join in, pupils are motivated and enthusiastic about their learning. Some support from teaching assistants enables pupils to make strong progress, while also encouraging their independence.  However, visits to classrooms and pupils’ work show that these positive features are not consistent across the school. Consequently, not all pupils are making as

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Inspection findings

much progress as they should and their outcomes are not as strong as they could be. Not all teaching adequately provides for the range of pupils’ abilities. This results in a lack of challenge for the most able and some tasks being too difficult for other pupils.  Next, we agreed to look at how well the curriculum meets the needs of the pupils and how well it prepares them for the next stage of their education and lives. Staff know individual pupils well and can accurately identify what is important for the pupils to learn. Pupils are taught the necessary skills to prepare them for their next steps and to be as independent as possible.  Teaching and the curriculum provide many opportunities for pupils to relate their learning to everyday life outside school. There are also opportunities for pupils to make choices and to be independent. The focus on well-being ensures that pupils are regularly asked to identify how they are feeling. Where appropriate, staff

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Inspection findings

support pupils to do this effectively. Leaders have made sure that there are a range of different means of communication available across the school and pupils can use their own preferred way of communicating. This increases pupils’ confidence in expressing their views and feelings.  Staff deliver highly effective intervention sessions for specific groups of pupils, such as those learning the early stages of communication and socialisation. The many local trips and visits prepare pupils well for activities such as shopping and being able to go out into the community with their families.  Finally, we looked at the inclusion of pupils into classes in the mainstream school with which you share a building. At the previous inspection, the school was asked to extend the collaboration with Willow Primary School to include more subjects and ensure even better progress for the few most able pupils in key stage 2.

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Inspection findings

Currently, a small number of pupils attend these mainstream lessons. You identify that far more opportunities exist for meaningful inclusion to take place to benefit the pupils. This is one of your main priorities and is part of your vision for the school. Nevertheless, this work requires further development.

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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

 the leadership skills of those new to their roles are developed and responsibilities further distributed to middle leaders and class teachers  the quality of teaching and learning continues to improve so that pupils of all abilities make the progress of which they are capable  the new assessment system and teachers’ application of it are fully implemented to strengthen pupils’ progress  inclusion work is further developed with Willow Primary School to strengthen the quality of pupils’ learning, particularly the most able. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Haringey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

The inspection team met with you and your senior team, teachers and teaching assistants. They also reviewed the school’s single central record. They met with governors, including the chair, and your school improvement adviser. Inspectors visited classes across the school, accompanied by senior leaders, to gather a range of evidence relating to teaching, learning and assessment. They met with pupils to talk about their experience of school and aspects of safeguarding. They also talked to parents. Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of school documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school improvement plan, policies, assessment records and work in books. Inspectors took account of the 35 responses to the staff questionnaire and four written responses to Parent View. There were no responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for pupils.

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