Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Russell Bond Headteacher Brockmoor Primary School Belle Isle Brockmoor Brierley Hill West Midlands DY5 3UZ

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School

Following my visit to your school on 23 March 2022, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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School

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school received a judgement of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspection.

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School

This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. I discussed the ongoing impact of the pandemic with you and have taken that into account in my evaluation.

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School

Having considered the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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for governance are taking effective action toward the school becoming a good

The school should take further action to:

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for governance are taking effective action toward the school becoming a good

 refine the curriculum in foundation subjects so the knowledge pupils need to know and remember is explicit  record measurable milestones in the school improvement plan to enable leaders and governors to accurately evaluate the impact of leaders’ actions.

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Context

Since the last section 5 inspection in February 2019, there have been changes to governance, leadership and staffing. You were appointed as headteacher in September 2019. Since taking up your position, you have created a new leadership team and appointed several new staff. The governing body has reformed with a smaller number of governors.

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Context

The focus on school improvement has continued despite periods of national lockdown. You used the time to redesign the curriculum and ensured that staff received the training needed to implement it effectively. Throughout the lockdowns, you also provided significant support to pupils and their families with both remote learning and well-being.

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Main findings

Since you were appointed, you have created a new vision for the school. You have worked tirelessly to ensure this vision is translated into practice and have injected energy, direction and ambition into the school community. You have transformed the curriculum with your new leadership team. You have based it on a set of values: ambition, success, perseverance, independence, respect and excellence.

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Main findings

Reading is a priority across the school. A significant amount of time and money has been spent on improving provision. The new phonics programme, introduced this year, has established a consistent approach to the teaching of early reading. Extensive and ongoing training has ensured that staff have the expertise they need to teach reading effectively. Consequently, many pupils can use their knowledge of letters and the sounds they make to read and write. You have changed how reading is taught in key stage 2. Staff now have a clear focus on developing pupils’ understanding across the national curriculum reading elements, including an emphasis on widening pupils’ vocabulary. This is already having a positive impact on pupils’ ability to read and understand an ambitious range of texts.

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Main findings

You have introduced a new approach to the teaching of writing. This approach ensures that pupils have a clear process to follow when writing. This is supported by effective demonstrations from staff and discussions with pupils. There are also more opportunities for pupils to apply what they have learned about writing across other areas of the curriculum. The writing pupils were producing in the Year 2 lesson I visited, was of a high standard. However, there were only a small number of pupils at this level.

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Main findings

The curriculum in mathematics is a strength of the school and has been in place longer than the other subjects. Shortly after joining the school, you adopted a commercially published scheme as a starting point. The sequencing in the scheme was then refined to better meet the needs of your pupils. The revised sequence ensures that key content is revisited more frequently to help pupils know and remember their learning. Staff ensure they use a range of materials to help pupils understand key concepts, and pupils are increasingly able to explain their reasoning.

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Main findings

Work on developing other areas of the curriculum has also been prioritised. Subject leaders have worked with senior leaders, and some with external consultants, to develop their subject expertise. All subjects have a clear sequence of learning planned so that pupils build on what they have done before. Staff clearly understand what they need to teach, as many subjects also have a set of key questions that direct the learning. The precise knowledge that pupils must know and remember, however, is not always explicit. This risks pupils not knowing and remembering the most important knowledge they need to make progress in that subject.

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Main findings

The deputy headteacher, who is the special educational needs coordinator, has overhauled the practice and provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. An evaluation of previous practice has led to significant changes, and leaders have done a lot of work to ensure that pupils’ needs are accurately identified. Working with external agencies, pupils are increasingly getting the specialist support they need to access the curriculum and make progress. Staff have received ongoing training and support to ensure that they can meet the needs of the pupils in their class effectively.

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Main findings

The school’s improvement plans clearly outline the actions leaders need to take to continue improving the school. Leaders, including governors, know what to do and who needs to do it. While there are identified intended outcomes for each action in the plan, not all of these are measurable, and some are long-term intentions. This does not give leaders, including governors, clear enough milestones against which to measure impact at regular intervals. This makes it more difficult for leaders to evaluate the impact of their actions.

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Additional support

The school has brokered support from external consultants for the development of the curriculum in phonics and geography. This, along with quality assurance work from the local authority and a national leader of education, has supported the school on the journey of improvement.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you, the headteacher. I also met with other senior leaders and representatives of those responsible for governance to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I spoke to your school improvement partner from the local authority.

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Evidence

I met with subject leaders, pupils and parents. I visited lessons and reviewed the quality of work in pupils’ books. I reviewed documents on the school’s website and other documents shared with me in school, including the school improvement plan. I checked the single central record of pre-employment checks on staff.

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Evidence

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

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