Brunswick Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Brunswick Community Primary School Station Road, Woodhouse, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S13 7RB

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Inspection dates: 31 October and 1 November 2023

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Outcome

Brunswick Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Brunswick Community Primary School is more than a school. It is a place that draws families, children and staff together to learn, aspire and achieve. There is a strong thread of care and support in lessons, playtimes and the extra-curricular clubs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school and the community are fully invested in the education of the pupils. For the pupils and families the school is a special place, where there are opportunities to grow and discover new interests. For example, the Brunswick Project provides pupils with a platform to share their views, learn life skills and support local charities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is calm. Staff work with pupils to create a culture of respect and understanding. As a result, pupils feel safe and listened to. Pupils like the fact that staff are there to help them if they have worries. Staff manage behaviour well. This means that lessons are rarely interrupted by poor behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has a diverse curriculum. It is ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). As a result, pupils produce some excellent work in their books. The school is fully aware of the areas that need improvement, in particular the phonics outcomes in Year 1.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Children are inquisitive and curious in early years. Adults take time to speak to the children. They encourage children to share their own thoughts throughout the day. Indoor and outdoor areas provide the children with different learning opportunities. Children are enthusiastic learners. This allows adults to support the children’s learning effectively through play.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Reading is central to the school’s offer. Daily lessons help the pupils at the earliest stages of reading to come to grips with sounds and words. Staff, who are well trained, support all pupils who are learning to read. Staff have identified pupils who need targeted 31 October and 1 November 2023

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support. However, this support has focused too heavily on the very weakest readers. This means some pupils have not had the support they need. Leaders know this and plan to address this moving forward. The daily story sessions are a time in the day when everything stops for reading. Pupils talk with passion about the stories, characters and dilemmas that books pose.

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Pupils understand the importance of mathematics. They enjoy learning new topics. Once knowledge is secure, staff then give pupils problems to solve that help them to apply and demonstrate their knowledge. Pupils at Brunswick have a strong grasp of mathematics. The different classrooms, from early years through to Year 6, are set up with resources and displays that link to mathematics. A well-thought-out curriculum in mathematics provides staff with a clear sequence of learning that builds over time.

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The school ensures that the curriculum is broad and balanced. Subject leaders have adequate time to fulfil their roles. This includes coaching, delivering professional development, and giving one-to-one support when needed. Staff appreciate the support the subject leaders give. In some subject areas, such as history, there are times in the year when the subject is not taught. Learning is not bridged in these times. This risks pupils forgetting the key knowledge when the subject is next taught.

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Pupils with SEND have support in class which ensures that they access and enjoy the same curriculum as their peers. The school engages with a variety of external agencies. This helps provide staff with specific training to meet the needs of pupils.

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The school is part of the local community. Pupils are proud of the community. The school’s brass band is extremely well supported. All pupils from Year 4 and above are welcome to join the band. Picking up an instrument is not a privilege at this school: it is a right for all pupils.

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Trips and educational visits focus on the local community and beyond. Pupils enjoy the residential trips and the multitude of sporting opportunities that all pupils are welcome to join. The school has its own swimming pool, which all pupils use at one time or another when they learn to swim. Pupils not only know British values, but they live and breathe them in how they behave. The pastoral support that pupils and families receive is strong.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. They value the support from senior leaders and governors. Senior leaders are tenacious, robust and supportive. The governors fulfil their duties with care and challenge. An unwavering focus on the children guides the decisions taken.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 31 October and 1 November 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Additional support for weaker readers has been focused on a small cohort of pupils. This means that not all pupils have received the help they need. As a result, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check is significantly below the national level. The school needs to ensure that effective phonics support is given to all pupils who would benefit.  In some subjects, the school has not fully considered times when the subject is not being explicitly taught. This means that opportunities to revisit taught knowledge in different subjects are missed. This potentially risks the desired important knowledge not being secure and remembered by all pupils. The school must ensure that curriculum thinking, in every subject, provides regular opportunities to revisit and embed learning across the curriculum.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2013.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and 31 October and 1 November 2023

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pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 31 October and 1 November 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.brunswickprimaryschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses one unregistered provider.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited lessons, spoke with teachers and pupils, and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, governors, senior leaders, the special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders, teachers and a representative from Learn Sheffield.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered 31 October and 1 November 2023

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The responses to Ofsted’s surveys for pupils, staff, and parents and carers were also considered.

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Inspection team

Richard Jones, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 31 October and 1 November 2023

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regulates and inspects to 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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