Brookside Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Brookside Community Primary School Brooks Road, Street, Somerset BA16 0PR

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Outcome

Brookside Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Brookside is an inclusive school where pupils from mainstream provision and a specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (specially resourced provision) learn and play together well. Pupils gain a deep knowledge and understanding of what it means to treat people fairly. Pupils say that ‘you can be yourself’ as the school ‘accepts you for who you are’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff and pupils treat each other with respect. Pupils are happy and safe. They look forward to school and most attend regularly. Pupils enjoy a wealth of curriculum and after-school enrichment opportunities. They like to show their learning to parents and carers in the ‘sharing assembly’. Pupils thrive on praise and responsibilities, for example as house captains, representing their school in sports tournaments or working with the school dog. Year 6 pupils host a Christmas party for residents from the local community. Pupils are well prepared to become active citizens of the future.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s personal development curriculum builds pupils’ emotional awareness and independence well. All pupils can name staff who help them in school. Pupils know what makes a healthy relationship. They know how to be mentally and physically healthy. Pupils learn important life skills, such as how to cook healthy food.

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

The school provides a calm and purposeful learning environment. Recent changes to the school’s curriculum, behaviour policies and staff training have resulted in positive outcomes for pupils. For example, the number of behaviour incidents has reduced significantly. Staff know pupils well. They use this knowledge to support pupils’ social and emotional development successfully. The school successfully integrates pupils excluded from other settings into full-time education at Brookside.

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

Over the past year, the school has made significant changes to its specialist curriculum and provision. Pupils with complex special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) 1 and 2 November 2023

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follow one of four learning pathways. Leaders support staff to plan curriculum provision for individuals based on their personal learning goals. These goals are based on each pupil’s education, health and care plan targets. At the same time, staff from across the whole school benefit from SEND training to improve their identification of pupils’ additional needs in the mainstream setting.

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In the early years and specially resourced provision, there is a sharp focus on children’s communication and language skills. Children are introduced to and practise new words using signs, symbols and speech appropriately. Staff promote children’s early language development effectively. Pupils enjoy listening to stories and exploring a wide range of books.

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A clearly sequenced phonics programme is in place. Children in Reception Year and in the specially resourced provision learn to segment and blend phonemes to read words with increasing accuracy. Teachers quickly spot children who need help to secure their phonics knowledge. Extra phonics practice and reading sessions take place straight away. Over time, pupils read with increasing precision and speed.

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The school has designed a curriculum broken down into small steps to help pupils know and remember more over time. Nevertheless, some curriculum subjects are not implemented as the school intended. In these subjects, teaching does not ensure that pupils secure the essential knowledge identified in the curriculum. As a result, pupils develop gaps in their subject knowledge. For example, children in Reception Year do not secure their knowledge of numbers from 0 to 10. When this happens, pupils in Year 1 cannot quickly recall their number bonds to 10. Therefore, pupils’ knowledge in these subjects is superficial. They cannot make connections in their learning, such as the chronology of events in history.

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Pupils understand the importance of fundamental British values. Their knowledge of democracy, tolerance, the rule of law and justice are developed through discussion in assembly, debates and carefully planned experiences. Pupils talk about cultures, religions and people’s lives that are different from their own with maturity.

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Pupils look forward to attending school. The school works well with parents and external agencies to help pupils attend school regularly. Together, they identify and remove the barriers that prevent a family from sending their child to school. This work is successful.

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Leaders, including governors, have a thorough knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. Staff welcome the support and increased opportunities for professional development.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 1 and 2 November 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum is not implemented as intended in some subjects. In these subjects, learning activities do not always secure and deepen pupils’ knowledge of important concepts sufficiently well. This means pupils are unable to build on prior learning and make connections between concepts taught. The school needs to support staff to ensure that pupils know more, can do more and remember more of the school’s 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 June 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 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). 1 and 2 November 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Julie Summerhayes

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School details

Date of previous inspection 25 January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Brookside Community Primary School Academy Trust is a single-academy trust school.  The school has a specially resourced provision for 50 pupils with complex needs.  It also has an on-site nursery provision for 0 to 4-year-olds.  The school uses four unregistered alternative provisions.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the head of specialist provision/special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, staff, pupils and governors, including the chair of the governing body.  The inspector listened to pupils from Years 1, 2 and 3 read to a known adult. 1 and 2 November 2023

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons in phonics, mathematics and history, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector also discussed the school’s curriculum and provision with leaders, including the 3- and 4-year-old nursery and specialist provision.  The inspector observed pupils during breaktime and spoke with pupils and leaders about personal, social and health education and opportunities for pupils’ personal development.  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 the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around

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safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View. She also took into consideration the responses to the surveys for staff. There were no responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Marie Thomas, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 1 and 2 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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