Brockholes Wood Community Primary School and Nursery

School report DRAFT - not for publication

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DRAFT - not for publication Inspection of a good school: Brockholes Wood Community Primary School and Nursery Brant Road, Preston, Lancashire PR1 5TU

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Inspection dates: 20 and 21 February 2024

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Outcome

Brockholes Wood Community Primary School and Nursery continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are warmly welcomed by staff at the start of the school day. They are proud to attend this nurturing school. Relationships at all levels are respectful. Staff know pupils well and value them as individuals. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school expects pupils to behave well and most do. Pupils are polite and move around school in an orderly manner. Pupils’ emotional health is supported well. They know that adults will help them if they are concerned or worried. Pupils can also access ‘re-set areas’ in classrooms or ‘The Hive’ to engage in activities that help them to manage their feelings.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high aspirations for what pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), will achieve. Pupils strive to do well and current pupils, typically, achieve well across a range of subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils contribute to decision-making in the school through their roles as school councillors and values ambassadors. There is an array of extra-curricular opportunities, such as clubs and trips, that allow pupils to pursue their interests and to develop their talents.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are aspirational for their future lives. Some spoke about developing careers in teaching, medicine and acting. Pupils are proud of fundraising for charitable causes that support people in challenging circumstances.

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

Governors and staff are committed to helping pupils, including those with SEND, to achieve to their best. To this end, the school has designed a curriculum that is ambitious and meets pupils’ needs, including children in the early years. In many subjects, the school has set out in a logical order the knowledge and skills that it wants pupils to learn. 20 and 21 February 2024

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Across subjects, the school has considered the vocabulary that pupils should learn. However, there is a lack of clarity about the order in which essential subject-specific vocabulary should be taught. This prevents pupils from developing a deeper understanding of the subjects that they are studying.

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The most recent published data for key stage 2 pupils does not paint a true picture of what is currently happening in the school. Over time, pupils’ attainment in mathematics at key stage 2 has been below average. This was caused by pupils accessing a mathematics curriculum that did not meet their needs. The school has taken positive action and successfully put a new curriculum in place. This is making a difference. Pupils are progressing well through this curriculum and across a range of subjects.

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Staff access appropriate training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. The school makes regular checks to ensure that the curriculum is being delivered as intended.

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Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Teachers explain new learning clearly. They check that pupils have understood what has previously been taught before moving on to new and more complex learning. Misconceptions are dealt with as soon as they arise. For the most part, pupils talk confidently about their current and past learning. They behave well in lessons and enjoy working collaboratively with their friends, sharing thoughts and ideas.

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The school places reading at the heart of all learning. As soon as children start in the Nursery Year, there is strong focus on developing their communication and language skills through stories, rhymes and poems. Well-trained staff deliver the school’s phonics programme effectively. The books that pupils, including those with SEND, read in school and at home contain the sounds that they already know. The school makes sure that pupils who are struggling to read get the support that they need to catch up quickly. However, the school does not offer parents and carers enough support and guidance to help them in developing their children’s reading knowledge at home.

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Pupils with SEND, including those in the early years, have their additional needs identified quickly. The school ensures that comprehensive support is put in place and that the delivery of the curriculum is adapted for these pupils. This means that pupils with SEND have the same opportunities to succeed as their peers.

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As a result of the school’s concerted efforts, more pupils are now attending school regularly. The proportion of pupils who are absent from school for extended periods of time has reduced.

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Pupils are becoming responsible citizens. They recognise the need to protect the planet, for example by recycling and turning off lights to save electricity. Pupils understand and appreciate the many differences that exist between themselves and others, such as the make-up of different families. They recognise that they should eat a balanced diet and take regular exercise to keep themselves healthy. Through the curriculum, pupils learn how to keep themselves safe when they are online. They are taught about the dangers associated with gang culture and knife crime. 20 and 21 February 2024

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Governors are aware of the school’s strengths and priorities for development. They offer the school appropriate levels of support and challenge, with a focus on improving the quality of education that pupils receive.

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Staff appreciate the consideration that the school gives to their workload when changes are introduced. This helps staff to feel valued and supported in their roles.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Across subjects, the school has not given enough thought to the order in which subject-specific vocabulary should be taught. This hinders pupils’ progression through the curriculum. The school should refine their curriculum thinking so that teachers are clear about when important vocabulary should be taught.  The school does not offer parents enough guidance to help them to support their children’s reading at home. From time to time, this hinders pupils in developing into confident and fluent readers. The school should consider more ways of working with parents to give them a greater appreciation of how their children learn to read.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2018.

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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. 20 and 21 February 2024

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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). 20 and 21 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 14 and 15 November 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, a new headteacher and deputy headteacher have been appointed  The school does not currently access any alternative provision for pupils.

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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 that 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 held meetings with governors, the headteacher and staff. She also held a telephone call with a representative of the local authority.  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 safeguarding that pupils’ interests first. 20 and 21 February 2024

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 The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and as they moved around the school, in the dinner hall and in the outdoor play area.  The inspector considered the views expressed by parents in their responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included free-texts comments. She also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys completed by staff and pupils.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and religious education. For each deep dive, she discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons and spoke with teachers and with some pupils about their learning. She looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector listened to pupils from Years 1 to 3 read with a familiar adult.  The inspector spoke with staff about other areas of the curriculum and talked with pupils about their learning in these subjects.

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Inspection team

Sheila Iwaskow, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 20 and 21 February 2024

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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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