Brandlehow Primary School

Brandlehow Primary School Inspection report

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101001 Unique Reference Number Wandsworth Local Authority 307557 Inspection number 22 May 2008 Inspection date Sue Rogers Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Primary Type of school Community School category 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 237 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs J Nicholls Chair Ms S Grove Headteacher 31 January 2005 Date of previous school inspection Brandlehow Road School address Putney London SW15 2ED 020 8874 5429 Telephone number 020 8875 9502 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 22 May 2008 Inspection date 307557 Inspection number .

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by an Additional Inspector. The inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following areas.

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Introduction

■ The quality of teaching and learning, and improvements since the last inspection.

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Introduction

■ The impact of improvement work done by leaders, especially in English and mathematics.

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Introduction

■ The quality of pupils' personal development and the school's provision for their care, guidance and support. Evidence was gathered from lesson observations, examination of pupils' work, and school documents, parents' responses to questionnaires and discussions with pupils, governors and staff. Other aspects of the school's work were not investigated in detail, but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified, and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

Brandlehow is an average sized school. The proportion of pupils who require extra support with their lessons is similar to those found in most schools. About half of these pupils need extra support with literacy. The number of pupils of minority ethnic backgrounds is higher than is usual, as is the proportion of pupils who do not speak English at home. The percentage of pupils who take free school meals is lower than average. The school holds the Sports Activemark and has won the Eco Award three times since 1997.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008

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Grade: 2

Brandlehow is a good school. The pupils make good progress with their work and their personal development is outstanding. This is because they enjoy school immensely. One pupil typically remarked, 'The school is perfect. I wouldn't change anything'. Learners are eager to come to school and make good progress because the teaching is good and the curriculum is outstanding. Pupils participate in an excellent range of outings and clubs, all carefully planned to extend learning. In addition, there are several interesting themed whole school activities, such as science week. Teaching is lively and good pupil tracking ensures that lessons are generally well-designed to ensure that the needs of all groups of learners are met. As a result, those who struggle with literacy or do not speak English when they arrive at the school progress well. They are effectively supported by well-deployed and skilful teaching

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Grade: 2

assistants. Teachers mark pupils' work conscientiously and give pupils information about the next steps in their learning. However, this practice is still developing. Similarly, pupils are given termly targets for improvement, but these are not consistently referred to. Children enter the school with skills and knowledge that are better than would usually be expected of three and four-year-olds. By the time they left Year 6 in 2007, national tests results show that pupils achieved exceptionally high standards. Pupils in the current Year 6 are also on track to achieve very well. They are doing particularly well in English because of excellent teaching that is consistently effective throughout the school. Progress in mathematics has been more uneven in the past. Learners now make good progress in mathematics, and attain well above average standards by the time they reach Year 6. However, there are still some groups

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Grade: 2

in Key Stage 2 classes, who are not doing as well in mathematics as they are in English. The school recognises this and has been working hard to make the assessment in this subject more secure, so that areas for development can be identified accurately. Relationships throughout the school are excellent. Consequently, parents and pupils are confident that pupils' care is outstanding. Pupils say that there is always someone they can talk to if they have problem and that they feel very safe. They also comment that the school's work on anti- bullying has eradicated the little bullying that used to occur. Behaviour is outstanding, due to excellent management by the staff. Pupils are polite, confident and work well together. Spirituality is very well developed. For instance, there was an excellent, moving, atmosphere in assembly when the school's gospel choir were performing. As a result, pupils' spiritual, moral social and cultural education is outstanding. Pupils contribute to the community

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Grade: 2

at all levels. The school council is influential in improving school facilities and pupils work hard in their gardens and in finding other ways to support the environment. They have also developed their own enterprise project 'Combat Hunger' to raise money for the starving in other countries. Pupils' health education is outstanding, as is evidenced by the number of sports clubs in which pupils' participate and by the schools' Activemark. The school's high standards mean that learners are well prepared for the next stages in their education. The vast majority of parents are very happy with their children's progress and they have many good things to say. A representative comment went, 'We recommend Brandlehow to anyone who is looking for a school'. The school has worked very hard this year to improve communication, responding thoughtfully to a survey carried out by parents. However, a significant minority of parents are of the opinion that communication about the content of

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Grade: 2

pupils' learning and their progress is not yet good enough. 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008 The headteacher is exceptionally well organised. She works very well with her deputy head, who is also very effective. They have built a strong management team. They understand where and how the school still needs to develop and they work very well in partnership with others schools and organisations. However, most senior and middle managers are relatively new in post and they are still developing in their ability to manage their areas and subjects. The governing body are effective in their ability to challenge and support the school. The school has improved well since its last inspection and standards are on an upward trend. Consequently, the school has a good capacity to improve still further.

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Grade: 1

Children get off to an exceptionally good start in the Nursery and Reception classes. Facilities are excellent and the children can choose from a wide range of interesting activities. The teachers have very high expectations and tasks are carefully designed to offer optimum challenge. For example, children were seen developing several areas of their learning simultaneously by discussing and painting pictures to show who they wanted to be when they grew up. Children settle in very quickly because they enjoy their learning. Excellent management results in very good assessment and record keeping. These records show that children are working at levels that are well above those expected for their age in all their areas of learning by the time they enter Year 1.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that pupils know precisely what they have to do to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve standards in mathematics so that they are as high as standards in English.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Find out specifically what parents would find helpful to inform them about their children's progress and performance. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 1 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The attendance of learners 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education 2 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

06 June 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Brandlehow Primary School,London,SW15 2ED Thank you very much for helping me when I visited your school. I especially enjoyed your singing in assembly. You and your parents told me that you think yours is a good school and I agree with you. You make good progress and do well in your tests because the teaching is good. You get exceptionally good test results in English and you also do well in mathematics. However, you do not do quite as well in mathematics as you do in English. Your personal development is excellent and you know a lot about staying healthy. Everyone in the school gets on together and you are very well looked after. I was very pleased to see that you are so polite and behave so well and so considerately. You also learn how to look after others effectively. I particularly liked hearing about your 'combat hunger' project. It was good to hear how much you enjoy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

school. Although your school is a good school some areas could be improved even more. I have asked your teachers to do the following things:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ make sure that you know exactly what you need to do next to improve

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ improve results in mathematics so that they are as good as those in English

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ try to find out what other information your parents would like about how well you are doing.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Yours sincerely Sue Rogers Lead Inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Brandlehow Primary School, 22 May 2008

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