School Year September 2014 – July 2015
Spring Term Visit
School:BrookeSchool / Date:4th February 2015 / Visit Length: 3 hours / Present:HT/SIP
Main focus:
Behaviour and safety / Focus of next visit:
1st July 2015 - Summary of SEF judgements/ Leadership and management/Overall effectiveness/ Provision management.
This report has been written using direct evidence from the visit and also additional information from 17 different sources of evidence from school records.
Matters arising
There was an opportunity for the headteacher (HT) and school improvement partner (SIP) to look around the school at the rapidly expanding building where it is anticipated that Brooke students will be prepared well to learn and eventually take their place in British society. Students are positively engaged in their learning. The HT described the ambitious plans for expansion; these are being planned in such a way as to be able to reach a broad range of children and young people (possibly through satellite provision at other local schools) and to enable them to experience high quality education in a range of ways. Contact with other schools in the area is developing well. The HT is determined that these developments will not have any negative impact on the curriculum and learning opportunities currently offered and the SIP found no evidence that it is doing so. It is clear that this HT knows his school well due to the very strong senior leadership team and the on-going systems to support continued improvements.These include re-location of key areas of learning and management where necessary. Other members of the leadership team link with wider partners to support developments; for example the deputy head is actively engaged with health and education professionals to establish the projected needs of very young children in the area. The governors anticipate finalising an admissions policy for Brooke school in the very near future which will establish the range of special educational need that Brooke school is able to cater for and continue to assure excellent outcomes for the children who attend.
Behaviour is judged to be outstanding; the SIP agrees. There continues to be a broad evidence base to demonstrate the school’s success in this area. Pupils are consistently engaged with their learning, they have excellent attitudes to learning and they respond positively toplanned interventions that lead to behaviour change. The school’s use of monitoring systems is excellent – and analysis of behaviours can now be followed up with increased rigor. As a result there have been some changes to the way learning is supported and teaching is delivered. Whilst the feedback from parents is from a relatively small number it shows that parents have confidence in this area. The SIP considers that there is continued improvement since the summer term visit and the last Ofsted visit.
Safety and safeguarding are judged to be outstanding; the SIP agrees. Evidence for school records, including parent and pupils’ feedback confirms that pupils are safe and feel safe in school. Pupils experience a wide range of offsite and outdoor experiences; risk assessment procedures appear secure and where necessary are particular to the needs of an individual pupils. The HT has already identified the need to refresh safeguarding training for some members of staff and has arranged for level 1 training for all staff. The SIP recommends that the HT considers applying for training on managing allegations if possible. (this is usually available via the local LSCB). The school recruitment systems appear to be compliant with the latest guidance. (Keeping children safe in education - 2014).The SIP recommends that the school arranges for an external check of the single central record to ensure that it is compliant. Internal checks appear sound. Scrutiny of risk assessments could also be helpful although there are no obvious concerns about these.
Exclusion is rarely used and all incidents are followed up meticulously. Attendance continues to be good and is improving as a result of swift actions taken by the senior leadership team. On-going analysis of attendance enables patterns to be spotted with appropriate follow up to support families where necessary. The SIP recommends presenting attendance data in key stages to enable governors to make comparisons with mainstream schools.
Leadership and management
Leadership and management within the school are good and improving. The SIP considers that aspects are outstanding due to the ethos and culture that exists within the school. Everyone is encouraged and supported where necessary to develop their role as a leader. Staff contribute ideas and approaches that support children to do well. Capacity for further improvement remains high.
Governance is good and provides a high level of support and challenge to the school. Governors remain keen to further develop their skills in this area. Evidence from notes and minutes from meetings suggests that good progress is being made in this area.
Brooke School continues to work with other headteachers and local authority officers to further develop their own and the local authority’s local SEN offer. There is a determination that children with special educational needs in Rugby will be exceptionally well served by their local schools.
Summary
The SIP view is that the school has a significant range of evidence that demonstrates that over time behaviour and safety is outstanding. The SIP’s first-hand knowledge through regular visits to classrooms and to the school generally confirms this. The SIP recommends that the Summer term meeting is used for a thorough review of the SEF judgements. The visit has been timed to enable the best possible predictions of achievement to be available.
School Priorities (including any Ofsted key issues)
- To ensure outstanding learning through BrookeSchool.
- To ensure that by 2015 all children or students are making upper quartile progress.
- To ensure that by 2015 all children have access to a skills based creative curriculum that ensures progression and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
- To ensure that by 2015 attendance stays above 95% and that all children and students are able to maintain high levels of concentration, interaction and mutual respect in the school community.
(from Ofsted report October 2013)
Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching by making sure that all teaching staff make clear what new skills and knowledge pupils are to learn in lessons.
Raise achievement by making sure that all teachers challenge the more able pupils in every lesson
The SIP considers that the school is makinggoodand demonstrable progress against all these priorities – particularly with regard to bullet points 3,4 and the two Ofsted areas.Providing that pupil achievement can be seen to be judged outstanding and in line with upper quartile progress all of these objectives are in course to be achieved by July 2015.
Agreed Actions: / Who: / When:
- Urgently ensure that all school staff have completed or have arranged to attend the necessary safeguarding training in order that the requirements of the latest guidance are met
- Consider whether there should be an external review of the Single Central Record against the current criteria to confirm compliance
HT/CoG / Immediately
To be determined by the school as deemed appropriate.
- Investigate the possible adoption of Early Support principles
School Improvement Partner Report
Autumn 2014/Summer 2015
ACHIEVEMENT & PROGRESS / The school’s judgement is that achievement across the school is good. / The SIP agrees with this comment when progress is judged overall. (JA November 2014)
(Attainment, Progress, Pupil groups & the
closing of any performance gaps, Key skills)
QUALITY OF TEACHING / The school’s judgement is that teaching is good across the school (November 2014). / The SIP judges that teaching is good and improving .(JA November 2014)
(Pace of progress, Expectations, Subject knowledge, Additional
Support, Reading, Marking, Assessment)
BEHAVIOUR & SAFETY / The school judges this to be outstanding(February 2015).
School SEF summary comment: Children take responsibility for their own behaviour and are developing strong learning behaviours in that they are self-motivated to acquire new skills at increasingly rapid pace. There are exceptionally few incidents of bullying and this are dealt with quickly and effectively. / The SIP agrees with this judgement based on direct experience and also from supporting information. (February 2015)
(Management of behaviour, Attitudes to learning, Safety
Freedom from bullying, Attendance)
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT / The school judges this to be good (July 2014). / The SIP agrees with this judgement (July 2014)
(L&M across the school, Leading/Managing the improvement of
T&L, Safeguarding, Self-evaluation & school improvement,
Governance, Curriculum, Engaging with parents/carers)
SMSC
(The quality of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social & cultural development) / The school judges this to be an area of strength (good) (February 2015). / There is strong evidence to support this judgement. The school has evidence that this area is improving over time (February 2015)
OVERALLEFFECTIVENESS / The school judges this to be good (July 2014). / There is evidence to support this judgement. This has been confirmed in the light of pupil outcomes inJuly 2015(JA November 2014).
School Comments