Brookland Junior School

Overview: Brookland Junior School is a high-performing school that provides a warm and nurturing environment for its pupils. The school has a strong culture of high expectations and professionalism, and leaders have established clear systems to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who are disadvantaged. Pupils are happy, polite, and enjoy coming to school, and they feel safe and confident to speak to staff if they have worries or concerns.

Strengths:

• The school has a strong culture of high expectations and professionalism, with leaders communicating a clear strategic direction and maintaining an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development.

• Leaders have established clear systems to support pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged, including a sharply focused pupil premium strategy that responds directly and effectively to the needs of disadvantaged pupils.

• Pupils are happy, polite, and enjoy coming to school, and they feel safe and confident to speak to staff if they have worries or concerns.

• The school has a well-designed programme for pupils' personal development and wellbeing, which includes an effective curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education that prepares pupils well for future life.

• Pupils demonstrate a secure understanding of British values, including tolerance, respect, and democracy, and they show genuine respect for others' beliefs and faiths.

Areas to improve:

• Leaders should take appropriate action to identify and address errors in pupils' spelling and handwriting in all curriculum subjects, in order to strengthen these aspects of pupils' foundational knowledge.

• Leaders should continue to support disadvantaged pupils to attend school regularly so that their attendance improves even further.

• Leaders should ensure that pupils have more opportunities to practise and apply their writing knowledge across the curriculum.

Safeguarding: The safeguarding standards are met, and leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed.