This is a larger than average-sized school. The large majority of pupils come from the Leicester City, rather than the Leicestershire authority. The large majority of pupils are from Asian or Asian British heritages, the majority of whom come from Indian backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is high. The school has a higher proportion of boys than is typical and more pupils than usual leave or join the school during the year. The percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average, as is the proportion with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school has specially resourced provision for special educational needs for up to 20 pupils, currently from Years 1 to 6, with moderate learning difficulties. All the unit’s pupils have specific needs, including autism, speech, language and communication difficulties, and/or social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The percentage of pupils with a statement of special educational needs is well above average. The school has achieved national Healthy Schools status and currently holds the Basic Skills Quality Mark, the EcoSchools Green Flag, an International School award and the Artsmark Gold award. In collaboration with two other local schools, the governing body runs a daily preand after-school care club for its pupils. A privately-owned and managed nursery, the Childspace Early Years Nursery, operates from a purpose-built building in the school’s grounds; this was inspected separately by Ofsted in October 2011 Inspection report: Brookside Primary School, Oadby, 6–7 December 2011 4 of 15 Inspect ion grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is sat isfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please tur n to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms Inspection judgements Overall effectiveness: how good is the school? 2 The school’s capacity for sustained improvement 2 Main findings Brookside provides a good education for its pupils. As one family wrote, ‘The staff model and encourage a caring, nurturing approach, resulting in a school full of happy, emotionally well-adjusted children’. The school’s tracking of pupils’ progress and the assessments of their individual needs are particularly good. The school works extensively with its education partners to ensure the assessments of its pupils are validated independently. This has a positive impact on achievement, especially among pupils who speak English as an additional language and the high number of pupils who join the school during their school career. School data show most pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points, which are often below or well below average. Those pupils who benefit from a continuous education at Brookside, either from the Reception year or the start of Year 1, usually reach higher standards than the other pupils. Attainment by the end of Year 5 is broadly average and, combined with the quality of their personal development, pupils are prepared well for high school. Pupils in the Education Support Unit (ESU) make good progress. Good teaching, support and assessment ensure the often relatively small steps they may make academically are secured firmly. Pupils make particularly good progress in developing the key skills necessary to enhance their future lives and well-being. This is true especially of their social and emotional development, and the promotion of their independence skills. Consequently, pupils gain significantly in confidence. While educated mainly in their own unit, pupils are integrated fully into the broader life of the school. The ESU is led and managed well; provision overall is good. Partnerships with families and specialists are excellent, ensuring the pupils’ health and well-being. Outstanding elements of the school lie in the excellence of its partnerships, both with its community and with organisations that support pupils’ learning. The school provides a particularly rich cultural environment, is a cohesive community and an inclusive school. It has very effective methods for reaching out to its families, and the school’s home–school liaison officer plays a vital role in this. The school is very well respected in the locality because of the ways it brings together pupils and their families from such a wide range of faith and heritage backgrounds. Pupils celebrate and reflect on each other’s beliefs; cultural diversity is appreciated as a strength. Consequently, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. Their well-balanced and respectful approaches to each other ensure an excellent perspective on their own safety and that of others.