Brockley Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 11 February 2025

Brockley Primary School is a welcoming community. Staff know the pupils very well. They care for them and keep them safe. Pupils enjoy pancakes at breakfast club and the chance to colour and chat with their friends. This gets them off to a great start each day. Lunchtimes are well organised and lively. There is a 'buzz' on the playground. Everyone at the school wants pupils to be well prepared for their future. Changes have been made so that children in the early years settle quickly into school and start learning straight away. Expectations have risen and the curriculum is improving. In some subjects, pupils recall their learning well. In others, there is more to do to make sure that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), become fluent readers and writers. Pupils understand the school's motto of, 'only my best is good enough'. The majority listen carefully in class and enjoy coming to school. However, there are some pupils who do not attend as often as they should. They miss out on important learning. Families appreciate the support that they get from the school. Many parents and carers commented that the headteacher and staff 'go the extra mile'.

What the school should improve

• Some pupils do not attend school as often as they should. This means that they miss the chance to build on previous learning. The school should continue to work with tenacity to ensure that all parents understand the importance of regular attendance so that pupils attend school more regularly.
• Some pupils do not read with a fluency appropriate to their age. For example, they do not always use their phonics to read unfamiliar words. This hinders their understanding of the texts that they are reading. The school should continue to develop teachers' pedagogical knowledge about the teaching of reading to ensure that pupils are supported consistently well and become fluent readers.
• The curriculum in some subjects is not adapted well enough to support pupils with SEND. This means that pupils with SEND cannot complete work independently and successfully because they do not have the knowledge and skills needed to tackle it. The school should ensure that the implementation of the curriculum is further developed so that the tasks that pupils with SEND undertake match the next stages of their learning.
• The school is at an early stage of implementing curricular thinking about writing. Pupils who are learning to write do not always get the systematic practise of letter formation or the graphemes that they are learning. This prevents them from writing with fluency and accuracy. The schools should ensure that the curriculum for writing clearly identifies exactly what pupils need to know and when. It should check that pupils are acquiring this important knowledge and these skills.

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