William Brookes School

William Brookes School converted to an Academy on 1 June 2013 and joined the 3-18 Education Trust on 1 April 2021.  We are a mixed comprehensive school with over 900 students on roll.  Each September sees us oversubscribed in Y7.  We value the specialisms we hold in Performing Arts and Maths & Computing and continue to support their profile.  The school always has an exciting feel to it, with a lot going on every term.  We moved into our brand new school in September 2010 and everyone, students, staff and the local community, has embraced the fantastic ICT rich facilities we now have at our disposal.  Our school is very much focused on the people who work within the building and we work hard on achieving our motto of “be the best you can be through courtesy, enterprise and endeavour”.

Although situated in beautiful surroundings on the edge of the small rural town of Much Wenlock, we are far from being a sleepy rural school. We have eight partner primary schools, with whom we work very closely, but we draw from a much broader spectrum of some 25 or more primary schools, including some in Telford, Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury, as well as the wider rural area of South East Shropshire.

We are a comprehensive school in every sense of the word.  Our ability spread is wide and also well balanced.  The last few years have seen several of our students go on to Oxford and Cambridge but we also cater for students with quite complex special educational needs too.  The socio-economic background of our students is equally mixed and we enjoy the same levels of support from parents from all sectors.  Some children have moved to us from the independent sector, some students live in isolated communities and many live in our surrounding villages and towns, with some 25% coming from the immediate town of Much Wenlock and surrounding area, approximately 31% from Broseley, which lies to the south of Ironbridge and 17% coming from the neighbouring areas of Telford & Wrekin.

The school's dual specialist status as a performing arts and mathematics and computing college is judged to have contributed extremely well to its success through enabling it to offer an excellent range of cultural opportunities for students to participate in school and also to enable them to make an outstanding contribution to the wider community.

Curriculum provision at KS4 has not changed significantly over recent years, with 5 pathways currently on offer.  Our KS4 curriculum is largely GCSE based but there is specialist vocational provision through Pathway 5 including practical based BTEC courses through our partnership work with the South East Learning Forum (SELF).  All students take a strong core of English, Maths, Science, Core PE and PSHE along with five option choices. Approximately 50% of our students take the EBacc but almost every student takes the minimum five GCSEs including English and Maths. We make increasing use of the new William Brookes Portal with over 30% of lessons presently attached for students to access at home.

Summary of Key Findings following our Ofsted Inspection of 17-18 October 2017

This is a good school

§ Senior leaders and governors are committed to providing high-quality education. Consequently, pupils achieve well academically and benefit from a wide range of broader opportunities. The school has improved in recent years and continues to improve.

§ Leaders use information about pupils’ attainment very well to identify and support pupils who need extra help.

§ The governing body possesses considerable expertise. It uses this well to support and challenge the school’s leaders.

§ Although the school has several highly effective middle leaders, some currently lack the skills or expertise to fully lead the improvement of teaching in their subjects.

§ Pupils make good progress in almost all subjects. By the end of Year 11, they achieve standards above those seen nationally. They are well prepared for their next stage of education or training.

§ The school’s promotion of literacy is effective. Pupils read regularly. Those who join the school with weak basic skills catch up quickly.

§ Teaching is strong in most subjects, including English, history, geography and French. Teachers work closely together to produce engaging resources and activities.

§ Teaching is of a more variable quality in a small number of subjects, including mathematics.

§ Here, teachers’ planning and expectations are not all of a consistently high standard.

§ Pupils behave well in lessons and at social times. They are sensible, courteous and polite.

§ They have good attitudes to learning and are keen to do well.

§ Most pupils enjoy school and attend very regularly. Attendance is consistently higher than the national average for secondary schools. However, a small number of disadvantaged pupils do not attend regularly enough. Although the attendance of disadvantaged pupils has improved, it remains lower than that of other pupils.

§ Pupils feel safe and well cared for in school. Safeguarding procedures and systems are strong. All staff know that keeping pupils safe is their top priority.

Learning Zones

In order to strengthen our key focus on learning and teaching, the whole school has been designed around four Learning Zones, reflecting common learning environment priorities, each providing the base for one of the school’s four Houses (Athens, Beijing, London and Sydney – the host cities of the first four Olympic Games of the 21st Century):

Enterprise & Technology: Maths, Business Studies, Design & Technology, ICT

People: English, Art, History, Psychology, RE

Global: Science, Geography, Government & Politics, Law, PSHE

Performance: Dance, Drama, Film Studies, Modern Foreign Languages, Music, PE

The ‘Heart’ houses the Student Support Centre (incorporating Inclusion, Learning Support, Behaviour Support and Student Services), the Library, Restaurant 1850 (the main catering outlet for students) and the administrative and clerical services.

Most teaching staff are Tutors. There are 10 tutor groups in each House. They deliver a tutorial programme, which this year has an increasing focus on academic monitoring and target setting. We currently have 61 teaching staff (including 15 part time) with 71 support staff.

Sports, the Arts and extracurricular activities are all features of William Brookes. Our letterhead is indicative of the wide range of success and achievement including the renewal of our Sportsmark Silver accreditation and Artsmark Gold. There is a joint use Leisure Centre on the site. As the only “Coubertin School” in Britain we enjoy not only a rich cultural tradition that is derived from the life and work of our namesake, Dr William Penny Brookes, but also unique opportunities for students to undertake activities with partner schools from across Europe and beyond. Younger students are participating in student voice and leadership activities related to the Olympics and Olympic values. Our Arts Centre, “The Edge”, is located at the heart of our new school and it enhances our Music, Dance and Drama facilities as well as benefiting the wider community of this part of Shropshire and reflecting our great strengths in the performing arts.

Visitors to the school continue to comment very positively on the “good feel” and respond very enthusiastically to the new school buildings and facilities.  Relationships are good and most people - staff and students - are happy here. We pride ourselves on providing a secure environment within which individuals can flourish and the Every Child Matters agenda is prominent. Values are generally traditional, as are standards of discipline – behaviour and safety is generally outstanding. Our work on student retention and inclusion is a strength, in partnership with the LA Children & Young People’s Services and our multi-agency team.

We consider ourselves very fortunate to work in a wonderful new school in a beautiful location, with wonderful scenery and facilities all around us.  We want William Brookes School to be a great place to learn and a great place to teach and hope that you will want to join us and be part of its exciting future.