The Brier School A GSG School
- The Brier School
Bromley Lane
Kingswinford
West Midlands
DY6 8QN - Head: Mr D Stanton
- T 01384 816000
- F 01384 816001
- E contact@brier.dudley.sch.uk
- W www.brier.dudley.sch.uk/
- A special state school for pupils aged from 4 to 16 with moderate learning difficulties; complex communication needs; autism spectrum disorder, Downs; global delay; cerebral palsy; brain injury; hearing and visual impairment
- Boarding: No
- Local authority: Dudley
- Pupils: 190
- Religion: Non-denominational
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Outstanding 1
- Early years provision Outstanding 1
- Outcomes for children and learners Outstanding 1
- Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1
- Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1
- Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 1
- 1 Full inspection 14th February 2023
- Previous Ofsted grade: Outstanding on 1st May 2012
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
At break we saw the place abuzz with informal sports, youngsters in their bright red polo shirts with balls and bikes, climbing and swinging, or even playfully re-enacting characters and scenes from their favourite stories, supervised by staff and a few carefully chosen older children in a prefect-like role. Classrooms lead directly to soft play and outdoor areas, rich in scooters and raised sandpits, with canopies for wet weather. Some children discreetly slip into the mainstream classes in Bromley Hills Primary or Crestwood School, via walkways within the campus. Floors are carpeted throughout the building and huge photographs of the children engaged in energetic activities smile at you from the walls...
What the school says...
The Brier is a successful, happy school where pupils enjoy their lessons and all the activities available to them. Staff believe that learning does not solely take place in the classroom and as such plan many visits and experiences that will enhance lessons and work. Likewise resources are renewed regularly and facilities for the children are excellent.
The breadth of SEN is large and staff work hard to improve their expertise and skills in order that the pupils' needs can be met. Staff are conscious that parents and carers have a vital role to play in this and endeavour to include them in their child's education and progress. ...Read more
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Other features
All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.
What The Good Schools Guide says
Headteacher
Since 2019, David Stanton.
Entrance
All children arrive with an Education, Health Care Plan with MLD, autism or speech and language as the primary concern, other needs include SEMH, physical and visual difficulties. Children are accepted throughout the year, also mid-term. The head shows prospective parents round himself and is alive to their concerns: access to mainstream, speech and language therapy provision and class sizes are issues he has tackled as a consequence.
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
The Brier School is an all age mixed special school for children with moderate learning difficulties or complex communication difficulties. The school is the largest special school in Dudley LA and the flagship for SEN provision in the authority. Since May 2009 the school has been a National Support School [NCTL] owing to its outstanding Ofsted report in 2008. It is located on Campus 21, a site that also houses a mainstream primary school and a mainstream secondary. The proximity of two mainstream schools allows integration into mainstream education, where appropriate, for all pupils. Such integration is arranged on an individual basis and following careful negotiation with all parties, including the child.
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | Y |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | |
| Dysgraphia | |
| Dyslexia | |
| Dyspraxia | Y |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | |
| Genetic | Y |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | Y |
| Has SEN unit or class | |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | Y |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | Y |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | Y |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | Y |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment | Y |
Interpreting catchment maps
The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.
Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.
For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained
Further reading
If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.
Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.
Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.
*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.
The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.
Children get into the school from here:
regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year
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