Ages 
Meticulous attention to the needs of the children has ensured this school is a success, by Ofsted’s standards (three consecutive outstanding judgements) and ours. The school benefits from its ingenious design and handles inclusion with mainstream deftly. As a result, the children flourish. Still, the real bonus of a specialist haven for these children is not found in the sheaves of colour-coded statistics the head has to sift through, but in the words of the children. As one shy boy explained, ‘meeting your friends every day is the best bit.'
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Overview & data
- Pupil numbers
- 201 ·
- Local authority
- Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
- SEN provision
- · ASD · MLD · OTH · PD · SLCN · SpLD · VI
Headteacher
Headteacher
Mr D Stanton
Since 2019, David Stanton.
Entrance
All children arrive with an EHCP 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
Exit
Majority to sixth form college, most for vocational subjects. Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge Colleges are popular; a handful progress to AS levels. Occasionally a child will rejoin mainstream from the primary years. One recent leaver went to
Latest results
We do not publish results data for special schools. Find out more.
Teaching & learning
A school for moderate learning difficulties and complex communication needs; half the pupils have a diagnosis of autism, other conditions include VI, HI, Downs, CP, global delay and genetic deletion. Some children are non-verbal and a few have
Learning support & SEN
All pupils in the Brier School have significant learning difficulty, and an increasing proportion have a severe learning difficulty. In addition, the majority have a secondary need including communication and interaction, autism, speech and language
Arts & extracurricular
Masses of clubs. ICT, Makaton, scrapbook, ocarina, story club are available at lunchtime, and over three evenings there is disability football, a general club and a VI cookery club, depending on the needs and age of the participants. The choir is
Sport
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 their favourite character or scene from stories, supervised by staff and a few
Ethos & heritage
Built in 2004 on a four school campus, a pioneering model for inclusion: purpose built nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, linked externally by footpaths. The project was suggested when the old school site was required to provide Merry
Pastoral care, inclusivity & discipline
Medical needs at the school are many and varied, with an increasing population of complex communication needs. The school nurses are shared with Crestwood and are a dab hand with an epipen and seizure medication. One mum, whose enterprising son had
Mobile phone policy
A clear mobile phone policy is a really important part of modern schooling. This school has provided us with their policy.
Mobile phone policy
Provided by the school and not part of our review We do have a mobile phone policy - however, the Policy outlines the acceptable use of mobile phones/IPads at The Brier in the context of safeguarding, underpinned by our statement of vision and values which permeates everything we do and say. At The Brier we recognise the vulnerability of our children and the potential for exploitation and abuse through the inappropriate use of mobile phones. We take steps to ensure that our safeguarding procedures are all-encompassing and robust.
Pupils & parents
The school is funded for 150 children from all over Dudley, with a small handful from other boroughs. Dudley is no longer ‘the most unhealthy place in the country’ as it was reported in 1852 during its industrial heyday, but the number of pupils here
Money matters
Places funded by LA, extras include a £5.00 charge per term for breakfasts and cookery and £2.20 for school lunch. School trips from parents’ fundraisers
The last word
Meticulous attention to the needs of the children has ensured this school is a success, by Ofsted’s standards (three consecutive outstanding judgements) and ours. The school benefits from its ingenious design and handles inclusion with mainstream
Inspection reports
Ofsted reports
Full inspection: Outstanding
You can read full reports on the Ofsted website
| Personal development | Outstanding |
|---|---|
| Quality of education | Outstanding |
| Behaviour and attitudes | Outstanding |
| Leadership and management | Outstanding |
| Early years provision | Outstanding |
Full inspection: Outstanding
| Leadership and management | Outstanding |
|---|
