Barham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Barham Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Barham Primary School are safe, happy and kind.

They are welcoming and demonstrate impeccable manners in their interactions with visitors. Pupils seek to embody the 5Rs by being respectful, resilient, risk taking, resourceful and reflective. They are rewarded through the school's 'house' system and enjoy positive recognition for their efforts and endeavours.

Pupils benefit from the wider offer at the school. They can develop their interests and talents through clubs, including chess, cooking, art and karate. Pupi...ls readily take on leadership roles as ambassadors, reading leaders and play leaders.

All pupils have opportunities to learn in the forest school so that they can explore and acquire gardening skills.

The school has high expectations of pupils' achievements. Pupils perform excellently in national tests.

As well as developing pupils' academic achievements, leaders are keen to develop the 'whole child'. They consider the wider social skills and experiences that pupils need for their next phase and in possible future careers. For example, pupils access a range of opportunities that take them beyond the everyday, such as visits to universities and museums and hearing from external speakers.

As a result, pupils are well prepared as they transition to their next stage of education.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils study a broad and ambitious curriculum in line with that expected nationally. Staff use their subject knowledge to support pupils to develop key vocabulary and knowledge in a range of subjects.

Communication and language are prioritised, beginning in early years. This means that children rapidly develop the skills they need to communicate with peers and adults successfully. This extends across the school, where actions, routines and vocabulary are precisely modelled by staff in their interactions with pupils.

As a result, pupils develop language to express their emotions with increasing success and to articulate their learning with greater confidence over their time at the school.

The school helps pupils to learn the foundations of reading and mathematics so that they can access the full curriculum. The school places high importance on pupils being able to read.

Teachers are suitably trained to deliver the phonics programme. Pupils that need further help to catch up with their reading are supported effectively. Reading ambassadors are passionate about their roles and the opportunity to read with younger pupils across the school.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well at the school. Staff are provided with training to help them identify needs and to adjust teaching to support pupils.

While pupils generally learn well across curriculum, at times, teaching does not consistently help pupils to connect their understanding to what they have learned previously.

This means that some pupils are less able to deepen their learning in a few subject areas.

Children in early years get off to a brilliant start. They learn in an inviting space that encourages curiosity and independence.

Staff set clear routines that support children to be ready for learning. This means that children feel able to be brave and take risks, even in the more unfamiliar habitat of the forest school.

Pupils behave well and lessons are rarely disrupted.

The school has new policies for managing behaviour. It is working to implement these consistently well, particularly during playtimes and lunchtimes. Currently, expectations for behaviour during these times are not always clear.

Bullying incidents are rare. Pupils know what bullying is and feel that adults typically deal with this well. The school has robust systems in place to remove the barriers to pupils' attendance.

As a result, pupils attend well and on time.

Pupils' personal development is well considered. The curriculum is designed to give pupils opportunities to learn important concepts, such as democracy, and about the protected characteristics.

Junior ambassadors take this further by leading on fundraising events and campaigns that their fellow pupils are passionate about. Pupils take pride in these roles and are responsible for sharing rewards, including for the 'house' with the best weekly attendance.

Staff, including those early in their careers, feel that their well-being is considered.

Those responsible for governance fulfil their statutory duties well. The school has been through a period of transition over the last two years, and those responsible for governance have worked with staff and leaders in the community to maintain high outcomes for pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, some of the important concepts are not taught securely and practised until pupils are confident. As a result, some pupils struggle to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas, and they are not as able to deepen their understanding and make connections in their learning. The school should review how teaching supports pupils to remember the concepts they have been taught.

• The revised policies for managing behaviour during informal times are not consistently applied. This means some pupils do not fully understand the expectations during break and lunchtimes and how incidents will be followed up. The school should continue to embed the behaviour policy and share its impact with stakeholders.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in March 2016.

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