Barley Lane Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

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

What is it like to attend this school?

Barley Lane Primary is an inclusive and aspirational school.

Its motto, 'believe in yourself, learn together, persevere and succeed', is clearly evident in the daily life of the school. From the early years onwards, staff set high expectations. Routines are very well established, enabling children to cooperate, play purposefully and engage in learning.

These include joining in with plenty of interesting rhymes and stories. Children learn the foundations to be ready for key stage 1.

The school has established ...a highly effective culture of learning.

Teachers have secure subject knowledge and deliver the curriculum with clarity and purpose. As a result, pupils achieve well. They are highly engaged and demonstrate very strong attitudes to their learning.

They take pride in their work. Pupils feel safe, enjoy school and attend well. Pupils' positive behaviour is rewarded consistently, contributing to pupils' strong motivation and achievements.

The quality of the school's work to promote pupils' personal development is a notable strength. Pupils are confident, resilient and work collaboratively. They willingly take on a range of leadership roles, including digital leaders and eco ambassadors.

Pupils benefit from a rich programme of wider opportunities, including educational visits to museums, parks and places of worship.

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

The school provides an ambitious and broad curriculum from the early years. It places a strong emphasis on phonics and reading throughout the school.

In the Reception Year, children learn to segment and blend sounds with growing confidence. By Year 1, pupils are supported to apply these skills fluently, including writing sentences with increasing ease. The school delivers an effective, structured phonics programme, as well as targeted support for pupils who fall behind.

As a result, pupils read with confidence. Although phonics outcomes at the end of Year 1 in 2024 were below average, current evidence shows that pupils learn their sounds appropriately. The school has sharpened staff's training, and so the checks staff make on pupils' learning is better.

Older pupils speak enthusiastically about reading and confidently describe books and characters.

Pupils achieve well in mathematics. The curriculum ensures that pupils learn knowledge progressively.

In Nursery, for example, children develop a secure understanding of numbers up to five. In Reception, teaching builds on this, extending knowledge to 10 and beyond. By Year 2, pupils confidently solve problems, including breaking numbers into smaller parts.

The school has strengthened the curriculum across a range of subjects. For example, it has prioritised supporting the development of subject-specific words and phrases, in order to deepen pupils' understanding. In the early years, children consistently demonstrate curiosity.

For example, when mixing potions as part of imaginative play, they explore new words and more complex sentence structures. Pupils demonstrate strong historical knowledge and make connections across different time periods.

Teachers have a strong subject knowledge and deliver curriculum content effectively.

They explain concepts clearly and use a range of appropriate strategies to support learning. Most activities are carefully selected to support pupils' learning through the curriculum well. However, on occasion, some activities that pupils complete do not deepen their understanding sufficiently.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well. The school has robust identification processes and provides timely support. Staff adapt learning activities to meet pupils' needs effectively.

Ongoing training and development continue to enhance staff expertise in understanding and meeting both pupils' academic and pastoral needs.

The school promotes a positive and respectful culture. Pupils are polite, friendly and courteous towards staff and one another.

They understand and follow school rules. Low-level disruption is rare. When required, the school takes swift and effective action to support pupils to follow the high expectations of their behaviour.

Pastoral systems, including the house system, are very effective. Staff take great care to know and support each pupil individually.

The personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education programme is well structured and delivered effectively.

It equips pupils with the knowledge that they need to understand the wider world. Pupils learn about healthy relationships in an age-appropriate way and understand how to maintain their mental and physical well-being. They are aware of how to live responsibly in a multi-cultural society.

Leaders, including governors, take effective action to sustain and improve the quality of education. They focus on the right priorities and have a secure understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development. Parents and carers are supportive of the school and value community events, such as the annual picnic.

Staff value the school's community and family ethos. They appreciate the school's approach to managing workload, particularly around checking pupils' learning, and the range of training and development opportunities that are available.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• At times, staff do not select activities for pupils to complete that deepen pupils' understanding of key concepts. This limits pupils' ability to develop a deep and detailed knowledge and understanding of important content. The school should ensure that staff give pupils activities that link more closely to the most important knowledge to enable pupils to know, remember and do even more.

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 April 2016.

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