Bartons Primary School, Bognor Regis

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Bartons Primary School, Bognor Regis has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love coming to this school and enjoy being part of 'Team Bartons'.

They arrive each day motivated to learn. The school sets high expectations for pupils' learning and behaviour. Pupils achieve well in many subjects.

A buzz of excited learning permeates from each classroom. Pupils behave well in lessons. They learn how to work with each other productively, listen and disagree politely.

Pupils treat each other with a high level of respect.

The school places great emphasis on the import...ance of the school's values, such as independence, communication and happiness. Pupils understand the school's values well, striving to demonstrate them in all that they do.

Pupils enjoy winning house points for exhibiting these values successfully. They love taking home the 'Bartons' batons' and passing on these values to those at home. The partnership between school and home is strong.

Older pupils have many opportunities to develop their leadership skills, such as being house captains and reading ambassadors. Pupils appreciate being able to visit 'well-being HQ' during breaktimes, where the trained pupil 'well-being champions' help them with any worries. Pupils feel safe and know that adults act in their best interests.

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

The curriculum is broad and engaging. Since the last inspection, the school has worked successfully to identify the essential knowledge that it wants pupils to learn and remember in all subjects. This has been sequenced thoughtfully from Reception to Year 6, ensuring that pupils build on what they have learned before.

The school is aware that there is still some refinement to be done. In particular, teachers' checks on pupils' learning are not as effective as they could be in wider curriculum subjects.

In lessons, staff present new content clearly.

Pupils have access to a wide range of resources to support their understanding. The school identities pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Staff support pupils with SEND effectively so that these pupils learn alongside their classmates successfully.

Staff work well with parents and carers, as well as external professionals, to put in place the right support. Pupils with SEND take part in all aspects of school life fully.

The school makes clear the subject-specific vocabulary that pupils should know.

As a result, pupils use technical words confidently and can, in most subjects, explain their learning clearly. This starts well in the early years, where interactions between staff and children are of high quality and extend children's language skills well. However, occasionally, in a few wider curriculum subjects, learning activities do not support pupils to learn the identified knowledge and vocabulary as effectively as they could.

In addition, expectations of what pupils can achieve are not always high enough. This hinders how well pupils learn.

Pupils enjoy reading.

They talk about their favourite books and authors with confidence and enthusiasm. Effective training means that staff deliver the phonics programme well.They use useful checks to spot gaps in pupils' understanding.

In phonics, staff use these checks well to deliver targeted support. They help pupils catch up. Although checks on learning in the core subjects of mathematics and English are effective, in some wider curriculum subjects, checks are relatively new.

They have not had chance to make a difference to addressing gaps and misconceptions in pupils' understanding or driving refinements in curriculum thinking yet. This hampers the progress pupils make in these subjects.

Pupils show very positive attitudes to their learning and are motivated to learn more.

They show great resilience in lessons. Children in early years learn how to take turns and share. Pupils' behaviour at social times is excellent.

The personal development of pupils is a strength of the school. The school's provision ensures that pupils know how to keep themselves safe and healthy, especially for the locality in which they live. For example, pupils learn what to do if they see someone in trouble in the sea.

They know how to call the coastguard. They understand well, at an age-appropriate level, topics such as mental health, road safety and healthy relationships. Pupils take part in a wide range of activities that help them to develop new skills and build their confidence.

These range from trips and productions to 'Bartons Got Talent'. Clubs are well attended, including karate, reading and choir.

Staff feel highly valued as part of 'Team Bartons'.

All those who work in the school, as well as governors, are taking swift and effective action to further improve pupils' outcomes. They very much have the best interests of pupils at the centre of their decision-making.

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 foundation subjects, the tasks that pupils are asked to complete do not help them to learn what is set out in the school's curriculum. When this happens, pupils do not develop the depth of subject-specific knowledge and skills that they could. The school should ensure that staff have the support needed to be able to select and use tasks that better support the implementation of the curriculum.

• Assessment is in its infancy in some wider curriculum subjects. It is not used well enough to check that pupils have remembered the knowledge they have been taught and to inform future learning. The school should ensure that assessment is used effectively to check on what pupils know and can do, so that they are well prepared for their next stage.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in December 2019.