Barry Primary School

Barry Primary School Barry Road, Northampton, NN1 5JS

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Inconsistencies in the teaching, particularly in Key Stage 2, mean that pupils learn faster in some classes than others.  Not all teachers plan tasks that are challenging yet achievable for pupils of different abilities and the pace of some lessons is too slow.  Teachers have too few opportunities to learn from the best practice in school.  In mathematics at Key Stage 2, pupils’ weak calculation skills hamper their progress. Teachers’ knowledge of how best to teach mathematical skills is not always good enough to make the best of pupils’ abilities.  The leaders, including the governing body, do not evaluate the quality of teaching and learning with sufficient rigour.

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The school has the following strengths

 The good provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage means that they settle confidently into school life and make good progress in all areas of their development.  Consistently good teaching in Key Stage 1 accounts for pupils’ good progress in all subjects.  Pupils behave well and show respect for others. They feel safe and free from bullying.  The school is improving, particularly in attainment in English, because of the good teaching of word-building skills and many opportunities for pupils to write in all subjects.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 32 lessons, of which one was a joint observation with a senior leader. Inspectors also made a number of brief visits to lessons.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils, senior and middle leaders, the Chair of the Governing Body, parents and carers and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 38 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) at the time of the inspection.  They observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own data on pupils’ progress, planning and monitoring files, behaviour records and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Terry Elston, Lead inspector Additional inspector Jacqueline Pentlow Additional inspector Carol Worthington Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a much larger-than-average primary school.  An average proportion of the pupils are eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than in most schools.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, including those supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, is average.  There is specially resourced provision for up to eight pupils with special educational needs between the ages of 3 and 11. There are currently four pupils in this provision.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher have been appointed on temporary contracts from September 2012 until July 2013.  Care provision for up to 30 children before and after school is managed by a private

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Information about this school

organisation. This is separately inspected.  The school meets the government’s current floor standard, which is the minimum expected for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that pupils make at least good progress in all year groups by teachers routinely:  planning tasks to meet the learning needs of the different ability groups in the class  making pupils aware of the skills needed to move on to the higher levels  ensuring a brisk pace to lessons so that pupils’ interest and enthusiasm are maintained  checking on pupils’ progress in lessons and throughout the year to identify those who are underachieving.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise attainment in mathematics at Key Stage 2 by:  giving pupils more practice at quick calculations  providing training to ensure that all teachers are confident in teaching mathematics and know the skills that pupils need to learn next  ensuring that the curriculum builds well on what pupils have learned before  requiring pupils to use their mathematical skills in all lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make these improvements possible by:  leaders at all levels evaluating the quality of lessons rigorously  giving teachers clear guidance on how to improve learning  using the annual reviews of teachers to evaluate their effectiveness and set challenging targets  giving teachers more opportunities to learn from the best practice in school and beyond  the governing body holding the leaders to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievements.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children join the Nursery class with skills below those typical of their ages and make good progress throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage. Parents and carers say how well the school prepares their children for starting school and are pleased with their progress. Children work hard and enjoy playing in the stimulating classroom and outside area.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress is good in Key Stage 1 and attainment is above average in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. Pupils’ reading improves particularly well because of the good phonics teaching that helps them build letter sounds into words.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress in Key Stage 2 is less consistent, with some pupils underachieving, particularly in Year 3 and Year 5.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment by the end of Year 6 is broadly average, and improving in English, with above average attainment in reading.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils read widely in all subjects. The oldest ones use computers well to research their topics and scan texts quickly. Their writing is lively because they think carefully about how to engage the reader’s interest. Pupils are good at factual writing, as was seen in Year 6 when they wrote comprehensive accounts of slavery in the 18th century.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Attainment by the end of Year 6 in mathematics is average, but some pupils struggle when asked to calculate quickly in their head. This makes it hard for them to work out which operations to use when solving problems, using large numbers or calculating the area of shapes.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress in reading and writing but sometimes find the language in mathematics difficult to understand.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make satisfactory progress but, as with other pupils, do better in English than mathematics at Key Stage 2. This is because the work given to them is not always matched well to their abilities. Those who find reading difficult do well because of the way teachers and teaching assistants give them the skills and confidence to tackle unfamiliar words.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The support provided for those eligible for the pupil premium enables them to achieve as well as other groups. In the latest national tests, their performance was among the highest of any group.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils in the resourced unit achieve well. They benefit from effective support by all staff yet have good opportunities to work independently. Their parents and carers are full of praise for the way the adults ensure they take a full part in all aspects of school life.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 is good, but in Key Stage 2 it requires improvement.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Children make a good start in the Early Years Foundation Stage because teachers make learning fun by providing activities such as painting fish after reading a story about the sea and using plastic numbers to reinforce numeracy work.  Throughout Key Stage 1, teachers focus sharply on the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics and give pupils many opportunities to hone these skills in all subjects.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Some teachers in Key Stage 2 do not always plan activities to ensure that pupils of different abilities make good progress. They often spend too long teaching the class as a whole group. This means that the more-able pupils mark time and lower attaining pupils struggle to understand the work. The exception is in Year 6, where the strategy to teach the more- able pupils together for English and mathematics benefits them and the others in the main classes.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ knowledge of subjects is mostly good, but at Key Stage 2 they are not always clear what skills pupils need to master before moving on to the next task in mathematics. This slows down learning as earlier work has to be revisited.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pace in some lessons is slow, and pupils become restless as they wait for resources to be handed out or have to listen to the teacher telling all the other groups what they need to do.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking is mostly good, but older pupils are not always given sufficient guidance in lessons on what they need to do in order to attain the higher levels. The exception is in Year 6, where recent initiatives to improve the feedback to pupils are having a good impact on their progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching of pupils in the resourced unit is good. Teachers and teaching assistants ensure that these pupils have full access to all activities and they achieve well.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Relationships are good because teachers make expectations for behaviour clear and apply rewards and sanctions consistently.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In surveys and discussions with inspectors, parents and carers say they are happy with the quality of teaching and their children’s progress. Pupils endorse this and appreciate the way teachers help them with their work and keep them safe.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is good because that is what is expected. Teachers make the rules clear and set good examples with the way they treat others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils show a pride in their work and say how much they enjoy school. They persevere well with their work and are confident to ask for help when necessary. They are keen to succeed and only lose concentration when the pace of teaching is slow.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance is above average and pupils are punctual to school. Measures by the school to discourage unnecessary absences have proved effective and have improved attendance over the last year.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Bullying is rare and pupils are adamant that they feel safe from any form of harassment or discrimination. The school’s records show that exclusions following incidents of unacceptable behaviour have decreased markedly over the last two years.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Respect for others is a strength of the school. Pupils are polite and enjoy a good reputation in the local community for their courtesy and good behaviour.  Parents and carers feel strongly that behaviour is good and attribute this to the high expectations of all adults in school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good awareness of what constitutes safe and unsafe behaviour and speak knowledgeably about the potential hazards of using the internet.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Systems for managing teachers’ performance require improvement because the annual reviews of their work and the evaluation of teaching and learning lack the rigour to ensure consistently good practice throughout the school. Teachers have too few opportunities to learn from the best teachers in the school.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Self-evaluation is good and the new leaders’ targets for improvement, for example, in the quality of teaching and attainment in mathematics, are realistic and challenging. This, together with recent successes in improving standards in English through effective staff training, demonstrate the school’s capacity to improve.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Tracking of pupils’ progress is thorough and shows the leaders clearly which pupils are underperforming. Achievement, however, is not good because teachers have not been held to account for any inadequate progress in their class.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Good leadership and management of the provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage explains why children flourish in the Nursery and Reception classes.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Pupils find activities in the broad and balanced curriculum interesting and enjoy using books and computers to conduct their own research. Provision for English is a strength, particularly the organisation of daily reading sessions when pupils improve their phonic skills.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Mathematics is less secure because the planning in Key Stage 2 does not always enable pupils to build on the skills they have learned before. Sometimes they repeat work done in previous years and find it too easy. There are too few opportunities for pupils to use their mathematical skills in other subjects.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Extra-curricular clubs are popular and provide pupils with interesting activities and opportunities for competitive sport.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. By studying examples of oppressed people, for example, pupils learn about the need to respect one another’s differences and avoid any form of racial or social discrimination. The school makes good use of resources about the different countries that pupils originate from to help them learn about diverse cultures.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Partnerships with parents and carers are good. Parents and carers benefit from extensive information about the school and their children’s progress.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The school has found the support from the local authority helpful in identifying areas needing improvement.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Safeguarding systems are robust and meet all requirements.  The governance of the school:  The governing body lacks a thorough awareness of how well the school is performing.  It does too little to hold leaders to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school

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Grade Judgement Description

is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 121939 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 402067

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 468 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sarah Hall Headteacher Anne Smith Date of previous school inspection 17 November 2009 Telephone number 01604 234574 Fax number 01604 234574 Email address head@barry.northants-ecl.gov.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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