Barrington Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Barrington Primary School Barrington Road, Bexleyheath, Kent DA7 4UN

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Outcome

Barrington Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Barrington Primary School greet visitors warmly. They have confidence in themselves and are proud of their achievements. They like to have a friendly chat and are very sociable. This is because they know they are safe, well cared for and valued by all staff at the school. As one pupil said, ‘We all have a right to be heard.’ Staff make sure that pupils are ambitious and have high expectations for themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils achieve well because leaders make sure that staff are well trained. Teachers work hard to improve their skills and be the best teachers that they can. Lessons are usually interesting and fun. Teachers make sure that pupils work and learn together. Pupils try their very best in all they do.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are nurtured by staff who know each individual very well. Leaders and staff have achieved their vision of ‘supporting each other to achieve together’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave extremely well and say that bullying is not something that happens at Barrington. They are confident that staff would quickly deal with any worries or concerns they may have. They enjoy receiving ‘dojo’ rewards for good behaviour or learning. Parents and carers, staff and pupils are proud to be part of this happy school community.

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

Leaders and staff think carefully about what they want pupils to know and do in all subjects across each year group in the school. They have high expectations and are ambitious in their plans for pupils’ achievement. They provide a broad range of subjects and experiences for pupils within and beyond the school day. Pupils enjoy art, sports and music clubs after school. Pupils know which subjects they need to do well in to get the jobs that they want. For example, older pupils talked about improving their artistic skills so that they could become designers. Some said that they love computing and want to become software designers. Pupils are keen to do well and there is a healthy sense of 3–4 December 2019

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Since becoming an academy, leaders have worked with professionals across the trust to bring about lots of improvements. For example, leaders have been successful in helping teachers to improve the teaching of mathematics. Teachers strive to make mathematics lessons exciting and fun. They plan activities which help pupils to learn together and they make sure that pupils have the right materials to support their learning. The youngest children enjoy games and activities which help them to develop their number skills. For example, they jumped into giant ‘tens frames’ in the playground to show the numbers the teacher held up. Achievement in mathematics across the school has improved and is strong. However, sometimes, the most able pupils are not asked to answer more complex mathematical questions to achieve the very best that they can. Leaders plan to support teachers in finding ways to do this.

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Teachers are confident and highly skilled at teaching phonics. Pupils build up their knowledge of sounds and their blending skills quickly. Teachers help them to choose books which match the sounds that they have learned. This means that even the youngest children soon see themselves as successful readers.

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When pupils need extra help with their phonics, they work in small groups with adults to help them catch up. These group sessions are helpful but, sometimes, they replace the class teachers’ lessons. This means that pupils miss out on this high-quality teaching which they also need.

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Teachers develop pupils’ love of reading and their knowledge of authors well. The reading programme motivates pupils and helps them to select books which challenge them. Teachers gather information about pupils’ understanding through online tests and written answers. However, teachers do not use pupils’ oral responses to questions about their reading to inform the assessments of pupils’ comprehension skills. Pupils talk enthusiastically about their favourite books and show good understanding through what they say. They enjoyed the recent charity event when they sold books to raise money for Children in Need.

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Leaders have well-thought-out plans in place to support the teaching of computing. Teachers are growing in confidence in teaching this subject as a result of excellent training and support. Pupils enjoy using a range of technology and are swiftly developing their skills of creating algorithms in key stage 2. Pupils in Year 2 and above use reading programs and enjoy mathematics programs. The mathematics program helps them gain fluency in their times tables. Leaders now plan to build on the use of computing skills in other subjects.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders, governors and staff put pupils’ well-being and safety at the heart of everything they do. They care deeply about the children and families who find themselves in need of support. They do everything they can to get help from beyond the school to keep children 3–4 December 2019

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safe or to improve the quality of their lives.

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Staff are well trained in all aspects of safeguarding. Records relating to the recruitment of staff are thorough. Pupils show a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe online. They understand the risks of living in London but feel safe and secure in their school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders and teachers make sure that pupils develop reading skills well. They use a range of resources to check pupils’ understanding of what they read. However, in some year groups, teachers do not use pupils’ oral responses to questions about their reading well enough when they are assessing pupils’ comprehension skills. Leaders agree that pupils’ oral responses to questions about texts should be used more consistently to inform teachers’ assessments of pupils’ comprehension skills.  Teachers need to make sure that all pupils benefit from their high-quality phonics sessions in key stage 1. Any catch-up or revision sessions in small groups can complement these sessions, rather than replace them.  To further improve achievement in mathematics, leaders need to support teachers in strengthening their planning for the most able pupils. This should enable pupils to answer more complex problems in mathematics.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, also called Barrington Primary School, to be good.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection. The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 3–4 December 2019

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 3–4 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110410 Type of school Primary

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School details

Headteacher Claire Clark Karen Herbert and Debbie Fisher (acting headteachers) Website www.barrington.bexley.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Barrington is a one-form entry primary school in Bexley. It is part of the Ignis Academy Trust.  The school has a specially resourced speech and language provision for 10 pupils, all of whom have an education, health and care plan.  At the time of the inspection, the headteacher was absent.

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Information about this inspection

 I met with the acting headteachers and other members of the leadership team. I met with three trustees and governors, including the chair of governors. I had a brief meeting with the chief executive officer of the trust.  I completed deep dive inspection activities in these subjects: reading, mathematics and computing. To do this, I met with subject leaders and visited lessons with them. I looked at pupils’ work and spoke to pupils about their learning. I met with the teachers I observed. I reviewed the school’s planning for these three subjects.  I visited the Talk Base provision and reviewed care plans for these pupils and for other 3–4 December 2019

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pupils with SEND in the school.  I spoke with staff and pupils throughout the inspection during playtimes and lunchtimes and as they moved around the building.  I reviewed the 17 responses to the Ofsted’s Parent View survey, the nine responses to the staff survey and the 16 responses to the pupil survey.  In order to inspect safeguarding, I reviewed the school’s single central record of staff suitability. I met with the designated safeguarding leader and reviewed documentation related to child protection.  I reviewed documentation relating to behaviour, attendance and exclusions.

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Inspection team

Ruth Dollner, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 3–4 December 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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