Battling Brook Primary School

Inspection of Battling Brook Primary School Frederick Avenue, Hinckley, Leicestershire LE10 0EX

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Lisa Mathie. The school is a standalone academy, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Lisa Mathie, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Lucy Ryland. 18 and 19 June 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are positive advocates for their school. They welcome visitors. They are keen to explain what they have been learning. As children in the early years return from their outdoor learning session, they talk excitedly about the bee they have found after days of looking for one!

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What is it like to attend this school?

Battling Brook Primary School is considerably larger than many primary schools. However, the school knows pupils exceptionally well. The headteacher greets pupils by name and asks about their day. The school prioritises building positive relationships with pupils and their families. Most of the time, pupils get on well together. When arguments happen, pupils are confident that the adults in school will help them to sort their problems out. Pupils celebrate that everyone is different. One pupil said: ‘We wouldn’t want everyone to be the same. That would be boring!’

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school knows that the pandemic has been tough for pupils. Since lockdown, many pupils have found it harder to face personal challenge with determination. The school has introduced a programme to help pupils develop the skills they need to cope in tricky times. This is illustrative of the high expectations the school has for its pupils. As a result, pupils are better prepared to manage their feelings and concentrate on their work. The school is a happy place.

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better?

The school has produced a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum. The vision is that it will fire up pupils’ imaginations and ignite their excitement for learning.

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better?

In many subjects, it is clear how pupils’ learning will build up step by step and deepen over time. In mathematics, children in the early years develop a strong understanding of number. They recognise odd and even numbers and explain that you cannot share an odd number of items equally. Pupils use these core mathematical foundations well. In Year 1, they identify number bonds, in Year 3 they interpret bar charts and in Year 5, convert measurements. In some subjects, key knowledge is not identified with the same degree of precision and the sequence of learning is not as clear.

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better?

Reading is at the heart of the school’s curriculum. The school is determined that every pupil will become a fluent reader who enjoys picking up a book. In the Reception Year and key stage 1, pupils have ‘super six’ books each term that they come to love. These books are chosen with care. They include children’s classics, books with rhymes and refrain and books that promote diversity. This good practice continues into key stage 2.

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better?

Children in the early years start to learn phonics straightaway. Pupils’ phonics knowledge develops quickly through the consistent and effective delivery of the phonics programme. Pupils engage enthusiastically in these lessons and learn to read well. 18 and 19 June 2024

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Staff provide children in the early years with a wide range of activities. Children practise their reading, writing and number skills. They play games that encourage conversation and turn-taking. They imagine taking their friends to Egypt on a plane and whizz around the outdoor area on their balance bikes. However, staff do not have a formal system to check that every child has practised and rehearsed prior learning through their play. This leaves children at risk of developing gaps in their knowledge.

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Much of the curriculum is new. The school has made checks to assure themselves that pupils are learning the intended curriculum and that they know and remember more. However, some of these checks lack precision. They do not always provide leaders with sufficient information to identify the strengths of the curriculum, including how it is delivered or where further development is needed.

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The school promptly identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They draw on effective support from external agencies. Staff use information and the training they receive to make adaptations to the curriculum so that pupils with SEND can learn well.

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The school’s personal development offer prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. They are aware of fundamental British values and can discuss democracy and the upcoming general election. They recognise that their right to freedom of speech and individual liberty is a privilege that not every country enjoys.

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The trustees provide effective support and challenge for the school. They, and the staff, are proud of the school and share leaders’ ambition that every pupil will succeed. Staff say that the leaders have ‘raised the bar’ and this has meant extra work for them. Nevertheless, they agree that leaders are supportive and pay close attention to their workload and well-being as they work to improve the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the school has not fully mapped out the precise knowledge that pupils should learn as they work towards the ambitious end points the school has identified. It is not always clear how pupils’ learning builds up step by step so that their understanding of each subject deepens over time. The school should ensure that these small steps of learning are set out for all subjects.  While the school completes monitoring activities across the curriculum, in some subjects, these activities do not provide precise information to accelerate 18 and 19 June 2024

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continued school improvement. Monitoring activities are not always used sufficiently well to evaluate the implementation of the curriculum or the impact of the curriculum on what pupils know and remember. The school should ensure that all monitoring activities have a clear focus and that the information gathered is used to celebrate effective practice and to identify further action that needs to be taken.  In the early years, there is no formal process to check the activities that children engage in as part of their continuous provision. It is not sufficiently clear which children have had opportunities to develop and practise their skills across each of the areas of learning. The school should ensure that there is a system in place so that staff can assure themselves that all children are benefiting from a range of meaningful learning opportunities across the curriculum.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 18 and 19 June 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection 3 October 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a single academy trust. The three members and a board of trustees have oversight of the work of the school and hold leaders to account for the decisions they take.  The headteacher, two assistant headteachers and the school’s special educational needs and disabilities coordinator have been appointed since the school’s previous inspection.  The school runs its own breakfast club.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s 18 and 19 June 2024

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education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other members of the senior leadership team. The lead inspector met with five trustees, including the chair of the board of trustees.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, science and art and design. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The lead inspector listened to several pupils read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors reviewed further curriculum plans for history, design and technology, and religious education and reviewed pupils’ work in these subjects.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons, at social times and around the school. Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experience at school.  Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the school day and considered the views of parents submitted through Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text messages. The views of staff were also considered through Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Caroline Poole, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Liz White Ofsted Inspector 18 and 19 June 2024

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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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