Mulberry Canon Barnett Primary Academy

Mulberry Canon Barnett Primary Academy

Address: Gunthorpe Street, Aldgate, London, E1 7RQ Unique reference number (URN): 148769

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Inclusion Strong standard

There are embedded systems in place to identify any pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or who may face other barriers to their learning. The school works closely with external specialist agencies, including speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and the virtual school for pupils who are supported by social care, to secure helpful guidance. Information is communicated clearly so that pupils receive the support they need in a timely way. Leaders check the impact of this support, including the use of the pupil premium funding for disadvantaged pupils, regularly and are swift to make adaptations when needed. Staff receive detailed training to understand and support pupils' different needs. For example, the school's significant focus on developing spoken language is underpinned by extensive training about working with pupils at the earliest stages of language acquisition, those who speak English as an

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Inclusion Strong standard

additional language and pupils who communicate other than through speech. As a result, staff make thoughtful adaptations to the curriculum and to the tasks that pupils complete. This helps to ensure that pupils with additional needs access the same curriculum as their peers, wherever possible. Pupils who attend the 'Mozart' provision receive high-quality, specialist support. The curriculum here is specifically designed to meet their individual needs. Across the school, pupils with SEND or who may face other barriers to their learning make notable progress from their individual starting points.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils' personal development is very well considered. The curriculum is carefully designed to help pupils learn important ideas, such as maintaining good physical, mental and emotional health, how to stay safe, including when online, and what constitutes a safe and respectful relationship. Pupils develop a deep and mature understanding of these issues, as well as, for example, different family structures, the importance of celebrating diversity and tackling discrimination. There is an extensive programme of activities and experiences designed to enrich pupils' time at school. A range of visits to museums, galleries, the theatre and landmarks, such as the Houses of Parliament, underpin the curriculum. Pupils also travel further afield, including a residential visit to Wales.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

There are lots of opportunities for pupils to take on additional responsibility. Pupils contribute to the wider life of the school through, for example, roles on the school council, as eco- warriors, playgrounds friends and librarians. Pupils are rightly proud of these roles and what they have achieved, including choosing how parts of the school should be decorated and making changes to the school meals menu. Pupils are often elected to these positions, which helps them to understand the importance of democracy. Pupils with additional needs or who may face other barriers to their learning and participation are fully included in the life of the school. Careful tracking ensures that these pupils participate fully and benefit from the enrichment opportunities available.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils' wellbeing is thoroughly promoted. For example, classes routinely capture experiences and behaviours that are good for their emotional health. Older pupils spoken with during the inspection explained how they are taught to 'navigate the world' through

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Expected standard

recognising their emotions and the impact of their behaviour on others. Pupils understand that having good emotional health helps them to stay safe.

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Achievement Expected standard

Younger pupils typically secure the knowledge and understanding they need to communicate, read, write and work mathematically. This helps them to access the curriculum in all subjects as they move through the school. The careful adaptations staff make to the curriculum and activities for pupils with additional needs help to ensure that these pupils progress well from their different starting points. The variability in teaching means that there are gaps that persist in some pupils' understanding over time. This limits the depth of connected knowledge and understanding that these pupils secure. By the time pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, leave the school, they typically achieve in line with their peers nationally. This means they are generally well placed for the next stage of their education.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils' attendance is a high priority for all staff. The school checks attendance carefully and rightly focuses their support on families in which there may be barriers to attending well. Leaders demonstrate real determination in promoting the importance of coming to school each day, and on time. Highly positive relationships with parents and carers means this work is undertaken sensitively and is well received. As a result, attendance is improving steadily. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, now typically attend in line with the national average, while disadvantaged pupils attend better than their peers nationally. The number of pupils who are persistently or significantly absent has reduced.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils behave very well in their classrooms, around the school and in the playground. This is because there are warm and respectful relationships between adults and pupils and between pupils and their peers. Staff have very high expectations for behaviour that are well understood and consistently applied. Where pupils may need additional support to manage their behaviour and emotions, this is provided in a timely way by staff who have been well trained to understand pupils' individual needs. The school is a welcoming, safe and harmonious environment where pupils get along well with each other and where learning is not disrupted. Pupils work hard and are proud of what they achieve. Bullying is extremely rare. Pupils understand that any form of discrimination or unkind, harmful behaviour, including when online, is not tolerated. Pupils understand how to report any concerns they may have and are confident that they would be taken seriously.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The curriculum matches the breadth and ambition of what is expected nationally. It is well designed and clearly identifies what pupils should learn and in what order. There are planned opportunities for pupils to practise and embed their learning so that they are well placed to tackle more complex ideas.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Early reading is a priority. Staff are thoroughly trained and teach phonics with accuracy. The books pupils read are well-matched to the sounds they know. When pupils need help to catch up they are swiftly identified and well supported to read with increasing fluency and accuracy. Similarly, a whole-school focus on spoken language ensures that pupils have the opportunity to speak in full sentences, using increasingly complex vocabulary. Leaders have recognised there is some more work to do to develop early writing so that pupils write with consistent precision and fluency.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff are well trained and have secure subject knowledge. This means that new ideas are explained clearly. Staff make thoughtful adaptations to the curriculum and teaching approaches to ensure that pupils with additional needs are well supported to learn. However, pupils' errors and misconceptions are not consistently identified and addressed. As a result, gaps can persist in some pupils' understanding, which limits their readiness to learn new ideas. Similarly, there are times when the activities chosen for pupils do not match the ambition of the planned curriculum. In these instances, pupils do not develop the depth of connected understanding they should.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders have an ambitious vision and are determined to give children the best start to their education. Leaders have designed a curriculum that builds knowledge, skills and understanding. Staff are well trained to develop children's early language and mathematics through well-chosen activities, practice and repetition. As a result, children are well supported to be ready for the next stage of their education. Although children's spoken language is a significant focus across the school, there is some variability in the quality of interactions between adults and children. These interactions are at their most effective when adults model and extend children's language, building their confidence, vocabulary and fluency. However, there are also some missed opportunities to do this, meaning some children do not benefit as fully.

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Early years Expected standard

From often lower starting points than are typical nationally, an increasing number of children reach a good level of development. Where this is not the case, the Year 1 curriculum is adapted appropriately to address any gaps in knowledge and understanding. This helps most children to catch up with their peers. Children who may have additional needs or barriers to their learning are swiftly identified and well supported to access the same curriculum, wherever possible.

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Early years Expected standard

Across early years, children learn what it means to behave well and to engage positively with their learning and their friends. As a result, children feel and are kept safe, are settled and work well together, taking turns and showing kindness to each other. The school builds highly positive relationships with parents and carers early on. This helps families settle into school life quickly.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders and those responsible for governance are ambitious for the school and its community. They consistently make decisions in the best interests of pupils and their families. Leaders have a detailed understanding of the school's many strengths. This enables them to identify appropriate priorities for further improvement. Those responsible for governance understand and enact their statutory duties as well as provide effective support and challenge for leaders' work.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The school is rightly prioritising the development of leadership at all levels so that those newer to their posts of responsibility have the knowledge and understanding they need to contribute fully to the school's improvement journey. This will be important moving forward as the school embeds the highly positive changes senior leaders have made to the curriculum, teaching and behaviour.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Although the school has been through a time of some significant change, staff are effusive in their praise for the work of senior leaders. Staff value highly the opportunities they have to develop professionally, and they appreciate the steps that have been taken to mange workload and prioritise wellbeing.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The school has built deep and trusting relationships with parents and carers, who value the work of the school, engage well and are very supportive of the recent changes made.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils enjoy everything their school has to offer. They enter school excitedly and are highly motivated to learn and participate fully. Leaders have established extremely positive relationships with families. Parents and carers fully support and engage with the improvements leaders have made to the school. These productive relationships reflect the ways that pupils interact with their peers. Behaviour in classrooms and around the school is calm and purposeful. From early years onwards, pupils learn and enact the 'Mulberry Canon Barnett way' by working hard, being kind to each other and helping their friends. Bullying is extremely rare. Pupils recognise that behaviour might be 'bothering', 'bullying' or 'brilliant'. This helps them know how to behave well and what to do if they have any concerns. They know staff will resolve any worries they may have quickly and effectively. This helps pupils to feel safe and be kept safe at school.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Leaders' work to improve the curriculum and teaching means that pupils generally develop depth of knowledge in different subjects and achieve outcomes broadly in line with national averages. Pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities are at the earliest stages of learning English or who may face other barriers to their learning and participation are swiftly identified and well supported to learn and access fully the life of the school. Attendance is improving. Overall, this means that pupils are typically well prepared for the next stages of their education.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils' talents and interests are well developed and nurtured. The school benefits from working closely with secondary schools in the trust that provide specialist music teaching, as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) experiences. Pupils are rightly proud to represent their school through, for example, sporting fixtures and musical performances at local community events.

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Next steps

Leaders should embed recent changes to teaching. This includes ensuring the tasks and activities chosen match the intended ambition of the curriculum, that their high expectations for children's talk are maximised through high-quality interactions in early years, and that teaching identifies and addresses pupils' errors and misconceptions. This will support continued improvement in pupils' achievement, including in national assessments. Leaders should continue their work to develop the knowledge and expertise of leaders at all levels. This will help to ensure they contribute fully to the ongoing improvement of the school. Leaders should continue to prioritise pupils' attendance so that recent improvements are sustained for all groups.

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About this inspection

The school is part of the Mulberry Schools multi-academy trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the interim chief executive officer, Alice Ward, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Jane Farrell. The chair of the local governing body is Mark Traynor, who is also a trustee.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with school and trust leaders, staff, pupils, parents and carers during the inspection. They also held discussions with representatives of the board of trustees and local governing body.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school does not currently make use of alternative provision.

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Team inspectors:

Karen Wyatt, Ofsted Inspector Helen Thomas, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2024/25 (final) 59% 62% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2023/24 (final) 68% 74% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (final) 74% 72% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (final) 78% 74% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (final) 46% 47% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (final) 42% 46% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2024/25 (final) 62% 63% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (final) 54% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (final) 69% 61% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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