Barugh Green Primary School

Inspection Report Barugh Green Primary School

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106575 Unique Reference Number Barnsley Local Authority 287549 Inspection number 30 January 2007 Inspection date Philip Cole Reporting inspector

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

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Higham Common Road School address Primary Type of school Barugh Green, Barnsley Community School category South Yorkshire S75 1LD 4 °11 Age range of pupils 01226 383800 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01226 383800 Fax number 282 Number on roll (school) Ms S Hague Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr M Gilmore Headteacher 13 June 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 287549 30 January 2007 4 °11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Barugh Green is slightly larger than the average primary school. It serves a suburb of Barnsley with privately owned and local authority rented housing. Almost all the pupils are White British. Very few pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is in line with most schools, as is the proportion entitled to free school meals.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007

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Grade: 1

Barugh Green is an outstanding school that has sustained exceptional standards and achievement for many years. All the staff demonstrate a shared commitment to achieve excellence and, above all, a determination that all pupils should succeed. The school enjoys a very high reputation locally and parents are overwhelmingly positive in their views and are exceptionally proud of their children's and the school's achievements. The superlatives expressed by so many included, 'the best that private education can provide, for free!' The range and quality of information for parents are second to none. There are many reasons why pupils love coming to school such as: 'everyone gets on so well together'; 'adults listen to what we say and take on board our ideas' and especially the 'great clubs we can go to'. These range from Scrabble, mask making and cookery, to sporting activities, and pupils gain accreditations in each. Pupils see lessons

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Grade: 1

as challenging and fun and their enjoyment is evident in the delight that is often shown in them. Pupils' personal development is outstanding. Their behaviour is excellent, they feel safe and secure and they report that there is no bullying in school. Pupils show maturity, are confident and eagerly take on responsibilities. They have a very good understanding of what they need to do to keep healthy and were instrumental in bringing in the healthy tuck shop. Excellent basic skills and self-awareness make them very well placed to face life's future challenges. Standards are exceptionally high and pupils' achievement is outstanding in English, mathematics and science. This has been the case, almost without exception, since at least the school's last inspection in 2001. From work seen, standards are high in all other subjects; this reflects the value placed on learning as a whole. All pupils make very strong progress from Reception through to Year 6 because teaching across the

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Grade: 1

school is excellent. Every effort is made to support those who find learning difficult within their classes, so that they have full access to the curriculum, and to challenge those who are gifted or talented. Teachers work very hard to ensure that pupils understand what they will be learning in every lesson and make exceptionally good use of all the resources at their disposal to achieve what has been planned. The outstanding curriculum provides many very effective links between subjects, making learning purposeful and relevant to pupils. Visits and visitors to school are used extremely well to initiate new topics and add considerably to the quality and enjoyment of pupils' learning. One of the most important reasons why pupils thrive in this school is the outstanding care, support and guidance they receive. They feel safe and happy because all adults care and there are tried and tested systems to protect them from harm and to identify

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Grade: 1

and deal with any problems quickly and effectively. Every opportunity is taken to involve parents in their children's learning and they respond appreciatively to this. Pupils are often given very helpful feedback on what they have done and are mainly successfully encouraged to evaluate their own work. As a result, most have a clear understanding of what they need to do to make their work better. However, differences between how each class has currently agreed to give feedback have led to some pupils 2 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007 having a better understanding than others. Similarly, there are differences in teachers' use of targets with pupils and this is leading to unevenness in pupils' understanding of what they need to aim for. Nevertheless, the guidance given to pupils is making a significant contribution to their learning. Leadership and management are outstanding. This starts at the top with the

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Grade: 1

headteacher and deputy headteacher. Their constant quest to achieve excellence is underpinned by reflection, rigour and a desire to involve everyone with a stake in the school. All the staff are successfully encouraged to participate in leadership and management. They feel empowered and valued and respond in kind by taking initiatives and responsibility for what they do. Every aspect of the school's life is exceptionally well managed and it runs with remarkable efficiency, ensuring that learning is the top priority. Although governors have a good knowledge of the school, they could be more fully involved in holding it to account. The school promptly tackled issues from the last inspection and has maintained its excellent performance since then. Its capacity to improve is outstanding.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Provide more consistency in how pupils are helped to understand what they can do to improve their work. • Involve governors more directly in finding out how well the school is performing so that they can be more fully involved in the process of making it even better.

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Grade: 1

Children in the Reception classes enter school with attainment in line with expected levels. They make extremely good progress to attain above the levels expected of pupils going into Year 1, especially considering that few have experienced pre-school provision. With the exception of 2004, when the year group included an unusually large number of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, standards in Key Stage 1 have consistently been significantly better than the national average. In 2006, an impressive proportion of pupils attained the higher levels compared to schools nationally. Both standards and achievement in Key Stage 2 are extremely impressive. Since at least 2002, results in national test have been well above average with significantly more pupils achieving the higher than expected levels, in all subjects, than other schools. Pupils' achievement in both 2005 and 2006 has been in the top

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Grade: 1

10% of all schools. Given the pupils' attainment in the Year 2 test, this represents exceptional progress.

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Grade: 1

All aspects of pupils' personal development are outstanding. Their excellent behaviour, attendance, relationships, ability to take responsibility and work together and to 3 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007 empathise with and appreciate the cultures of others are testimony to the pupils' exceptional spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They are able to make informed choices about food and exercise and keeping themselves safe. They not only thoroughly enjoy clubs and activities in and out of school, they are also keen to contribute and are proud of the improvements, including playground provision and the healthy tuck shop, that have been made at their suggestion.

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Grade: 1

Teaching is consistently good and often excellent across the school. Lessons are very well planned and teachers ensure that pupils always understand what they should be able to do by the end of each lesson. Teachers make excellent use of resources, such as pictures and artefacts to bring learning to life, and information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance their explanations and to provide research and presentational challenges to pupils. All teachers have high expectations and are skilful in managing pupils' behaviour; these ensure high levels of involvement and work of a consistently excellent quality. Teachers and their assistants use questioning very skilfully to extend pupils' thinking and work extremely well together to ensure that all pupils make good progress in lessons.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum is very well balanced and enables pupils to achieve extremely well across all subjects. Subjects such as history, geography, religious education, science, and design and technology are used extremely well to give pupils purposeful and relevant opportunities to apply their literacy, mathematical and ICT skills. Specialist teaching in physical education and music leads to high standards in these subjects. Excellent provision for personal, social and health education and citizenship, enhanced by residential visits and regular 'newsround' lessons for the older ones, underpins pupils' outstanding personal development. An imaginative range of high quality clubs, often suggested by pupils, provides opportunities for all children to explore their interests.

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Grade: 1

Pupils achieve so well because they are very happy and secure in school. They enjoy excellent relationships with very caring adults. The school goes that extra mile to work in partnership with parents to support pupils' learning. It provides excellent guidance to parents through high quality materials, access to books and experience of workshops so they can help their children at home. When problems arise they are quickly and effectively dealt with, with the help of parents and outside agencies when this is 4 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007 necessary. There are robust and u- to-date systems to safeguard pupils both in and out of school. Pupils' progress is tracked very closely and appropriate and successful action is taken to support any whose performance dips. Academic guidance is effective and helps pupils to understand what they can do to improve, but the benefits of a

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Grade: 1

more consistent approach and experience for pupils are not fully realised.

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Grade: 1

The school's outstanding performance over time is testimony to the effectiveness of leadership and management. Everything is tackled in a professional and rigorous manner. Research, including visiting other schools even in other countries, and trialling is undertaken before new initiatives are agreed and implemented. This careful and deliberate approach leads to change being managed well and to secure improvements being made. For example, a radical overhaul of the provision for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities has improved the progress they make and enabled them to have full access to the curriculum. The school's self-evaluation is extremely effective and has ensured over many years that the plans to improve its performance are based on evidence and accurate identification of what needs to be done. Governors are supportive and work well with the school to fulfil the school's aims and priorities.

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Grade: 1

However, they need to be more sharply focused on monitoring performance to hold the school to account. 5 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007 .

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Grade: 1

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 1 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I really enjoyed my visit to your wonderful school. I think that you all try very hard in lessons and do excellent work. Your behaviour is excellent and you all get on very well together. Many of you said how much you enjoy coming to school because of the interesting things you do and because you like your teachers so much. You are lucky that you come to a school where all the grown-ups care so well for you and listen to what you have to say. I think that the ideas you have had to make your school better, such as improving the playground and having a healthy tuck shop, are really good. I agree with you about the great clubs that you go to during the week. Your headteacher and all the other grown-ups want you to have the very best school possible. They are continuing to do all they can to make this happen. I think that your teachers and their assistants do an excellent job. They work very hard to make your lessons exciting and give you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

work that helps all of you to learn so well. I know that you appreciate the helpful comments that teachers make in your books. However, I think that the feedback they give you could be more regular in some classes. I also think that it would help some of you to be given targets to aim for that have small steps. You would then see more clearly what you have achieved and what you need to do next. Your governors give good support to the school. I think that it would help them to do their important jobs even better if they were able to come in more to look for themselves at what you do. Your parents think you come to an excellent school. I agree with them and am sure you will continue to be very happy there. 9 Inspection Report: Barugh Green Primary School, 30 January 2007

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