Barrow Hill Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Barrow Hill Junior School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils describe their school as welcoming, kind and inclusive.

Pupils are polite and keen to help others. They are rewarded for demonstrating the school's values of 'trust, fairness and respect'. Typically, pupils behave well.

Bullying is rare and dealt with effectively if it occurs. Pupils are taught to stay safe, including when online. They are kept safe and have trusted adults that they can speak to.

Pupils develop their leadership skills by serving as school councillors, librarians or playground 'worry wip...ers', who help their peers who might be upset, or to resolve any issues that might arise. All pupils have access to the school's swimming pool, science lab and the 'learning lounge' attached to each classroom. Leaders carefully select visits to enhance the curriculum and develop life skills.

For instance, outings to local allotments help pupils understand the life cycle of a plant and also deepen their understanding of healthy eating. The school helps pupils to develop their skills and talents beyond the classroom with the selection of music lessons and sporting clubs on offer.

The school has high expectations of pupils' achievement.

The school has designed an ambitious and broad curriculum. Pupils achieve well in national tests, helping them to be ready for the next phase of their education.

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

The school's curriculum is set out so that pupils develop their understanding in a range of subjects.

For example, in physical education, the school makes full use of the swimming pool on site so that pupils develop their skills every year. Initially, pupils practise their movements and rotations in the water, before advancing to synchronised sequences and then moving on to performing headstands and somersaults with increasing success.

In the main, teachers deliver the curriculum well.

At times, however, teaching does not routinely check that pupils are secure in their basic understanding of important ideas before they are moved on through the curriculum. Teachers do not adjust teaching consistently well when errors or misconceptions arise. This means that some pupils do not securely build the knowledge they need to successfully complete more advanced tasks.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported in an inclusive environment. Staff are suitably trained to identify and help pupils with SEND. Leaders work with parents and carers, and external agencies, to ensure pupils make progress from their starting points.

The school has an appropriate programme in place to support pupils who need to catch up with their reading. The school encourages a reading culture throughout the curriculum, and with daily reading slots in the 'learning lounge' attached to each class.

The programme for pupils' wider personal development is built around the school's values.

This means that pupils have opportunities to revisit important topics in lessons, assemblies and circle time. For example, pupils learn about respect and what this looks like in a democracy. Pupils know that this means discrimination is not tolerated and that everyone's voice should be heard.

Pupils support each other to thrive at the school, regardless of their background.

Pupils are taught to identify their emotions and to use these to better understand their thoughts and actions. Pupils typically behave well in lessons.

However, on occasion, the school's expectations of pupils' behaviour are not consistently managed. This means that a small number of pupils do not behave as well as they could. Nonetheless, pupils' interactions with peers and adults around the school are typically polite.

Pupils attend school well, which means that they can make the most of all that it has to offer. Leaders are swift in identifying the underlying causes of absence and work together with families to overcome any barriers to attendance.

Staff are proud to work at this school.

Those responsible for governance fulfil their statutory duties and seek ways to support staff, including senior leaders, to develop their teaching practice. Currently, the school is undergoing a period of change. This has resulted in increased workload and impacted the well-being of some staff.

Leaders are aware of this and are mindful of the impact of change on staff. Parents describe the school as supportive, inclusive and a place where children thrive. The school community work well together to achieve the best outcomes for pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• At times, checks on pupils' understanding are not systematic and the information gathered is sometimes not used well to inform further teaching. This also means that teaching does not consistently identify misconceptions or gaps in pupils' knowledge.

As a result, some pupils do not build knowledge as securely as they could this, in turn, hinders them from moving to more complex tasks. The school should ensure that assessment is used effectively to check and inform what pupils learn. ? On occasion, pupils' behaviour is not managed consistently, and staff are not fully supported to address concerns.

As a result, some pupils do not behave appropriately during lessons and informal times. The school should ensure that pupils and staff understand how behaviour should be managed. The school should also review how effectively agreed policies and systems are implemented so that they are having the desired impact.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in September 2019.