Battling Brook Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

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!

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!'

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.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do 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.

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.

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.

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.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(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 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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