St Bartholomew’s CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Since starting at the school in 2017, the headteacher has shown strong, inspiring leadership. Together with the deputy headteacher, she has united the staff team in a drive to provide the best possible education for the pupils at the school.

The quality of teaching in the school is good. As a result of leaders' decisive actions, the teaching of mathematics has improved greatly and is now a strength of the school. As a result of improvements in teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for pupils have increased, especially in key stage 1, and across the school in mathematics.

Pupils make good progress. The progress of disadvantaged pupil...s and pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is similar to that of their peers. Senior leaders have spared no effort in improving behaviour in the school.

Staff, including the well-trained teaching assistants, understand how to promote good behaviour and maintain calm, purposeful classrooms. Pupils behave well and enjoy positive attitudes to learning. They benefit from the positive, mutually respectful relationships between everyone in the school.

Children get off to a good start in early years. Staff know each child individually and understand how to enable them to achieve well and make good progress. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school and the way that staff enable pupils to enjoy learning and stay safe.

One parent said, 'My child literally skips to school and doesn't want to miss a day.' In recent years, attendance has been well below the national average and too many pupils have been persistently absent from school. Leaders and governors recognise that much work needs to be done to engage parents and carers and to ensure that pupils attend school more regularly.

The teaching of phonics is inconsistent in key stage 1. Not all staff are clear about how to teach phonics well, and the school lacks a consistent approach to this aspect of the curriculum.

Information about this school

St Bartholomew's Church of England Primary is a Church of England (Aided) school located in the heart of the City of Brighton and Hove.

The headteacher is new to the school since the previous inspection. This school is smaller than the average primary school. There are seven classes, one for each year group.

The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well above the national average. Just over half of the pupils are White British. There are several groups of pupils from different ethnic minorities.

The proportion of pupils for whom English is an additional language is above that seen nationally. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is well above that seen in other schools across the country. The school had its most recent inspection of denominational education given to pupils, and the content of the school's collective worship, under section 48 of the Education Act 2005, in December 2016.