Earls Barton Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders have managed the merger of the former infant and junior schools well. The two former school communities have come together and there is a clear sense of continued improvement.

Leaders are ensuring that teaching is at least good overall in all key stages. They are providing good support so that staff improve further. Teachers plan a curriculum that is both interesting and balanced.

As a result, pupils want to come to school to learn. Attendance is above the national average. Staff are skilled at clarifying the misconceptions that pupils have.

This helps pupils to understand what they are learning. Children get off to a goo...d start in the early years. They are eager to learn, make good progress and are ready for Year 1 by the time they leave.

Pupils' workbooks show that pupils are currently making good overall progress across key stages 1 and 2. Pupils attain well. Their skills, knowledge and understanding are at least in line with, and often above, those found typically in other children of the same age.

Teachers are extremely effective at kindling in pupils a deep and genuine love of books. Pupils become not only confident readers but also young people who read with great enthusiasm and pleasure. Pupils' behaviour is good.

Pupils work hard and listen carefully in class. They are consistently polite and well behaved around the school. Although the work that teachers give to pupils is appropriate for their age, they do not give the most able pupils work that challenges them enough.

Inspectors saw too many examples of very able pupils completing tasks that were insufficiently demanding for them. Some parents, carers and staff do not feel that leaders communicate well enough. They believe that leaders do not consider their opinions sufficiently or do not consistently explain clearly why leaders have made the decisions they have.

Subject leaders, other than in English and mathematics, do not monitor how much progress the pupils make. As a result, they cannot inform the governing body what needs to happen so that pupils make even faster gains.

Information about this school

The school changed its name from Earls Barton Infants School when it merged with the former junior school and began to admit pupils in key stage 2 from the spring term 2017.

It is now a larger than average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium is lower than average. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well below average.

Most pupils are of a White British background. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is slightly below average. There is no published data available for Year 6 pupils in 2017, so it is not possible to comment on the performance of pupils in relation to current government floor standards.

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