Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills. This body reports directly to Parliament and they are independent and impartial. One of the duties of Ofsted is to inspect schools. Inspections are usually once every four years and schools are telephoned the day before an inspection takes place. Barlow Hall’s last inspection was a Section 8 inspection in January 2020.

 The inspection lasts no longer than two days. Inspectors look at the school's self-evaluation, consider the school's performance results, and examine the previous inspection report to prepare before the visit.

Once they are in the school, the inspectors visit lessons and examine the way lessons are planned, and speak to staff and children, among other things. A Section 8 inspection is a 'health check' for good schools and is not a full Section 5 inspection.

The key findings of this inspection validated our 2012 inspection as a 'good' school with outstanding behaviour and leadership & management.

Please click on the download link opposite to access our full inspection report or click here.

 

Performance Data

Barlow Hall Primary School Attainment and Progress 

There is an expectation of knowledge, understanding and skills within the primary curriculum. The assessment points during primary school are:

At the end of Reception (aged 5)

At the end of Key Stage 1 (aged 7)

At the end of Key Stage 2 (aged 11)

 

The children are awarded the following standards:​

Working below the expected standard

Working at the expected standard

Working above the expected standard, sometimes known as greater depth.

 

Reception:

At the end of reception, there is a measure of ‘Good Level of Development (GLD). Children achieve a Good Level of Development if they are working at (or above) expected standards in the following key areas: personal social and emotional development (PSE) literacy, maths, physical development, communication and language.

Since September 2021 children are only measured as working at or below the expected standard.

 

In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2:

Children in year 2 and year 6 are assessed by national tests during a week in May in reading and maths and assessed by the teachers in writing. For children in year 1 there is also a phonics screen, a measure of children being able to use letters and sounds in reading.

For children in Year 4 there is a multiplication tables check.

 

From the assessments schools attainment and progress is measured at the end of  KS2. This is a DfE measure of what is added by schools from the end of KS1. Anything above 0 represents progress above expected.

Please see the tabs on the right for our schools performance data.

The following link may help parents to understand the assessment process in primary schools:

 

Information for parents   for KS1 and KS2 SATs