Barrhill Primary School

Overview

The inspection team found “highly effective leadership” and a strong “family ethos” that ensures children feel “safe, supported and nurtured.” The school demonstrates “very good” performance across most quality indicators, with staff creating conditions where children and adults work well together.

Strengths

• “Highly effective leadership” by the headteacher, supported well by staff, creating a culture where everyone feels “trusted and supported.”
• “Positive relationships” across the school and nursery with a “very strong focus on wellbeing,” resulting in a nurturing environment.
• Nursery staff make “highly effective use of their environment and spaces,” offering a “rich variety of experiences” through a creative setting.
• Staff enthusiasm and expertise in the expressive arts, particularly art and design and music, help children develop “creativity skills” well.

Areas to improve

• All staff should continue to “raise attainment in literacy and numeracy.”
• Teachers should “revisit their approaches to how they assess children’s learning in unfamiliar contexts” to support better judgement of attainment and increase retention.

Safeguarding

The report states that children feel “safe, supported and nurtured” as a result of the “family ethos” and positive relationships established by staff, with evaluations for ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion rated as “very good.”