The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. One parent commented: ‘Barnacre Road is led by an inspirational headteacher who still puts the children at the heart of everything. There is mutual respect between staff and pupils. Barnacre Road gets the right balance between academia, social skills, creativity and emotional well-being.’ As a result of the March 2013 inspection, you were asked to improve children’s achievement in the early years and to improve the quality of teaching. The proportion of children who achieve a good level of development is now securely above the national average due to high expectations and highly effective teaching in the Nursery and Reception Years. Pupils make rapid progress in these classes due to an engaging and stimulating curriculum and learning environment. Children show great respect for their teachers and say that they enjoy coming to school. The meticulous attention to detail in the decoration of indoor and outdoor learning spaces is indicative of the high levels of care and thought taken to ensure that the children love learning. You and your leadership team have responded swiftly and robustly to the dip in results last year. Key stage 2 assessment information shows that pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, as they typically have since the previous inspection. You are monitoring pupils’ progress closely and intervening effectively where there are gaps in their knowledge or skills. Other evidence gathered during the inspection confirms current pupils’ securely good progress throughout key stage 2. In contrast, progress slows in key stage 1 because the quality of teaching is inconsistent. You have strengthened governance so that governors offer more robust challenge to you and your team concerning the standards that pupils achieve. You benefit from the great range of expertise of two serving headteachers on the governing body. Middle-ability pupils are making good progress due to improvements in teaching. In line with the national guidelines, you and your team have raised expectations of what pupils can achieve. This is evident from the high standards seen in pupils’ books. It is the least able pupils who do not always have enough guidance and support to complete their work successfully. I observed a small minority of pupils who struggled with their writing, reading and mathematics. Although they sometimes make good progress, because the learning has been adapted for them to understand, this is not always the case. Sometimes they have insufficient guidance to help them structure their writing, form letters properly or work out simple calculations. Disadvantaged pupils are attending school much more regularly, although their attendance remains below the national average. The difference between their achievement and that of their peers is reducing. There is a well-organised, friendly and welcoming breakfast club for pupils to attend. This club offers pupils an unusual start to their day by weeding the school’s allotment before they have their breakfast. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. The single central record meets requirements. All staff, including welfare staff, have regular child-protection training. Staff are confident to report any concerns about pupils. Child-protection records are kept securely. The number of child-protection cases you are dealing with has increased significantly in recent years. Any concerns are followed up straight away and relevant agencies involved. You support children looked after well. Pupils say that they feel safe and they enjoy coming to school. Good attention is paid to safeguarding in the beforeand after-school clubs. Inspection findings You and the governors are clear that your mission is to provide a well-rounded education based upon an innovative and creative curriculum. This results in good behaviour and strong promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. By the end of key stage 2, pupils make good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. In Year 5 and across key stage 2, middle- and high-ability pupils make good progress. In a Year 5 English lesson, I observed pupils writing a piece of persuasive prose to a high standard and with great technical accuracy. My scrutiny of books showed that this is typical. Work is very well presented with good attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling. I observed Year 6 pupils making good progress in mathematics. They were learning how to measure angles using a protractor. The teacher modelled and explained the methodology very well. All pupils were highly engaged and keen to work out the answers. My scrutiny of mathematics books across a number of classes showed a high level of challenge. Pupils accurately apply methodology to problem-solving questions. In Year 3, pupils showed excellent skills of deduction and inference in their reading. They were captivated by an extract from a text and skilfully guided by the teacher to think of ideas and present hypotheses of what might be happening. Pupils showed great respect for their teacher, behaved impeccably and proved that they are making good progress in reading. Children in the Nursery and Reception Years learn to read quickly due to the highly effective teaching of phonics. Children are captivated by the speed at which they are expected to recall letters and sounds. They embrace the challenge and show off their phonic knowledge with great confidence. The progress of disadvantaged pupils in key stage 1 has improved and the differences in achievement between them and their peers are quickly diminishing. However, overall, pupils in key stage 1 do not make the same rapid progress as their peers in the Nursery and the Reception Year or in key stage 2. You know that this is because the quality of teaching is too variable. You are taking effective steps to improve this. Your team has worked very effectively to improve attendance since the last inspection so that it is now securely above the national average. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has improved significantly, yet it remains below the national average. You are diverting some pupil premium funding into improving attendance to support these pupils to attend as regularly as their peers. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the quality of teaching in key stage 1 improves the attendance for disadvantaged pupils increases even further the least able pupils are consistently well supported to catch up. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lancashire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Sally Kenyon Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you and members of the governing body. I spoke with a range of pupils in lessons and at social times. I scrutinised a range of work books across a variety of subjects and year groups. I looked at the school website and analysed the school selfevaluation and school improvement plan. I analysed the school’s record of checks made on the suitability of staff, records of child protection and records of staff training, and discussed other aspects of safeguarding with you. I spoke with parents in the playground at the beginning of the school day and considered 38 free-text responses and 42 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.