Barrow Island Community Primary School has received the results of its first Ofsted inspection in over five years.

The school, on Trinity Street, continues to be rated ‘good’ and was described as a ‘happy and inclusive’ place where everyone is made to feel welcome.

The results of the latest inspection, which took place on April 18, said pupils enjoyed attending school, where they work hard and behave well during lessons.

Inspectors found that classmates showed care and thought for other pupils, the children played well together during breaktimes and listened well to other members of the school.

The report said the school prides itself on its strong community ethos and holds a vision for pupils ‘to be the best that they can be’.

As well as providing a calm and purposeful learning environment, the school helps pupils to overcome many barriers and is ambitious for pupils’ learning, the report added.

Pupils were found to be achieving well across the curriculum, reading was given a high priority and a newly adopted phonics programme was implemented well.

Staff were credited with knowing their pupils well and being able to quickly identify where they may have additional needs.

 The school has appropriate support in place to help pupils with SEND and as a result, these pupils typically achieve well, inspectors said.

The report highlighted one point for improvement would be ensuring pupils are not given books that are not well matched to the sounds they already know, as this means pupils’ reading fluency does not develop as quickly as it could.

Students were found to have access a range of opportunities to broaden their learning, including trips and a wide range of extracurricular activities.

The report said recent changes have been made to the order and teaching of the curriculum, however, these changes are still quite new, and need more work to fully embed these improvements.

Wider development is supported well, with pupils learning about different cultures and traditions, how to keep their minds and their bodies healthy and how to keep themselves safe at different times, such as when using the internet.

Inspectors found that pupils value the warm and caring relationships they have with staff, who are overwhelmingly positive about working at the school.

Pupils proudly explained to inspectors the ways in which they had raised money for good causes and were enthusiastic about sharing the news that they had sung in a recent choir festival.