Barrow Hedges Primary School

Barrow Hedges was last inspected by Ofsted on 3rd and 4th February 2015. The school was graded as GOOD in all areas. As the report indicates, "The Headteacher and senior team have worked tirelessly to improve teaching and pupils' achievement."

Always heavily over-subscribed, we are situated in a leafy, residential area between Wallington and Sutton. At present we have 678 children on roll, including 52 children in our own nursery. Barrow Hedges Primary School originally opened in 1955. It was previously a two-form entry school, we are now fully three forms of entry. We have 22 classrooms, a Learning Hub, two halls, a wildlife and pond area and spacious corridors and classrooms; making our environment a great place to learn and achieve. At Barrow Hedges we have extensive grounds, including a large playing field.

We are always keen to evaluate what we do well and what we need to work on in order to build upon our successes and further develop. A key example of this is our annual self-evaluation process which includes a School Improvement Planning Conference every February. Children, parents, governors and staff work together in a culture of high academic success and shared responsibility.

Class teachers are responsible for the children’s welfare and delivery of the curriculum. Work is planned jointly with Year Group partners during 'Planning, Preparation and Assessment' [PPA] time. During planning, Year Teams share the preparation of work drawing on different experiences, knowledge and expertise to ensure work is relevant and well matched to meet the needs of the children. In this way, we are able to utilise the strengths of a large staff team and enhance the quality of learning and teaching here at Barrow Hedges.

We are all extremely proud of our school and committed to providing the very best possible education for all of our children. We know that Barrow Hedges is a happy school where children feel valued and where parents are welcomed as partners in their child’s education. Every decision within the school is made by firstly considering what is in the best interest of the children. In this way, children lie at the heart of everything we do. We look forward to working with you and your child so that Barrow Hedges can continue to be the popular and very special place that it is today.

Our Vision and Values To be an outstanding primary school which is the school of choice for the local community producing well balanced, ambitious and principled children, primed for the challenges ahead.

At Barrow Hedges we believe that there is no limit to what our pupils can achieve. We nurture the potential talents of all our pupils. Through high achievement and a love of learning, our pupils leave us ready to make a valued contribution to society.

Our Guiding Principles

• To develop well balanced children who have a broad range of experiences, a thirst for learning and are well prepared for the next step of their journey.
• Our children will demonstrate resilience, adaptability and preparedness to take risks.
• Our children will have a strong moral compass with a positive attitude towards others.
• We will provide a high quality, coherent, broad and balanced curriculum for 3 to 11 year olds which is delivered and supported by outstanding teaching and wider opportunities.
• We have high aspirations for all of our children.
• We seek to be first class with excellent leadership, well qualified and knowledgeable staff who are committed to improvement.
• We strive to provide a stimulating, nurturing environment in which to learn, work and play safely.
• We see parents, carers and others in the local community as integral to the life of the school and will seek to involve them as much as possible in our work.
• We will ensure that our resources are managed efficiently and deployed where they give maximum benefit to the children.

We believe children learn better when they are encouraged to use their imagination and apply their learning to engaging contexts. Our curriculum will provide lots of learning challenges throughout the academic year that will require children to solve problems, apply themselves creatively and express their knowledge and understanding effectively across the curriculum as well as a rich menu of exciting and motivating learning activities that make creative links between all aspects of our children’s learning.