Barrow CofE Primary School

Barrow CofE Primary School is a very small village primary school. This monitoring inspection followed a February 2026 full inspection that judged the school to require special measures. Inspectors focused on leadership and governance and on safeguarding, and found that many aspects of the school are effective even though these two areas remain serious concerns. Pupils are happy, behave well, attend in line with national averages and benefit from a strong personal development programme. The curriculum is ambitious, early years provision is effective, and inclusion and pastoral support are well developed, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. Published 2025 attainment dipped below national averages, but inspectors judged that pupils typically achieve in line with their peers and are well prepared for the next stage.

Strengths

• Personal development and wellbeing are a notable strength, with a broad programme matched to pupils' needs and aspirations.
• Pupils benefit from clubs, trips and pupil-led projects that develop talents and cultural understanding.
• Pupils have meaningful leadership roles and contribute to school and community life.
• Pastoral support is highly effective and helps pupils manage feelings and resolve conflicts.
• Pupils behave well, are polite and kind, and bullying is rare.
• Attendance is typically in line with the national average, including for pupils with SEND.
• The curriculum is well organised and ambitious, with clear expectations for what is taught and when.
• Phonics teaching is accurate and pupils learn to read and write quickly.
• Early years provision is well thought out, with confident children and strong routines.
• Inclusion systems identify needs effectively and support pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils well.
• Staff feel motivated and proud to work at the school, and leaders are attentive to workload and wellbeing.
• Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

Areas for Improvement

• Safeguarding standards are not met.
• Important gaps remain in safeguarding records, making it difficult to check actions taken.
• Improvements to safeguarding practice rely heavily on external advice and are not yet fully entrenched.
• Leadership and governance require urgent improvement and remain uncertain and fragile.
• Governors' checks beyond safeguarding lack rigour and are not undertaken consistently.
• Governors do not yet demonstrate the capacity to sustain improvements or provide appropriate challenge.
• The school relies heavily on external support to drive development work.
• Opportunities to develop numeracy fluency are not equally effective across year groups.
• Pupils have not achieved as well in recent Year 4 multiplication checks.
• Published 2025 attainment in reading, writing and mathematics dipped below national averages.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Barrow CofE Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Barrow CofE Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Barrow CofE Primary School had 15.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 6.2% of pupils at Barrow CofE Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Barrow CofE Primary School received £12,339 and spent £12,100 for each of its 48 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £41,000 (£861 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Chester · Cheshire West and Chester local authority: places and applications

What is Barrow CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Barrow CofE Primary School is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Barrow CofE Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Barrow CofE Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Barrow CofE Primary School have?

Barrow CofE Primary School has 48 pupils on roll.

What age range does Barrow CofE Primary School cover?

Barrow CofE Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Barrow CofE Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 33% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Barrow CofE Primary School?

Barrow CofE Primary School is at Barrow, School Lane, Great Barrow, Chester, Cheshire, CH3 7HW.