School Background and History
Barley Lane Primary School is 70 years old this year! The school was constructed in 1952 and was originally two separate schools, Barley Lane Infant School and Barley Lane Junior School. In 1992 the two schools were amalgamated to form Barley Lane Primary School.
The school stands in its own grounds, with attractive gardens and a large sports field. It has one wild area with a pond for science and environmental studies and an established orchard.
The area that the school serves is a pleasant residential area in the south east of the borough, comprising older properties built at the turn of the century and houses completed in the late 1930s.
It is a well-integrated community with a large proportion of its intake from the Asian community. The school makes provision for teaching English as an additional language through its own staff.
The school aims to enable each child to achieve the highest possible standards in work and behaviour within a broad and balanced curriculum. The school has gradually grown and is due to be a 4-form entry school in 2019. It currently has 29 classes. A 52-place nursery unit opened in September 1997.
The school is arranged in year groups with each class teacher planning the delivery of the National Curriculum with other teachers responsible for parallel classes. There is a large experienced team of higher level teaching assistants and teaching and learning assistants. There is further support from the Senior Leadership Team and from subject leaders who are released on a regular basis to work alongside colleagues.
The four reception classes share full-time nursery nurse and classroom assistants. There is a large team of learning support assistants at the school.
There is well-structured support for children who have special educational needs. The school also has a very successful code of conduct for pupils.
The school is very well resourced and is fortunate to have a library, cooking room, two halls (one equipped with stage lighting), a separate dining hall and two computer suites. There are also laptop computers and iPads available for use in other areas.
The school provides a large number of extracurricular activities. In sport these include cricket, football, netball and badminton. In Year 6, pupils are able to take part in a residential visit during the autumn term lasting five days covering a wide range of challenging activities.
The school has a strong Parents Association that raises money for the school by providing different events including a spectacular annual firework display.
