Mulberry Canon Barnett Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 9 June 2026

Pupils enjoy everything their school has to offer. They enter school excitedly and are highly motivated to learn and participate fully. Leaders have established extremely positive relationships with families. Parents and carers fully support and engage with the improvements leaders have made to the school. These productive relationships reflect the ways that pupils interact with their peers. Behaviour in classrooms and around the school is calm and purposeful. From early years onwards, pupils learn and enact the 'Mulberry Canon Barnett way' by working hard, being kind to each other and helping their friends. Bullying is extremely rare. Pupils recognise that behaviour might be 'bothering', 'bullying' or 'brilliant'. This helps them know how to behave well and what to do if they have any concerns. They know staff will resolve any worries they may have quickly and effectively. This helps pupils to feel safe and be kept safe at school. Leaders' work to improve the curriculum and teaching means that pupils generally develop depth of knowledge in different subjects and achieve outcomes broadly in line with national averages. Pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities are at the earliest stages of learning English or who may face other barriers to their learning and participation are swiftly identified and well supported to learn and access fully the life of the school. Attendance is improving. Overall, this means that pupils are typically well prepared for the next stages of their education. Pupils' talents and interests are well developed and nurtured. The school benefits from working closely with secondary schools in the trust that provide specialist music teaching, as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) experiences. Pupils are rightly proud to represent their school through, for example, sporting fixtures and musical performances at local community events.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should embed recent changes to teaching. This includes ensuring the tasks and activities chosen match the intended ambition of the curriculum, that their high expectations for children's talk are maximised through high-quality interactions in early years, and that teaching identifies and addresses pupils' errors and misconceptions. This will support continued improvement in pupils' achievement, including in national assessments.
• Leaders should continue their work to develop the knowledge and expertise of leaders at all levels. This will help to ensure they contribute fully to the ongoing improvement of the school.
• Leaders should continue to prioritise pupils' attendance so that recent improvements are sustained for all groups.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)