Ofsted graded the Nether Street school Strong standard in all six areas of its new report card, from achievement to inclusion. Safeguarding met.

A Finchley primary has come through Ofsted’s new inspection system with the same grade in all six areas inspectors look at.

Moss Hall Junior School, on Nether Street in N3, was inspected on 2 June 2026. Its report was published on 8 July and grades the school Strong standard for achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Safeguarding standards were found to be met.

It is the only Barnet school inspection report Ofsted has published since the start of July.

Panel showing Moss Hall Junior School graded Strong standard in all six Ofsted evaluation areas: achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. The five-point scale runs Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement
Graphic by Barnet Live

What the grade actually means

Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall word. Under the report cards, each of six areas is graded separately on a five-point scale, and the school gets a grade for each. From highest to lowest the scale runs:

  • Exceptional
  • Strong standard
  • Expected standard
  • Needs attention
  • Urgent improvement

So Strong standard is the second of the five, above the expected standard and below the top grade. Getting it in every area, rather than in some and not others, is the part that stands out.

Safeguarding is judged separately again, as met or not met.

What the report says

On achievement, inspectors wrote that pupils “achieve well, including in national tests where their attainment is typically above national averages”, and that they “produce high-quality work that reflects the highly effective teaching they receive”.

On inclusion, the report says staff “hold an acute understanding of their most vulnerable pupils and those who may face barriers to learning or wellbeing”. Pupils with special educational needs “access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers through skilful teacher adaptations”.

On behaviour, the report records that “bullying is rare and dealt with swiftly” and that attendance “is consistently high for all groups of pupils”.

The pupil section describes a school where Year 5 pupils help younger children with computing at the infant school, all pupils learn the recorder and the trumpet, and a school dog provides therapeutic support. Clubs listed include chess, art, football and a board game club.

Inspectors left the school with a single next step: leaders “should continue to monitor pupil participation in clubs to more closely match pupils’ talents and interests to the wide range of opportunities open to them”.

The results behind it

The report publishes the school’s key stage 2 data alongside the national figures. For 2024/25:

Measure Moss Hall England
Reading, writing and maths combined 81% 62%
Reading 91% 75%
Maths 92% 74%
Writing (teacher assessed) 83% 72%

Ofsted marks all four as above the national average, and the same for the previous two years.

The picture for disadvantaged pupils is more mixed, and the report is straight about it. On the combined measure they reached 50% in 2024/25 against 47% nationally, which Ofsted labels close to average. In writing the figure was 50% against 59% nationally, again labelled close to average. In reading they were ahead, at 78% against 63%.

Where the school was before

This is the third inspection in eight years and the direction is consistent. The October 2018 inspection graded the school Requires improvement. In July 2022 it was graded Good across every category, with the report noting the previous Requires improvement grade. The 2026 report card now puts all six areas at Strong standard.

The school took on a new headteacher, Jen Brodkin, in September 2025, nine months before this inspection. It has 468 pupils against a capacity of 480, teaches ages 7 to 11, and is part of the Moss Hall Schools Federation. Ofsted records 18.59% of pupils as eligible for free school meals at some point in the last six years, against 26.3% nationally, and 12.61% on special educational needs support against 15% nationally.

The inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 and led by His Majesty’s Inspector Piers Saunders, with three team inspectors.

What it means for you

If you are choosing a junior school for September 2027, the report cards are worth reading properly rather than skimming for a single word, because there is no longer a single word to skim for. A school can be Strong standard on teaching and Needs attention on inclusion, and that combination tells you far more than an old one-word grade did.

You can look up any school’s current report, in Barnet or anywhere else, through Ofsted’s report finder. Filtering by local authority and by publication date shows you which local schools have been inspected under the new framework and which are still carrying an older report.

Applications for a state primary or junior place go through your local council, even when the school you want is in a neighbouring borough. The gov.uk primary applications page is the route in; Barnet sets its own closing dates each year.

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