When should a child begin to train, and why the old fear was wrong
Most parents think lifting weights is dangerous for children. Twenty years of paediatric consensus disagree, and the reason has more to do with the nervous system than with muscle.
Dagenham · Barking and Dagenham
Dorothy Barley Infants' School
Community school · ages 3–7 · 240 pupils
15% free school meals
Year 6 results
Reading, writing and maths
This school's pupils leave before Year 6, so it has no Year 6 results. Look up the junior school most of its pupils move on to.
Inspection
What Ofsted found
Most recent inspection, published 07/09/2025: Standards maintained.
This was a shorter check that confirms an earlier grade rather than giving a new one. Ofsted moved to report cards in November 2025.
The local area
Children in Barking and Dagenham
| Measure | Barking and Dagenham | England |
|---|---|---|
| Good level of development at the end of Reception 2024/25 similar | 67.9% | 68.3% |
| Phonics check met in Year 1 2024/25 similar | 79.4% | 79.8% |
| Year 6 children living with obesity 2024/25 higher | 28.3% | 22.2% |
| MMR two doses by age 5 2024/25 lower | 69.1% | 83.7% |
| Primary pupils persistently absent 2024/25 higher | 16.1% | 13.0% |
| Children in relative low-income families (under 16) 2024/25 higher | 23.0% | 19.8% |
“Higher” or “lower” means the difference from England is bigger than the margin of error; “similar” means it isn’t. These are figures for all children in the council area, not for any one school or child.