Holy Trinity Catholic Voluntary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key findings

Holy Trinity is a good school. Behaviour in lessons is typically outstanding and pupils benefit enormously from high quality spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. By the end of Year 6, pupils' attainments are well above the national average.

The school is not outstanding because of some inconsistencies in the quality of teaching; and pupils have insufficient opportunities to apply their information and communication technology skills in other subjects. Children make better than expected progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage, and the focus on basic literacy and numeracy skills provides a solid platform for similar good progress in English and mathematics in Years 1 to 6. Pupils enjoy... reading and make good progress because it is taught well.

An effective and well-structured programme in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 that links sounds to letters (phonics) gives pupils a particularly good start in this respect. The quality of teaching is mainly good, and at times outstanding, because : senior leaders monitor it rigorously and provide effective training and support. Teachers make good use of individual targets for pupils and the progress of underachieving pupils is accelerated by well chosen support programmes.

However there remains some satisfactory teaching. Teachers sometimes provide too few opportunities for pupils to apply their information and communication technology skills to support and enhance learning in other subjects. Pupils' behaviour is very good in lessons and generally around school.

They are motivated by their work, respond well to the challenge of their targets and consequently enjoy learning. The headteacher is well supported by a motivated senior leadership team. The governing body provides an excellent balance of challenge and support.

The school leadership has worked hard to provide an enriched curriculum that is now providing improved links between subjects. Outcomes from the parental questionnaires were very positive indeed.

Information about the school

Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Primary is larger than the average-sized primary school.

The majority of pupils come from White British backgrounds but there is an increasing Polish community also represented in the school population. Many of these pupils learn English as an additional language and the overall percentage of non-native English speaking pupils is above the national average. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, including those with statements of special need or school action support is just above average. The majority of these have moderate learning difficulties and some have speech, language and communication difficulties. The stability of the school population is above average.

The school has a privately run breakfast club and a privately run after school club that have been inspected separately. The school has gained various awards including the Artsmark Gold award and the Basic Skills Quality Mark. The school meets the government's floor standard, which sets minimum expectations for attainment and progress.