St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Exmouth

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The acting headteacher has brought consistent and effective leadership to the school. Teaching is good and pupils are making good progress.

Pupils make strong progress in mathematics. Standards have been above the national average at both key stages 1 and 2 for the last two years. Pupils are confident readers.

They acquire phonic skills well. The most able pupils make strong progress in reading. A significant proportion of pupils reach the higher standard at the end of both key stages.

Pupils are enthusiastic writers. However, a legacy of weaker handwriting, spelling and punctuation limits pupils' ability to reach the higher stan...dard. Pupils do not have sufficient guidance on how to be successful with their writing or how to improve their work.

Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities make good progress. They are well supported in lessons and in additional learning programmes. Pupils behave well in class and are keen learners.

Most work is presented well, but teachers do not challenge pupils consistently to present their work in topic books carefully. All staff are vigilant in keeping pupils safe. In most cases, teachers present the pupils' learning clearly.

Pupils begin their tasks confidently and use their time well in lessons. Pupils make good progress in music and physical education. They gain age-appropriate scientific knowledge, but their skills of scientific enquiry are less secure.

The headteacher and middle leaders have an accurate understanding of where the school should continue to improve. However, evidence of pupils' progress in their work is not used sharply enough to guide leaders' plans for further improvement. Governors support and challenge leaders effectively, and use additional funding well.

Disadvantaged pupils make good progress. Children make a successful start to their education in early years. However, teachers do not put sufficient emphasis on the accurate formation of letters.

This limits the most able children from achieving higher standards in writing. Plymouth CAST multi-academy trust has supported leaders and guided the school's improvement effectively. Parents and carers are very positive about the school.

They value the wide learning experiences that their children have.

Information about this school

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is an average-sized school. It is now organised into single-aged classes.

Children can join the school at two years old, but mostly children in Nursery Year are three when they join. The children in Nursery usually move into the Reception class, which also includes children from other nurseries in the area. The headteacher, as at the previous inspection, continues to be designated as an acting headteacher.

The school is part of Plymouth CAST multi-academy trust. The scheme of delegation across the trust has recently changed and the local governing body now has responsibility for fewer aspects of the school's effectiveness. Most of the pupils in the school are from a White British heritage.

The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is higher than the national average. The number of pupils who are disadvantaged is low and is now much lower than the national average. The school operates a breakfast club and an after-school club for pupils at the school.