Holy Cross Ceva Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The school has improved since the last inspection. Senior leaders have sought advice and training from other schools and have used this well. Senior leaders have accurately identified the school's strengths and weaknesses.

The actions they have taken are improving the quality of teaching and pupils' achievement. Staff, including several new appointments, are a fully committed team. They share the ambition of leaders and governors to make Holy Cross the best it can be.

Governors have worked hard since the last inspection to ensure that they have the high levels of skills and knowledge to help the school move forward. They challenge leaders... and hold staff to account. Pupils' personal development, behaviour and welfare are good and are strengths of the school.

The very effective pastoral support systems ensure pupils are safe and well cared for. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. Pupils work and play well together.

Good teaching and a well-planned curriculum capture pupils' interest, so they work hard and make good progress. All groups of pupils make good progress across school from their different starting points. Children in the early years get off to a good start.

As pupils move into Key Stage 1 they start to catch up with pupils nationally and by the end of Year 6 the attainment of almost all groups is broadly in line with the national average. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Teachers in the early years are not systematically gathering evidence about learning and using it to inform children's next steps. The use of precise success criteria in planning and assessing writing is constraining the quality of pupils' writing.

Pupils follow these criteria too closely at times, forgetting to apply their basic skills. Pupils do not achieve as well in reading as in other subjects. Younger children do not develop their skills in phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) quickly enough.

Further up the school time is not always used as effectively as it could be in reading lessons. As a result not all pupils across school are making the accelerated progress that they need to catch up with other pupils nationally.

Information about this school

Holy Cross is a larger than average-sized primary school.

The proportion of pupils who come from minority ethnic groups is higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than the national average. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is above the national average.

The pupil premium is the additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, and those who are looked after. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is above the national average. The school runs a breakfast club which is open to all children every day.

In 2014 the school met the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Since the last inspection two new deputy headteachers and an assistant headteacher have been appointed. There have been a number of changes in teaching staff since the previous inspection.