Holy Family Catholic Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The focused and effective leadership of the executive headteacher and the new senior leadership team has led to mammoth improvements. This can be seen across all aspects of the school's work. Children get off to a good start in the early years.

They make good progress across all areas of learning. However, opportunities for mark making and writing outdoors are limited. Phonics is taught well.

Younger pupils read and confidently pronounce sounds, and write the letters these sounds represent. The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are respectful towards each other.

They have positive attitudes to learning and say that they feel sa...fe. Attendance has dramatically improved for most pupils. They enjoy coming to school.

Persistent absences have significantly reduced. Stronger teaching means that pupils are making better progress than they have in the past. However, older pupils are still filling the gaps in their learning from previously weaker teaching.

Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for further improvement. A culture of reading for pleasure has been embedded across the school. Children and older pupils enjoy fiction and non-fiction books.

The quality of teaching has improved. It is now good. Gaps in pupils' knowledge, skills and understanding are identified and activities are planned accordingly.

Pupils gain a good understanding of number and calculations. Older pupils have the confidence to explain how they solve mathematical problems. Whole-school approaches to the development of writing are in place.

However, pupils use grammar inaccurately. Too few reach the higher standards by the time they leave the school. Middle leaders have settled well into their roles.

However, some are at an early stage in driving improvements in their areas of responsibility. The executive headteacher has implemented an effective new curriculum across the school. A new assessment procedure has recently been implemented.

This is not fully embedded. Parents and carers speak very positively about the raft of improvements the executive headteacher and leadership teams have implemented.

Information about this school

Holy Family is an averaged-sized primary school There is an above-average number of girls at the school.

The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is broadly average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is average. The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well below average. Since the previous inspection in 2016, there has been an interim headteacher prior to the current executive headteacher appointed in 2018. A new deputy headteacher joined the school in September 2018, after which a new senior leadership team was formed.

Since the section 5 inspection the school has been subject to an academy order. However, under the Academies Act 2010 all Voluntary Aided schools require the consent of their foundation before converting to academy status. This consent has been denied by the Archdiocesan Trustees.