Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Warton

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Warton continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Holy Family is a caring, supportive school where everyone is valued and accepted for who they are.

Adults have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and academic success. Lessons and playtimes are calm and orderly. Children in the early years settle quickly into the routines that teachers provide for them.

Pupils are polite and kind. They look after each other and show care and consideration towards adults. Leaders deal with bullying and name-calling effectively.

This helps pupils to feel safe.

Pupils enjoy learning and rise to the challenge ...of the ambitious curriculum which leaders provide. As a result, they achieve well.

Pupils, parents and carers appreciate the wide range of extra opportunities on offer.All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), take an active role in school life. Parents value the way in which adults help their children.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. They have organised learning so that pupils usually build incrementally on what they already know, from the early years to Year 6. Children in the early years get off to a good start with reading and mathematics.

In most subjects, leaders have ensured that the curriculum contains the key knowledge that they want pupils to learn. Adults check regularly that pupils learn and remember this knowledge over time. However, in a small number of subjects, this key knowledge has not been as well defined by leaders.

This makes it more difficult for teachers to make sure that teaching and assessment strategies are clearly focused on the most important knowledge that pupils need to know in readiness for future learning.

In lessons, teachers check regularly to make sure that pupils understand the lesson content. In most subjects, when pupils need extra support, they receive this immediately.

This allows pupils to keep up with the curriculum.Leaders are skilled in identifying pupils with SEND. They work with staff to ensure that pupils with SEND can learn the curriculum alongside their classmates.

Staff provide strong care and support for these pupils.

Leaders have made reading a priority. Teachers put in place a phonics programme from the start of the Reception class.

All staff are trained well to teach this with confidence. The books that pupils read match the sounds that they learn in class. Any pupils who struggle, or fall behind, receive immediate help to catch up.

This means that pupils quickly gain the phonic knowledge they need to become confident and fluent readers. Many pupils in key stage 2 continue to benefit from skilled teaching in reading. However, those pupils who find reading more difficult do not get the full support they need.

Children in the early years enjoy listening to stories. Leaders have chosen carefully the stories that they want children to know and remember. Teachers read these books over and over again.

However, leaders have not thought as carefully about the key texts and authors which are important for older pupils to experience. Less skilled readers have a limited choice of books from which to choose. These pupils' love of reading is hampered by this lack of choice.

Pupils behave well, both in and out of lessons. Staff have established a positive climate for learning. Low-level disruption rarely disturbs learning.

Pupils attend lots of clubs and have a variety of responsibilities. For example, pupils in the older year groups lead worship on a regular basis. Older pupils have the responsibility to look after and help younger pupils.

They do this exceptionally well.

Governors offer useful support and challenge and aim to do all they can to help pupils progress. They have a good understanding of pupils' outcomes but have not checked that the curriculum in a small number of subjects is meeting pupils' needs.

Staff are proud to work at Holy Family. Leaders work hard to make workload reasonable. Leaders are considerate of staff's well-being.

They say that leaders are understanding, supportive and approachable.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders know their school and the area it serves well.

They use regular training updates to ensure that keeping pupils safe remains a high priority for all staff. Staff understand the need to be vigilant. They pass on any worries that they may have about a pupil's welfare quickly.

Leaders follow up on these concerns diligently. They work effectively with other agencies and support parents and carers when required.

Leaders also ensure that the curriculum teaches pupils how to keep themselves safe in the community.

For example, in computing, pupils learn about how to stay safe when working online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, leaders, including those in the early years, are not clear enough about the essential knowledge that pupils should learn. This means that the activities that pupils undertake and the assessment strategies that teachers use are not always focused effectively on the key building blocks of knowledge that pupils need for their future learning.

Leaders should ensure that, in these subjects, the most important knowledge that pupils should secure is identified and taught well so that pupils can deepen their understanding of these subjects over time. ? Some older pupils in key stage 2 do not have sufficient support to develop their reading skills. This means that they do not develop fluency and the skills needed to tackle more complex texts.

Leaders should ensure that the implementation of the reading curriculum meets the needs of all pupils ? Leaders do not provide older pupils who find reading difficult enough opportunities to access the breadth of texts needed to develop a love of reading. Leaders should ensure that older pupils who struggle with reading have the opportunity to access a broader range of texts.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we the school to be good in October 2015.

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