Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy continues to be a good school.

The headteacher of this school is Jonathan Gibbons. The school is part of Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Darren Beardsley, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Diane Gaskin.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy. It is a welcoming school where everyone is treated with respect and politeness. Pupils are clear that everyone is treated equally in this school.

They are enthusiastic to discuss t...heir experiences with each other and with visitors. They especially like sharing views on their learning from the lessons that they enjoy or the clubs that they attend.

Leaders have high expectations for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

This is evident from the moment that children start school. Pupils respond to these expectations by trying their best in everything they do, in and out of the classroom. Older pupils support the younger children through a 'buddy system'.

Pupils take this additional responsibility very seriously. The younger children learn important social and personal skills as a result.

Pupils' behaviour is impressive.

They work well in lessons and play cooperatively at social times. Everyone follows the school routines. Pupils have warm, respectful relationships with staff and are caring towards each other.

Pupils feel safe and bullying is rare. When bullying occurs, staff deal with it swiftly.

Pupils attend a wide range of clubs, including music, sports, dance and baking.

In the wider community, pupils raise money for charity and contribute to supporting food banks. These experiences broaden their interests and contribute to character-building. Attendance is high because pupils love coming to school.

Leaders celebrate pupils' achievements regularly with parents and carers. This fosters strong links between the school and the community.

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

Leaders have designed an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum.

This enables pupils to achieve well. Standards in reading and mathematics are high. In mathematics, there is a relentless focus on developing mathematical fluency to support pupils' confidence when calculating.

Pupils really enjoy mathematics, and they achieve well.

The curriculum in the Reception class provides children with a very strong start to their education. Children listen attentively to adults.

As a result, they make rapid progress from their starting points in literacy, mathematics and personal development. Links between home and school are strong. Events such as 'stay and play' are well attended by parents and carers.

The way children manage their own behaviour during independent activities is impressive. Rich opportunities to deepen learning are evident through the provision. Children engage enthusiastically with all areas of the curriculum.

As a result, they thrive with the support of the enthusiastic adults in the early years learning environment.

Leaders provide staff with regular high-quality training around the curriculum. This supports teachers to ensure that pupils know more and remember more in each subject.

Regular quizzes and low-stakes assessments are used to check pupils' learning. Where pupils' gaps in learning are identified, they are quickly addressed.

Leaders foster pupils' love of reading.

Staff read to pupils every day across the curriculum. From the start of Reception, children make a swift start to learning phonics. Teachers model effective phonics practice.

Reading books are well matched to pupils' abilities. Pupils are exposed to a wide variety of authors and book genres. However, there are some children who do not have a secure knowledge of the sounds that they need to read with fluency.

Adults do not consistently support these pupils using agreed phonic strategies. As a result, these pupils do not catch up to their peers quickly enough.

Pupils with SEND enjoy school.

Leaders have ensured that they learn the same curriculum as their peers. Leaders identify pupils' additional needs with precision and provide staff with appropriate information to support pupils with SEND. Teachers are highly skilled in adapting the curriculum if necessary for pupils with SEND.

Teaching assistants also help the pupils where needed. As a result, pupils with SEND achieve well across the curriculum from Reception to Year 6.

In physical education (PE), pupils develop physical knowledge and skills to succeed in a wide range of sports.

Essential learning is regularly revisited so that pupils can practise the skills that are not yet secure. Pupils learn through a carefully structured curriculum. In Reception, children learn the importance of spatial awareness when carrying out activities that require specific body movements.

This skill is revisited in key stages 1 and 2 where pupils must dribble or pass a ball using good hand-eye coordination.

Leaders promote pupils' personal development well. Pupils relish opportunities to develop their talents and interests through artistic, musical, sporting and culinary clubs.

Staff encourage pupils to take on leadership roles, such as school council members, sports leaders or buddies. Pupils also know how to play an active role in the community through charity work, or the support that they provide to the less fortunate. Pupils talk with enthusiasm about educational visits to places of interest.

These visits are carefully linked to learning. The curriculum helps pupils to understand how to stay safe and who to talk to if they have worries and concerns. However, pupils cannot talk about eating healthily with confidence.

Similarly, they struggle to remember the similarities and differences between the different world faiths and religions. Leaders are aware that there is more work to be done to strengthen this area of the curriculum for personal development.

Staff appreciate the ways in which leaders consider their well-being and workload.

They are proud to work in the school and feel highly valued. Leaders of the multi-academy trust know the school well. They provide very meaningful support and challenge to leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In phonics, some pupils struggle at the earliest stages of reading to sound out and blend words correctly. This means that they do not have opportunities to build their reading fluency and confidence as quickly as they could.

Leaders should ensure that there is a consistent approach to the teaching of phonics, including the support that the weakest readers receive. ? Pupils struggle to recall what they have learned about eating healthily and about the different world religions and beliefs. Pupils' knowledge of these concepts is not yet sufficiently developed at an age-appropriate level.

Consequently, they cannot talk about them with confidence. Leaders must ensure that pupils' understanding of heathy eating and different religions is secure to fully prepare them for the next stages of their education.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2018.

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