La Salette Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

La Salette Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff encourage all pupils to be ambitious in their learning. Pupils respond well to these high expectations and work hard in lessons.

They are keen to talk about their work, as well as the books and authors that they are reading. Pupils develop and build up their knowledge well in most of the subjects that they study.

Pupils, including children in Reception, are encouraged to manage their own behaviour and feelings.

They behave well in lessons and support each other if they need help with their learning. Pupils try hard to be friendly to one anothe...r and show respect towards both their peers and staff.

Pupils know that bullying is unkind.

They said that it rarely happens and that there is an adult in the school they would talk to if they were concerned about bullying. Leaders deal with any bullying quickly. Leaders and staff help pupils to enjoy school, and make sure that they are kept safe.

Pupils like taking part in the wide range of sports activities and trips available. For example, staff organise visits to art galleries, museums and nature reserves. Through these visits, they aim to broaden pupils' perspectives.

Pupils also enjoy playing different sports, particularly football.

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

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Leaders have planned the curriculum so that pupils build their knowledge of subjects, such as mathematics and music, and make links between them.

The curriculum in Reception prepares children well for what they will learn in Year 1. Leaders carefully adjust and refine the curriculum so that it continually improves.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders judged that a few pupils were not learning as well as they could in some subjects.

In response, leaders updated and strengthened their curriculum. They made sure that staff were clear about what pupils needed to know and be able to do. In a few subjects, however, the curriculum does not fully support pupils to readily recall knowledge that they have previously learned and to connect this with new subject content.

In history, for example, some pupils find it hard to use what they know about different periods of time to build up their chronological awareness.

Pupils behave well in lessons. This means that their learning is rarely disrupted.

Teachers explain things well and break down new learning into small, bite-sized chunks. They check that pupils understand important knowledge before moving on to more complex ideas. In most subjects, pupils remember what they have previously learned.

This means that they are well prepared to learn new knowledge later.

Children at the early stage of reading quickly gain the knowledge and skills they need. Reading is typically taught well, and staff understand pupils' needs.

They make sure that pupils have many opportunities to read regularly and put their phonics knowledge into practice. Leaders have recently adopted a new approach to the teaching of early reading. Staff have benefited from training on how to deliver this approach consistently.

Nevertheless, in a small number of cases, inconsistencies remain in how confident some staff are in helping pupils to master specific sounds.

Stories are an important part of each school day. Adults make storytelling memorable.

Pupils in Years 1 and 2 enjoy their end-of-day story, complete with lots of joining in. Teachers sustain pupils' enthusiasm for reading. They choose interesting books that introduce pupils to a wide-ranging vocabulary.

For example, pupils in Year 5 spoke knowledgeably about the wartime experience of people in eastern Europe during the Second World War. This is because they have been reading historical fiction books.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly by leaders.

Leaders and staff ensure that these pupils get the right support to access the full curriculum. For example, staff adapt tasks so that pupils with SEND revisit key knowledge first before moving on to new learning.

Leaders promote pupils' wider development through a well-planned personal, social, health and economic education curriculum and through a wide range of activities.

For example, pupils learn how to manage money in Years 1 and 2. Pupils are encouraged to take on school-wide responsibilities. For example, pupils can join the school council or become members of a project to promote sustainability within the school.

The governing body supports and challenges school leaders effectively. Governors and leaders share a common vision and have high expectations. Leaders also draw on support and challenge from the local authority to help them secure improvements in pupils' learning.

Parents and carers value the work that leaders do. They feel supported and said that leaders and staff communicate with them well. Staff were also full of praise for leaders' work and are proud to work in the school.

Leaders make sure that staff workload is manageable.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong safeguarding culture in the school.

This underpins leaders' and governors' intentions that pupils should be safe and happy.

Pupils are aware of risks and know how to keep themselves safe. Staff know the potential risks that pupils may face and report any concerns quickly.

These concerns are followed up immediately by leaders.

Leaders work closely with parents and external agencies to protect pupils at risk of harm. Pupils of all ages learn how to recognise potentially unsafe situations.

They are taught how to use the internet safely and to speak up if they see something that worries them.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have ensured that staff receive the training they need to teach reading well. However, in a few instances, the confidence of staff in delivering the recently introduced early reading programme varies.

Leaders should provide ongoing and specific support to ensure that all staff feel fully confident in how to teach all aspects of the school's early reading approach. ? In a few subjects, for instance history and geography, the curriculum does not enable pupils to fluently recall some of the important knowledge that they have been taught. This decreases pupils' ability to link prior learning with new ideas and concepts.

In these subjects, leaders should make sure that the curriculum focuses on helping pupils to secure and apply prior learning. This will help pupils to build up their understanding in a logical sequence.

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

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection a section 5 inspection immediately.This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2016.

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