Our Lady and St Edward’s Catholic Primary School, Preston

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Our Lady and St Edward's Catholic Primary School,

Preston Following my visit to the school on 14 November 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in April 2014.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your leadership team have ensured that pupils make good progress and continue to reach standards well above average in reading, writing and mathematics.

All teachers have high expectations of pupil...s' work. Teachers make sure that children are appropriately challenged. In this way, they ensure that pupils make good progress.

Pupils are particularly well supported in developing their writing skills across a range of different subjects. By the time pupils reach Year 6, their writing shows great maturity. British values are embedded in the life of the school.

This is reflected in pupils' positive attitudes to learning, their thoughtful behaviour and their tolerance of social and cultural diversity. Leaders encourage pupils to reach out into the local community. For example, members of the school choir look forward to performing this Christmas for the residents in a local care home.

You and your staff promote pupils' participation in sport and music well. Pupils have frequent opportunities to compete in local sports. The school team recently took part in a Preston gymnastics event.

The boys came first and the girls came third, bringing the school to overall second place in the city. All pupils learn to play musical instruments, for example they learn to play the tin whistle when learning about Celtic traditions. Pupils also learn to experiment with simple musical compositions.

Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy learning and particularly appreciate taking part in a wide range of interesting trips and visits. Pupils were fascinated to explore chemistry at a nearby university where they had hands-on experience of making bath bombs.

Pupils are curious about science and start investigating from the earliest possible stage. Children in Reception, for instance, discovered why 'raisins dance in lemonade'. I spoke with a number of parents and carers in the playground at the beginning of my visit.

They were all full of praise for the school, saying that they feel very welcome in school and that staff are always willing to listen to any concerns they may have. The vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, were equally positive about the school. They typically commented on how keen their children are to come to school each day, the good level of communication with parents and the approachability and friendliness of staff.

Staff are passionate and highly motivated. You have built a strong team which shares your vision to continue to provide a rich and varied curriculum that supports pupils' academic and personal development very well. In order to motivate pupils, especially boys, to write for sustained periods of time, you have made sure that the class reading books and topics appeal to all pupils' interests.

For example, pupils in Year 4 enjoyed reading 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' by CS Lewis. The teacher harnessed their enthusiasm with some geography and history work on Iceland, resulting in some very creditable examples of written work from both boys and girls. Governors are very supportive and are well informed on how pupils are doing in each year group.

They ask pertinent questions to ensure that you and your leaders are doing everything possible to maintain high standards and secure pupils' good progress. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders and governors ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

The systems in place to check that adults at the school are safe to work with children are effective. Staff receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training at least once a year. They understand the procedures they must follow if they have concerns about a pupil, including concerns about possible radicalisation.

Pupils feel happy and safe in the school. They are confident that adults will always listen to any worries they may have and that the adults will help to resolve any problems. I talked to pupils about bullying, including homophobic name-calling.

Their response was that, while pupils may occasionally fall out and then make up again, there is no bullying and this would never be tolerated. Leaders' work to keep pupils safe online is exemplary. Leaders have developed a highly effective system to check that the materials that pupils can access on the internet are carefully filtered, and this has been shared with other local schools.

Pupils show a strong understanding of staying safe on the internet. For example, they know not to share personal information online and to seek adult help immediately if they come across any inappropriate material. During my visit, I noticed that the most up-to-date records, for example of pupils' medical needs, were not stored in a way to make them readily accessible to appropriate adults.

You took immediate steps to ensure that the latest information is always to hand in the event of an emergency. Inspection findings ? Firstly, I wanted to find out about how you have developed the curriculum so that pupils make good progress across a range of subjects and can also practise their skills in writing. Together, we looked at work in pupils' books and could see that pupils write frequently for a range of different purposes.

Pupils' work is of a consistently high quality. Pupils make good use of an increasingly wide range of vocabulary, punctuation and grammar to enhance the meaning of their writing as they move through the school. We compared books from different year groups and could see how teachers build systematically on pupils' prior learning in subjects such as history, geography and science.

For example, pupils learned about latitude and longitude in Year 4 in relation to time differences between countries. In Year 6, they developed this further through learning how to use degrees of latitude and longitude to find countries on a world map. ? After teaching Spanish in key stage 2 for a number of years, you recently changed to French.

This was to support pupils' transition to your local secondary school where they will continue to learn this language. Pupils are making good progress in their speaking skills. However, pupils' written work in upper key stage 2 and their understanding of French grammar are not as well developed.

• I also wanted to check that pupils are making consistently good progress in reading, writing and mathematics across key stage 2, particularly the most able pupils. Work in books shows that all pupils are expected to work hard and to the very best of their ability. Progress is at least good in all three subjects.

The proportion of pupils working beyond the expected standard at the end of Year 6 is well above average. I spoke to a group of most-able pupils from key stage 2 at lunchtime. They explained that there is never a wasted moment while at school because there are always 'maths quizzes, grammar and punctuation challenges or more writing if you finish your work'.

• Pupils' progress in mathematics continues to be a strength of the school. This is because teachers focus on giving pupils a solid foundation in basic mathematical skills, including number bonds, place value and multiplication tables. Pupils develop and apply these skills through practical activities in early years and key stage 1, moving on to solving increasingly complicated problems as they move through key stage 2.

• I was interested to find out why there was a dip in the outcomes at the end of the Reception Year in 2018 from previous years. You explained that this cohort of children entered with a wider range of ability than typically found in the school. There was also an unusually high proportion of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

These children made good progress from their starting points, but the overall standards were lower than in previous years. I asked about how these children were supported in moving into Year 1. The early years leader worked with the Year 1 teachers in the summer to ensure that the children were familiar with their new classroom and the key stage 1 routines.

Pupils currently in Year 1 are making good progress. Effective support is given to those who need extra help to catch up in their learning. ? Pupils' positive behaviour continues to be a strength of the school.

Pupils are polite, friendly and courteous. Incidents of poor behaviour or disruption to learning are extremely rare. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? in order to further develop the curriculum, pupils in upper key stage 2 have opportunities to develop their understanding of French grammar and their writing skills in French.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Lancaster, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Lancashire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Janette Corlett Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection, I met with you, other senior leaders and a group of subject leaders.

I spoke formally with a group of pupils and informally with pupils at social times. I observed learning and looked at work produced by pupils in early years and key stages 1 and 2. I spoke with a representative of the local authority and six members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.

I examined a range of documentation, including that relating to safeguarding. I considered the school improvement plan and leaders' self-evaluation. I also checked on the contents of the school's website.

I spoke with parents in the school playground and considered 67 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View. I also considered 42 written responses from parents to Ofsted's free-text facility, five responses to Ofsted's staff survey and one response to Ofsted's pupil survey. I spoke with two parents who requested an interview at the beginning of the school day.