Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, staff and families are incredibly proud of their school community. Pupils particularly like the caring, welcoming ethos of the school. One pupil summed this up by saying, 'No matter how different we are, we are all just one big family and treat each other with respect and kindness.'



Pupils thrive in their learning and development here. Staff are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). As a result, pupils achieve highly across the curriculum.

Pupils are able to clearly and conf...idently articulate their learning across a range of subjects.

Working relationships between staff and pupils are built on mutual respect. Staff and pupils live by the school's values of courage, perseverance, friendship, love and cooperation.

Pupils behave exceptionally well in lessons and at social times. They are polite and considerate to adults and to each other. Pupils value their learning and are fully engaged in their lessons.

They play happily together at social times, when they are supportive and caring towards each other. Pupils said that they feel safe, and that bullying is rare. They trust adults to sort out any issues they may have.

Alongside the rich academic curriculum, leaders organise many opportunities to encourage pupils' interests and talents. Pupils are very well supported to be prepared for life in modern Britain.

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

Leaders have designed a rich and engaging curriculum.

Leaders are very reflective in their approach to curriculum thinking. They take timely and effective steps to continually refine and improve the high-quality education pupils are receiving.

Starting from the early years, careful thought has gone into identifying the crucial knowledge and skills that pupils need to learn and remember.

Leaders have made sure that this knowledge is taught in a well-sequenced manner. Lessons are planned so that pupils are able to learn and remember small chunks of information and build on their prior learning. Over time, pupils achieve very well.

Leaders have also identified purposeful links between subject content across the curriculum. In doing so, they focus on helping pupils to deepen their understanding of key ideas.

Pupils' work is of high quality.

They recall what they have been taught securely and in detail. For example, in history, pupils talked in depth about their knowledge of the history topics taught, recalling many concepts and information from different time periods.

Teachers use well-selected strategies in lessons that enable pupils to revisit and recap prior learning.

Pupils are introduced to subject-specific vocabulary carefully. Teachers make sure that pupils have many opportunities to use and apply this vocabulary in meaningful ways. Teachers present learning clearly to pupils.

They routinely check what pupils understand so that misconceptions and gaps in learning can be quickly addressed. This prevents pupils from falling behind.

Leaders make sure that pupils with SEND are quickly identified and effective support is put in place.

Leaders work closely with external agencies where needed to ensure that pupils get the right help. Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers through adapted tasks and additional support from adults.

The teaching of reading is a priority.

All staff have been trained to deliver high-quality phonics sessions. Phonics teaching begins as soon as children start school. The sounds that letters make are taught in a logical order.

Pupils' reading books are matched to the sounds they have learned and know. Leaders and staff quickly identify any pupil who is at risk of falling behind and extra support is put in place. This helps pupils to become confident, accurate and fluent readers.

Leaders promote a love of reading through daily story time sessions, as well as regular opportunities for pupils to read for pleasure. Pupils also really like that staff arrange for authors to visit their school to talk about reading and books.

The comprehensive provision for pupils' wider development aims for pupils to develop character traits and skills that will equip them successfully for life.

Curriculum choices and resources reflect the diversity of the school community. Pupils learn about how everyone has the right to be treated with respect and the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Pupils access a wide range of extra-curricular clubs, for instance art, coding, running and science clubs.

Pupils relish the opportunities for responsibility, such as being a head boy or girl, a member of the school council or a playground buddy.

Leaders, including governors, are committed to giving pupils the best education possible. Their shared vision is based on developing and nurturing the whole child along with academic success.

Staff are proud to work here and feel well supported by leaders. Staff appreciate that their workload and well-being are taken into account when leaders are making decisions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Procedures and processes for safeguarding are robust. Leaders, staff and governors have regular training so that they know the signs of abuse to look out for. Staff know how to report any concerns that they may have.

Leaders take timely and effective action and keep suitable records when concerns arise. Leaders work with external agencies where necessary to help families get the support they need.

Leaders have carried out all the required checks for those who work at or visit the school.

The curriculum teaches pupils how to keep safe. Pupils learn how to keep safe online and physically and emotionally healthy.

Background

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

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 outstanding on 16 and 17 March 2017.