Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this caring school community.

They love to come to school each day and they try hard in their lessons. Pupils of all ages achieve highly, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils feel safe.

They know that their teachers care for them well. Pupils in the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced based provision) benefit from the warm and encouraging relationships fostered by staff.

Leaders expect pupils to behave well.

Pupils, and childr...en in the early years, live up to these high standards. They demonstrate the school values by showing care and respect for each other. Even the youngest pupils follow school routines independently, such as walking sensibly to the hall for assembly.

Pupils learn to be considerate of everyone's differences. Bullying and unkindness are extremely rare. If bullying ever happens, leaders swiftly ensure that it does not continue.

Pupils appreciate the wide range of opportunities that leaders provide. For example, they can take part in sports, play a musical instrument and raise money for charity. Older pupils look forward to residential visits where they participate in adventurous activities.

Leaders ensure that these opportunities are accessible to all pupils.

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

Leaders have placed pupils' needs at the heart of their vision for the curriculum. They are determined that all pupils, especially those with SEND, should benefit from the same high-quality education.

Staff share this commitment. All pupils, including those in the specially resourced based provision, study a broad and ambitious curriculum. They achieve well.

In almost all subjects, the curriculum is well organised. Subject leaders have thought carefully about the most important knowledge that pupils should learn. They have arranged this knowledge into smaller, logical steps.

This helps pupils to deepen their understanding over time. However, in a few subjects, leaders' work to identify these small steps of learning is not complete. This makes it harder for pupils to link new concepts to what they already know.

Leaders have ensured that teachers have sufficient expertise to deliver the curriculum confidently. Teachers explain new concepts clearly. They think carefully about how to meet the needs of pupils, including those with SEND.

In the specially resourced based provision, expert staff ensure that pupils develop social skills and emotional self-regulation alongside their academic learning.

In lessons, teachers check regularly whether pupils' earlier learning is secure. This helps them to adapt their teaching so that pupils can revisit knowledge that they have not fully grasped.

In the main, pupils remember what they have learned.

Leaders are determined that pupils learn to read well. They have made this a priority across the school.

Children learn phonics from the beginning of the Reception Year. They build up their knowledge of letters and sounds quickly so that they are ready for the demands of key stage 1. Teachers ensure that the books that pupils read are matched carefully to the sounds that they have learned.

Most staff are skilled in teaching pupils to read. They quickly spot pupils who need extra help. However, from time to time, a small number of staff do not deliver the phonics programme consistently well.

Pupils higher up the school read with increasing fluency and confidence. They told the inspector proudly about the books and poems that they enjoy. Pupils in key stage 2 know that being able to read well is helping them to learn in all their subjects.

Leaders quickly and accurately identify pupils who may have SEND. They provide staff with detailed information about pupils' additional needs. This includes pupils in the specially resourced based provision.

Teachers make effective use of this information to help these pupils to succeed alongside their classmates.

Pupils learn without disruption. They listen and respond well to teachers' instructions.

Children in the early years settle quickly into routines which help them to learn. Older pupils, including those in the specially resourced based provision, demonstrate increasing independence in their learning.

Leaders give pupils a strong voice.

Through this, pupils learn to appreciate others' views and to express their own respectfully. They value this opportunity. Leaders make sure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

For example, regular visitors to school help pupils to learn about potential careers, the role of elected officials and how to stay healthy.

Governors work closely with leaders and staff. Staff feel valued and supported.

They appreciate how senior leaders consider their workload. Staff are overwhelmingly proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and governors take safeguarding seriously. They have created a culture where safeguarding is every adult's priority. Staff receive thorough training so that they know how to spot pupils that might be at risk of harm.

Staff report any concerns promptly so that leaders can take swift action.

Leaders work closely with external agencies to ensure that pupils and their families get the right kind of help when they need it. Leaders are tenacious in following up their concerns if they think that more help is needed.

Leaders ensure that pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, both online and in the local community.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• At times, some staff do not implement the phonics programme as effectively as leaders intend. This hinders some pupils becoming fluent readers as quickly as they should.

Leaders should ensure that these staff receive appropriate training and the support that they need to deliver the phonics programme faithfully. ? In a small number of subjects, leaders are still finalising their curriculum thinking. This means that, in these subjects, teachers are not sufficiently clear about the knowledge that pupils should learn and how it should be organised logically over time.

This makes it harder for pupils to build securely on what they already know. Leaders should ensure that they are clear about what they want pupils to know, and in which order teachers should deliver this learning.

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 judged the school to be good in June 2012.

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