Saint Mary’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders and governors are highly ambitious for pupils.

They have successfully created a culture of high expectations that is shared by all staff. Leadership over time has been effective in bringing about marked improvements in the quality of teaching and pupils' outcomes. The quality of teaching is now good and pupils make good progress in a range of subjects, including reading, writing and mathematics.

The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard at the end of key stages 1 and 2 is well above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. Governors are skilled and know the school well. They provide good support and ...challenge to senior leaders to bring about improvements.

Different groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, those who speak English as an additional language and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress because of the extra support they receive. The school effectively promotes pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.

Pupils' behaviour is good and they have positive attitudes to their work. Pupils feel safe and are happy in school. The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make good progress.

Occasionally, adults' questioning is not sufficiently probing to challenge them to think hard and improve their understanding. Sometimes pupils are not moved on to their learning tasks quickly enough once they know what they will be learning. This slows their progress.

Pupils do not always have sufficient opportunities to write at length and across the different subject areas to improve their writing skills. This slows pupils' progress in writing, particularly that of White British boys. Teaching in the early years is good and children make good progress from their low starting points.

However, sometimes activities to move children's learning on, particularly for the disadvantaged boys, are not clearly identified. The curriculum is broad and balanced. However, teaching, learning and assessment in the foundation subjects are not as strong as in reading, writing and mathematics.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. This is a larger than average-sized primary school. Children attend a full-time Nursery class and two full-time Reception classes.

The vast majority of children transfer from Nursery to the Reception. Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic groups, with the largest group being from a White British background who make up about one-fifth of the total pupil population. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.

The proportion of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium is well above average. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average.

The school runs a daily breakfast club and after-school club. There have been several staffing changes since the previous inspection. A new headteacher was appointed in September 2016.

No pupils attend any alternative form of education away from the school site. The school's published admission number has recently decreased from 366 to 340. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.