Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where every child is welcomed and celebrated. Pupils here are friendly and caring.

They have warm relationships with adults in the school. This helps them to feel happy and safe.

The school fosters an inclusive environment that is aspirational for the achievement of all.

It has high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Pupils live up to these expectations. Typically, they achieve well and are prepared for the next stage of their education.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are nurtured with compassion and supported well to succeed.

Pupils, from the early years to Year 6, engage fully in the...ir lessons. Their positive attitudes mean that there is rarely any disruption to their learning.

Pupils conduct themselves sensibly around the school. They rightly trust adults to deal quickly with any concerns that arise. They enjoy earning their 'recognition points' for behaving well and working hard.

Pupils benefit from the different clubs on offer. They enjoy local sporting competitions and taking part in neighbourhood choir performances. Pupils talked enthusiastically about visitors who deliver workshops, including drama, road safety and anti-bullying.

Pupils take pride in donating to their local foodbank. These experiences add value to pupils' wider development and help to keep them safe in the community.

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

The school has established an engaging and ambitious curriculum.

It has set out the important knowledge that pupils should learn at each stage. Staff are well trained to deliver the curriculum effectively. This includes, where required, making careful adaptations so that pupils with SEND can learn alongside their peers.

Staff identify and address pupils' misconceptions effectively. The school's new checking systems help them to monitor how well pupils learn in different subjects. Pupils can talk confidently about their current learning.

However, in some subjects, staff do not ensure that pupils revise and recall their previous knowledge securely enough. This means that sometimes pupils do not have the secure foundations on which to build their new learning.The school has successfully forged a love of reading that extends from the provision for two-year-olds to Year 6.

Pupils recount stories that they have read with excitement. They benefit from a well-ordered phonics programme that staff deliver expertly. Any pupils who need to catch up are identified quickly.

They are provided with the support they need to help them catch up with their peers. Most pupils therefore become confident, fluent readers by the end of Year 2.

Staff are trained to quickly identify the additional needs that pupils may have and provide effective support.

As a result, pupils with SEND achieve well from their individual starting points.

Children settle quickly into the early years. They learn to play cooperatively and follow routines.

Staff create a language-rich environment that helps children to develop their speaking and listening skills well. As a result, children develop confidence and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Older pupils hold considerate and thoughtful conversations with each other and adults.

They display highly positive attitudes to school life. The school has embedded robust systems to improve pupils' attendance. It works effectively with external professionals and families to identify and help overcome any barriers to poor attendance.

Pupils make a positive contribution to their school and the local community. Through their leadership roles, such as being members of the school council, they learn to take on responsibility for others. However, some of these broader opportunities are not well honed and do not widen pupils' horizons consistently and effectively enough.

This means that some of the wider experiences are limited in their scope and do not help pupils to develop their talents as well as they could.

Pupils learn how to maintain their physical and mental health. They talk maturely about consent and what makes a healthy relationship.

Pupils are clear that they would not tolerate any discrimination or prejudice. They know how to keep themselves safe online. Pupils demonstrate a secure understanding of the fundamental British values.

Governors are well equipped and knowledgeable about the school's strengths and next steps. They hold leaders to account for the quality of education provided. Governors fully support the school's work to consider staff workload and well-being.

Staff appreciate the training they receive and are proud to work here. They agree that the school values their opinions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the school has not ensured that pupils have sufficient opportunities to revisit what they have learned previously. This means that some pupils' knowledge does not build securely over time. The school should ensure that teaching is designed to help pupils to remember long term the content that they have been taught.

• The opportunities that the school offers for pupils' enrichment and broader development are variable. This means that pupils do not access a range of activities to develop their talents, skills and independence, or to promote their broader learning of the curriculum. The school should ensure that pupils are provided with a wide variety of well-considered enrichment activities to support their personal development.