Ss Aidan and Oswald’s Roman Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Ss Aidan and Oswald's Roman Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

The school's ethos runs through everything that staff do. Staff go out of their way to make every day special for pupils.

Staff also, through their lessons, help pupils to see that other people are special, too. The school has a place at the heart of the Royton community.

I stood and watched Year 5 pupils line up very well.

They braved the rain downpours on their way to swimming lessons. There was no fuss, no undue noise and no larking about. This behaviour matched how well pupils behave in lessons.

They are keen and want to contribute.... They respond well to adults. In the surveys, most pupils, parents and staff said that behaviour is good.

There are very few instances of bullying or name-calling. Pupils said that teachers deal with it well. Pupils feel safe in school.

Their attendance is good.

School leaders have taken in many pupils relocating from other areas. Their expectations for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are high.

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

Braving downpours of rain, children showed excellent levels of concentration when I visited the Nursery. Wearing wellies and coats, they focused their attention on their learning. The children are confident and have settled well.

Teachers have designed the activities well to make the children think and to learn in fun ways. For example, the toy cash register stopped working. They started using conkers to pay for items in their outdoor shop.

However, some of the activities in Reception do not build on what children learn in Nursery as well as they could.

Leaders and governors know that reading is the main subject that needs to improve.Governors have agreed to fund the new library, new reading scheme and new books.

There is a good system in place for daily reading which starts from the first week in Reception. Pupils with SEND read well by the end of Year 2. Teachers help pupils to catch up if they fall behind in their reading.

Some adults and children do not pronounce the phonic sounds as accurately as they could. There is a good match between pupils' reading books and their reading ability. This means, for example, that pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5 read fluently without stopping at difficult words.

The class reading areas vary in quality. Some are well stocked, but others have few books. Too many reading areas contain books that are too difficult for pupils to read fluently.

Mathematics has a well-designed curriculum. A team of staff leads it well. Most teachers, mainly in key stage 2, develop pupils' understanding in mathematics.

They demonstrate and explain how to solve calculations well. Teachers also develop pupils' ability to explain their thinking. They ask pupils to prove their answers and to disprove incorrect answers.

Pupils find it difficult sometimes to remember previous teaching about shapes and measures. Leaders know this and have developed a scheme of work that is building pupils' memory. Teachers provide extra teaching for pupils with SEND.

When it comes to the lesson, pupils have already had a taster. This means that they can keep up with the rest of the class and achieve well.

The history curriculum is well planned.

Teachers build pupils' knowledge of different periods in history. Year 3 pupils, for example, could explain why children worked in the mills. They could also remember some facts about the mills around Royton.

In Year 6, pupils in their study of the Second World War sat engrossed watching video footage of Germany in the 1930s. They were mature when watching some of the difficult content. Through history, they learn right from wrong.

They learn to empathise with other people. Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND achieve well in history.'

We have a moral duty for all pupils' was a comment from one of the governors.

This matches the fact that pupils are not taken off the school roll unless there is a good reason. The curriculum is not narrowed in Year 6 to focus on English and mathematics. Staff morale is high.

Leaders minimise workload and look after the well-being of staff.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The school uses a very good system to identify and track safeguarding incidents.

This links referrals together as well as information about pupils' attendance and behaviour. It forms a picture of the child and the family and enables leaders to take the action it needs as early as possible. There is a system in place to train staff about changes to safeguarding and to update staff about local and national changes.

There is a good system to manage incidents and referrals. This includes working with other agencies, such as those that are to do with work and pensions, housing or finance. Leaders sometimes work with the police.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

The reading areas in classrooms vary in quality. Some are meagre and have few books for pupils to choose, such as those in the early years. Some areas have books that are too difficult for pupils to read.

Staff should improve the quality of reading areas so that there is a better match of books to pupils' reading abilities. This will help pupils further develop their reading skills.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Ss Aidan and Oswald's Roman Catholic Primary School to be good on 12 May 2015.

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