St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, Beeston

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love coming to St Anthony's Catholic Primary School. They feel safe and happy here. Leaders and staff have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and attitudes.

Staff build excellent relationships with pupils and their families from their earliest starting points in Reception.

Staff are experts in showing pupils how to be polite and inclusive. Pupils rise to these high expectations.

Pupils' behaviour is exemplary. Pupils demonstrate high levels of respect for each other. They help one another in lessons.

Pupils are very keen to learn. They demonstrate purposeful self-control and are highly focused in lessons. At social times, behaviour is supe...rb.

Pupils make sure that everyone is included in the many different activities that are on offer.

Pupils take on a range of responsibilities in school. These include reading leaders, lunch monitors and school council members.

Leadership roles allow pupils to make a highly positive contribution to the life of the school. For example, reading leaders carry satchels of books and share their love of reading with younger pupils at breaktime and lunchtime.

Leaders have implemented a strong curriculum which is broad and ambitious.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn well in this inclusive school. The school's exceptional curriculum provides pupils with a solid foundation on which they can continue to build their learning, both academically and personally, supporting them well as they prepare for adulthood.

School leaders develop strong relationships with pupils and parents and the wider school community.

Leaders work as 'ambassadors for learning' in order to raise the importance of education across the whole school community and improve the life chances of pupils who attend St Anthony's. Parents, pupils and staff are particularly positive about the school. They feel an integral part of a school family which sits at the heart of their local community.

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

The school's curriculum for core subjects such as reading and mathematics is well considered and expertly implemented. Leaders prioritise reading. Staff are highly knowledgeable in the school's approach to early reading.

They teach phonics with consistency. Pupils, including those with SEND, join in phonics lessons with enthusiasm. There are extra opportunities for pupils to practise reading fluently.

Staff demonstrate how to read with expression. Children in the early years confidently practise their enhanced reading skills as they segment and blend the name tags on pegs to ensure they hang coats in the right place when they change after outdoor activities. The school's early reading offer is highly effective.

Pupils demonstrate a confidence in reading in all classes across the school.

In foundation subjects, the school has built a robust and purposeful curriculum which identifies what pupils should learn over time. Teachers have strong subject knowledge.

They understand the importance of revisiting prior knowledge and linking this with what they want pupils to learn next. The knowledge and skills that pupils need is broken down into small steps that lead to highly ambitious end points. Pupils' exceptional learning experiences are enhanced by carefully planned opportunities to practise what they are learning.

For example, in music, pupils learn about dynamics: how softly or loudly a piece of music should be played. They put this learning into practice in their choral singing in Year 2. As pupils move into key stage 2, they learn the musical terms and notation for loud and soft.

They use what they have learned about the six dynamics of music from pianissimo (pp) through to fortissimo (ff) to inform their singing in chamber choir. Learning opportunities such as these, along with the high ambition of the staff that support them, means that pupils are well prepared for Year 7 and beyond.

Pupils with SEND are well supported.

Teachers carefully adapt activities where needed in order to help pupils with SEND. There is an extensive range of extra-curricular opportunities in school. Some clubs, including sports club, are designed especially for pupils with SEND.

Provision such as the 'Rainbow Room' offers pupils bespoke opportunities to enhance their learning throughout the school day, as well as allowing them to spend time socialising with their peers. The school is able to demonstrate how this offer supports pupils to remember important knowledge and helps them to prepare for adulthood.

The curriculum for pupils' personal, social and health education carefully considers pupils' starting points and their local community.

This is planned to prepare pupils well for adulthood. Pupils access a wide range of enriching activities, including wonderful opportunities to learn ballet and explore music. A number of pupils are learning to play the ukulele.

There are a variety of educational visits and experiences that pupils are able to participate in. These are carefully linked to the wider curriculum to support pupils' learning. These activities allow pupils to access experiences they might not otherwise have.

For example, pupils visited an observatory to enrich their learning about space. They also performed for the Diocese of Leeds, which allowed them to share their musical expertise with the wider community.

In the early years, the curriculum is designed to help prepare children for Year 1.

Staff support children to understand what good behaviour looks like. Leaders understand the importance of developing clear routines. Leaders plan purposeful learning around carefully chosen quality texts.

Children enjoy talking about the books they have been reading together. They play together well. The provision for learning is primarily adult initiated.

Opportunities for children to independently develop learning characteristics further, through activities such as exploring, choosing new ways to do things and persevering when something is a little tricky, are more limited. However, children join in the adult-led learning activities with enthusiasm.

The school has developed strong relationships with parents.

Leaders are passionate about their work to create a strong and caring community that is highly valued by their families and children. Leaders have developed and implemented purposeful attendance strategies that ensure pupils come to school regularly. The vast majority of pupils attend school on time, every day.

Staff morale is extremely high. Staff are supported by strong school leaders who value them highly and care for their well-being. The professional development of all staff is a priority.

The impact of this strong offer is evident throughout the school. Subject leadership is a strength which is exemplified through the strong curriculum offer that pupils experience. Governors are knowledgeable and experienced.

They know their school well and understand the importance of playing an active role in the school's work. Governors carry out their statutory duties with professionalism.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.