St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to be part of this caring school. They told the inspector that they enjoy meeting new friends and that they look forward to learning new things each day. Pupils are happy.

They know that supportive staff will help them if they have any worries.

The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and for those who are disadvantaged. Pupils rise to these expectations.

Typically, most achieve well.

Across the school, pupils behave well. They understan...d why the school's 'ASPIRE' values are important to life in school and beyond.

Pupils try hard to follow these. For example, they said that they aspire to be the best that they can be. Pupils know that it is important to develop their self-belief and to persevere during lessons so that they can learn well.

Pupils benefit from a variety of extra-curricular experiences. They visit places in the local area and beyond, such as farms, parks, museums, an opera and the local church. These trips help to enhance pupils' learning of the curriculum.

Pupils also participate in wider activities, which include sports, cooking, art, dance, well-being and gardening clubs.

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

The school has designed a broad and balanced curriculum, which starts from the beginning of the early years. It has determined the important knowledge that pupils should learn and when this content should be taught.

As a result, pupils learn well across a range of subjects. Children in the early years benefit from firm foundations on which to build ambitious learning when they start in key stage 1.

Staff have strong knowledge of the subjects that they teach.

They utilise training and support from the school and from subject specialists. This enables teachers to design suitable learning activities to deliver curriculum content. Mostly, staff provide pupils with clear explanations during lessons.

However, at times, staff do not help pupils to learn and understand new vocabulary well enough. This is because staff do not explain new words, including subject-specific terminology, in sufficient detail, nor do they check how well pupils have understood these new concepts.

The school supports pupils with SEND effectively.

Staff identify pupils' additional needs as soon as they start school. They work well with external professionals, and with parents and carers, to enable pupils with SEND to learn the full curriculum. Nurturing staff help pupils in the 'acorn classroom' to regulate their emotions and to be ready to learn.

Reading is a priority. The school has built its curriculum around carefully chosen and diverse texts. In the early years, staff immerse children in plentiful stories, songs and rhymes.

The school inspires them to develop their love of reading, for example, by providing 'reading cafes' and arranging for different authors to visit.

In the Nursery Year, children benefit from many activities that support their spoken communication and language skills. Staff implement a well-established phonics programme with fidelity from the start of the Reception class.

Pupils read widely and often. The books that they practise their reading from contain the sounds that they already know. Most pupils develop into confident and fluent readers.

Classrooms are calm and orderly, which contributes to pupils having positive attitudes to their learning. Pupils are polite and respectful towards others. They know that attending school is important.

The school closely monitors pupils' attendance. It is working to combat absence levels. However, persistent absence and lateness remain stubbornly high.

Too many pupils miss out on important learning.

The school supports pupils' wider development well. Pupils learn how to look after their physical and mental health, and how to be safe outside of school.

They learn how to be active and responsible citizens. For example, they raise money for charities, visit a local care home and support foodbanks. Pupils take on leadership roles in school, including as 'Mini Vinnies', librarians, sports leaders and school councillors.

Staff value the school's support for their workload and well-being. For instance, they appreciate a teamwork approach and said that everybody is happy to help them to fulfil their roles well.

Governors support and challenge the school effectively to continually improve the quality of education that it provides for pupils.

Most parents and carers commended the school for being a safe environment where their children thrive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• From time to time, staff do not explain the meaning of vocabulary clearly enough or check pupils' understanding of new words.

As a result, some pupils develop misunderstandings about the meaning of these words, which limits their knowledge. The school should refine how staff introduce and explain terminology, including subject-specific vocabulary, so that pupils broaden and deepen their understanding of words and concepts. ? Too many pupils do not attend school on time or regularly enough.

These pupils miss out on important learning and wider experiences. The school should strengthen its attendance strategies and bolster its approach to working with parents, so that the level of persistent absence reduces.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2020.