St Columba’s Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Everyone receives a warm welcome at St Columba's Catholic Primary School. Pupils show respect to each other and to adults. Pupils know that it does not matter what your beliefs, background or skin colour are, everyone must be respected.

The school creates an environment where pupils feel safe. The school roots its behaviour system in its Catholic ethos. Parents, carers, staff and pupils chose the five virtues that exemplify the school's behaviour expectations.

Pupils know and apply these virtues in their daily behaviour. For example, pupils know that to 'be wise' means to pay attention and listen.

The school has developed its curriculum since academisation....r/>
Leaders make continual refinements to improve pupils' attainment.

The school's extra-curricular clubs are purposefully selected to develop pupils' skills, such as by playing board games.

Pupils and families access high-quality pastoral support through the school's nurture and home school support service.

Pupils receive effective emotional and practical support.

The early years provision enables children from two years old to access activities that stimulate play and exploration. Adults sensitively support children to make choices and play cooperatively.

The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), 'the nest', provides bespoke learning support for young pupils with communication and interaction needs.

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

The school has redesigned its curriculum so that each unit of work starts with a question. In some subjects, the school has effectively broken down the learning into small steps.

This means that pupils learn the right knowledge in the right order to enable them to answer the question. In other subjects, the school is improving this curriculum planning. This is to ensure that the curriculum accurately builds on pupils' prior learning over time.

The school focuses on developing pupils' language and communication skills. Most pupils with SEND have speech, language and communication needs. Adults remind pupils to 'add, build and challenge' when they respond to a question.

The school produces knowledge mats for pupils for each unit. These mats include essential vocabulary to support pupils in discussions. However, this vocabulary does not consistently match the subject-specific words which the school has identified in its vocabulary progression structure.

This means pupils are not supported well to recall the most important vocabulary.The school ensures that lessons start with opportunities to recap previous learning. Checks are completed on what pupils know and remember in all subjects.

This ensures that the school has a clear understanding of the progress that pupils make.

The crucial knowledge that pupils need to learn as they move through school is mapped in subjects such as mathematics. There are many opportunities for pupils to deepen and apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems.

Leaders have high expectations for pupils. Pupils explain how work they did in previous years is helping them to understand, use and apply new learning.

The school has identified the lack of reading practice at home as a barrier to increasing pupils' reading fluency.

Workshops for parents and carers have been provided to model how to support pupils' early reading skills. There is a structure to phonics sessions that is consistent across the school. Reading books match the sounds that pupils know.

Pupils show resilience in using their phonics knowledge to sound out new and unfamiliar words. The school checks the sounds that pupils remember every half term. This information is used to organise phonics catch-up sessions.

There is a high proportion of pupils with SEND on roll. These pupils' needs are identified quickly. The school supports pupils with SEND well in the nest, the nurture provision or the sensory room.

The staff receive regular and specialist support from the local authority. This support improves their knowledge and skills. In classrooms, adults support pupils with SEND to access the same work as their peers.

The curriculum in early years is carefully considered to build from children's entry at two years old to the end of their Reception Year. The school works with families to ensure staff understand the needs of the children as they join the school. There is a sharp focus on developing children's language and communication skills.

Adults create and lead activities that excite and engage children.

The school's social, moral, spiritual and cultural curriculum is underpinned by its Catholic ethos and virtues. This effectively supports pupils to develop character traits such as resilience and independence.

Pupils are provided with opportunities to be leaders. For example, some are school councillors, playground leaders and reading ambassadors. Pupils know how to stay physically healthy by eating vegetables, drinking water and exercising.

However, pupils are less confident about knowing how to keep mentally healthy.

The school supports the well-being of the staff. The impact on staff workload, when introducing new initiatives, is considered carefully.

The trust understands the school's strengths and areas requiring further development. It recognises the improvements the school has made in recent years in establishing consistency of practice and raising its ambition for pupils.

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 in the curriculum, the school has not planned out the small steps of content that pupils need to learn. This means that in these subjects, teachers do not know which content to deliver next. Leaders should ensure that sequences of learning in each subject are clear.

• The school has not matched the vocabulary on the curriculum knowledge mats to the subject-specific vocabulary identified by the school for each year group. This means the vocabulary that pupils use does not match the vocabulary the school wants them to learn precisely. The school should ensure that the knowledge mats reflect the essential vocabulary for each unit of learning.