St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, Hartlepool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher, through her commitment, vision and imagination, has led sustained improvement in the leadership of the school and the quality of teaching since the previous inspection. Leaders have created an inclusive culture that has high expectations of staff and pupils. Leaders, teachers and other adults work as a highly effective team.

Governors are actively involved in the life of the school. They understand and are fully committed to their role in improving the quality of education and they hold leaders to account for the standards pupils achieve. Strong leadership of the early years, stimulating resources and high-quality teaching ensure ...that children in this phase make good progress.

A small number of children with English as an additional language make slower progress because they initially find it difficult to communicate. Pupils and their families are inspired to read often. Pupils enjoy reading and they make rapid progress in key stage 1 because of the effective teaching of phonics.

On occasion, pupils struggle to understand how to improve their work because the guidance they receive is not precise enough. Teaching, learning and assessment are now good. This is due to systematic and wide-ranging checking by leaders.

Not all staff make the best use of assessment information to plan work that is appropriately matched to the needs and abilities of pupils. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to apply their mathematical skills to solve challenging problems. Pupils across the school, including those who are disadvantaged, are currently making strong progress in English, mathematics and a range of other subjects including French, music and physical education (PE).

Pupils' attitudes to school are positive and they are keen to learn. They respond to the high standards expected of their behaviour and show care and respect for each other. During the inspection, pupils were well mannered, polite and considerate.

The nurturing, caring ethos is striking in all aspects of school life. Pupils have a profound understanding of their own spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Imaginative systems for improving pupils' punctuality and reducing persistent absence have been successful.

Attendance is now around the national average and pupils are rarely late for school.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. There have been significant changes in staff since the previous inspection.

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is much higher than the national average. The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups is lower than the national average.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is lower than that seen nationally. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is in line with the national figures. Increasingly across the year groups, a number of pupils enter the school at different times throughout the year.

The school provides full-time places for children in the Reception classes and part-time places for children in the Nursery group. The school meets the government's current floor standards (the minimum expected of pupils' attainment and progress). The school provides out-of-school care in the form of an after-school club.