St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, Crook

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher and other leaders, including governors, are highly ambitious and have a clear vision for the school. They set high standards and expectations for everyone. Governors consistently challenge the school and hold senior leaders to account for pupils' outcomes.

They know the school extremely well. Leaders and managers have worked effectively to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. As a result of good teaching in all key stages, all groups of pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

Standards by the end of Year 6 are above average and continue to rise across the school. Pupils' be...haviour and attitudes towards learning are good and they show a high level of respect for everyone in school. The school is outstanding in its work around pupils' welfare and personal development.

Parents spoken to highly praise the support given to their children. Pupils are challenged to explain their learning through teachers' good use of 'how' and 'why' questioning. Additional adults are used to good effect and support all pupils' learning.

Children in early years make a good start to their education. They are immediately given the support and guidance needed to ensure that the best possible progress is made, especially in phonics. The most able pupils make good progress in reading and mathematics.

Although overall pupils are making above national progress in writing in key stage 2, some of the most able pupils are not consistently challenged to enable them to make even greater progress. Leadership roles have been developed across the school in different subject areas and the impact can be seen in the standard of pupils' outcomes. However, further support is needed to extend middle leaders' work and their impact at a more whole-school level.

The majority of pupils have good attendance. A small proportion of pupils, however, require additional support to ensure that their attendance continues to improve.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic Primary School is a one-form voluntary-aided school, serving the parishes of St Cuthbert's, Crook and St Thomas of Canterbury, Wolsingham. It is part of the Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle within Durham local authority. It is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.

Most pupils are White British. Very few speak English as an additional language. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is broadly average.

The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6. The school provides a breakfast club and after-school club for pupils each day.