St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a highly inclusive school where pupils benefit from an excellent quality of education. The school has very high expectations of pupils, who strive to meet them. Pupils achieve exceptionally well and benefit hugely from the warm and respectful relationships between staff and pupils.

Pupils' behaviour is exemplary. They are consistently thoughtful, kind and considerate towards each other and adults.From the time they start in Reception, children are taught the importance of being resilient and curious.

They are confident to ask for help if they have any worries. Skilled staff ensure pupils think about the feelings behind their behaviour so that they can self-reg...ulate effectively. Consequently, pupils feel safe and very happy.

Pupils embrace roles of responsibility and make meaningful contributions to the school community, for example by becoming well-being ambassadors or eco-warriors. Pupils are proud of their roles because they understand the value of helping others. Pupils know that their views contribute to making their school a better place.

They share their views and opinions with staff to bring about change, such as making the school more sustainable.

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

Leaders have designed a highly ambitious curriculum. The school has identified the important knowledge that must be taught and when.

From Reception to Year 6, pupils learn in small steps, which builds their understanding of each subject securely. Teachers' subject expertise is very well developed. Pupils learn important technical words for every subject.

This starts in the early years, where expert provision helps pupils communicate with each other very effectively. Pupils practise vocabulary with talk partners and in class discussions, which helps to deepen their understanding further.Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) flourish at this school.

Staff collaborate with outside professionals and with parents and carers to build the right educational support for pupils. This work begins successfully in the early years. It is highly effective in helping pupils to overcome barriers to learning.

Teachers use assessment well by regularly checking what pupils have remembered and what needs to be re-taught. The impact of this high-quality provision is reflected in the impressive standards that pupils, including the relatively small number of disadvantaged pupils, achieve in end of key stage 2 tests.Reading is at the heart of the curriculum.

The teaching of phonics is clear and systematic and precisely matches pupils' needs. Staff are expert teachers of reading. They identify any pupils who are falling behind and provide expert and effective support when required.

Pupils practise their phonics by reading books that contain sounds that they know. The school fosters a real love of reading and books in pupils.

Behaviour is excellent and pupils have impressive attitudes to learning.

All pupils know and live up to the school's high expectations. In the Reception class, children learn and play cooperatively. They move from one activity to the other seamlessly and develop strong social and emotional skills.

Pupils show high levels of motivation to learn more. The school works positively with families to ensure pupils come to school regularly. As a result, all groups, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, have very high attendance.

The detailed programme for personal development permeates other areas of the curriculum and helps pupils thrive. This enables pupils to connect their learning through deliberately planned experiences. For instance, pupils learn about the Victorians through a visit to the Milestones Museum, and they learn about sustainability by visiting a local recycling centre.

There is an impressive range of carefully planned school clubs, attended by all groups of pupils, which broaden their talents and interests. For example, chess club is attended by a wide range of pupils and helps them to think more deeply about different ways of approaching a problem.

Leaders at all levels, including trustees and local governors, share an ambitious vision for the school.

The extensive expertise in the trust helps to challenge and support the school successfully. They work closely with the school on key aspects of the running of this school, such as SEND, the curriculum, and learning and teaching. This level of rigour supports the consistently high standards in the school.

The school has ensured that staff get high-quality training that enables them to teach the curriculum exceptionally well. Staff appreciate how their workload and well-being are a priority. As a result, staff at the school feel extremely well supported.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

How can I feedback my views?

You can use Ofsted Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school, or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school's pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route).