St Hugh’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

St Hugh's Catholic Primary is a happy school where pupils feel welcome.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are valued for their individuality. They celebrate diversity and show respect for the differences between people.

Pupils enjoy coming to school each day.

Children in the Nursery and Reception classes settle into school well. Most pupils behave responsibly in class and follow the newly agreed rules and routines.

The school has high aspirations for what pupils will learn.

Typically, pupils achieve well across the curriculum. Most pupils, including children in the early years, want to do thei...r best and they work hard to live up to the school's expectations.

Pupils benefit from a broad range of trips to help bring their learning to life.

For example, they participate in residential trips locally and further afield to the seaside. These visits encourage pupils to learn how to work in a team and to deepen their knowledge of curriculum content. Pupils love the variety of clubs that they are able to attend.

These clubs, which range from chess to fencing, reflect pupils' interests well.

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

The school has designed a curriculum that carefully considers the needs of pupils, from the early years through to the end of key stage 2. The curriculum determines the knowledge and understanding that pupils should learn and the order in which staff should teach subject content.

The school's curriculum ensures that pupils are well prepared for the next stages in their education and for life in modern Britain.

Most staff explain new ideas clearly. They are knowledgeable about the subjects that they teach.

However, occasionally, staff do not identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND as quickly as they should. This hampers the quality and timeliness of support for these pupils, which impedes how well they access some parts of the curriculum.

Generally, teachers check carefully on what pupils know.

This helps teachers to shape future learning. However, in a few subjects, teachers do not check precisely enough to identify the specific gaps in pupils' knowledge. This means that teachers are not as informed as they could be in shaping the next steps that pupils should take in their learning.

This prevents some pupils from learning as well as they should.

Reading is a high priority in the school. Children in the early years, including those in the Nursery Year, have many opportunities to enjoy stories, rhymes and poems.

The culture of reading for pleasure continues throughout the school. The school makes sure that staff deliver the phonics programme to a high standard. Skilled staff quickly identify those pupils who struggle to read.

They put in place effective help so that pupils catch up rapidly with their peers. This means that most pupils are confident fluent readers by the time they reach Year 2.The school has recently amended its system for managing pupils' behaviour.

For most pupils, this new routine is bringing about positive improvements. However, inconsistencies exist in how the policy is being applied by staff across school. As a result, some pupils find it difficult to meet the school's high expectations, occasionally disrupting the learning of others.

Most pupils demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning. Pupils attend school regularly. When some pupils do not attend as often as they should, the school works with parents and carers to bring about improvement.

This work is proving to be effective.

The school supports pupils' wider development well. For example, pupils take on many leadership roles whether as a school council member or on the pupil leadership team.

Pupils raise money for charities close to their hearts and give back to their local community. Staff encourage pupils to develop and showcase their talents. For example, pupils enjoy being in the limelight in the school's annual production or competing in local sporting tournaments.

Governors share the school's ambition and commitment to provide a high-quality education for pupils. Most staff value the support that they receive for their well-being and workload. For example, they appreciate the time that the school gives them to carry out their curriculum responsibilities.

Staff are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• On occasion, the school does not identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND accurately or quickly enough.

This delays staff from providing effective support and slows the progress of these pupils through the curriculum. The school should ensure that staff are fully equipped to identify pupils' additional needs in a timely manner. ? In a small number of subjects, teachers do not use assessment strategies well enough to identify exactly where pupils have gaps in their learning.

Consequently, teachers are not as informed as they could be when shaping pupils' future learning. This hinders some pupils from learning all that they could. The school should ensure teachers have the knowledge and expertise to use assessment strategies sufficiently well.

• Some staff do not apply the agreed systems to manage low-level disruption. This means that some pupils occasionally disrupt the learning of others. The school should ensure that staff understand how to support pupils' positive behaviour and apply the agreed policies consistently well.

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