St James’ Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St James' Church of England Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

The heads of school of this school are Lucy Turner and Nicola Emrich. This school is part of The Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school.

The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Emma Wigmore, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Caroline Haynes. There is also an executive headteacher, Karen Jones, who is responsible for this school and is the assistant CEO for the trust.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attend...ing school.

They learn well and often find the work interesting, listening attentively and joining in with activities. Children in the early years are particularly engaged and enthused. They have settled well into school.

They understand and follow the routines, which make the environment calm and pleasant.

Pupils experience multiple opportunities to develop their understanding of the world around them. These include visits to places of worship and events which celebrate different faiths.

They learn about keeping safe when online, using bikes and how to prevent and stay safe from fire.

Most pupils behave well, especially in structured times, such as when learning or moving between lessons. Pupils can be a little excitable in less-structured times, such as lunchtime and breaktime.

This is because there is little for them to do and because expectations for the positive behaviours pupils could demonstrate are not well established.

The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement. These are being realised through effective teaching and clear leadership.

Pupils in school now are learning and achieving well.

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

Provisional published outcomes in 2024 were not as high as they should have been. The school and trust have taken rapid actions to address this.

The school has a curriculum in place for teaching mathematics. In the past, the school followed this, but did not build in the adaptations some pupils needed. Pupils, therefore, did not all achieve as well as they could.

The school still uses this curriculum. Now though, teachers add to this based on their assessment of pupils' understanding. This enables pupils to practise what they have been taught and to move on when they have mastered it.

The teaching of early reading is working well. The school has established clear and effective routines for teaching phonics. Teachers and pupils know these very well and follow them consistently.

Pupils join in enthusiastically with phonics sessions. Adults make sure that the books pupils have to practise decoding words are matched to the sounds pupils know. Pupils are learning to read fluently and well.

Those who fall behind catch up quickly.

The school is also focusing on improving the teaching of writing. At this stage, this has not been as effective as the school's work on teaching reading and mathematics.

Some pupils' writing is not developing as well as it should do.

In other areas of the curriculum, pupils have learned different topics over time. The school has very recently adopted a new approach to teaching these subjects.

It is building on what pupils learned in the past. It also provides the information teachers need to ensure they teach the key knowledge the school wants pupils to learn. In the early years, the curriculum is more established.

Adults have set out what children need to learn. They direct children's activities based on adults' assessments and children's interests. As a result, pupils, and particularly children in the early years, learn well.

The school identifies and often meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. However, sometimes the school does not adapt how they teach well enough. Some pupils' needs are not effectively provided for.

This leads to some pupils not learning well. In a small minority of cases, it also leads to pupils behaving poorly.

The great majority of pupils behave well.

They respond quickly to adults' guidance. They listen to teachers respectfully. The school has recently raised expectations for how pupils should behave in less-structured times.

For example, pupils now know that when they walk around school they should do so sensibly. They do this well. However, there are aspects of provision where these high expectations have not been established.

For instance, routines for how pupils should line up at the end of lunch are not securely established.

The school provides pupils with a range of trips and activities, which help to prepare them for life beyond school. To ensure these visits are affordable, the school has focused on making sure many make use of the rich history of Colchester.

For example, in the summer term, pupils used local facilities to learn about art. These complement the range of other opportunities the school provides for pupils. For example, the school gives pupils the chance to take on responsibilities, such as by being play leaders.

The trust and local governing body provide effective challenge and support to the school. They responded quickly to a change in leadership and took appropriate action to secure standards.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some support for pupils with SEND is not meeting their needs well enough. This leads to those pupils not learning as well as they ought to and to a small minority misbehaving. The school should ensure that the support in place for pupils with SEND consistently meets their needs.

• Aspects of writing are not taught as well as they should be. This means some pupils are taking longer to learn key writing skills then they should. The school should make sure pupils are taught to write well.

• The expectations adults have of pupils' behaviour are not always as high as they should be. This means some pupils sometimes behave in an overexcited way. The school should establish consistently high standards of behaviour.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in September 2019.