St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher and her senior leadership team are effective leaders. Their desire and determination to improve the school are shared by staff and governors alike. Leaders have managed the expansion of the junior school skilfully for the benefit of all pupils and the local community.

Pupils are proud to be members of this friendly and welcoming school. They take a real pride in their achievements and approach their work with determination and enthusiasm. Leaders of all subjects are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their subjects.

They understand how their work affects the overall performance of the school and pupils' achievement. Pupi...ls enjoy coming to school. Parents agree that the school is a safe place and that they receive accurate information about their child's progress.

The school has high expectations of pupils and their behaviour. The school's curriculum contains varied and motivating activities that inspire pupils to learn. Teaching that is linked to real-life contexts gives relevance to pupils' learning.

Questioning by teachers and teaching assistants is strong throughout the school. It helps pupils to think deeply and understand their learning. Pupils are extremely well behaved around school and in lessons.

They value the work their teachers do and feel very much part of a school family. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils are catching up with their classmates and receive work suited to their needs. Children in the early years get off to a very good start.

They make strong progress as a result of effective teaching, strong leadership and effective support for the children and their families. Good-quality teaching has led to improved standards in the early years and in phonics in Year 1. At times, teachers do not provide sufficient challenge across the curriculum for the most able pupils.

As a result, too few pupils achieve the higher standards. The quality of teachers' feedback in some lessons is inconsistent, most notably in writing and mathematics. Pupils' repeated errors go unchecked in some year groups.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school and expanded in January 2015 to incorporate the local infant school that subsequently closed. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.

Just over half of the pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, which is higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average. The school meets the government's current floor standards for primary schools, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.

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