St Joseph’s Catholic Voluntary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School provides a good standard of education. Pupils enjoy coming to school where they benefit from an attractive, welcoming and supportive learning environment.

Because the vast majority of pupils are willing to take responsibility, behave well and show respect to their peers, adults and visitors, they do much to make this such an inclusive and harmonious community. It is a school in which pupils feel safe and valued because staff know the pupils really well and provide good levels of care. This is recognised by parents and carers.

Virtually all of those who replied to the inspection questionnaire expressed considerable level satisfaction with the school and thei...r children's experience. One, capturing the views of many, said, 'The school has a very supportive environment and teaches the children respect for each other and the staff.' Pupils take pride in the range of jobs that they carry out, such as being members of the school council, and they take their responsibilities seriously.

The school's clear focus on raising attainment has proved to be successful. Provision for the Early Years Foundation Stage has been maintained and is good. As a result, children make good progress from the time they start school.

This good progress continues as pupils move through the school and attainment at the end of Year 6 has risen to be above average. This represents good achievement by pupils of all ethnic backgrounds. Because staff have been particularly successful in focusing on the development of reading and writing skills, pupils make particularly good progress in English.

Progress in mathematics is slightly slower because pupils do not have enough opportunities to apply their numerical skills in problem solving. Because much has been done to improve the quality of teaching and learning, most teaching is good. However, this quality is not yet found consistently throughout the school.

Not all pupils are provided with activities that consistently challenge them, particularly those capable of reaching higher levels. In some lessons, not enough use is made of pupils' capacity for independent learning because introductory and other teacher-led activities are too long and lack pace. The school's links with the local community are underpinned by a clear understanding of the context in which the school operates.

As a result, community cohesion is promoted well on a local level. However, the curriculum is less effective in promoting pupils' knowledge and understanding of different cultures within national and international contexts. The headteacher, with good support from the governing body, leads the school well and there is a strong emphasis on positive achievement for all.

Challenging targets are set and the effective use of assessment information to check pupils' progress enables targeted support to be provided where needed. This is having a good impact on standards and is proving particularly beneficial to pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who speak English as an additional language. Because the strategies put into place to tackle weaknesses are proving successful, the school's overall effectiveness has risen from satisfactory at the time of the last inspection, to good.

Self-evaluation procedures and the school's view of itself are accurate and its record of raising achievement shows it is well placed to build on its strengths and has a good capacity to improve further.

Information about the school

This is a smaller than average-sized primary school with equal numbers of boys and girls on roll. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average.

Most pupils are from White British or other White backgrounds, with a few being Travellers of Irish background. A small number of pupils speak English as an additional language, of these the main language is Polish. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average.

The school provides an after-school club that is managed by the governing body. The school has gained national recognition for its work in several areas including the Basic Skills Quality Mark and Healthy Schools status. The headteacher took up her post in September 2010.

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