St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Preston

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils told us that they enjoy coming to school and that they like most of their lessons.

They settle into their classes well and form friendships with others. Pupils have good manners. They are polite because that is what staff expect.

Pupils told us that behaviour has improved over the last few years. The number of older pupils excluded from school has fallen. Pupils can concentrate in most lessons without others putting them off their work.

They respond well to adults' instructions and guidance. The pupils, parents, carers and staff said that there is little bullying. If there is, leaders and staff sort it out so that it stops and does not happen again..../>
Pupils feel safe.

New pupils, families and staff quickly become part of the St Joseph's family. The breakfast, holiday and sport clubs are popular with pupils and families.

Leaders have high expectations and expect pupils to work hard. Leaders are ambitious. They want every pupil to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed.

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

Children get off to a good start in Nursery and Reception. They settle quickly into class routines. It is early into the term but they have already formed friendships with other children.

They sit listening to the teachers in lessons. They then go off to play and work with others in well-designed activities. In English, for example, a group of boys and girls played imaginatively with a range of puppets, creating their own stories.

Teachers help children develop their physical skills, for example by writing, painting and using pincers to lift beads.

Most children can read by the end of Year 1. Teachers do a good job in helping pupils who cannot read English to catch up.

This includes pupils who are newly arrived into Britain and some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Reading well is a high priority. Leaders make sure that teachers have the training and the knowledge to be expert in teaching reading.

Teachers use story time to foster pupils' enthusiasm for reading. There is a good match in stories between pupils' reading ages and the difficulty of the books. In some classes, the non-fiction books are too difficult for the pupils to read.

Teachers build pupils' reading knowledge and skills in a logical order.

Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum. It is broad.

All pupils, including those in Year 6, have the chance to study the full range of subjects expected in a primary school. Leaders in reading, writing, mathematics, physical education (PE) and science make sure that pupils complete well-designed activities that build pupils' knowledge over time. Pupils make good progress in their learning, particularly those who are at St Joseph's for a long period of time.

Leaders know that the structure of learning is not working as well in French and history. In these subjects, pupils' learning is not as carefully planned as it should be to help them link new learning to what they already know. Leaders have suitable plans in place to improve these subjects.

St Joseph's is a school that welcomes everyone. The school meets the needs of new arrivals to the country well. Governors have employed staff who are specialists in eastern European languages to help pupils to settle and to learn.

The school also meets the needs of pupils with SEND well. These pupils study all subjects, including French and computing.

Leaders use sport, trips, visitors and events such as mathematics days to add value to the curriculum, to build pupils' character and to develop their social skills.

Teachers develop pupils' self-confidence, determination, cooperation and resilience through sport. Pupils also learn about a range of cultures through subjects such as art, science, geography and English. Teachers can focus on their teaching because pupils do not disrupt learning.

The school is well led. The headteacher and governors make sure that teachers have a reasonable workload. They look after the staff and care about their well-being.

Leaders have made the school the centre of the community. They work well with parents. They have put on courses in reading, for example, to show parents new ways of reading with their children.

Governors support and challenge leaders and provide new ideas and ways of thinking.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a high priority in the school.

It is central to leaders' decisions and actions. Leaders check that only people who have the correct clearance can work with pupils. Leaders work well with a range of other agencies to protect pupils and keep them safe.

They work with, for example, social, housing and health services and the police to give early help to families. Leaders make sure that new and existing staff have the knowledge that they need to identify any pupil needing protection. They also make sure that pupils and staff know who to go to when they have a concern.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

There are plans in place to make improvements to subjects which the school has identified as less strong. In languages, the scheme of work does not build up progressively over the four years of key stage 2 as well as it should. The ambitions of the national curriculum to enable pupils by the end of Year 6 to read, write and speak the language are not in place.

Leaders need to ensure that the languages curriculum effectively builds pupils' knowledge and skills as they move through key stage 2.In history, in each topic, there is clear progression. However, there is little continuity between the sequence of topics so that pupils' knowledge and understanding build over the year.

For example, the scheme of work moves from the plague in 1665 to a topic on Ancient Egypt, before jumping in the summer to a local history topic. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum in history builds pupils' knowledge and understanding over time and meets the aims of the national curriculum. .

The school's curriculum is not yet sufficiently planned and sequenced in some subjects. However, it is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken that they are in the process of bringing this about. .

Pupils' reading has improved significantly. The non-fiction books in some classes are not appropriate for the age of the pupils, many being far too difficult for pupils to read. Leaders should ensure that pupils access texts which are more suitable for their reading ages.