St Mark’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff, pupils, parents and carers are proud members of a vibrant and caring school community.

Pupils see school as a happy and safe place. They enjoy coming to school each morning and therefore attend well. Everyone welcomes each other at the start of each new school day and looks forward to learning and growing together.

Staff expect pupils to work hard and achieve well. Pupils do their best, listening attentively and working together to meet their teachers' expectations. They are polite, kind and diligent and know how they should behave in lessons and at breaktime and lunchtime.

The playground buzzes with excited chatter and play. Classrooms are calm, order...ly and purposeful. The school has introduced the 'St Mark's way' so that pupils are clear what is expected of them.

They have risen to this challenge, following clear routines so that all can learn.

The school puts pupils' personal development at the front and centre of its work. This promotes pupils' understanding of their local, national and global community.

Pupils learn about the impact of pollution in distant countries and the impact of poverty on people in their city. In addition, pupils take advantage of the ample opportunities to develop their own talents and interests, from displaying their art at local exhibitions to Taekwondo, drama and dance.

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

The school has developed a broad and ambitious curriculum.

In each subject, it has identified the important knowledge that pupils need to learn. Teachers know what pupils have already learned and the knowledge that is critical for future learning. The early years curriculum is crafted to give children a good start to their education.

It connects to the key stage one curriculum seamlessly and sets pupils up to succeed.

In the main, staff deliver the curriculum effectively so that pupils learn well. They select resources carefully.

Pupils develop their understanding and complete relevant and sufficient practice so that they remember the learning. However, in some instances, teachers do not notice if individual pupils find the learning difficult, have made errors or are ready for the next challenge. This means that sometimes teachers do not make the adjustments needed to ensure that all pupils learn well.

The school has put reading at its heart. Pupils read and listen to a wide range of texts across genres, from non-fiction to poetry and prose. Pupils particularly enjoy being read to each day as part of the 'reading for pleasure' programme.

Children begin to learn to read soon after starting in the early years. They develop their phonics knowledge quickly and learn how to read and write. As they move into Year 1, pupils continue to grow in confidence as young readers, reading books that match their phonics knowledge.

Skilled staff identify when pupils are falling behind and act quickly to help them catch up and keep up.

The school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) effectively. Information about their needs is shared with staff and the strategies and targets for individual pupils are, in the main, clear and appropriate.

This helps most pupils with SEND learn the same ambitious curriculum as their peers and go on to achieve well.

Many pupils speak English as an additional language. This is not seen as a barrier to learning.

Instead, beginning in the early years, the school has considered carefully how all children develop their vocabulary and communication skills. The school celebrates the diversity and cultures that make up its community. Learning about different cultures, faiths and traditions brings a richness to school life.

The school has constructed a coherent and high-quality personal development programme for pupils. This begins in early years and runs through to Year 6. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe.

They develop a moral compass based on mutual respect, kindness and compassion. Pupils contribute to their school and local community in many ways. They work with local refugee and asylum seeker groups, run bingo sessions for the elderly and act as junior police community support officers.

Governors and trust leaders know what the school does well and where it needs to get better. They provide the supportive accountability needed. Trust support is deployed wisely and is helping the school to improve areas of weakness.

However, the school does not monitor or evaluate the impact of its actions rigorously. This means that follow-up actions sometimes lack precision and do not focus on the areas that will make the greatest difference.

Staff say that the school is 'like a family' and their efforts never go unnoticed.

Staff workload, well-being and professional development are always considered. All staff are unequivocally positive about 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)

• The school has not ensured that staff use assessment effectively, to check pupils' understanding, identify misconceptions and deepen their thinking. This means that, sometimes, teachers do not take the necessary steps to reshape explanations and tasks to move all pupils' learning forward. The school should ensure that all teachers have the pedagogical expertise to respond to individual pupils' learning needs, including those with SEND, so that they all learn the curriculum well.

• The school does not monitor or evaluate the impact of its work to improve the quality of education consistently well. This means that the school's subsequent actions sometimes lack precision and do not lead to the rapid improvement that the school is aiming to achieve. The school and trust should ensure that monitoring leads to specific and detailed actions, and that the impact is evaluated rigorously to inform a cycle of continuous improvement.

Also at this postcode