St Martin of Porres Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Martin of Porres Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly school where everyone knows your name. Pupils are proud to recite the school's motto. They are taught to be respectful and kind towards everyone.

This is lived out in this caring and nurturing environment where a strong culture of respect permeates working relationships between pupils and adults.

Pupils are kept safe and feel safe at school. If they have any concerns, they know they can speak to adults who will help them.

Bullying is rare. If it does occur, it is dealt with quickly by staff. Pupils behave well.

This is becau...se leaders have high expectations of them. Classrooms are lively places where pupils are enthusiastic and enjoy talking to each other about their learning. Pupils learn well across the curriculum.

Leaders create many opportunities for pupils to develop their leadership skills. For example, the 'Mini Vinnies' raise funds to support the local homeless shelter. All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), have regular opportunities to attend a variety of after-school activities such as Irish dancing, karate and chess.

Parents and carers are positive about the school. One parent commented: 'This is a loving community school where the teachers are very nurturing.' This was a view shared by many.

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

Leaders have designed a well-thought-out curriculum which identifies the knowledge and skills that pupils are expected to learn. To enrich pupils' learning, leaders have built into the curriculum an interesting range of wider experiences. For example, pupils recently visited the British Museum to investigate Greek pottery and artefacts

The curriculum is sequenced so that pupils build their understanding over time.

For example, in mathematics, children in early years develop their spatial reasoning through identifying familiar shapes. In Years 1 and 2, pupils use this knowledge confidently to compare and classify shapes based on their properties. Pupils are then well prepared to tackle more complex ideas about shape later on in the curriculum, such as calculating unknown angles in triangles and quadrilaterals.

Similarly, in art, pupils explore a wide range of media and materials. Pupils are taught to carefully consider the importance of selecting and mixing colours. This learning enables older pupils to be ready to recognise and critique different techniques, and work in the style of artists such as Prymachenko and Monet.

Reading is a priority. The curriculum for early reading builds sequentially so that pupils practise and embed their phonics decoding skills. For example, children in the early years learn letters and the sounds they make straight away.

They use this knowledge to blend them together to read words accurately. Older pupils draw on their phonics knowledge to decode and blend more complex words and read more fluently. However, occasionally, younger pupils struggle when reading unfamiliar words.

This is because there are times when the books that these pupils read are not matched carefully to the sounds that they have learned.

Pupils love to read widely. They said that their teachers make reading enjoyable.

Older pupils readily engage with a variety of more demanding texts, including books by Charles Dickens and Mary Shelley.

Teachers check how well pupils understand what they have learned. Errors or misconceptions are identified and addressed.

Staff provide effective support for any pupils who fall behind so that they catch up quickly. Leaders are committed to ensuring that pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers. Teachers know about pupils' specific barriers to learning and what they might find more difficult.

They carefully adapt activities to support pupils' needs.

Pupils are keen to learn. They behave well and learning time is not wasted.

The curriculum is planned to support pupils' wider development. Pupils learn about the importance of resilience, determination and courage. They debate the impact of the past and what it means for the present.

For example, they have learned about how the role of women has changed in society since the Second World War. Leaders regularly invite visitors into school to share their life experiences with pupils. For example, medal winner Victoria Ohuruogu spoke to pupils about her experiences representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games.

Staff, including those in the early stages of their careers, are proud to work in the school. They feel well supported by leaders. Staff appreciate the steps that leaders have taken to manage their workload and support their well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Systems and procedures for safeguarding are robust. Leaders and staff receive regular and up-to-date training.

As a result, staff know the importance of reporting concerns quickly. Staff know pupils and their families well. Leaders work closely with outside agencies to ensure that necessary support is secured swiftly.

The curriculum has been designed to help pupils understand how they can stay safe, including when working online.

Leaders and governors ensure that all necessary pre-employment checks on staff are completed appropriately.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few cases, the books that younger pupils read are not closely matched to the sounds that they have learned.

This makes it hard for these pupils to decode unfamiliar words and read with sufficient accuracy. Leaders should ensure that staff sharpen their selection of books for these readers so that they are well focused on the sounds that pupils have secured.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

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 would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2012.

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