St Mary’s Catholic Infant Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to belong to this supportive school community. They benefit from positive and encouraging relationships with each other and with the staff.

Playtimes are a joyful experience for many pupils.

The caring staff who play alongside the pupils help them to organise games and make lots of friends. Pupils are keen to talk about the importance of being kind. They understand school rules of 'Be Respectful, Be Responsible and Be Safe'.

Pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), behave well. Although teachers make lessons interesting for pupils, leaders have not clarified their expectations of what pupils should l...earn in some subjects. As a result, in some subjects, they do not achieve as well as they should.

Pupils told inspectors that they would feel comfortable speaking to any member of staff if they had any worries, including about bullying. Pupils have every confidence that staff would sort out any problems properly. This helps them to feel safe.

By carrying out important roles such as school councillors, eco-councillors or buddies, pupils learn how to make a positive difference in their school and their community. Pupils participate well in the wide range of clubs on offer in order to pursue their talents and interests, including sports and the arts.

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

Leaders are in the process of reviewing the curriculum to ensure that it is sufficiently ambitious for all pupils, including pupils with SEND.

Until recently, leaders have not ensured that their expectations of what pupils, including children in the early years, should learn are clear enough.

In some subjects, such as mathematics, leaders have carefully structured the knowledge that pupils need to learn and the order in which they should learn it. In these subjects, leaders provide clear guidance about what to teach and when.

This helps teachers to design learning that builds logically on pupils' earlier knowledge. As a result, in these subjects, pupils develop their understanding of concepts well over time and progress well through the curriculum.

Leaders place a high priority on ensuring that pupils learn to read well.

Staff have received training to deliver the carefully structured phonics programme well. Children begin to learn sounds and letters in daily sessions in the Nursery class. Teachers make sure that the books that pupils are given to practise their reading match the sounds they know.

This helps pupils to develop their confidence. Leaders carry out regular checks on how well pupils know and remember the sounds they have learned, and they provide appropriate support for pupils who fall behind in reading. Most pupils can read fluently and accurately by the end of Year 2.

In the early years, encouraging staff ensure that children settle in well. Children are happy to take turns and share with their friends. They learn to listen attentively to stories and make a positive start in early reading and mathematics.

Leaders' curriculum thinking in many other subjects is not as well defined. In these subjects, leaders' expectations of what pupils, including children in the early years, should know are not clear enough. This hinders teachers from presenting content in a logical order to help children and pupils gain the key knowledge they need to progress well over time.

In addition, some subject leaders do not provide enough guidance for teachers to develop their subject knowledge and deliver curriculums well. Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they should in these subjects.

Leaders ensure that pupils with SEND are identified early.

Teachers adopt a range of effective strategies to ensure that this group of pupils access the same curriculum as their peers. Pupils are taught to understand that people have different backgrounds and families. They also gain a secure understanding of what can help them to stay fit and healthy.

Pupils are confident and they are encouraged by staff to express their ideas. They are polite and respectful towards each other and to their teachers. Leaders have acted with determination to ensure that more children attend school more regularly.

As a result, pupils' attendance has improved over time.

Governors are dedicated, knowledgeable and ambitious for the school. They have a clear understanding of their statutory duties.

However, owing to a lack of senior leadership capacity over recent years, they have met with obstacles when trying to fulfil them. Governors and other leaders have done their best to steer the ship through turbulent waters. To some extent, they have succeeded in minimising the impact of the recent leadership instability on the pupils.

Parents and carers hold the school in high regard and appreciate the approachability of staff.

Staff are proud to work at the school and teachers, including those at the early stages of their careers, value the support that they receive from their mentors and colleagues.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that staff receive regular safeguarding training so that they remain alert to the signs that could indicate that a pupil may be suffering or at risk from harm.Leaders engage with a range of local agencies to provide the help that vulnerable pupils and their families need. Governors and leaders have also recently invested in expanding the safeguarding team to offer more support to pupils in school.

Leaders provide pupils with helpful guidance to help them to stay safe. This includes learning about online safety and about some of the features of healthy relationships, such as consent.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not finalised their curriculum thinking in some subjects.

This includes being clear about the knowledge that pupils, including children in the early years, need to learn and when this should be taught. This prevents pupils from achieving as well as they should in some subjects. Leaders should ensure that teachers are clear about the essential knowledge that pupils, including in the early years, should learn and when.

This will enable pupils to know more and remember more of the curriculum and deepen their understanding of these subjects over time. ? Some subject leaders lack the curriculum expertise that they need to design subject curriculums that build effectively from the early years to Year 2. This means that teachers do not receive sufficient guidance to deliver the curriculum well.

Additionally, some subject leaders do not check that teachers are delivering the curriculum as intended, so they support teachers as needed. Leaders should ensure that subject leaders can develop their knowledge and expertise to design coherent curriculums and support teachers to deliver these curriculums effectively. ? Leaders do not check the quality of the curriculum carefully enough.

This means that they do not have an accurate view of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. It also means that they have not yet decided on the most appropriate actions they need to take to address the weaknesses in the quality of education for pupils. Leaders should ensure that they monitor the quality of the curriculum regularly and set clear priorities to improve the school.

• Members of the governing body are not well informed about the quality of education that pupils receive. This means that they are unable to hold leaders to account as well as they should about how well pupils achieve. Governors should ensure that they have the information that they need to hold leaders to account for the ongoing improvement of the school and pupils' achievement across the curriculum.

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