St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Newton Aycliffe

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Senior leaders have wasted no time in tackling concerns raised at the time of the previous monitoring visit.

They provide a good education for all pupils, especially those who are vulnerable or have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Governors challenge leaders more robustly and are well trained to support the school. Senior leaders regularly check the school's work but do not always use their data as efficiently as they could to help them improve pupils' outcomes more quickly.

Teachers demonstrate secure subject knowledge so pupils reach expected standards in most subjects. However, teachers do not often provide activities th...at require the most able pupils to grapple with the concepts and ideas in tasks so these pupils have limited opportunities to apply more complex thinking. Leaders have recently improved phonics teaching and it is now good.

This year, more pupils met the expected standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check than previously. Pupil premium funding is used effectively to maintain the well-being of disadvantaged pupils but few reach the highest academic standards found in school. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress.

Staff are attentive to their needs and parents and carers work closely with the special needs coordinator to boost progress even further. Personal development and welfare are central to the school's Christian ethos and are managed well across the school. Older pupils are encouraged to take on leadership tasks in their spare time, helping them to become responsible and active citizens.

Safety education is good. Pupils understand how to respond appropriately if they come across bullying or discrimination. Most parents and pupils agree that behaviour in school is good.

Staff apply the behaviour policy well and pupils respond positively. A small minority of pupils display challenging behaviour but this has improved over time. In the early years, children make good progress overall.

Assessments are used judiciously to plan the next steps in children's learning. As in the rest of the school, the most able children in the early years are not challenged sufficiently with their learning.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

This school is smaller than the average primary school. A higher than average proportion of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Nearly all the pupils are of White British heritage.

The school has a higher than average proportion of pupils supported by additional funding for special educational needs and/or disabilities. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is broadly average. The school does not have a Nursery class and all the children in the Reception class attend full time.