St Mary’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.

Effective provision in the early years ensures that children develop a genuine eagerness to learn new things. They build very positive relationships with each other and the adults around them and achieve well. Pupils across the range of abilities make good progress throughout their time at this school.

Those who have additional needs are provided with a good level of support and most make the same good progress as others in the school. The standards that pupils attain by the end of Year 2, and by the end of Year 6, reflect their good achievement. The quality of teaching is good.

Teachers provide exciting learning experiences for... pupils that help them to achieve well. A wide range of subjects and topics engage pupils' interests well. They enjoy being challenged to extend their knowledge and develop their skills.

This prepares pupils well for the next stage in their education. Behaviour is outstanding. Pupils settle extremely well to their work and collaboration with classmates is strong.

They show high levels of respect for others during their playtimes. Pupils say they feel very safe at school and learn how to keep safe in other environments. The school promotes pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.

Visitors and trips bring learning to life. Pupils enthusiastically engage in sports and many learn to play a musical instrument. The headteacher has effectively led several whole- school changes since the previous inspection.

In a relatively short space of time, there have been significant improvements. Staff work well as a team in supporting pupils' personal development and academic achievement. All leaders, including the governing body, work well as a team.

Their successful actions have a positive impact on improving the quality of teaching and pupils' achievements. The school continues to improve. It is not yet an outstanding school because : A small minority of pupils find it difficult to apply their numeracy skills to solve mathematical problems.

Some pupils often make errors in spelling and grammar. Pupils are not always helped to learn from their mistakes. Some middle leaders are at an early stage of developing skills to drive improvement in their areas of responsibility.

Information about this school

St Mary's is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported by the pupil premium, is lower than that found nationally. The pupil premium is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is similar to the national average. Almost all pupils are White British. A much smaller than average proportion is from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Provision in the early years is full time. All pupils are taught in mixed-age classes. An increasing proportion of pupils join the school other than at the usual times.

Several staff have joined the school since the previous inspection, including the headteacher, who was appointed in September 2014. Since the previous inspection, the school has received the Eco-Schools Bronze Award. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.