St Mary’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

St Mary's school is friendly and welcoming to pupils, staff and visitors alike.

Pupils enter each morning happy and ready to learn.

The school ensures that all pupils in the school have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. Children in the Reception class get off to a good start.

They are confident and settle in quickly. Children join in enthusiastically with a range of activities that help them to develop.

Pupils enjoy their learning, they appreciate the improvements the school is making to the curriculum and talk about the things they have learned and how their teachers support them.

Pupils encourage others, for example, by becoming a...mbassadors for areas, such as music, science and reading.Pupils benefit from a wide range of experiences as they move through the school. They learn about the world outside of their own community, often taking trips to local sites of interest.

Leaders make sure that the programme of extra-curricular activities contributes to pupils' personal development.The school has high expectations of pupil behaviour. Pupils are unfailingly polite and helpful to others.

Pupils are safe at school and are clear that bullying does not happen. They are very clear about the difference between disagreement and bullying.

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

The curriculum at St Mary's shows ambition for all its pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

In Reception, children build up their knowledge well. Leaders have thought carefully about how to get children ready for what they will be taught in subsequent year groups. Phonics is taught from the beginning of Reception.

Staff deliver phonics in a structured way, developing pupils' knowledge in a logical order. Staff identify any pupils who have fallen behind and offer them extra help, so they can catch up with their peers. Staff also provide information to parents and carers, so they can support their child with their reading at home.

However, sometimes, pupils are given books to read that use sounds the pupil knows well and not the sounds they are learning in class. This can slow pupils' reading development. Teachers provide pupils with opportunities to write purposefully through a varied range of contexts, including persuasive writing and the writing of instructions.

The school has carefully considered the key mathematical concepts that pupils need to know and how these build over time in complexity. Pupils' work is of high quality and well presented, demonstrating the pride that pupils take in their work. Teachers check pupils' understanding and revisit prior learning to consolidate where needed.

The school quickly identifies pupils with SEND and then writes a 'My additional support plan'. This plan identifies the pupil's needs and the extra support that is required, such as concrete resources, their own desk or a visual timetable. The school works with a range of external agencies to access specialist advice or input.

In some subjects, the curriculum is not fully embedded or leaders are still in the process of identifying the most important knowledge that pupils need to be taught and the order in which they should learn it. Teachers are growing in confidence in their delivery of the revised subjects, but the impact of these changes has not fully filtered through to pupils' achievement.

Pupils appreciate the positive behaviour of their classmates as it enables them to concentrate on their learning.

They discuss their work with maturity, for example the reading ambassadors talk eagerly about their favourite books. A new policy helps pupils to understand and reflect on their own behaviour and teachers to quickly identify any pupils who need extra support. Pupils' attendance at school is extremely high.

The personal development offer at this school is exemplary. Pupils speak at length about their leadership roles, which include opportunities to act as peer mentors, eco-warriors and music ambassadors.

School teams take part in lots of inter-school sports events.

For example, the girls' football team have achieved recent success in a competition. There is a wide range of after-school clubs and activities, including instrumental lessons, a choir that takes part in local music events and charity fundraising events. Pupils with SEND are encouraged to take part in special events and clubs alongside their classmates.

Leaders strive to make St Mary's the very best school it can be. Staff have received training related to the new aspects of the curriculum and take advantage of membership of subject associations to enrich and improve their teaching. Staff feel appreciated and leaders take workload and well-being into account when making decisions.

Governors know the school extremely well. They understand their statutory responsibilities regarding safeguarding. They are especially proud of pupils' caring and confident behaviour.

They recognise the skills and hard work of the staff but are ready to challenge and question them where necessary.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few foundation subjects, the school has not finalised the important knowledge they want pupils to learn.

Sometimes, in these subjects, the curriculum is not implemented consistently well. As a result, some pupils do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects. The school should ensure that the curriculum in all subjects is clearly identified and implemented consistently.

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