St Mary’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders provide clear direction to staff and pupils. High expectations are driving improvement. Governors have a wide range of skills and are supportive of the school.

They contribute to its continuous improvement. Pupils are polite, behave well and interact with other pupils well. The school atmosphere is calm and purposeful.

Parents and carers are positive about this school. They feel that their children learn well and are safe and well cared for. The school has made significant improvements to ensuring that more pupils consistently attend school more frequently.

Reading is taught well across all year groups. Teachers prioritis...e using a range of texts and subject content to expand pupils' vocabulary and widen their knowledge base. A broad and balanced curriculum provides a good range of experiences through lessons, educational visits, events and opportunities.

The school prioritise meeting the social, emotional and mental health needs of the pupils. As a result, behaviour is outstanding and children engage well with learning. Children in early years make a very good start, in a secure and nurturing setting.

They have access to a wide range of experiences that help develop strong early learning skills. Despite rapid improvements, not enough pupils achieve at least age-related expectations in English and mathematics at the end of key stage 2. The progress of disadvantaged pupils is improving rapidly.

However, although their progress is improving, the attainment of this group of pupils is still too low. Teachers occasionally do not give pupils work that challenges them sufficiently. The proportions of pupils attaining the higher standard and greater depth in English and mathematics are not high enough.

Middle leaders are relatively new to their roles and have not had the time to monitor the impact of improvements to the curriculum or their impact on progress and attainment. Although pupils are increasingly becoming confident and independent learners, more opportunities could still be provided to encourage this further.

Information about this school

St Mary's Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.

It has grown in size substantially over recent years. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well above the national average.

The proportions of pupils with SEND and those who have an education, health and care plan are below the national average. The headteacher and senior leadership team have been in post since the last section 5 inspection (June 2014). The headteacher is a local leader of education and has provided support to other schools.

The school runs a before-school breakfast club and a range of after-school clubs. These are managed by the governing body. The school receives school improvement support from an external school improvement partner.