St Mary’s RC Voluntary Aided Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school.

Leaders have established a strong sense of community. Pupils behave well and take their lessons seriously. Teachers establish routines for calm and sensible behaviour from entry in the Nursery.

Pupils in Year 6 take on the role of peer mediators at breaktime. They help pupils to resolve issues when they occur.

Leaders have high expectations for pupils.

The curriculum gives pupils a strong understanding of a broad range of subjects in readiness for secondary school. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do well here. Specialist teachers deliver lessons in computing, physical educa...tion and music.

Leaders make the most of educational opportunities on their doorstep to enhance pupils' learning of the curriculum. Pupils in all year groups enjoy a variety of educational outings each year. Leaders link visits to museums and art galleries to what pupils have learned in lessons.

Pupils take part in enterprise activities, including coding projects with local businesses.

Teachers encourage pupils to develop a sense of community and citizenship. For example, pupils take part in fundraising events to raise money for charity.

Eco-ambassadors in Year 5 research air pollution in the local area and plan healthy routes to school.

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

Leaders have redesigned the curriculum in recent years to be more ambitious than in the past for pupils. They have identified the key knowledge they want pupils to learn in each subject.

Teachers know the subjects they teach well. They explain new learning clearly. The activities that pupils do help them to embed what they have learned in the long term.

Teachers break new learning down into smaller steps. For example, in mathematics, teachers encourage pupils to talk through their answers. This helps them to understand each step when they solve problems.

They can then apply what they know to more challenging questions. Teachers are skilled in checking what pupils know. They adapt their lessons skilfully to address misconceptions as they arise.

Leaders ensure that pupils explore their learning further outside the classroom. For example, pupils in Year 4 study the life of the Romans and take a walking tour of London to look at Roman remains and learn about their legacy on life in modern Britain. In the early years, children learn about the world around them, for example through growing their own strawberries and learning about the life cycles of plants and butterflies.

Pupils of all ages love to read. Teachers bring stories to life through the curriculum. Pupils take part in reading lessons each day.

Pupils in Year 5 read books with younger pupils. In the early years, teachers encourage children to speculate about the emotions and motivations of the characters in the stories they hear. Staff are well trained to develop children's language and communication skills.

The early reading phonics programme starts from Reception. Staff accurately model sounds for pupils. Pupils learn to blend these sounds with increasing fluency over time.

Occasionally, teaching activities in phonics sessions are not well selected to support pupils' phonics learning. Staff support pupils who fall behind in the phonics programme and those who join part way through their primary education at the early stages of learning to read with additional reading sessions.

Pupils are proud of their school.

They listen to the instructions of their teachers and work hard in lessons. Nursery staff help children to develop their social skills, including listening and taking turns. The school is calm and orderly.

Pupils are encouraged to take on leadership roles around the school. Those who do, develop their confidence and are role models for their peers. For example, pupils from Year 3 to Year 6 act as Faith Friends, leading prayers in assembly.

Leaders ensure that teachers identify pupils with SEND as early as possible. Staff know how to support pupils with SEND in the classroom. Leaders provide school-based therapy services.

Leaders and members of the school's governing body are mindful of the well-being of staff. They think about staff workload when making decisions about the school. Staff appreciate the opportunities given to collaborate with each other and local teaching networks.

Leaders provide effective support for teachers in the early stages of their career to develop their classroom practice.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders know the pupils and their families well.

Leaders have ensured that policies and procedures for managing safeguarding concerns are clear and are understood by all staff. Staff are alert to signs that pupils may be at risk of harm. Leaders work effectively with outside agencies to secure help swiftly for pupils who are vulnerable to harm.

Pupils are taught about risk and how to stay safe. This includes how to stay safe in their local area and online. They are taught the importance of keeping healthy and are encouraged to look after their physical and mental health.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some cases, phonics sessions include a range of different activities that can detract from learning phonics sounds. As a result, occasionally teaching is not as helpful as it could be in enabling pupils to learn the strategies they need to decode unknown words. Leaders should ensure that teachers focus sharply on the phonics sounds that pupils are learning.

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