St Mary’s and St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this happy school. Children in early years, and pupils across other classes who join mid-year, settle into school life quickly.

Staff forge strong relationships with pupils and their families. Pupils trust these adults to help if they have any worries or concerns. This helps make pupils feel safe.

The school is calm and orderly. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They listen attentively to their teachers.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils, are starting to benefit from the school's raised expectations of what they can achieve. Pupils now learn a more a...mbitious curriculum. However, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge across some subjects.

This means that these pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school provides a wide range of opportunities beyond the academic curriculum that help pupils to develop their interests and talents. Pupils are proud of the leadership responsibilities that they have within school, for example, as school councillors, eco councillors or members of the chaplaincy team.

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

Since the previous inspection, the school has taken swift action to improve its provision for pupils. This has made a positive difference to pupils' behaviour and attendance. Moreover, the school has refined its curriculum thinking in most subjects.

This means that teachers are clear about the most important knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this should be taught. However, in a few subjects, this work is not complete. In these subjects, the activities that teachers design do not help pupils build a rich body of knowledge.

In most subjects, improvements to the curriculum are beginning to benefit pupils. However, historical weaknesses in the previous curriculum mean that pupils, including those with SEND, have gaps and misconceptions in their knowledge. In some subjects, the school has not ensured that teachers identify and address these gaps.

This means that pupils are sometimes moved on to new learning before they are ready. This hinders how well pupils achieve.

The school identifies pupils' additional needs accurately and provides effective support for pupils with SEND.

It makes sure that teachers adapt their teaching of the curriculum so that these pupils can learn alongside their peers. Nevertheless, where the curriculum is less well developed, this has a negative impact on the achievement of pupils with SEND.

The school places a high priority on reading.

Children in early years get off to a strong start in learning to read. However, some pupils in Years 1 and 2, and some older pupils, struggle to read fluently. Also, when pupils fall behind the pace of the phonics programme, the support that they receive is not precise enough to address the gaps in their knowledge.

This hinders how well these pupils learn the curriculum.

In the early years, staff support children to build positive relationships. Children learn and play well together.

They enjoy listening to and joining in with stories, rhymes and songs. This helps them to learn and practise using new words. Children develop their mathematical understanding well.

Children gain the knowledge that they need to be well prepared for Year 1 and beyond.

Pupils are polite, friendly and caring towards each other. They behave well around school.

Pupils who sometimes struggle to manage their emotions benefit from sensitive support from staff who know them well. This support helps these pupils to learn to manage their emotions. The school places great importance on regular attendance.

This has made a positive difference. Most pupils attend school regularly. The school identifies and then provides effective support to those pupils and their families who struggle to be in school on time every day.

The provision for pupils' personal development is well considered. Pupils talk with maturity about issues such as healthy relationships and staying safe online. Pupils respect those who are different to themselves.

They understand the importance of fundamental British values. Pupils benefit from the wealth of trips and visitors. For instance, learning about democracy through a talk from the local MP.

Since the previous inspection, governors have ensured that they have an appropriate range of experience and expertise to provide effective challenge and support. They check that the school is focused on the right things to improve the quality of education for pupils. Governors and school leaders are mindful of the workload and well-being of staff when making decisions.

Staff are proud to work at this school. They are committed to the community that they serve.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Staff do not check pupils' learning well enough to identify where there are gaps in their knowledge. This means that these gaps go unaddressed, and some pupils are moved on to new concepts before they are ready. The school should ensure that it identifies and addresses gaps in pupils' knowledge with greater effectiveness.

• In some subjects, the school has not given sufficient thought to the most important knowledge that pupils should learn. This hinders pupils in building a secure body of knowledge in these subject areas. The school should ensure that it identifies clearly what pupils should learn and when this should happen.

Some pupils do not receive the support that they need to become confident and fluent readers. When this happens, these pupils struggle to learn the curriculum. The school should ensure that these pupils have the support that they need to catch up quickly and learn to read well.

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