We are Locrating.com, a schools information website. This page is one of our school directory pages. This is not the website of St Marys Church of England Primary Academy.
What is Locrating?
Locrating is the UK's most popular and trusted school guide; it allows you to view inspection reports, admissions data, exam results, catchment areas, league tables, school reviews,
neighbourhood information, carry out school comparisons and much more. Below is some useful summary information regarding St Marys Church of England Primary Academy.
To see all our data you need to click the blue button at the bottom of this page to view St Marys Church of England Primary Academy
on our interactive map.
It has a genuine spirit of community. Pupils enjoy school life and form strong friendships with their peers. Staff provide pupils with the social and emotional support they need.
The school has developed trusting relationships with parents and carers. It works with them in the best interests of pupils.
The school has high aspirations for what pupils can achieve.
A new ambitious curriculum reflects this. However, too few pupils meet those high aspirations. There is still much work to do, to improve both the quality of teaching and pupils' attendance.
Pupils behave well. They are polite, friendly a...nd inquisitive. From Reception, the school has established a clear set of routines that promote positive behaviour.
Pupils show kindness and respect to each other. They form positive relationships with staff and feel safe. This is a calm and orderly school, but also a school where pupils can play and have fun.
Pupils enjoy a wide range of opportunities to develop their talents and interests. They participate in clubs including football, dodge ball and dance. There is a school choir and a school council.
Pupils take on roles as buddies to younger children, worship leaders and house captains.
What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?
The school has developed a broad and ambitious curriculum. It has identified the essential knowledge and skills it wants pupils to know and remember.
In Reception, the curriculum prepares children well for Year 1 and beyond. There is a central focus on children's language and communication. The curriculum also prioritises children's physical development and social and emotional development.
However, in some subjects at key stage 1 and 2, the school has not adapted the curriculum well enough. The curriculum does not build on what pupils have learned before in a clear and logical manner. Sometimes, pupils do not have the foundational knowledge they need to understand new learning.
In Reception, there is a purposeful learning environment. Adults use appropriate activities to consolidate children's phonic and mathematical knowledge. They support children's language development well through songs, rhymes and conversation.
This helps to build children's vocabulary and communication skills.
At key stage 1 and 2, the quality of teaching is inconsistent. Sometimes, teachers select activities that do not support pupils' learning well.
Sometimes, they do not adapt learning to meet pupils' needs. Some pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not gain a coherent body of knowledge. However, there are strengths in the school's provision for SEND.
The school identifies pupils' needs well. It also provides effective support for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.
From the start of Reception, pupils learn to read using phonics.
Teachers teach phonics well. Most pupils in Year 1 are reading at an age-appropriate level. The school is quick to identify those pupils who need extra help with their reading.
This includes older pupils who need help in building their reading fluency. However, sometimes, adults do not provide the expert help that pupils need. They do not focus with enough precision on pupils' needs.
Some pupils do not catch up with their peers quickly enough.
The school has high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils respond well to these expectations and show positive attitudes to their learning.
The school is quick to identify barriers to pupils' attendance and works with pupils and their families to remove those barriers. There has been recent improvement in pupils' attendance. However, levels of persistent absence remain high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
Pupils benefit from a comprehensive and age-appropriate personal development programme. They are taught how to keep themselves safe, including online. They learn about important issues such as relationships and equality and diversity.
The school promotes pupils' physical and mental health through sport and outdoor activities. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.
The school is working in a context that provides significant challenge.
It is experiencing the ongoing impact of the pandemic. Also, there has been instability in school leadership and staffing. The trust has supported the school well.
It has provided additional leadership capacity and significant support with school improvement. Trustees, supported by governors, perform their statutory responsibilities with appropriate rigour.
The school has improved pupils' behaviour and attendance.
It has established positive relationships with parents. It engages well with staff on matters of workload and well-being. However, professional development has not yet had the desired impact on the quality of teaching.
The attainment of many pupils at key stage 2 remains low.
Safeguarding
The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
What does the school need to do to improve?
(Information for the school and appropriate authority)
• In some subjects, the school has not adapted the curriculum to ensure that it builds coherently on pupils' prior knowledge.
This means that, sometimes, pupils move on to new learning without the foundational knowledge they need to secure that learning. The school should ensure that it adapts the curriculum in these subjects, so that the curriculum builds on pupils' prior knowledge and provides pupils with a coherent body of knowledge as they progress through the school. ? Sometimes, teachers do not select activities that are well-matched to pupils' needs, including pupils with SEND.
This means that some pupils find it difficult to access learning, while other pupils do not move on to new learning quickly enough. The school should ensure that it provides teachers with the training and development in pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge that they require to adapt learning to meet the needs of all pupils. ? Sometimes, the extra help pupils at an early stage of reading get is not focused precisely enough on their specific reading needs.
This means that some pupils do not catch up with their peers quickly enough. The school should ensure that it gives teachers and other adults, who provide extra support to pupils at an early stage of reading, the training and development they need. In particular, this training and development should focus on how best to build and secure pupils' reading fluency.
• Levels of persistent absence are high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. This means that some pupils miss out on too much of their education, have gaps in their knowledge and do not achieve well. The school should continue to reduce levels of persistent absence so that more pupils benefit from the school's recent curriculum changes.
