St Scholastica’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is a good school, characterised by meticulous organisation and a rigorous drive for excellence by the headteacher and senior leaders.

Parents and carers are right to be extremely happy with the education their children receive. With some major strengths, the school has good capacity to improve. Since the last inspection, there have been considerable improvements in the key areas of pupils' attainment and progress, teaching and learning, and leadership.

The headteacher and leadership team have an excellent grasp of weaknesses and very well-focused plans have been put in place to address them. Middle leaders do not have the same clarity in their evaluations as at whole-school level but the...y have been energetically driving through improvements to teaching and the curriculum, especially in English and mathematics. The governing body is supportive but it is not active enough in challenging weaknesses and in helping set the direction of the school.

Learning and progress throughout the school are good. Comparatively slow progress in writing in recent years is being addressed effectively and, while progress is now good, this remains the weakest area in attainment for the current Year 6. Overall attainment is average for this age group, although attainment at the higher levels, as at the end of Key Stage 1, is below average.

Attainment is adversely affected by attendance, which is only average. The school is working very hard to improve attendance but stubbornly high levels of absence from a small group of pupils are making improvements difficult. The attitudes of pupils to their learning and their behaviour are major strengths.

Pupils feel very safe in the school and the school's provision for their safeguarding and welfare is outstanding. The Early Years Foundation Stage makes a key contribution to learning and behaviour by providing a strong foundation for independent learning and self-discipline. Pupils have a very sophisticated understanding of health issues and eat healthily at school.

They are very active in supporting the school and the local community, with a pupil Green Council to improve the environment, as well as a School Council. The pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. This was exemplified in the St Patrick's Day assembly on the first day of inspection where prayers were taken very seriously by pupils.

A number of them gave excellent presentations on St Patrick and some performed Irish dancing while their peers watched with enthusiasm and applauded...

Teaching is good and some in Key Stages 1 and 2 is exceptional. Lessons are full of vitality and it is not surprising that all parents and carers in inspection questionnaires said their children enjoy school..

. There is a very small proportion of satisfactory teaching held back by some weaknesses in planning and the clarity of explanations, but the team of teachers and teaching assistants is very skilful and sometimes inspirational. The use of the information from assessment to provide work that is targeted on pupils' abilities, especially the more able, is not yet precise enough.

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Information about the school

St.

Scholastica's is a smaller than average primary school situated just outside the centre of Hackney. The school has a very high proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. The large majority of pupils are from minority ethnic groups, with about two thirds from homes where English is spoken as an additional language.

Comprising over a half of the school roll, the largest minority ethnic group is Black African. Pupils from Black Caribbean background, White British and White Traveller of Irish heritage form the next largest ethnic groups. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with a statement of special educational needs is similar to the national average.

Most of these pupils have either learning, emotional and behavioural, or communication difficulties. The school has received a number of awards including, Healthy Schools Status, the Silver Artsmark and the Bronze Sustainable Level Accreditation. The current headteacher was appointed in July 2010.

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