St. John the Baptist Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

There is a strong sense of community at the school.

Pupils are happy and safe. Staff have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and achievement. They develop positive relationships with pupils.

Pupils play well together at social times. They live by the shared values of mutual respect and kindness that the school has taught them. Pupils are proud of the charitable work they do and activities like litter picking.

They like to contribute to their local area.

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Pupils, including those with special educational... needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn well.

The school makes sure that routines and expectations are established right from the early years. Children are keen to do well. This stays with them as they progress through the school.

Families are extremely positive about the school. They especially praise the support provided for vulnerable children and pupils with SEND.

The trust works closely with the school.

They provide effective ongoing training and support for staff, including around curriculum development.

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

Pupils enjoy reading. Most pupils learn to read quickly.

Staff understand how to help them. Each day, pupils hear adults demonstrating how to read well. There are also lots of opportunities for pupils to practise reading aloud.

The books that pupils read match the sounds they know. This all helps them to become confident, fluent readers.

In foundation subjects, the curriculum is planned well.

The school has broken down the learning into the small steps pupils need. In some subjects, there are aspects of the curriculum that need further refining. Some of the end points that pupils are working towards are not defined clearly enough.

This makes it harder for staff to accurately check if pupils are remembering the most important knowledge. The school is aware of this and already working with the trust to make improvements. Staff have strong subject knowledge.

They help pupils to learn and use new vocabulary.

Pupils with SEND are very well supported. This is a truly inclusive school.

There are clear strategies for identifying pupils' needs. Pupils access appropriate interventions, such as speech and language therapy. Leaders check that interventions are meeting pupils' needs.

The school works closely with external agencies, such as child and mental health services. Staff work closely with families too.

In the early years, the curriculum is strong overall.

As in the wider school, some parts of the curriculum need refining to make the learning journey clearer. The school is already working on this. The early years staff have ongoing support and training.

This helps them to get the most out of each activity so that children learn new knowledge and vocabulary. Children learn familiar nursery rhymes and stories. They engage well and play well together.

The curriculum for pupils' personal, social and health education (PSHE) is well-thought-through. Pupils remember some aspects of the PSHE curriculum, such as staying safe online, in more depth than others, such as democracy. Pupils show respectful attitudes to towards other cultures and faiths.

However, they do not remember enough of their leaning about other religions. The school has identified this and redesigned the curriculum to better meet pupils' needs. The new curriculum is strong but has not had the time to impact on what pupils remember.

There are a wide range of enriching activities, including educational visits help pupils to learn the curriculum. For example, pupils remember visiting a coal mining museum as part of studying history. They can explain how it helped them to understand children's experiences of working in mines.

Pupils have opportunities to take on responsibilities, such as being school ambassadors. They are proud to do so. There is an emphasis on developing the confidence of all pupils by allowing opportunities to read and perform in front of audiences.

The school seeks opportunities to help staff develop. The trust provides staff at the school with lots of opportunities to work collaboratively with the central team. This support is rapidly strengthening subject leadership.

Staff say that workload is well managed. They are proud to be part of the school. Governors carry out their statutory duties effectively.

They challenge and support leaders to help continually improve the school.

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, some parts of the school's curriculum, including aspects of the early years curriculum, do not identify clearly the most important knowledge for pupils to learn.

Where this happens, staff cannot emphasise the most important knowledge to pupils and check they remember it. The school should continue to refine the curriculum so that there is consistent clarity and detail within and across all subjects.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2014.