St. Joseph’s Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The focused and effective leadership of the headteacher and new senior leadership team has led to considerable improvements across the school since the previous inspection. Children in the early years make a good start to their education. They enjoy learning and conduct themselves very well.

They make good progress and are well prepared for Year 1. As a result of effective phonics teaching, pupils do increasingly well in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Teachers and teaching assistants promote a love of reading and this is reflected in pupils' good outcomes in reading at the end of key stage 1.

Good teaching is ensuring that improvemen...ts are sustainable. Over time most pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and the considerable number who speak English as an additional language, make good progress. The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good in English and mathematics but not universally strong across all subjects.

The school's curriculum is not fully developed. Until very recently, the curriculum has been focused on English and mathematics, to the detriment of subjects such as history, geography and music. Teachers do not have consistently high expectations of what pupils can and should achieve.

As a result, too many pupils produce work with poor handwriting and presentation. The most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged to make the progress of which they are capable. As a result, few reach greater depth in writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2.

Pupils are enthused by the first-hand experiences they encounter, including their opportunities to attend forest school. This contributes to their positive behaviour and attendance. Due to a concerted effort by the school, attendance has significantly improved since the previous inspection and is now much more in line with the national average.

Fewer pupils are now persistently absent from school The governing body has undergone many changes since the previous inspection. Governors are ambitious for the school. They have been instrumental in working with senior leaders to bring about improvements.

Safeguarding is effective. Adults keep pupils safe and address child protection concerns in a timely fashion.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized infant school.

The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is below the national average.

The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average. The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is in line with the national average. Since the previous inspection, there have been a significant number of staff changes at all levels across the school and on the governing body.

Also at this postcode