St. Walburga’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St.

Walburga's Catholic Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Everyone is welcome. Pupils relish the high-quality support and care they receive at St.

Walburga's. The school sets high expectations for what pupils will learn and how they will behave. Pupils are polite, articulate and kind.

They achieve well across the curriculum.

The impact of pupils' charity work locally, nationally and globally is noteworthy. This enables pupils to learn about the complexity of the world beyond their immediate experiences.

Pupils have high aspirations for ...their futures. For example, they use careers workshops well to learn about different jobs and set future goals.

Pupils apply the school's learning values particularly well.

For example, they are respectful and collaborate effectively in lessons and at social times. The school helps pupils to become accomplished leaders who show initiative and model effective teamwork. Roles such as 'bistro buddies' and subject and well-being ambassadors enable pupils to make a highly positive contribution to school life.

Pupils benefit from an extensive offer beyond the academic through extra-curricular clubs, educational trips and activities. For example, singing at a local care home or stadium is a highlight for many. Pupils take part in sporting events, outdoor adventurous activities and yoga.

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

The school is very well led and managed. Well-respected leaders know the many strengths of the school and any aspects that need further development. Over time, the school has brought about considerable improvements to the curriculum, particularly in key stage 2.

By the time pupils leave the school, most are highly competent readers, writers and mathematicians. Pupils achieve exceptionally well in national tests.

The wider curriculum is typically implemented successfully across subjects.

Teaching builds sequentially year on year. For example, Year 3 pupils learn the basics of French, such as greetings and numbers up to 20. By the time pupils reach Years 5 and 6, they learn to read and write extended sentences in French and can apply simple verb conjugations accurately.

On the whole, staff check what pupils know and understand. This ensures that across the curriculum, pupils typically know and remember the wider curriculum knowledge that the school expects. However, the school is accurate in its evaluation that pupils could deepen their knowledge even more in a few subjects.

Plans are already afoot to make this so.

The school's arrangements to check what pupils know when they join the school are effective. For example, the school gives priority to pupils learning new vocabulary, including subject-specific and technical language.

This supports pupils who speak English as an additional language particularly well when they are approaching concepts for the first time.

The school identifies the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) accurately. Staff provide effective pastoral support.

Most pupils with SEND access the curriculum well. However, the school is working to further strengthen the way staff use the wealth of information they hold to enhance the implementation of the curriculum for some pupils with SEND. As a result, more precise lesson sequences and target setting are being put in place.

This is beginning to help some pupils with SEND to achieve even more highly; however, it is early days.

The school prioritises teaching every pupil to learn to read. There is an agreed approach to teaching phonics.

This helps most pupils at the early stage of reading to decode unknown words. However, some approaches to teaching in key stage 1 do not build pupils' foundational knowledge consistently well. This means that while most pupils do learn to read accurately, a minority of pupils do not get enough practise to build on and extend what they learned in Reception.

As a result, these pupils do not secure the necessary subject content that leaders expect them to learn across the curriculum. On occasions, teaching does not address misconceptions when they arise. This slows some pupils' learning down.

In mathematics, teachers are becoming adept at shaping specific subject content to provide greater opportunities for fluency in number. For example, in Reception, children gain confidence in numbers right from the start. Current work across the school to enhance the teaching of reasoning in mathematics is taking hold well.

The vast majority of pupils attend very well. The school picks up any dips in pupils' attendance and takes appropriate action. Strong pastoral support is in place for families if they need it.

There is an extensive programme to develop pupils' character. As a result, pupils become highly responsible, resilient and self-assured. Pupils gain a strong knowledge of online safety, how to keep healthy relationships and why it is important not to discriminate.

Governors carry out their duties effectively. Increasingly, they are holding the school to account for the quality of education pupils receive. They also check on the school's work to assure themselves of and ensure staff and pupil well-being.

Almost every parent and carer would recommend the school to others.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• On occasions, teaching in key stage 1 does not provide pupils with sufficient practise in the essential foundational knowledge they need.

At times, staff do not address pupils' misconceptions when they arise. This means that some pupils do not make consistently strong progress through the curriculum. The school should improve the impact of the curriculum to ensure that more pupils across key stage 1 secure the essential knowledge they need to make consistently strong progress through the curriculum.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in January 2020.

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