St Paul's Catholic Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the accuracy of teacher assessment in the early years by:
  • implementing assessment procedures that accurately track the progress that children are making and identify the next steps that they need to take
  • establishing robust assessment data and evidence about children’s achievements when they start and leave the foundation stage.
• Continue to improve outcomes of the most able pupils by providing work that challenges and deepens knowledge, skills and understanding across the curriculum, with a particular focus on writing.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher is ambitious, determined and has high aspirations for staff and pupils. She has skilfully managed the school through structural changes in the senior leadership team while maintaining a clear focus on school improvement. The headteacher and recently appointed acting deputy headteacher make a successful team, leading others by their good example.
• Morale is high because staff feel valued and supported. This has led to closer working between staff members. Staff are open to sharing their own practice that works well and to learning from external support. This collaborative teaching approach has led to high ambitions for pupils.
• The local authority provides effective support, through the assistance of a national leader of education. Senior leaders now have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement and have identified the correct priorities. There are integrated systems for: data analysis, school improvement plans, school self-evaluation and performance management. This coherent approach ensures that priorities are not only identified but acted upon, reviewed and evaluated effectively.
• Subject leaders have benefited from high-quality external support and well-targeted professional development. Subject leaders report regularly to governors. The skills of subject leaders have been greatly developed since the last inspection; this ensures that teachers are well supported in knowledge and delivery of subjects across the school. Consequently, the whole school team is purposeful in its drive to improve standards.

• Governors are better able to hold leaders to account than they were at the time of the last inspection. Roles are defined more clearly. Middle leaders have a higher profile across the school and increased accountability to governors.
• Pupil premium funding is used effectively. Funding is focused appropriately to support disadvantaged pupils’ academic and social development. Pupils are supported well in a range of activities from individual tutoring to school visits. Early years pupil premium is used to support a speech and language therapist to develop the skills of particular pupils. The school has commissioned a pupil premium review since their last inspection, resulting in barriers to learning being identified and addressed.
• Specific funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is being spent well to support pupils’ learning. Leaders agree that greater accuracy is needed in carefully measuring progress for these pupils over time from their starting points.
• Sports funding is effectively used to increase participation in activity for pupils across the school. This funding provides opportunities for a range of extra-curricular sport. It is also used to gain access to wider sporting associations through subscription fees. Many pupils take part in these activities and they can explain the link between keeping active and overall health.
• Parents expressed extremely positive views about the school to the inspectors and through the Ofsted questionnaires and text service. A comment typical of many is: ‘The staff are extremely hard-working and go to great lengths to provide the best experience for our children.’
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. The development of British values is evident in pupil discussions, written work and displays across school. Members of the eco council are democratically voted and a strong culture of tolerance and empathy is promoted through assembly themes and the school curriculum.
• Pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is underpinned by the strong Christian ethos which permeates the school, led by the school statement of: ‘Living our faith by word and deed’.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced, providing a wide range of coverage. All pupils are encouraged to develop their skills and knowledge through a variety of subjects, though the depth at which this happens for the most able pupils is variable across the school. Leaders have plans in place to ensure that work set across the curriculum ensures high rigour and expectations in all aspects of the school curriculum.

Governance of the school

• The composition of the governing body has changed substantially in the last two years. Governors have been tenacious in seeking the appropriate support for the school since the outcome of the last inspection. This school has gained high-quality advice and direction from a national leader of education, commissioned through the local authority. Well-focused external support has had a positive impact to improve the school.
• Governors are keen to ensure that pupils’ views are heard in relation to the impact of school improvement. Pupils and governors recently took part in a ‘tea party’, where pupils shared their work books with governors and discussed their achievements. Pupils took time to explain the marking system, showing a consistent approach across the school in line with school policy.
• Safeguarding duties are met with diligence. Several governors are trained in safer recruitment. Governors were recently trained along with school staff to update them on the new 2016 safeguarding requirements. Improved access to external training has greatly increased the capacity of governors to better understand school effectiveness in relation to meeting safeguarding responsibilities.
• Governors are positive about the new reports from curriculum leaders. Governors are provided with many opportunities to visit classrooms; they meet with leaders and are welcomed into school on a regular basis. This provides governors with a firm understanding of the strengths and priorities of the school and enables them to appropriately support and challenge leaders to drive further improvement.
• The school website is very well organised and easy to navigate. However, it does not include the content of the school curriculum in each academic year for every subject. Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Visitors to the school are made aware of the importance of safety from the moment they enter. Systems are in place to ensure that the appropriate checks are carried out in relation to visitors, staff and for those adults who have access to pupils on site.
• Staff and governors have a good understanding of child protection procedures within school. Documentation is clear and concise, completed appropriately by staff and forwarded to the designated safeguarding lead without delay.
• Parents are informed about the potential of online dangers and cyber bullying through school website links. This supports the safe culture provided in school and extends it to home.
• Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, with a focus on online safety. Pupil representatives have been trained to offer support to their peers in relation to any concerns raised about internet safety.
• Procedures for safeguarding and child protection are robust. Pupils say that they feel safe in school.
• Pupil absence, including persistent absence, is followed up quickly and effectively. The school provides a wide range of incentives for pupils to attend school on a regular basis.
• Pupil records and logs of behaviour, such as bullying and racist incidents, are detailed and concerns are logged consistently. Exclusions which have taken place adhere to the school’s behaviour policy and are made in consultation with the local authority.
• Leaders monitor the school site in relation to safety and respond quickly to any concerns, for example with the recent installation of greater security fencing and a gate around the front of the school.
• Safeguarding records are diligently maintained and stored securely.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching has improved since the last inspection and this is ensuring better outcomes for pupils. Teachers and teaching assistants identify and support pupils who start to fall behind and intervene quickly during lessons to enable them to improve or to catch up.
• Teachers are consistent in their approaches across classes and key stages. Pupils are encouraged to engage in and evaluate their work. Feedback is presented in a consistent manner in line with the school’s assessment policy and this is effective. Pupils use this feedback well and know what they have to do to improve.
• Phonics teaching is a strength of the school. Pupils are enthusiastic about reading and demonstrate a range of strategies to decode text. New books have recently been purchased to support the attainment of most-able pupils.
• Classrooms are well organised and displays support learning. Writing has a high profile in display work, as does the high-quality artwork. History displays are creative and stimulating, engaging pupils’ interest.
• Teachers have a huge focus on ensuring high standards of presentation in pupils’ work. St Paul’s pupil books are now used as examples to other schools by the local authority to demonstrate good levels of presentation. Consequently, pupils are very proud of their work.
• Moderation of pupils’ written work is well established in key stages 1 and 2. The school moderates written work with other schools and, as a result, the accuracy of teacher assessment of writing is good.
• Teachers make regular assessments of pupils’ achievements. There are effective assessment procedures in place to enable senior leaders to address any underperformance of pupil progress or attainment. Pupil progress meetings are held regularly to identify support to pupils who may be at risk of falling behind. Performance management is integrated within this process of accountability for pupil outcomes. Assessment in the early years does not provide enough detail to identify the next steps in learning for children. Consequently, focused support is not always accurately matched to the needs of the child.
• Mathematics is generally taught successfully. Pupils have the resilience and capacity to continue to apply themselves when they make mistakes. This was evident when the most able were challenged to solve mathematical problems. Occasionally, the work is not matched to the needs of the pupil and this can result in a lack of engagement with the work set.
• Pupils have access to learning across all aspects of the primary curriculum. However, the opportunities to challenge the most able pupils at depth across the curriculum are variable. Leaders are keen to further develop this important aspect of the school’s improvement work to ensure better outcomes for the most able pupils.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are confident, articulate and keen to share their experiences of what it is like to be a pupil at St. Paul’s. They understand what a successful learner looks like.
• Pupils are aware of the different types of bullying that may occur in and out of school, such as cyber bullying, and they demonstrated their understanding of this. They were unanimous in their views that bullying was not an issue at St Paul’s and that any issues of name-calling or unkindness were dealt with effectively.
• Pupils feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe and discussed how road safety visitors had come into school to support them.
• Visits out of school are used effectively to enhance learning. Pupils speak with great enthusiasm about their learning experiences, such as the visit to the Roman Museum, and how this supported their learning and understanding.
• Spiritual development and moral values feature highly across the curriculum and in school assemblies. Consequently, children demonstrate high levels of consideration, respect and kindness to one another.
• Pupils take part in the school council and other groups to promote eco-friendliness and working with others. Pupils have a voice in school. For example, there are suggestion boxes for pupils to put forward their ideas, which are considered by staff.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• School is calm and well organised to support good behaviour from the pupils. Staff manage behaviour well, particularly when pupils come into school, and at playtimes and lunchtimes.
• Staff have high expectations about pupils’ conduct and self-discipline. School rules and the behaviour policy are put into practice consistently and well. Policies are currently under review to improve processes and procedures even further.
• Occasionally, some pupils are ‘off task’ during lessons when the work is not suited to the ability of the child. This does not affect the learning of others or promote wider disruption. Classrooms are orderly learning environments.
• Attendance levels are good. Both the absence and persistent absence figures are below national averages. However, persistent absence for pupils with educational needs is too high. Despite a wide range of interventions by school leaders, some parents do not ensure that their children attend regularly. Absence of some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is due to health issues.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The school has worked hard since the last inspection to improve pupils’ achievements in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, pupils’ outcomes in these areas have improved. Progress from pupils’ starting points is good.
• Consistency in the way phonics is taught has led to much stronger outcomes for pupils in Year 1. All groups of pupils, including the disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, are above the expected standard in phonics.
• Progress across key stage 1 is good. However, the lack of consistent baseline assessment evidence from early years means that there is no accurate starting point for this measure.
• At the end of key stage 1, pupils achieve either above or are in line with national expectations for reading, writing and mathematics. Some reach even higher standards at key stage 1. However, pupils at the higher standards are below national expectations in all subject areas.
• The focus on improved provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is resulting in these pupils making good progress. The current assessment procedures are being reviewed to ensure greater accuracy of progress measures over time and assessment being carried out at more regular intervals.
• Teachers’ better understanding of national expectations has led to an increase in results in key stage 2, which have been steadily improving since the last inspection. In key stage 2, pupils’ progress is good and attainment is well above national in reading, writing, grammar, punctuation, spelling and mathematics. Pupils in key stage 2 are below national expectations at the higher standards in all areas except for mathematics.
• In 2016, disadvantaged pupils did better in the Year 1 phonics screening check than other pupils nationally. Disadvantaged pupils in Year 2 made good progress from their starting points but performed below other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2016, at the end of key stage 2, disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 performed close to or above other pupils nationally in all areas except for science. In general, pupils who receive support funded by the pupil premium make good gains in their learning across school. However, the outcomes for the most able pupils are not consistently strong.
• Key skills are promoted well across the curriculum particularly in history. Pupils make good progress in a wide range of subjects. School leaders have identified that increasing challenge for the most able pupils across the curriculum, in particular writing, is a priority.

Early years provision Good

• Adults in the early years setting know the children well as individuals and have excellent relationships with them. However, individual records of learning are not consistently detailed enough to ensure that everyone knows what to do next to develop each child’s skills, knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.
• Safeguarding is effective and children’s personal development and welfare requirements are met well, as are statutory requirements.
• The learning environment is bright, attractive and organised well. The outside areas are an excellent provision and well resourced to further develop skills, knowledge and understanding.
• Funding is deployed effectively. The early years pupil premium is used to fund additional support for children who have specific language and communication needs. These pupils are supported well. All adults working with the children provide a wealth of opportunities to further develop language and communication skills.
• Children are happy, confident and enjoy their learning. Some children work with sustained interest. Children talked enthusiastically about planting a magic bean. They were able to write their name on a label and then plant their bean independently.
• Historically, the performance of boys and girls has varied greatly in early years. Themes have now been considered to ensure that these motivate both boys and girls and are translated into exciting and interesting activities. During a jungle-themed activity, the atmosphere was carefully created through jungle sounds, visual and descriptive images. The children were lightly sprayed with water to spark their imaginations to prepare and motivate them for writing. Children’s work currently shows that the difference between boys’ and girls’ progress is currently diminishing.
• Behaviour of children is good and routines are well established. Pupils are polite and demonstrate an ability to take turns and wait. This was evident in an activity where children had to wait to pay at the farm shop.
• Transition into the foundation stage is well planned. Adults in the Nursery and Reception work and communicate effectively to provide a positive and safe environment for children to learn in.
• Staff have good relationships with parents and are often invited to take part in ‘stay and play’ sessions with their child during school time. Staff encourage parents to record ‘wow’ moments to enable home and school to work together closely.
• Parents are very positive about the provision in the foundation stage. Communication between home and school is very effective. Parents are very complimentary about the new electric gates and fence to the front of the school, which have enhanced overall safety and security for children.
• The quality of observations across early years are variable. As a consequence, provision for children does not always support them in making the best progress they can in all areas of learning. Generalised observations and lack of evidence makes judgements unreliable. This has been confirmed by external moderation.
• Low numbers of children are assessed as exceeding at the end of early years and this is inconsistent with the evidence seen by inspectors. Leaders have identified that the systems currently in place do not support them in establishing and maintaining thorough checks on children’s progress and attainment in early years. However, leaders have plans in place to tackle these issues.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 106238 Tameside 10032182 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary aided 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 247 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address John Wallace Marie Flynn 0161 368 2934 www.st-pauls-hyde.tameside.sch.uk admin@st-pauls-hyde.tameside.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17–18 March 2015

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum.
• The school is an average-sized primary school. The proportion of girls and boys varies across the year groups.
• Children attend Foundation 1 Year on a part-time basis. Foundation 1 Year is only open for the morning sessions.
• Most pupils are of a White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is lower than national.
• Since the last inspection, the school has experienced some staffing changes and has undertaken a restructuring of the leadership team.
• The school met the government’s floor standards in 2016. These are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• A private provider offers a breakfast and after-school club on the school’s premises. This provision is subject to separate inspection arrangements. Inspection reports may be viewed on the Ofsted website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors gathered a range of evidence to judge the quality of teaching and learning assessment over time. They observed learning in classes and pupils in small groups.
• Inspectors looked at examples of pupils’ work, talked to them about their work and listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors observed and talked informally with pupils at breaktimes, visited the dining hall at lunchtime and observed pupils’ behaviour as they moved around school. They met formally with groups of pupils.
• An inspector observed an assembly.
• An inspector met with the chair of the governing body and four other governors.
• Inspectors met with a national leader of education, a representative from the local authority and school staff.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the school day. They took account of 40 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey, 19 returns to the staff questionnaire and 20 responses to the pupil questionnaire completed during the inspection.
• Inspectors examined a range of documents, including information about pupils’ progress, school improvement plans, information about teachers’ performance management and external reviews of the school.
• Inspectors reviewed the contents of the school’s website and scrutinised records relating to behaviour, attendance, and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Gaynor Rennie, lead inspector Michelle Beard

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector