Christ The King Catholic Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve the quality of teaching, including in the early years, by ensuring that teachers consistently:
  • plan activities that are well matched to pupils’ and children’s abilities
  • use questioning and explanations well to encourage pupils to think deeply and so produce more detailed verbal or written responses to questions and tasks.
• Enhance early years provision by:
  • securing permanent leadership of the early years
  • ensuring that leaders use assessment information strategically to identify the needs of different groups of children and then amend provision accordingly.
• Continue to develop middle leaders so they have the skills and confidence to lead the improvement of their areas with greater autonomy.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher and senior leaders have established a school with a clear ethos of a ‘vibrant, inclusive learning environment based on a Catholic ethos of compassion, love and respect.’ They have high expectations of all, with a strong focus on academic excellence but equally on pupils’ SMSC development. Despite a challenging financial landscape, senior leaders have maintained their unwavering commitment to providing pupils with the best possible education.
• Senior leaders and governors know the school well. Their knowledge of the school is detailed and accurate. They know the areas where further improvement is needed and their plans to address these are clear and effective. In the relatively short time that current senior leaders have worked together as a team, they have overseen improvements in teaching across the school.
• The curriculum has been carefully planned to provide pupils with strong basic skills, for example in English and mathematics. It also ensures that pupils develop secure knowledge and understanding in other subjects including science, history, geography, physical education (PE) and art. Topics and themes engage pupils successfully in their learning.
• All subjects contribute well to developing pupils’ literacy skills and also to their SMSC development. For example, pupils in Year 6 have recently composed their own war poems, inspired by Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’. Inspectors observed pupils in Year 4 creating pieces of art based on an emotion, using natural materials. One group had chosen ‘love’ as their inspiration. Similarly, inspectors observed pupils discussing racial inequality in America during the 1960s, as they studied the work of mathematician Katherine Johnson as part of International Women’s Day.
• The school provides a very wide range of extra-curricular activities. These are well tailored to pupils’ interests and most are oversubscribed. For example, pupils who attend the ‘book club’ meet to discuss novels they have read. Sewing and information technology clubs are also popular. Sport is a particular strength of the school, with a wide range of competitive and recreational sports on offer. Most pupils take part. Sports offered include rugby, football, cricket, tennis, netball, dance and Gaelic football. Leaders have made good use of the PE and sport premium to increase the range of options available.
• Pupils regularly undertake off-site visits that contribute well to their personal development. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 go on ‘outward-bound’ residential visits. Leaders place great emphasis on the school’s liturgical life and this contributes strongly to pupils’ spiritual development. Together, the school’s ethos, its curriculum and the wealth of additional opportunities ensure that pupils are very well prepared for secondary school when they leave at the end of Year 6.
• Leaders’ focus on improving teaching in all years is proving successful. They have an accurate view of the strengths and relative weaknesses in teaching because they regularly check its quality. They provide teachers with detailed and helpful feedback. Teachers reflect on their own practice and are keen to improve further. Teachers told inspectors they value the training and professional development that leaders provide.
• The school’s middle leaders are all relatively new to their posts. They form a hard-working, committed and able group. They are well supported by senior leaders and are becoming more confident in taking the initiative in leading their areas. However, most rely quite heavily on senior leaders for advice and guidance, rather than being independent leaders of their subjects.
• Leaders make excellent use of the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils. They use the funding thoughtfully to provide extra support to ensure that disadvantaged pupils have a varied and rich curriculum and educational experience. If pupils begin to fall behind with their work, leaders ensure that they receive timely help to catch up. In common with other pupils, disadvantaged pupils attend regularly, enjoy school and achieve well.
• Provision for pupils with SEND is expertly led. Leaders regularly check on these pupils’ progress. They review support and provision each term, inviting parents into school to discuss how things are going. Staff provide a wide range of additional interventions that are well targeted to pupils’ individual needs. They check that additional support is having the desired impact. Consequently, pupils with SEND make good progress.

Governance of the school

• Governors know the school well and are committed to its vision and ethos. They provide excellent support and strong challenge to leaders. For example, senior and middle leaders regularly attend meetings, where governors scrutinise the impact that each leader’s work is having. Governors insist on having written reports in advance of meetings, so they can prepare fully and decide on what questions they need to ask.
• The governing body has a good range of expertise among its members, including financial, business and educational experience. Governors make good use of their expertise when considering the strategic direction the school should take. In recent times, governors have successfully ensured that the school provides a good standard of education while managing a restructuring of staffing.
• Governors carry out their statutory duties with diligence. For example, they scrutinise the impact that the pupil premium is having in supporting disadvantaged pupils. Similarly, they carry out checks to ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. All safeguarding policies and procedures are fit for purpose.
• This area is well led. Leaders have ensured that staff are well trained to spot the signs that pupils might need additional support. Staff readily pass on any concerns they have to leaders. Leaders deal with concerns speedily, involving outside agencies appropriately to ensure that pupils get the help they need.
• All staff understand that keeping pupils safe is their top priority. An extremely strong culture of care and support for pupils is evident throughout the school. Staff who completed Ofsted’s survey said that pupils are safe in school, as did almost all parents who responded to Parent View.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is good across the school. Much is highly effective. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ work and conduct. Pupils rise to these high expectations and almost all make at least good progress in all years.
• Relationships between pupils, and between adults and pupils are excellent. Pupils trust their teachers, their teaching assistants and their classmates. Consequently, classrooms provide a safe and secure environment where pupils are not afraid to tackle demanding work or to discuss sensitive issues. They are happy to offer answers and take risks, knowing that they have the support of staff and their peers.
• Teachers know their subjects well and provide clear explanations that help pupils to understand new ideas and concepts. Teachers mostly use questioning well to deepen pupils’ understanding of their work. They draw out from pupils detailed and precise verbal responses. They expect pupils to think about their work and produce written work with a minimum of adult support. This is the case in all subjects, across the curriculum.
• Mathematics is taught very well throughout the school. Teachers focus successfully on developing pupils’ basic skills in arithmetic. At the same time, teachers routinely provide problems that make pupils think, and this serves to deepen their understanding of the concepts being studied. As they move through the school, pupils are increasingly expected to explain their thinking. This further deepens their understanding.
• English teaching is effective in all years. Expert phonics teaching helps pupils make a good start with reading in the early years and key stage 1. Pupils write regularly and at length in several subjects, not just English. The English curriculum makes a strong contribution to pupils’ SMSC development. For example, pupils study texts with a focus on themes such as isolation and sacrifice in war. Consequently, pupils develop great empathy for others through their reading and writing.
• Pupils with SEND are taught well and make good progress as a result. Teachers know these pupils well and understand their individual needs. Pupils’ relationships with teaching assistants are excellent. These pupils receive good support both in class and at other times.
• Teachers’ planning usually ensures that work is well matched to pupils’ abilities. Low-attaining pupils are generally well supported by teachers and teaching assistants. Teachers mainly provide the most able pupils with tasks that challenge them to think hard. However, occasionally, planning is less effective. When this is the case, low-attaining pupils struggle to begin tasks or the most able pupils find tasks too easy and learn less than they could.
• At times, teachers’ questioning does not encourage pupils to think deeply. Instead, teachers do not allow pupils to give detailed verbal responses, but provide the detail themselves. Occasionally, teachers also accept superficial written responses to tasks, when pupils can produce work of a higher quality.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are confident and articulate learners. They understand and reflect on what they are learning. They contribute maturely to discussions and are keen and eager to learn. In all classes, and almost all the time, pupils’ conduct and attitudes to learning are exemplary.
• During their time in the school, pupils learn to show great care, empathy and understanding of others. The curriculum and the school’s ethos contribute considerably to this. Pupils are caring and compassionate, and ready to see things from another person’s perspective. They readily take on leadership responsibilities. Older pupils show great support for younger pupils.
• Pupils feel very safe and well cared for in school. All pupils that inspectors spoke with confirmed this to be the case. They told inspectors that, for example, bullying is very rare indeed. They said they trust staff to deal with bullying, or any other problem they might face.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils understand the risks that using the internet can pose, including from contact with people with extreme views or who pretend to be someone they are not. They know how to protect themselves from such risks by using only age-appropriate social media and only accepting friend requests from people they know. Similarly, pupils understand how to live a healthy life. They take part in regular physical exercise and they know how to eat healthily.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• In lessons, pupils are keen, enthusiastic learners. It is rare for teachers to have to reprimand pupils and even more rare for them to have to use sanctions. Incidents of unacceptable behaviour, including low-level disruption in lessons, are very rare indeed.
• The school is extremely calm and orderly throughout the day. At breaktime and lunchtime, pupils are sensible and mature. They are courteous and polite to each other and to adults. The inspection’s first day was cold, wet and windy. Despite this, pupils’ conduct was exemplary at all times.
• Pupils thoroughly enjoy coming to school. Attendance is consistently above the national average for primary schools. There are very few pupils who do not attend regularly.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Over recent years, pupils have made at least good progress in all subjects by the end of key stage 2. Their progress has been particularly strong in mathematics, and a little less so in reading and writing. Pupils’ attainment has been consistently above average in all subjects for the last three years,
• Attainment at the end of key stage 1, at the expected standard, has been well above average in recent years. It has also been above average, at greater depth, in mathematics. In reading and writing, attainment at greater depth has been close to the national average. Pupils’ attainment in the Year 1 phonics screening check is consistently above average.
• Current pupils continue to make good progress in both key stage 1 and key stage 2. This is the case in reading, writing and mathematics. In other subjects, including science, history, geography, PE and art, pupils steadily acquire knowledge and understanding appropriate to their age.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress. They are well taught and supported in class. Teachers and teaching assistants provide effective extra help if they begin to fall behind with their work and this helps them to catch up.
• Disadvantaged pupils make good progress. Leaders ensure they receive any support they need to overcome any issues that might impede their learning.

Early years provision Good

• At the time of inspection, the early years provision was temporarily being led by a senior leader because the school had previously been unable to secure a permanent leader. Leaders and governors recognise that, although this arrangement is proving effective, it is not sustainable in the long term, given senior leaders’ other areas of responsibility.
• Leaders monitor the early years provision carefully and they understand its strengths and weaknesses. They generally use assessment information well, particularly in determining the needs and next steps of learning for individual children. However, they do not always use this information as well when considering groups of children and how their needs might necessitate changing the provision. For example, the Reception classes in 2018 had a high proportion of children born in the summer months. Although teachers taught these children well, leaders did not consider how this fact might necessitate a change to the curriculum so that they would attain a good level of attainment. Consequently, some children did not do so, despite making good progress.
• Over recent years, the proportion of children attaining a good level of development has been a little above average. It fell to below average in 2018, because of the issues outlined above. Inspection evidence confirmed that children who did not attain a good level of development in 2018 caught up quickly in Year 1. Children currently in the Nursery and Reception classes are making good progress from their starting points.
• In common with the rest of the school, teaching is good in the early years. Phonics are well taught and children make a strong start with reading. They also make good progress in all other areas of learning because of effective teaching. At times, the activities that teachers plan are not as well matched to children’s abilities as they could be. Occasionally, the most able children are not sufficiently challenged and so make weaker progress than they could.
• The indoor and outdoor spaces provide vibrant and engaging learning environments, catering well for all areas of learning. An appropriate balance of teacher-led and child-initiated activities ensure that children enjoy their learning. Children are confident, inquisitive and enthusiastic learners.
• Children behave extremely well. They are keen and eager to learn. They listen attentively and they move between activities with a minimum of fuss. They share resources with each other, taking turns sensibly. They are considerate of other children’s feelings.
• All welfare requirements are met and children are safe are well cared for. As with the rest of the school, all staff understand that children’s safety and welfare is their top priority.
• Leaders successfully involve parents in their children’s learning. Many parents contribute material for their children’s learning records.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 137283 Coventry 10058518 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 472 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Leanne Moynihan Peter Burke 02476 335790 www.ctk.coventry.sch.uk headteacher@ctk.coventry.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13 February 2018

Information about this school

• This is a larger-than-average primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well below average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is well above average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage and few speak English as an additional language.
• The school’s last section 48 inspection of its religious character took place in the summer of 2018.
• The headteacher joined the school in September 2017. All of the school’s middle leaders and one of the senior leaders took up their posts after this date.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in lessons; some of these observations were conducted jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors talked to many pupils about their learning and their attitudes to, and opinions about, school. Inspectors observed pupils at breaktimes, lunchtimes and as they moved around the school.
• Inspectors visited an assembly.
• A wide range of documents was scrutinised, including information relating to governance, attendance, behaviour, safeguarding, pupils’ progress and the checks made on the quality of teaching.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, middle leaders and teachers. Two meetings were held with four members of the governing body, including its chair.
• The lead inspector met with a representative of the diocese.
• Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the school day. They took account of parents’ views by considering the 66 responses to Parent View, including the 30 ‘free-text’ comments.
• Inspectors considered the 26 responses from staff to Ofsted’s survey and the eight responses from pupils to their inspection survey.

Inspection team

Alun Williams, lead inspector Karen O’Keefe Gareth Morgan

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector