St Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further develop assessment procedures so that there is greater accuracy and consistency across the school in making judgements about pupils’ achievements.
• Improve the quality of teaching in key stage 1 and raise pupils’ levels of achievement by ensuring that teachers: share the same consistently high expectations as their colleagues in the early years and key stage 2 take greater account of pupils’ prior knowledge, skills and understanding when planning work so that it is matched more closely to pupils’ abilities, especially in relation to writing.
• Ensure that, across all classes, the most able pupils are given more opportunities to challenge their thinking and demonstrate their full potential.
• Ensure that pupils are even better prepared for life in modern Britain by ensuring that teachers include more planned opportunities to strengthen pupils’ understanding of other faiths and beliefs.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Changes in staffing, after the school became an academy, resulted in some inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. This had a detrimental impact on outcomes. However, leaders at all levels have worked consistently hard, and been successful, in getting the school back on track. Staffing is now stable, the large majority of inconsistencies in teaching have been ironed out and pupils are once again making good progress.
• The principal, ably supported by a part-time vice-principal, provides effective leadership and direction. Pupils’ academic development and personal enrichment are very much at the heart of the school’s strategic plans for improvement. Staff morale is high. They feel supported by leaders and share the same commitment to securing the best possible outcomes for pupils.
• Leaders have accurately identified areas for improvement in the school development plan. However, the document is somewhat unwieldly and contains an overambitious number of priorities. Leaders recognise that the plan needs to be condensed so that the most important priorities are brought to the fore. They realise that to try and undertake all the current actions risks diluting the quality of their work over time.
• The principal, working in collaboration with the Romero Catholic MAC, has created a dynamic leadership team who show a zest for school improvement and a determination to drive up standards further. Of equal importance, leaders have succeeded in enabling almost all staff to share the same high expectations for pupils. Leaders’ capacity to make further improvements is strong.
• Leaders keep close checks on the quality of teaching. They intervene without delay when teaching falls short of the mark. Conversely, teachers benefit from working alongside other experienced staff across the MAC to enhance their already good practice. These measures are helping to improve the standard of teaching further and raise levels of achievement.
• Middle leaders, and especially those with responsibility for English and mathematics, make a strong contribution to the development of their subject areas. This is bringing about better-quality teaching and learning, and outcomes for pupils. For example, a concerted effort to enhance pupils’ reasoning skills in mathematics has been beneficial in helping pupils to solve mathematical problems with more ease and understanding.
• Interim leadership arrangements are currently in place for the provision of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, while the school moves to a more permanent arrangement. Despite this, provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is not compromised. They receive bespoke support which meets their individual needs and enables them to make good progress.
• Leaders ensure that the pupil premium funding is properly targeted to support disadvantaged pupils. Last year, the school commissioned a review of its pupil premium strategy and have responded to the majority of the review’s recommendations. This has brought a renewed focus to raising the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. As a consequence, most of the current disadvantaged pupils are achieving well.
• The leadership of the teaching of reading is strong. Reading has received significant attention over the last year following the disappointing key stage 2 result in 2016. Now pupils show increasingly positive attitudes towards reading and are developing a wide range of skills to enable them to improve their understanding of what they read.
• Pupils experience a broad, engaging curriculum, which enables them to develop their skills and make good progress across a wide range of subjects. Leaders make effective use of specialists to provide pupils with high-quality learning experiences. For example, a dance teacher led a fun, energetic session where pupils were expertly supported to create a marvellous dance sequence to the song, ‘It’s oh so quiet’, by Björk.
• The school curriculum is enhanced through an increasing range of extra-curricular activities, including a cross-country club, netball and Gaelic football. Attendance at these clubs is good. Pupils also take part in visits to places of interest such as Hatton Country World and residential trips to Alton Castle, a Catholic youth retreat. These experiences help them to develop into well-rounded, thoughtful citizens.
• Leaders use the additional funding for physical education and sport creatively to increase pupils’ participation in physical activity as well as develop their self-esteem and resilience.
• There is a strong and mutually beneficial partnership between Coventry local authority, the MAC and the school. The Coventry monitoring officer from the local authority adds an additional layer of external validation to leaders’ judgements about the school’s performance. The local authority’s helpful contribution to school improvement is valued by both the school and the MAC.
• Parents and carers say that their children enjoy school, are kept safe and thrive in a nurturing environment. Inspectors agree with parents’ positive views and also recognise the close-knit family school community. This was aptly captured by one parent who said that staff ‘cherish each child’. Communication between home and school is regular. An informative and easy-to-navigate website provides parents with useful information about school and their children’s learning.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is generally promoted very well across the curriculum. For example, in topic and English work, older pupils explore sensitive issues such as gun control in America. Younger pupils learn, and have an understanding about, different religious festivals such as Diwali. However, pupils’ wider knowledge of other faiths and beliefs is less well developed.
• Whole-school assessment systems are in a state of transition. Leaders accept that, currently, they are not fully fit for purpose. Consequently, teachers’ assessments can be overcautious, which results in inaccurate judgements about pupils’ attainment and progress. Leaders have already begun to review the arrangements for assessment and to ensure tighter moderation of pupils’ work through the MAC.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. Local academy committee governors hold leaders to account for the standards pupils achieve. They ask challenging questions of leaders and have a clear view of what is happening in the school because they visit frequently. Governors are knowledgeable about the school’s performance because they are kept well informed by leaders.
• The Romero Catholic MAC makes a significant, positive contribution to the leadership of St Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School. It offers timely support and an appropriate level of challenge to leaders, as well as a wide range of professional development opportunities and training for staff. Teachers agree unanimously that the MAC provides high-quality, unrivalled support, which has enabled them to improve and refine their teaching skills.
• The MAC is visionary and has already implemented a number of effective plans to support school improvement. For example, the MAC’s lead practitioner and attendance worker both spend part of their time at the school adding capacity to leadership. These roles allow teachers more time to concentrate on their core purpose raising pupils’ achievement while MAC staff keep a tight focus on matters such as attendance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff have a clear understanding that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility at the school. Leaders of safeguarding promote this message and ensure that staff are appropriately trained to remain vigilant and recognise the signs that a child may be at risk of harm. When staff do have a concern, they take action quickly and in the best interests of the child.
• Leaders ensure that records are well organised, quickly accessible and stored securely. They keep close checks on any vulnerable pupils and put in place early support when appropriate as a form of prevention. Leaders demonstrate a professional curiosity and are always alert to the fact that a child may be at risk of harm. Posters around school remind everyone about the importance of safeguarding and remaining vigilant.
• Leaders carry out all appropriate checks on staff and volunteers to reduce the risk of unsuitable adults working with children. These are accurately recorded and periodically checked by a designated governor.
• The school premises and grounds are well maintained and free from hazards. Pupils have a clear understanding about where they are allowed to go and which areas of the school site are out of bounds.
• The school’s personal, social, health and economic education programme goes some way to helping pupils to protect themselves from harm and lead healthy lifestyles. This is supplemented by visits from the school nurse and workshops from other organisations.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is typically good. Teachers are enthusiastic, which helps to motivate pupils to learn. The strongest teaching is in upper key stage 2 where teachers maximise time for learning and explore pupils’ thinking more deeply through well-crafted questions. These teachers have very high expectations and develop a sense of enquiry in pupils’ learning. Consequently, pupils achieve well and are keen to learn more.
• Teachers plan lessons which are carefully structured and help the large majority of pupils to progress successfully in their learning. They keep a watchful eye on how pupils are getting on during lessons, and most teachers provide immediate feedback to pupils when they begin to struggle. This helps to maintain the momentum of learning.
• Teaching assistants work in partnership with teachers to provide effective small-group or individual support to pupils. They expect pupils to be independent and give reassurances when necessary to help pupils overcome barriers to learning. As a result, most pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make at least steady progress.
• The school’s new approach to the teaching of phonics has been successfully implemented and is already having a positive impact on pupils’ learning. Phonics sessions are snappy, reinforce previously learned sounds and enable pupils to make speedy progress. Pupils apply their phonic skills well to their reading and writing.
• The teaching of reading has improved recently and now enables pupils to develop specific reading skills with greater efficiency. This means that pupils have a better understanding of what they are reading. Teachers’ strong focus on widening pupils’ vocabulary, combined with an in-depth exploration of a text, is helping pupils to make faster progress in their reading.
• In key stage 2, the teaching of writing is a strength. Teachers provide pupils with ample opportunities to write for different purposes across a range of subjects. They demonstrate the writing process well, and give effective guidance to enable pupils to write coherently and with a good awareness of audience. Older pupils wrote some excellent emotive diary entries related to slavery based on the book ‘Henry’s freedom box’ by Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson.
• Teachers find interesting ways to teach new concepts which help pupils to build their understanding. For example, Year 1 pupils learned about digestion in science through a practical investigation, pushing food through a pair of tights. This meaningful approach enabled pupils to explain the digestive process clearly through their writing.
• Sometimes, in key stage 1, teachers do not consistently expect enough from pupils. They occasionally set tasks, particularly in writing, which cap pupils from showing their full potential. For example, they give pupils simple worksheets which hinder them from writing freely and demonstrating their skills. This hampers the progress of some pupils.
• Teachers usually take into account pupils’ prior skills and knowledge when planning learning activities. However, sometimes the most able pupils are not moved onto more challenging work quickly enough. This means that they do not get the opportunity to demonstrate their potential and achieve the higher standards of which they are capable.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The positive, warm relationships between staff and pupils support good learning. Pupils are motivated and want to do their best for teachers. The recognition pupils receive for trying hard encourages them to want to succeed even more.
• Pupils are looked after well at school. Staff genuinely care for pupils and promote their positive emotional and mental well-being. For example, the school adopts a ‘growth mindset’ ethos whereby staff encourage a belief that everyone can achieve. As a result, pupils show resilience and good attitudes to their learning.
• Pupils look out for one another. During one lesson, a young pupil became upset because she was struggling with some work. Another pupil, quite spontaneously, offered her a teddy bear to give her some comfort. These acts of kindness are not uncommon.
• Teachers support pupils to deepen their social and moral understanding through well-chosen activities that encourage personal reflection. For example, in a religious education lesson, pupils explored the concept of temptation through role play. They successfully learned ways to overcome temptation.
• Teachers carefully select resources which lend themselves well to building in opportunities to extend pupils’ personal development. For example, in a Year 6 English lesson investigating inference, pupils read an extract from the book ‘Once’ by Morris Gleitzman related to the holocaust. Pupils’ responses demonstrated their mature attitudes and appreciation of the scarcity of food during the Second World War.
• Pupils have a variety of special responsibilities in school which they take seriously. The school council members, who are democratically elected, meet regularly to discuss and debate important issues. Recently, they successfully organised a charity event collecting coats for the homeless.
• Pupils are taught about the different forms of bullying, including cyber bullying, and why bullying is unacceptable. They report that bullying in school is extremely rare. Pupils are confident that, if it occurred, staff would take action to try and prevent it from happening again.
• Pupils set their sights high because staff foster a sense of self-belief and confidence in pupils. Events such as ‘Aspirations week’ bring visitors into school to talk about their occupations and inspire pupils. Speakers include people from the business world, a nurse, a photographer and a priest. These events are successful in encouraging pupils to think about their futures and aim high.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of the school’s expectations about behaviour. Their conduct in classrooms is usually excellent. They settle quickly to tasks, follow teachers’ instructions promptly and work responsibly. Pupils work together very well, listening to each other and showing respect for one another.
• Pupils play well together at breaktime and lunchtime, and enjoy each other’s company. Pupils say they are looked after well by lunchtime supervisors who help them if they have any problems. Staff provide a range of activities, including hockey and table tennis, to give pupils something purposeful to do during their free time.
• As a result of leaders’ actions and the effective support of the MAC’s attendance worker, the school’s previous decline in attendance has been reversed. Current levels of attendance are just above the national average. The school does not authorise holidays during term time and takes decisive action if parents ignore this expectation.
• The school is fully inclusive. As one pupil commented, ‘No matter who you are, you are accepted here.’ Staff support and manage pupils with challenging behaviour well so that they are able to integrate with others and learn effectively.
• The large majority of pupils show pride in their work and present their work neatly. They demonstrate very positive attitudes to learning. A few of the key stage 1 books are less well cared for.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Significant staffing upheaval following the school’s conversion to an academy led to some inconsistency in the quality of teaching and a decline in pupils’ achievement. Leaders’ swift and strident action to address this issue has put the school back on track. Pupils are now achieving well. Achievement is strongest in key stage 2.
• The new approach to the teaching of phonics is paying dividends. Year 1 pupils make good progress from their starting points in developing their phonic skills. A similar proportion of pupils compared with the national average reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Most apply their phonic skills well to their writing to spell words correctly.
• The large majority of current disadvantaged pupils make good progress because of well-planned, bespoke support matched to their specific needs. Their achievement is tracked carefully and regularly. Teachers make changes to their intervention plans as necessary to ensure that they achieve good outcomes.
• By the end of key stage 2 in 2017, the proportions of pupils attaining the expected standards in reading and writing were broadly in line with those found nationally. Reading outcomes increased significantly from the 2016 result. From the evidence seen in pupils’ work, this improvement looks set to continue.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities generally achieve well from their starting points. This is because teaching assistants are well deployed and work flexibly to give support where it is most needed. They make a strong contribution to pupils’ learning. A few pupils make exceptional progress as a result of carefully tailored support.
• Leaders’ strong focus on raising levels of achievement in key stage 1 is rightly justified. In 2017, the proportions of pupils who met the expected standards in reading and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 were below the national average. In writing, they were broadly average. Work in pupils’ books shows that the majority of key stage 1 pupils are now making stronger progress. They are now achieving standards in reading and mathematics which are typical for their age and development. Progress in writing is slower but improving.
• A few of the most able pupils do not achieve the higher standards of which they are capable because their work is sometimes too easy. Current work in pupils’ books indicates that there is an increasing level of challenge, particularly in key stage 2.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of the early years is good. The leader has a clear understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of the setting. She puts in place effective action plans which have a positive impact on children’s outcomes. The leader is reflective and continuously looking for ways to improve practice for the benefit of the children in her care.
• Teaching in the early years is good. Staff tailor activities well to children’s needs to maximise learning and enable them to achieve well. Children make particularly good progress in their writing as a result of effective teaching. They quickly learn how to form letters accurately with exit strokes ready for joining. They enjoy writing and write confidently for a range of purposes.
• Leaders have created a rich early years learning environment which is stimulating and carefully organised to encourage children’s independence. The teacher’s planning is closely linked to children’s interests and targeted well to support their individual learning needs. Staff organise a range of enjoyable activities which encourage pupils to explore and think. This helps them to gain new skills and learn well.
• Children make good progress in their early reading skills because the teaching of phonics is effective. Children have access to exciting reading activity bags, individualised to support their progress at an appropriate level.
• Children are proud of their achievements because their good work is frequently recognised by staff. This builds their confidence and begins to develop positive attitudes to learning from an early age.
• Children behave well because of the staff’s high expectations and well-established routines. Children cooperate well together and share when involved in group activities. The calm, purposeful learning environment supports good learning.
• Transition arrangements between home and school are effective and help children settle into the Reception class well. Equally, the move from Reception class to Year 1 is smooth because it is carefully organised.
• Leaders use children’s assessment information carefully to determine priorities for improvement. For example, leaders recognised that there was an issue with boys’ achievement and adapted the curriculum accordingly to meet their needs more effectively. This led to improved rates of progress for boys.
• Arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff follow the same rigorous approach as the rest of the school. There is a strong culture of keeping children safe.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 142217 Coventry 10043995 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 Academy converter 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 186 Appropriate authority Board of directors of the Romero Catholic Multi Academy Company Chair of the board of directors Chair of the local academy committee Dean Kavanagh Pat Garner Principal Kevin Shakespeare Telephone number 02476 615 665 Website Email address www.sspeterandpaulcoventry.co.uk headteacher@ss-peter-paul.coventry.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school opened as an academy on 1 August 2015 as part of the Romero Catholic MAC. The company is made up of seven primary schools: Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School, Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, St Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School, St John Fisher Catholic Primary School, St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School and one secondary school, which is Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School.
• The MAC is governed by a board of directors who have responsibility for all of the schools. They delegate the main day-to-day responsibilities to each school through their local academy committees.
• This school is a smaller than average-sized primary school.
• Fewer than half the pupils are from White British backgrounds. There are pupils from a wide range of other ethnic groups including Black African, Asian and ‘Any other White’ background. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is broadly similar to the national average.
• The proportion of pupils supported with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is broadly in line with the national average. The proportion of pupils who receive SEN support is broadly in line with the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is broadly in line with the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set minimum expectations for the attainment and progress of pupils by the end of key stage 2.
• When the school’s predecessor school was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to require improvement.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed a range of lessons across all classes, some of which were jointly undertaken with senior leaders. Inspectors reviewed a substantial amount of pupils’ work across a wide range of subjects.
• Inspectors interviewed pupils and spoke to them during lessons and at breaktimes to gather their views about school, their safety and learning.
• Inspectors observed pupils at playtime and during lunch.
• Inspectors met with the principal, the vice-principal and several other middle leaders, including those responsible for English and mathematics. The lead inspector met with seven teaching staff to gather their views on leadership, safeguarding and support from the MAC.
• An inspector met with three local academy governors and, additionally, with the MAC’s accounting officer.
• Responses from 20 parents and carers to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 12 free-text responses from parents were analysed. An inspector also gathered parents’ views at the start of the school day.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and talked to pupils about their interest in reading.
• Inspectors considered 13 responses to the staff questionnaire and 12 responses to the pupil survey.
• The inspection team took into account a wide range of information including the school’s website, development plans, attendance figures, pupils’ assessment information, and leaders’ monitoring of teaching and learning. Inspectors reviewed documentation relating to safeguarding, as well as local academy committee minutes and those from the MAC’s school improvement board.

Inspection team

Tim Hill, lead inspector Tracy Stone

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector