St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by making sure that:
  • middle leaders are provided with greater opportunities to monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning across the school
  • governors receive further support to develop their analysis and scrutiny of the progress made by different groups of pupils.
• Strengthen teaching, learning and assessment further by ensuring that:
  • the best teaching practice is shared more widely
  • support staff are provided with further training to increase the impact they have on learning.
• Support pupils to exhibit impeccable conduct at all times of the school day.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and governors are ambitious, honest and frank. They have accurately evaluated the effectiveness of their school and recognise where further improvements are required. They are not afraid to tackle any under-performance.
• Leaders have been quick to establish additional support and training in response to any identified areas for development. This has included a very rapid and effective response to a dip in pupils’ achievement in reading at the end of key stage 2 in 2016.
• The new principal has high expectations. He has accurately assessed the school’s effectiveness in a short space of time. The principal has forged a strong group of senior leaders who share his ambition and enthusiasm.
• St Wilfrid’s is very proud of its Catholic ethos. Leaders actively promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are well supported pastorally and academically. One pupil proudly commented, ‘We all treat everyone with respect and kindness.’
• Parents that inspectors spoke to are very happy with the standard of education at the school. Many parents expressed how pleased they are with the school’s ‘open door’ policy and the effectiveness of communication.
• Senior leaders, in partnership with the Newman Catholic Collegiate, have established training programmes to develop the roles of middle leaders. Middle leaders have welcomed this support and have considerable capacity. They are focused on driving improvements in their respective areas of responsibility. However, they have not yet been provided with sufficient opportunities to monitor the quality of teaching and learning across the school. As a result, their ability to effect change and drive forward standards at a whole-school level is not fully embedded.
• The curriculum is well organised. Pupils have wide ranging opportunities to learn both in and outside of school. The majority of pupils’ topics books show very strong rates of progress. This is a result of effective planning and participation in activities that inspire and engage pupils. Pupils speak with enthusiasm and excitement about the trips that they go on. Many older pupils are busy practising their language skills ahead of an impending visit to France next month.
• Pupil premium funding is used effectively to support disadvantaged pupils. Though disadvantaged pupils did not make the same strong progress as their peers or other pupils nationally at the end of key stage 2 in 2016, this is not the picture across the school for those currently on roll. The school’s assessment information and work in books shows that progress is strong. Pupils are provided with additional support if they fall behind and governors track attainment carefully. The school’s pupil premium strategy carefully identifies the barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils. Leaders make considered decisions about expenditure based on research and prior outcomes.
• Special educational needs funding is well used to support pupils’ needs. The special needs leader has significantly developed this aspect of the school’s work. ‘Passports’ are written for pupils that include well-written developmental targets. Targets are written and reviewed by parents and teachers on a termly basis. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well in class and their books demonstrate strong progress.
• The effective use of the physical education (PE) and sport premium funding is a considerable strength of the school. St Wilfrid’s works in partnership with other schools within the collegiate to pool resources and provide pupils with the best possible sporting opportunities. As a result of strong and dedicated leadership, and detailed record-keeping, pupils make significant gains in their fitness levels. Pupils’ participation in after-school clubs and competitions has doubled in the last three years. Teachers have also received focused training and support to improve their delivery of PE. Leaders carefully monitor the impact of training and staff now have a much larger portfolio of teaching skills as a result of excellent support.
• The impact of external support has been key to the school’s improvement journey in recent years. Though the school is an academy, it has maintained a purposeful and productive partnership with the local authority. The local authority has brokered and commissioned additional expertise to support the school in its self-evaluation, and drive forward improvements in teaching.
• The wider work of the Newman Catholic Collegiate is also central to school improvement. The school is proud to be a member of the collegiate. The combined capacity of leadership and curriculum expertise across the schools has strengthened provision at St Wilfrid’s. For example, leaders and teachers work together to moderate their judgements about pupils’ learning. This improves the accuracy of teachers’ judgements and ensures that planning offers a consistently high level of challenge for pupils.

Governance of the school

• Governors are ambitious people who are very proud to serve their local community. Governors:
  • hold leaders to account for standards across the school
  • have established additional groups and working parties to constantly review and refine approaches to safeguarding
  • understand their roles and are committed to continual improvement
  • carefully track pupils’ attainment and make checks to see how well pupils are performing compared to national expectations
  • do not yet analyse, or compare in sufficient detail, the progress of different groups of pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school constantly reviews its safeguarding systems to ensure that they are robust and respond to the needs of pupils.
• Pupils’ records are highly detailed. Any concerns are swiftly acted upon. Records demonstrate that the school works closely with parents to address any concerns.
• Training is robust and teachers that inspectors spoke to are very clear about their responsibilities. Leaders take account of any local or city wide issues and provide training to staff to help them identify potential indicators of abuse. Training has included a focus on specific aspects of abuse including female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation. Staff are also highly alert to the risk factors associated with what child protection professionals refer to as the ‘toxic trio’ (domestic violence, mental ill-health and drug, and alcohol misuse).

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers are dedicated and enjoy working at St Wilfrid’s. Those that spoke to inspectors say that they feel very well supported. Teachers say that leaders listen carefully to any training requests they have. Staff meetings are planned around their discussions. Teachers and leaders have established a culture of learning.
• Teachers’ planning is strong. Teachers use assessment information to plan sequences of learning that support pupils’ to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding. This is particularly evident in pupils’ English and mathematics books. Pupils make strong rates of progress from their different starting points. In a Year 6 mathematics lesson, inspectors observed pupils tackling a range of complex problems. The teacher had skilfully designed the lesson to offer a high level of challenge and pupils were engrossed in their learning.
• Effective planning is a feature of teachers’ practice across the school. During the inspection, children in early years were enthralled by the appearance of a giant beanstalk in their classroom. Children were able to describe the adventures of ‘Jack’ with detail and were excited to explore an array of pots and magic beans. Activities like this are typical of everyday practice.
• The quality of teachers’ questioning and feedback makes a significant contribution to learning. Pupils are frequently challenged to explain their thinking and elaborate upon their responses in lessons.
• Relationships between teachers and pupils are very strong. In the vast majority of lessons, pupils are focused on their learning and respond very positively to support from adults.
• The teaching of phonics is strong. Inspectors heard pupils read from Year 1 and found that teachers’ judgements about pupils’ abilities were highly accurate. Teachers help pupils foster a love of reading. As a result of high quality teaching, pupils are able to decode many complex words by the end of Year 1.
• Parents that inspectors spoke to feel that homework is set at an appropriate level and supports the overall development of learning. Parents also feel well informed about the progress that pupils are making.
• Though teaching is good, there is some variation in practice in early years and lower key stage 2. In these phases of the school, leaders have been quick to offer additional support. However, improvements are not yet embedded and the quality of teachers’ questioning and explanations requires further development. In lower key stage 2, pupils’ books evidence that they are progressing in their learning but this is not as rapid as that found in other year groups. Teachers do share their skills and learn from one another, but there is scope for the best practice to be shared more widely.
• The impact of support staff varies across the school. While strong in some respects, the questioning skills of some staff are not fully developed. On some occasions, staff are not quick enough to intervene in learning or offer the right level of challenge and support to 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 and self-assured. They are able to describe their learning clearly and are provided with high-quality feedback from teachers.
• Pupils have an excellent awareness of safety. All pupils that inspectors spoke to say that they feel safe. Older pupils enjoy the ‘bikeability’ skills course in Year 5. Pupils are also very proud to take on additional responsibilities. Each year, pupils in Year 6 are invited to write to teachers stating why they may want to hold the position of head girl and head boy. Similarly, pupils also hold positions of house captain and sports stars.
• Pupils are very proud of the funds they raise for different charities, including CAFOD (the Catholic international development charity in England and Wales).
• Pupils have a good understanding of fundamental British values and enjoy opportunities to celebrate and share their different faiths. Pupils described to inspectors how they make slide presentations about their different faiths to explain important times of the year and festivals.
• Pupils attend a wide range of extra-curricular activities. These include booster sessions, dance clubs (which is currently themed on breakdancing), and different sporting clubs.
• Incidents of bullying are extremely rare at St Wilfrid’s. Pupils say that they have complete confidence in teachers and say that any problems are dealt with quickly.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are very courteous and demonstrated a very high degree of hospitality to inspectors during the inspection. This is typical of pupils’ day-to-day behaviour.
• Pupils treat one another with kindness and know the school’s behaviour management systems very well. They are keen to do the right thing and earn rewards.
• In 2016, whole-school attendance levels were above national but were low for disadvantaged pupils. The school’s work has improved attendance for disadvantaged pupils which is now above average.
• Behaviour at lunchtimes is not as strong as that found in lessons. Leaders have identified this as an area for improvement and plans are in place to offer more activities and structure. Currently, pupils are not provided with sufficient support to help them exhibit the much stronger behaviours that are always present in lessons.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes across the school have been consistently high, or improving, with the exception of reading in 2016 in key stage 2. The school has responded effectively to this weakness. The school’s own assessment information and work in books shows that pupils’ progress is consistently strong in almost all year groups. Where it is not strong, it is improving rapidly.
• The good level of development in early years has risen over the last three years and is now above national. Children make at least typical rates of progress in the early years. Some children, particularly those in the nursery, make accelerated progress. This is a result of high-quality teaching.
• The proportion of pupils passing the Year 1 phonics screening check has been consistently above national levels for the last three years. Phonics is well taught in the school. There is very little variation in outcomes between groups of pupils in phonics.
• By the end of key stage 1, the vast majority of pupils reach expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2016, girl’s achievement was higher than that of boys. This has been identified by leaders and the attainment of groups of pupils is closely tracked on a termly basis. Pupils’ books show that progress from the start of this academic year is strong.
• Year 6 disadvantaged pupils underachieved in 2016. The school has analysed these outcomes carefully and has responded with appropriate and effective action. As a result, progress for current pupils on roll is strong across the school. Work in pupils’ books does not show any variation between different groups of pupils. Disadvantaged pupils receive a significant amount of additional support to help them overcome any barriers to learning.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. As a result of well written ‘passports’ and effective support in class, this group of pupils make strong progress.
• Most-able pupils, including those that are disadvantaged, receive consistent and strong levels of challenge in lessons. Teachers’ incisive feedback and planning ensures that pupils master specific topics and move onto new learning at the right time.
• Though progress is strong across a wide range of subjects, there is some variation in topic work. This is noticeable in some aspects of the curriculum in key stage 1 and lower key stage 2. Pupils’ books evidence rapid improvement over the last term and leaders are committed to sustaining these better outcomes. Early years provision Good

• The early years is well led by a highly effective leader. Children make at least typical rates of progress from their often low starting points. The good level of development has risen year-on-year and children are ready for the transition into Year 1 by the time they leave Reception.
• In 2016, the good level of development rose above national levels, prior to this, outcomes had not been as high and were sometimes quite low for boys. Leaders have made changes to the setting and environment to ensure that the needs of boys are more closely met. Leaders recognise that these improvement must now be sustained.
• The learning environment in early years has developed considerably. There are a vast array of different activities and resources for children to choose from. This helps develop children’s independence and encourages them to make their own choices about the way they do things.
• Additional funding is used effectively to identify any early needs that children may have. This includes screening for any speech and language needs. The number of disadvantaged pupils can vary from year-to-year in early years. This group of pupils are well supported and make good progress from their starting points.
• Parents are kept well informed about children’s progress. Parents regularly contribute ‘treasured moments’ information to children’s assessment files. These ‘treasured moments’ capture and celebrate children’s special achievements at home. Parents that inspectors spoke to are very happy with the early years and the updates they receive from staff.
• During the inspection, children were exploring the fairy tale ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. As well as staring with awe and wonder at the sudden arrival of a beanstalk in their classroom, children were busy counting, sorting and planting an array of seeds and beans. Activities are routinely stimulating and exciting. Teachers’ effective planning supports strong progress.
• Though the quality of teaching is resulting in at least typical progress over time, practice is not consistently strong across the provision. Adults’ questioning skills, and the timeliness of their intervention in learning, are variable. As a result, on occasion, some children are not focused on the different tasks and activities in the classroom. This is more evident in Reception. Practice in Nursery is further established and is having a greater impact on children’s learning.
• Welfare requirements are met and children are safe. Children exhibit good behaviour and cooperate with one another very well. They are also inquisitive. During the inspection, children were keen to engage with inspectors and share their learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140151 Stoke-on-Trent 10032624 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 355 Appropriate authority The Newman Catholic Collegiate Chair Principal Glen Hassall Mark Barlow Telephone number 01782 235 676 Website Email address www.st-wilfrids.stoke.sch.uk/ office@stwilfridsnewman.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• In 2010 the predecessor school was judged as outstanding.
• The school became an academy in September 2013.
• Prior to 2017, the school was led by an executive principal who also led St Peter’s Catholic Academy. The two schools also share the same governing body. The governance structure remains in place but both schools have now recruited their own principals.
• In January 2017, a new principal was appointed to lead St Wilfrid’s.
• The school is a member of the Newman Catholic Collegiate. This is a group of nine schools.
• The school is larger than the average primary.
• The proportion of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds and those who speak English as an additional language is average.
• The number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is slightly lower than average. The school’s deprivation indicator is well above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities for whom the school provides support is average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is in line with the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.
• There is little mobility within the school. Very few pupils join ‘in year’. The majority of pupils stay at the school throughout their primary years.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 following a risk assessment of the school. The lead inspector met with the principal and other leaders on the first day of the inspection to set out key lines of enquiry. Key lines of enquiry focused specifically on pupils’ achievement. The inspection was deemed a section 5 inspection, as the lead inspector had insufficient evidence to confirm that the outstanding judgement from the predecessor school had been maintained.
• Inspectors observed 23 lessons or part lessons. Some lessons were observed jointly with the principal.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books during observations. Inspectors also took account of pupils’ progress in topic work during a separate scrutiny. The principal joined the lead inspector during this inspection activity.
• Meetings were held with the leaders of the following areas: early years, literacy, history, PE, assessment and attendance.
• The lead inspector held a meeting with governors including the chair of the governing body and the school’s consultant headteacher.
• The lead inspector met with the Stoke-on-Trent’s strategic manager for pupil achievement.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of school documentation including: the single central record, child protection files, monitoring files, self-evaluation, improvement plans, risk assessments, assessment information, attendance information and minutes of governing body minutes.
• Inspectors met with parents at the start of both days, and took account of the 183 responses from the school’s own questionnaire, which was conducted in the previous term. Inspectors spoke to pupils throughout both days. The lead inspector met with a group of teachers on day 2 of the inspection.

Inspection team

Jonathan Keay, lead inspector Jane Moore Lesley Else Jayne Thorpe

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector