St Anthony's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

Overview

This ungraded inspection confirms that St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School has “taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.” The report describes a “caring and welcoming” environment where pupils thrive, supported by strong relationships and a clear ethos. Leaders and staff share high aspirations, ensuring pupils benefit from a “broad and ambitious curriculum” and achieve well overall.

Strengths

• Pupils “thrive in this caring and welcoming school,” with older pupils acting as positive role models and contributing to community events.
• The curriculum is “well thought out and sequenced,” particularly in subjects like art, design, and history, where pupils “talk enthusiastically” about their learning.
• Reading instruction is highly effective; staff deliver “highly effective phonics lessons” starting in Reception, resulting in pupils becoming “fluent, confident readers.”
• Mathematics is “taught consistently well,” with pupils enjoying applying their knowledge to “tricky problems.”
• Staff are “dedicated to help every pupil to succeed,” and leaders are supportive of staff workload and well-being.

Areas to improve

• The English curriculum lacks sufficient sequencing for early writing; some pupils are given tasks “beyond their stage of development,” leading to difficulties and a lack of enjoyment in writing.
• A small group of pupils are “absent too often,” which negatively impacts their achievement compared to peers.
• Some subjects have not yet been fully reviewed, resulting in variable knowledge retention and lower pupil enthusiasm in those specific areas.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”