St Gerard's Catholic Primary and Nursery School

Overview

St Gerard’s is described as a “loving and welcoming school” where pupils experience a “strong sense of belonging” and feel “truly included and valued.” Leaders have established a culture of “continual development and high aspiration,” ensuring that all pupils, including disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs, “flourish academically and socially.” The school delivers a high-quality education with strong outcomes in national tests and effective safeguarding.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve “above national average outcomes” in reading, writing and mathematics, with disadvantaged pupils “closing the gaps” with their peers.
• Attendance has “continued to improve” due to “highly effective intervention” and a “strong culture for promoting high attendance.”
• The curriculum is “high-quality and ambitious,” with “highly effective” teaching that builds knowledge over time and supports confident, articulate learners.
• Leaders have created an “inclusive culture” where individual needs are identified early, and tailored support ensures all pupils “access the full curriculum.”
• Personal development is enriched by a programme that prepares pupils for “life in modern Britain,” fostering resilience, empathy and a “strong sense of right and wrong.”

Areas to improve

• Leaders should embed recent mathematics curriculum changes so more pupils “consistently recall multiplication facts.”
• Leaders should strengthen early years provision to ensure children’s foundational writing skills are “mastered consistently” for Year 1.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility” and concerns actively managed to ensure pupils “feel safe.”