St Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Margate

Overview

Pupils are described as “polite and courteous,” thriving in a “calm and orderly” environment where they “feel safe.” The school delivers an “ambitious curriculum” that supports strong academic progress, particularly in reading and mathematics, while fostering exceptional personal development through community engagement.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate “high levels of respect” and become “active and empowered citizens” through roles such as ambassadors and chaplaincy team members.
• The curriculum is “designed... to meet the needs of all pupils,” with staff revisiting prior learning to help pupils “deepen their knowledge.”
• Early reading is well-supported; “expert staff teach phonics consistently well,” ensuring the “vast majority of pupils become confident and fluent readers.”
• Teachers “explain learning clearly and check on pupils’ understanding carefully,” allowing them to “identify gaps in learning swiftly.”
• Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, “achieve well” and build “increasingly sophisticated knowledge over time.”

Areas to improve

• In a “small number of subjects,” staff’s subject knowledge is “not as secure as it could be,” leading to pupils not learning content “accurately enough.”
• Some younger pupils lack “age-appropriate skills of letter formation or stamina for longer writing” because consistent practice opportunities have not yet been fully embedded.
• “Persistent absence... is too high for too many pupils,” particularly disadvantaged children, meaning they are “missing out on too much of their vital education.”

Safeguarding

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