St John's Catholic Primary School

Overview

St John’s Catholic Primary School is a small village school where pupils enjoy a “positive and inclusive experience” and feel safe. The report highlights a “well-planned and ambitious programme for personal development” and strong pastoral care, though it notes that teaching does not always provide sufficient depth or challenge for higher-achieving pupils.

Strengths

• Leaders provide a “well-planned and ambitious programme for personal development and wellbeing” that includes “exciting and well-planned trips and after-school clubs.”
• Pupils develop a “clear understanding of fundamental British values” and show “respect for people from different backgrounds.”
• Staff know pupils and families “incredibly well” and provide “highly effective support” through centralised pastoral care.
• The curriculum supports mixed-age classes with “firm foundations in early reading, mathematics, language and communication.”
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities “access learning alongside their peers” and make progress from their starting points.

Areas to improve

• Leaders should ensure that teaching provides “sufficient depth and challenge for pupils who can achieve more highly to reach the highest standards across the curriculum.”
• Leaders should ensure that staff develop “consistent expertise in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.”
• Leaders should ensure that staff interactions in the early years “consistently support children’s language development and early writing skills.”

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility” and concerns are “actively identified, acted upon and managed.”