St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy, Brighouse

Overview

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary Academy is described as a “warm and welcoming school” where the motto ‘Love, learn and live in Christ!’ is central to daily life. The report confirms that the school “continues to be a good school,” noting that pupils are polite, respectful, and feel safe. Leaders have prioritised curriculum development, resulting in a “broad and ambitious curriculum” that supports all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Strengths

• The curriculum is carefully sequenced, with teachers demonstrating “strong” subject knowledge and effectively modelling new concepts.
• Phonics is taught “consistently well,” ensuring children read with “increasing confidence and fluency.”
• The early years curriculum lays “strong foundations” with a clear focus on language and vocabulary.
• Staff provide “high-quality pastoral support,” and pupils are proud of their leadership responsibilities and charity work.
• Safeguarding arrangements are “effective,” and staff feel valued with access to well-being support.

Areas to improve

• The curriculum for writing must give “sufficient attention to building pupils’ fluency in the basic skills” so they can write independently.
• The school must establish clear routines for writing to ensure pupils present their work “consistently, accurately and with pride,” as some work is currently difficult to read.
• Behaviour policies need to include more detail regarding strategies for managing incidents, as some parents feel “not well informed” about how issues like bullying are handled.

Safeguarding

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