St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Overview

St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school. Pupils enjoy attending, feel safe, and demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning, with most achieving well. The school fosters strong community links and personal development through its values and extra-curricular activities.

Strengths

• Leaders have developed a clear curriculum that helps teachers plan effectively and check pupil understanding, allowing them to address misunderstandings quickly.
• The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified swiftly, with the curriculum carefully adapted so they access the same learning as peers and achieve well.
• A new phonics programme supports early reading, with children in early years blending words successfully and developing communication skills.
• Pupils show responsibility and confidence through roles such as school council members and house captains, while also engaging in charity work and community support.
• Staff feel valued, with leaders carefully considering workload, and governors provide appropriate challenge to support continued improvement.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure the new phonics and spelling programme is implemented consistently across all staff, as inconsistent delivery limits some pupils’ opportunities to practise and develop fluency.
• Leaders need to identify key knowledge and concepts in all subjects to help teachers plan lesson sequences that build effectively on prior learning, enabling pupils to make deeper connections.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff receiving regular training, concerns shared via an online system, and necessary pre-appointment checks completed.