St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Overview: St Mary's Catholic Primary School is a good school, providing a positive and supportive environment for pupils. Pupils are taught to care about themselves and each other, and staff are a 'supportive, kind and caring team'. The school has a calm and orderly learning environment, and pupils are developing their knowledge of life in modern Britain.

Strengths:

• Pupils are taught to care about themselves and each other, showing respect and kindness to their peers and staff.
• The learning environment is calm and orderly, with staff providing support for pupils' personal development.
• Leaders have designed a clearly sequenced curriculum, providing a broad and balanced curriculum that extends pupils' thinking beyond reading, writing and mathematics.
• Teachers regularly check pupils' knowledge and recall of prior learning, and use assessment information effectively to rectify misconceptions and gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Staff support for pupils' personal development is a strength of the school, with pupils knowing how to keep their bodies and minds healthy and developing their knowledge of life in modern Britain.

Areas to improve:

• Leaders have identified the essential knowledge they want pupils to know and remember, but teachers have not implemented this consistently across some foundation subject curriculums.
• Pupils do not always remember important concepts, and are unable to build on prior learning and make connections between concepts taught.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders making sure recruitment checks are completed before staff and volunteers begin working at the school, and staff and governors attending regular safeguarding training.