St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Overview

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is described as a “calm, confident and forward-looking” community where pupils “flourish” and achieve highly. The report highlights that leaders provide “thoughtful, proactive” support, ensuring every child feels valued and secure, with outcomes consistently above national averages.

Strengths

• Pupils make “impressive progress” and achieve “very well across the curriculum,” with disadvantaged pupils often surpassing national peers.
• Attendance has improved rapidly due to a “proactive approach” by leaders who “remove barriers quickly” and work closely with families.
• Behaviour is “tremendous,” with bullying being “very rare” and staff dealing with issues “quickly and fairly.”
• The early years provision is “joyful and nurturing,” with staff prioritising “early reading and communication” to build confidence.
• Inclusion is “woven into everyday practice,” ensuring pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities feel “welcomed, valued and able to take part fully.”

Areas to improve

• Leaders should ensure staff “consistently use checks on learning to spot mistakes and misconceptions” so pupils can correct errors quickly.
• Leaders should strive to ensure pupils “sustain the highest possible rates of attendance over time.”

Safeguarding

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