St Mary's Catholic Primary Voluntary Academy (Brigg)

Overview

St Mary’s Catholic Primary Voluntary Academy (Brigg) is described as a “warm and welcoming school” where “positive relationships are at the heart of the school’s approach to education.” Leaders have a “clear vision” and are “ambitious for what all pupils can achieve,” resulting in pupils who “achieve well” and feel “happy and safe.”

Strengths

• Pupils are “polite” and understand the importance of respect, with bullying occurring rarely and being resolved quickly.
• The curriculum is “ambitious and challenging,” with teachers using assessment well to check learning in most subjects.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs identified early, allowing them to “achieve well” alongside peers.
• Reading is prioritised from the start, with a “consistent approach to teaching phonics” helping many pupils become “confident and fluent readers.”
• Staff create a positive climate in the early years, fostering strong relationships and “positive attitudes towards learning.”

Areas to improve

• In some subjects, the curriculum does not identify the “most important knowledge that pupils need to know and remember,” preventing consistent depth of knowledge.
• Some pupils lack secure knowledge of world religions, fundamental British values, and protected characteristics, meaning they are not fully “prepared for life in modern Britain.”
• A small number of pupils lose concentration during lessons, which is not always “picked up quickly enough by some teachers.”

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with staff well trained and leaders taking appropriate steps to involve other agencies when concerns arise, although not all staff are sure where records are kept.